I. The God Aion – II. Philosophy
I. The God Aion
Αἰών/Aiōn, the Greek god of eternity in the sense of immeasurable, unbounded return is attested from Hellenism onwards. Aion never had a uniform character; sometimes he appears as a (linearly) eternal, sometimes as a (cyclically) ever-renewing god. Origins in the Semitic or Egyptian realm are likely. Alexandrian coins (2nd cent. ce) portray Aion as a self-rejuvenating phoenix. According to the Greek “Alexander Novella” (I 30–33), Aion is the patron god …