Agathodaemon

Agathos Daimon (ἀγαθός δαίμων, agathós daímōn, lit. 'noble spirit')[lower-alpha 1] originally was a lesser deity (daemon) of classical ancient Greek religion and Graeco-Egyptian religion. In his original Greek form, he served as a household god, to whom, along with Zeus Soter, libations were made after a meal. In later (post-)Ptolemaic antiquity he took on two partially distinct roles; one as the Agathos Daimon a prominent serpentine civic god, who served as the special protector of Alexandria. The other as a genus of serpentine household gods, the Agathoi Daimones, individual protectors of the homes in which they were worshipped.[1]

This article is about the Greek daemon. For other uses of this name, see Agathodaemon (disambiguation).
Agathos Daimon
Fertility, grain, health
Agathos Daimon wearing a pschent, the double crown of Egypt, holding a thyrsus (left) and a caduceus (right)
Major cult centreAlexandria, Egypt
AnimalsSnakes
SymbolHorn of Plenty
Day2 February (Gregorian)
25 Tybi (Egyptian)
GenderMale
ConsortTyche Agathe
Equivalents
Pre-Ptolemaic Egyptian equivalentShai

Greek classical period

Though he is noted in Greek mythology (Pausanias conjectured that the name was merely an epithet of Zeus),[2] it was customary to drink or pour out a few drops of unmixed wine to honor the Agathos Daimon after a meal.[3][4] In Aristophanes' Peace, when War has trapped Peace (Εἰρήνη Eirene) in a deep pit, Hermes comes to give aid: "Now, oh Greeks! is the moment when, freed of quarrels and fighting, we should rescue sweet Eirene and draw her out of this pit... This is the moment to drain a cup in honor of the Agathos Daimon." A temple dedicated to them was situated on the road from Megalopolis to Maenalus in Arcadia.[5]

Agathos Daimon was the spouse or companion of Tyche Agathe (Τύχη Ἀγαθή, "Good Fortune"). "Tyche we know at Lebadeia as the wife of the Agathos Daimon, the Good or Rich Spirit".[6][7] Their numinous presence could be represented in art as a serpent or more concretely as a young man bearing a cornucopia and a bowl in one hand, and a poppy and an ear of grain in the other.[6]

Egyptian late antiquity

In the syncretic atmosphere of late Antiquity, agathodaemons could be bound up with Egyptian bringers of security and good fortune: a gem carved with magic emblems bears the images of Serapis with crocodile, sun-lion and Osiris mummy surrounded by the lion-headed snake Chnum–Agathodaemon–Aion, with Harpocrates on the reverse.[8]

See also

Footnotes
  1. Sometimes written as Agathodaemon (Ancient Greek: ἀγαθοδαίμων, agathodaímōn)

References
  1. Ogden, Daniel (2013). Drakōn : dragon myth and serpent cult in the Greek and Roman worlds. Oxford University Press. pp. 286–309. ISBN 978-0-19-955732-5. OCLC 837855776.
  2. Pausanias, Description of Greece, viii. 36. § 3
  3. Martin P. Nilsson, Greek Folk Religion. (Columbia University Press), 1981:33, 70, 73.
  4. Fraser, Peter M. (1972). Ptolemaic Alexandria. Vol. I. Oxford: Claredon Press. p. 210.
  5. Schmitz, Leonhard (1867), "Agathodaemon", in Smith, William (ed.), Dictionary of Greek and Roman Biography and Mythology, vol. 1, Boston, p. 65, archived from the original on 2005-10-26, retrieved 2008-05-05{{citation}}: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link)
  6. Chisholm 1911, p. 371.
  7. Harrison 1922, pp. 355–ff, 543.
  8. Illustrated in W. Fauth, Helios Megistos: zur synkretistischen Theologie der Spätantike (Leiden: Brill) 1995:85.

Bibliography
  • Harrison, Jane Ellen (1922). Prolegomena to the Study of Greek Religion (3rd ed.). pp. 355–ff, 543.
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