Agathodaemon

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This article is about the Greek god. For other uses of this name, see Agathodaemon (disambiguation).
File:Antinoos-Agathodaimon Antikensammlung Berlin Sk361.jpg
Roman marble sculpture of Agathodaemon restored with an unrelated head, as "Antinous Agathodaemon", purchased in Rome ca. 1760, (Staatliche Museen, Berlin)[1]

An agathodaemon (Greek: ἀγαθοδαίμων, agathodaímōn) or agathos daemon (Greek: ἀγαθὸς δαίμων, agathós daímōn, lit. "noble spirit") was a spirit (daemon) of the vineyards and grainfields in ancient Greek religion. They were personal companion spirits,[2][3] similar to the Roman genii, ensuring good luck, health, and wisdom.

Classical period

Though he was little noted in Greek mythology (Pausanias conjectured that the name was a mere epithet of Zeus),[4] he was prominent in Greek folk religion;[5] it was customary to drink or pour out a few drops of unmixed wine to honor him in every symposium or formal banquet. 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 him was situated on the road from Megalopolis to Maenalus in Arcadia.[6]

Agathos Daimon was the spouse or companion of Tyche Agathe (Τύχη Ἀγαθή, "Good Fortune"; Latin: Agatha). "Tyche we know at Lebadeia as the wife of the Agathos Daimon, the Good or Rich Spirit".[7][8] His 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.[7] The agathodaemon was later adapted into a general daemon of fortuna, particularly of the continued abundance of a family's good food and drink.[citation needed]

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 Cnum–Agathodaemon–Aion, with Harpocrates on the reverse.[9]

See also

References

  1. ↑ The torso of an Apollo was found in the Tiber at Rome and was restored as an Antinous with a head found separately; it was purchased through Giovanni Ludovico Bianconi, about 1760; formerly exhibited in the Neues Palais, Potsdam (Arachne Projekt); noted in Karl Otfried Müller, Nouveau manuel complet d'archéologie ou traité sur les antiquités grecques... (1841:vol. I:298) and in Bouillon II:51.
  2. ↑ Hor. Ep. ll, 2, 187.
  3. ↑ Tibull. IV, 8
  4. ↑ Pausanias, Description of Greece, viii. 36. § 3
  5. ↑ Martin P. Nilsson, Greek Folk Religion. (Columbia University Press), 1981:33, 70, 73.
  6. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  7. ↑ 7.0 7.1 Chisholm 1911, p. 371.
  8. ↑ Harrison 1922, pp. 355–ff, 543.
  9. ↑ Illustrated in W. Fauth, Helios Megistos: zur synkretistischen Theologie der Spätantike (Leiden: Brill) 1995:85.

Bibliography

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Attribution

  •  This article incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain: Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.

External links

  • Theoi.com: Greek and Latin sources in translation
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