Agathodaemon

Roman marble sculpture of Agathodemon restored with an unrelated head, as "Antinous Agathodaemon", purchased in Rome ca. 1760, (Staatliche Museen, Berlin)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.

This article is about the Greek god. For the alchemist, see Agathodaimon. For the Forgotten Realms deity, see Agathos Daimon (Forgotten Realms).

Agathodaemon is also the name of a canal on Mars.

In ancient Greek religion, Agathos Daimon or Agathodaemon (Greek: αγαθος δαιμων, "very good spirit") was a daimon or presiding spirit of the vineyards and grainfields and a personal companion spirit, similar to the Roman genius, ensuring good luck, health and wisdom. Though he was little noted in Greek mythology, he was prominent in Greek folk religion;Martin P. Nilsson, Greek Folk Religion. (Columbia University Press), 1981:33, 70, 73. 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 (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 honour of the Agathos Daimon."

Agathos Daimon was the spouse or companion of Tyche Agathe ("Good Fortune"; Latin, and dialect, Agatha); "Tyche we know at Lebadeia as the wife of the Agathos Daimon, the Good or Rich Spirit."Jane Ellen Harrison, Prolegomena to the Study of Greek Religion, 3rd ed. 1922:355ff, 543. 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 corn in the other. The agathodaemon was later adapted into a general daemon of fortuna, particularly of the continued abundance of a family\'s good food and drink.

In the syncretic atmosphere of Late Antiquity, Agathodaemon 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.Illustrated in W. Fauth, Helios Megistos: zur synkretistischen Theologie der Spätantike (Leiden: Brill) 1995:85.

References

External links

• Theoi.com: Greek and Latin sources in translation

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