The Agathos Daimon in Greco-Egyptian religion

The Agathos Daimon in Greco-Egyptian religion
João Pedro Feliciano
Abstract
The Agathos Daimon, or ‘Good Spirit’, was a multifaceted deity of ancient Mediterranean religion, usually
depicted as a serpent, having its origins in the notion of the household god. The Good Spirit was honoured in
both Greek and Roman religions, depicted as a serpent on Roman shrines and lararia, and honoured as a
harbinger of luck among the Greeks. However, his most developed form flourished in Ptolemaic and Roman
Egypt, where the Agathos Daimon became an exalted deity, far beyond the status of a household god,
becoming associated with Shai and Kematef, the Egyptian creator gods, who were similarly depicted as
serpents in the extant iconography, as well as taking on solar attributes and becoming conflated with Prê and
Helios as a result of late Egyptian theological innovations. This new syncretistic deity is a central figure of the
Greek Magical Papyri, wherein numerous rituals, prayers, and theological material directly related to the
Agathos Daimon abound.
I. Introduction
The aim of this paper is to analyze an important, but often overlooked divine figure of late-antique
Greco-Egyptian religion, the Agathos Daimon (Greek: agathos daimôn; also agathodaimôn), the
‘good spirit’, a typically serpentine deity who originated as a genius loci1 in traditional Greek religion,
and was also invoked during banquets. A variant of this deity was Zeus Meilichios (invoked in
Orphic Hymn 73, to Zeus as the Daimon2), an old serpentine aspect of Zeus associated with
fortune3. Roman religion had a cognate genius figure as well, evidenced by the traditional snakes
found on Roman domestic shrines and lararia4. The origins of the guardian serpent archetype may
be traced to the fact that snakes could protect a house from vermin, such as rodents, and
consequently became associated with guardian spirits early on; this notion of the beneficent ‘house
snake’ is found in several different cultures5.
1
2
Ugo Bianchi, M. Maarten Jozef Vermaseren, La soteriologia dei culti orientali nell'impero romano (BRILL 1982), 140
Apostolos Athanassakis, The Orphic Hymns (SBL 1977), 97
3
Gerald V. Lalonde, Horos Dios (BRILL 2006), 117, note 47
4
On this see Helène Whittaker, In Memoriam (Cambridge Scholars Publishing 2011), 146
5
Daniel Ogden, Drakon: Dragon Myth and Serpent Cult in the Greek and Roman Worlds, Oxford (2013), 303
As a direct consequence of the religious flowering which swept the Mediterranean during the
Hellenistic and Roman periods (rooted in Egypt and Asia Minor, where the main intellectual centers
were located), the Agathos Daimon became a truly universal God with manifold characteristics. A
patron of Alexandria depicted on Roman coins, a solar deity, a Demiurge immanent in the cosmos
and nature, and a consort of Agathe Tyche\Renenet were just a few of the roles and facets of this
deity. These developments, however, were not simply a natural outcome of the syncretism prevalent
at the time, but had solid theological foundations which can be traced back to both Egyptian and
Greek religions.
Primary sources on the Agathos Daimon include especially: the Greek and Demotic magical papyri
(henceforth PGM\PDM), the Hermetica (wherein he is an occasional protagonist), late Egyptian
religious literature, and the rich iconography which has come down to us from Roman Egypt.
II. Shai: Egyptian religion and the origins of Agathodaimon
In the latter periods of Egyptian religion, the Hermopolitan creation myth was further built upon by
adding a primordial creator deity preceding all others. This God, called Shai or Pshai (with the
Egyptian definite article p added) represented the old Egyptian notion of fate, as well as more
specifically free will and predestination6. Shai was also a type of personal genius, a power inherent in
man, as well as a part of the soul similar to the Ka, an animating life-force of sorts7. It appears that
initially he was not a divinity, but closer to a concept or archetype, much like Ma’at was for truth
and justice. With time, Shai solidified into a specific God, culminating in the Agathodaimon of
Roman Egypt.
The aforementioned creation myth is found in the so-called Tebtunis Cosmogony, written in
Demotic around the 2nd century A.D , and other related Demotic fragments from the same period,
discovered in the Fayyum8. The story set forth in these texts can be resumed as follows: in the
beginning was the primeval ocean or Nun, the abyss wherein Shai dwelt as the first God. He sets
himself on a sand-bank in the midst of it, and a reed plant grows from the abyss and comes to rest at
the spot where Shai is. Upon the thicket of reeds that has spread, Shai then ejaculates his seed,
whence the creator God Ptah emerges. Ptah then fashions 8 eggs, which hatch into the Ogdoad (8
Gods in 4 pairs, representing the properties of the Abyss), and these 8 reunite into a 2 fold aspect, a
6
J. Quaegebeur, Le dieu égyptien Shaï dans la religion et l'onomastique (Peeters, 1975), 123
7
Quaegebeur, 124
8
M Smith, ‘A New Egyptian Cosmology’ in Proceedings of the Seventh International Congress of Egyptologists (Peeters, 1998)
pp. 1075-1080; On the Primaeval Ocean (Museum Tusculanum Press 2002)
black bull and cow, which then unite again into the God Amon. He fashions the 4 winds, which
merge into one, separating the earth from heaven, and thus allowing for the creation of the cosmos.
After this, a key event takes place, which is an important pillar of the Agathodaimon theology we
find in the PGM: Amon fertilizes an egg from which Pshai is then reborn as the sun-God Prê. The
latter then creates Thoth. The remainder of the myth is not as relevant, so this summary will suffice.
I will return to these various mythological elements later, when discussing Agathodaimon in the
context of the PGM and PDM.
The association of Shai with the reborn sun is a later innovation in Egyptian religion; however, a
linking between the solar disk and Shai (as one’s lifespan or destiny in this case) is already found
during the Amarna era (1400-1300 BC), where a text refers to the sun as “Master of Shai, who sets
the span of life”9.
Also merged with the later Agathodaimon was the Egyptian serpent God Kematef, an aspect of
Amon associated with creation, and an approximate equivalent of Pshai in the Theban cosmogony of
the New Kingdom. In this myth, Kematef was the primeval creator, who gave birth to Irta, another
serpent who was to create the earth, and beget the Ogdoad10. As we will later see, Kematef, rendered
into Greek and Coptic as Kmêph or Knêph11, occurs frequently in the PGM as one of the holy names
of Agathodaimon, and in the Hermetica referenced by Iamblichus (in Book VIII of his work on the
Mysteries)12, he is the noeric intellect, and possibly a solar demiurge.
In the Ptolemaic era, when the Agathodaimon cultus first flourished in Egypt, one of the earliest
references to the God occurs in the Oracle of the Potter, an Egyptian end-times prophecy (recalling
that of the Hermetic Asclepius), originally written in Demotic, but surviving in a Greek translation
dated around 130 BC. It is a polemical work against the Greek presence in Egypt; the part that
concerns us recounts the departure of the Gods from Alexandria 13:
“And then Agathos Daimon will abandon the city being established and will enter Memphis, and the
foreign city which will be built will be emptied. And these things will take place at the conclusion of
9
Quaegebeur, 100
10
Karol Myśliwiec, The Twilight of Ancient Egypt: First Millennium B.C.E. (Cornell, 2000), 95
11
Hans D. Betz, The Greek Magical Papyri in Translation, Including the Demotic Spells Chicago University Press (1996),
338
12
13
Emma C. Clarke, Iamblichus, De Mysteriis, (Society of Biblical Literature 2003), 305
Allen Kereslager,. The Apology of the Potter: A Translation of the Potter's Oracle Jerusalem Studies in Egyptology (1998),
p. 67-79.
the evils when the falling of the leaves occurs in the Egypt of the foreigners. The city of the girdlewearers will be laid waste as in my furnace, because of the unlawful deeds which they executed in
Egypt. The statues transferred there will return to Egypt. The city by the sea will become a drying
place for fishermen because Agathos Daimon and Knephis will have gone to Memphis, so that some
who pass through will say: ‘This city, in which every race of men dwelt, was all-nourishing.’”
The inclusion of the Agathodaimon in such a work, especially considering its critical, anti-Ptolemaic
nature, may indicate that Egyptians used the term in reference to the native deity Shai, and not the
Greek import. The eventual syncretism, however, was inevitable.
Another relevant source from the 2nd century BC is the account of a dream by a certain Ptolemaios of
Memphis, which refers to the ‘daimon Knephis’:
“On the 14th I dreamed that I was in Alexandria on top of a great tower. My face was beautiful and
because of its beauty I did not want to show it to anyone. And an old woman sat beside me and
there was a crowd to the north of where I was and to the east. They shouted out that a man had been
burned to a cinder with much [lacuna] and she said: 'Stay for a little and I will lead you to the
daimon Knephis, so that you can bow down before him.' And I seemed to say to an old man:
'Father, don't you see the vision that I have seen?' I told him about it. He gave me two straws. When
I looked I saw Knephis” 14
III. Symbolism and iconography
A rich number of statues and bas-reliefs of Agathodaimon have
survived, through which we can obtain a fairly accurate picture
of his attributes. In the available corpus of material,
Agathodaimon is primarily depicted as a serpent (bearded in
most instances), or as a snake with a human head, that of
Serapis with whom he was associated (as a result of either of
their common solar aspects, or the fact that Serapis was a form
of Zeus, and thus as Meilichios, was an aspect or variant of
Agathos Daimon). His serpentine form is occasionally depicted
as that of a cobra, but most of the time it is a viper-like animal.
One peculiar formula found in a magical papyrus, describes him
bearing another God seated upon his head: “...I conjure you by
him who is seated in the fiery cloak on the serpentine head of
14
William Vernon Harris, Dreams and Experience in classical Antiquity, Harvard (2009), 105
the Agathos Daimon, the almighty, four-faced, highest daimon, dark and conjuring, Phôx” (PDM
XIV, 107)
One of the most common depictions of Agathodaimon shows him coupled with Agathe Tychê, or
‘Good Fortune’, a Goddess who in Egypt became associated with Renenet and Isis (in PGM VII,
490, Agathodaimon is said to have permitted Isis to rule the whole of Egypt). A good example is the
stunning relief on the previous page, now housed in the Rijksmuseum in Amsterdam (F 1960/9.1; its
exact date is unknown, but 1st-3rd centuries A.D. is a reasonable estimate), where IsisHermouthis\Agathetyche is shown with Sarapis-Agathodaimon, both human headed and crowned,
with their tails intertwined, and between them is Osiris in vase form (Osiris Hydreios), an aspect of
the God associated with the Nile Waters. This is particularly interesting, as it shows that although
Serapis and Osiris were closely associated (including in their watery associations), they were not
always viewed as identical. Other similar triadic depictions often have Harpocrates instead of Osiris,
between the two serpents15.
In many stelae, Agathodaimon is depicted on or near altars, alongside other figures (sometimes
deities, other times adoring worshippers, the latter especially in Greek depictions of Zeus
Meilichios16). One bas-relief from Delos17 shows him as the typical bearded serpent, partly curled up
on an altar, the latter flanked by two torch-bearing human figures (most likely Agathe Tyche and
Serapis), male and female, each wearing the kalathos headdress.
Other iconographic evidence reveals a connection between Agathodaimon and Hermes. On roman
coins, the god was often depicted with a caduceus, the traditional symbol of the Greek Hermes 18
and the entrance portico to the catacombs of Kom esh-Shuqafa in Alexandria is flanked by 2
Agathodaimones, each wrapped around a caduceus. Just above them, and seemingly crowning them
are round solar-like disks, in the midst of which is carved a Medusa face, presumably to guard the
tombs against intruders19.
Agathodaimon was furthermore linked with Asclepius (Asclepius’ serpentine rod, like the caduceus is
a point of convergence, as well as Serapis’ association with Asclepius and healing). This is well shown
in this stele now housed in the Museum of Leptis Magna in Lybia, bearing a relief and bilingual
15
Ogden 306
16
Ogden, 300
17
Ogden 300
18
19
Ogden, Drakon, 300
James Charlesworth, The Good And Evil Serpent, Yale (2010), 85
(Greek and Latin) inscription, offered by a certain Marmorarius of Nicomedia20. The stele depicts a
stylized shrine propped up on two pillars. On top is a bust
of Serapis, and in the lower section is a bearded serpent
rising before a pinecone-topped sceptre, which was a
variant of Asclepius’ staff, the pine cone being associated
with healing and also present on depictions of Asclepius21.
Both Agathodaimon and Agathetyche are mentioned in
the inscription, alongside Asclepius.
The sceptre\caduceus association to Agathos Daimon
becomes even more convincing in light of a reference in
the magical papyri (PGM IV, 2373-2440) to a statue to be
created by the magician: a man holding a staff around
which is coiled a snake. A series of magical names are to be
written on strips of papyrus, and presumably affixed to
various parts of the figure, or written on them directly.
The names attributed to the snake are those of Agathos
Daimon.
In conclusion, we can mention a particularly curious and unusual depiction of Agathodaimon22, on a
talisman of red jasper, wherein he is depicted as a serpent riding a horse. The purpose of said
talisman is unclear.
IV. Agathodaimon in the Magical Papyri: Theology and praxis
The Agathos Daimon is a fairly ubiquitous figure in the PGM, wherein he is solidly anchored to his
Egyptian origins as Pshai, and thereby often associated with the Greek sun God Helios, this on
account of the Egyptian myth previously mentioned. Before delving into his associations, it will be
worthwhile to go over a few of the names by which he is known in these texts.
By far the most common magical formula used to call the Agathos Daimon is a series of seven
names23 (varying but slightly according to the source): HARPONKNOUPHI,
20
21
Gloria Ferrari, Il commercio dei sarcofagi asiatici, (Studia Archeologica nº 7, 1969) 20
Patricia Cox Miller, Dreams in Late Antiquity: Studies in the Imagination of a Culture, Princeton (1997), 33
22
E. Zwierlein-Diehl, Magische Amulette und andere Gemmen des Institituts für Altertumskunde der Universität zu Köln
(Opladen, 1992), 60, no. 5.
23
See for instance: Betz (1996), PGM I, 26, 139; IV 2200; VII 1024; XXXVI, 220; PDM XIV, 465.
BRINTANTÊNÔPHRI,
BRISSKULMA,
ARAOUAZARBA,
MESENKRIPHI
(or
MESINTRIPHI), NIPTOUMI, KHMOUMAÔPHI. Their etymology is not fully known, but
plausible hypotheses for some of the names have been proposed. HARPONKNOUPHI may conceal
an epithet of Horus24 (who also had solar associations), perhaps derived from ‘Horus-Kneph’ or even
Horus-Khnum. It should be noted that the variant KHNOUBI, or KHNOUMIS is the name of a
decanic serpent God often found on Greco-Egyptian talismans25. BRINTANTÊNÔPHRI may
conceal the Egyptian epithet Nôphris, meaning ‘good’, often used in titles of Osiris, such as
Osoronnophris26. MESENKRIPHI may be Egyptian for ‘Child in his chapel’27, while its similar
variant MESINTRIPHI can be interpreted as ‘Child of Triphis’28, the latter a title of Isis. I have not
found explanations for the other names.
Another epithet of the Agathos Daimon is SATRAPERKMÊPH29, possibly meaning ‘Great satrap
Kmêph’30, or simply Kmêph\Khmêph, in reference to the serpent Kematef. The variant SAKMÊPH,
meaning ‘Son of Kmêph’, also occurs, most interestingly in a ritual for favour found in PGM XII,
188, where it is a name the magician identifies himself with to invoke Agathodaimon - the logic here
may be that the practitioner should identify him or herself as the child of the God to more easily
partake of his blessings. Agathodaimon is also called Psoi, a Greek rendering of the Egyptian Pshai,
sometimes extended to PSOI PNOUTHI NINTHÊR31, Egyptian for ‘Agathodaimon, God of the
Gods’32. Many other names are used in reference to him, but for the sake of conciseness, I will now
shift the focus to some of the main ritual texts wherein the Agathos Daimon is invoked.
The first text we will look at is PGM IV, 1596-1715, entitled: ‘Consecration for all purposes: spell to
Helios’. This consists of a ritual to consecrate a talisman, and treats Helios and Agathodaimon as one
God, presumably as a result of the Tebtunis myth. It consists primarily of an invocation, and no
24
J. P. Corteggiani, L'Égypte ancienne et ses dieux: dictionnaire illustré, Fayard (2007), 176
25
Véronique Dasen, Le serpent léontocéphale Chnoubis et la magie de l’époque romaine impériale, Anthropozoologica
(2012), 291 ff
26
Betz, 337
27
C. A. Faraone, The Getty Hexameters: Poetry, Magic, and Mystery in Ancient Selinous, OUP Oxford (2013), 169
28
Betz, 274, note 25
29
E.g. PGM XII, 186; XIII, 919
30
J. Spier, Picturing the Bible: The Earliest Christian Art, Yale (2007), 228
31
PGM IV, 1641
32
Betz, 68, note 210
ritual instructions are given within. Presumably, the ritual acts are up to the practitioner to work
out.
The symbolism found within seems to involve elements from the Tebtunis cosmogony, solar
Egyptian theology, and presents Agathodaimon-Helios as a ruler and vivifier of the world and its
inhabitants: “The earth flourished when you shone forth, and the plants became fruitful when you
laughed; the animals begat their young when you permitted...”. Later the text draws directly on the
creation myth, by referring to him as the “great Serpent (...) who mate in the ocean”, in an obvious
reference to Pshai vivifying the primeval abyss.
A core component of the ritual later on is the fascinating list of the different animal forms of the sun
God in each hour of the day33, which seems to echo the journey of Prê through the 12 hours of the
day and night in Egyptian religion, and his various manifestations.34 Agathodaimon-Helios takes on
these forms from the first to the twelfth hour, each with a different magical name and animal form:
cat, dog, serpent, scarab, donkey, lion, goat, bull, falcon, baboon, ibis, and crocodile.
Most forms are connected to solar archetypes, and all reflect the multifaceted nature of
Agathodaimon and solar deities in late antiquity. Most relate to important Egyptian deities: the cat is
a form of Prê when he slew Apophis35; the serpent is Pshai\Agathodaimon generally; the scarab is the
solar Khepri who moves the sun disk; the lion is Sekhmet (and as Leo is a solar archetype, also
pointed out by the Neoplatonist Proclus in his Sacred Art36). The goat is unclear, but the bull is the
archetype of Amon when he arose from the Ogdoad. The falcon is an obvious and important form
of Prê, Horus, and the war God Montu; the baboon and ibis are the primary forms of Thoth, God
of wisdom, created by Prê37; and finally the crocodile is particularly important, as Sobek the
crocodile God.
In one of the Greek hymns of Isidorus to Isis-Hermouthis (1st century BC), carved at the entrance of
the forecourt of a temple complex in Medinet Madi, Sobek (as Sokonopis or Sobek-Hapi), is
associated with Agathos Daimon: “How truly the Agathosdaimon, mighty Sokonopis, dwells as your
temple-mate, that goodly Bestower of wealth, Creator of both earth and the starry heaven, and of all
rivers, and very swift streams38”. The attribution is fitting, for not only was Sobek Isis’ temple mate
33
Another equivalent list, with different forms and names, and additional attributions, is found in PGM III, 494-611
34
For Prê’s journey through the underworld, see Wallis Budge, The Gods of the Egyptians vol. 1 (Dover, 1969), 205 ff. See
also by the same author, The Egyptian Heaven and Hell (Dover, 1905), for a translation of relevant texts on this theme
35
Geraldine Pinch, Egyptian Mythology, (Oxford 2007), 107
36
In Iamblichus On the Mysteries (Chthonios Books, 1989), 145-150
37
See also PDM XIV, 49, where Thoth is the one who ‘went forth from the heart of the great Agathodaimon...’
38
Vera Vanderlip, The four Greek hymns of Isidorus and the cult of Isis (Hakkert 1972), 36
in the region, but she herself was associated with Agathe Tyche, the consort of the Good Daimon.
All the syncretism makes sense in light of the fact that Agathodaimon and the sun were often seen as
the supreme God, whereof most others were aspects or manifestations. Now despite the creative
aspects of Agathodaimon-Pshai, in this ritual, another creator God is mentioned near the end, a
certain Sarousin, through whom Agathodaimon is invoked: “I conjure earth and heaven and light
and darkness and the great god who created all, SAROUSIN, you, Agathon Daimonion the helper,
to accomplish for me everything [done] by the use of this ring or [stone].”
The text ends with an enigmatic instruction: “When you complete [the consecration], say: ‘The one
Zeus is Sarapis’”. As Serapis was partly derived from Zeus (and both relate to Agathodaimon), this
could be an acclamation of the unity of various aspects of God at the conclusion of the rite, but this
is not entirely clear from the context.
The next invocation we will look at (PGM XIII, 760 ff.; variants are also found in other papyri)
shows a similar more exalted side of the Good Daimon, as the supreme God, encompassing all the
elements of the cosmos, including the sun and moon (whereas he embodies sun in the previous rite).
This beautiful prayer forms part of the 8th Book of Moses, a magical papyrus consisting partly of a
self initiation ritual wherein the magician unites with God. The prayer is found in the latter part of
the work, and precedes the climax of the rite. It is called the ‘instruction for reciting the Heptagram
(the 7 vowels), and the spell to which the God gives attention’, and is used to obtain general favours
and good fortune. It begins:
“Come to me, you from the four winds, ruler of all, who breathed spirit into men for life, whose is
the hidden and unspeakable Name – it cannot be uttered by human mouth – at whose Name even
the daimons, when hearing, are terrified; whose is the Sun, ARNEBOUAT BOLLOKH
BARBARIKH
BAALSAMĒM
PTIDAIOU
ARNEBOUAT,
and
the
Moon,
ARSENPENPRŌOUTH BARBARAIŌNE OSRAR MEMPSEKHEI – they are unwearied eyes
shining in the pupils of men’s eyes – of whom heaven is head, ether body, earth feet, and the
environment water, the Agathos Daimon. You are the ocean, begetter of good things and feeder of
the civilized world. Yours is the eternal processional way in which your seven-lettered Name is
established for the harmony of the seven sounds of the planets, which utter their voices according to
the 28 forms of the Moon (more names follow)...”
The description of Agathodaimon’s body as being composed of the parts of the universe is
remarkably similar to cognate descriptions of both Serapis and Zeus; an oracular response recorded
by the writer Macrobius, supposedly revealed by Serapis to an inquirer39 goes: “My head is the
heavens, my belly the sea, my feet the earth, my ears extend into the ether, my eye is the sunshine
visible far and wide.” And the great Orphic hymn to Zeus preserved by Porphyry describes him as
39
Joseph Campbell, The Mysteries (Princeton 1978), 107
encompassing all things in similar fashion, e.g.: “His eyes the Sun, the Moon's responsive light; His
mind immortal ether, sovereign truth”40.
The second half of the invocation consists of an identification of the magician with the God,
followed by a petition for various favours typical of the Good Daimon’s role as the governor of
fortune: protection, prosperity, well being, sex appeal, etc., and a series of holy names. In typical
syncretistic fashion, the text also mentions the biblical patriarchs Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, but
they are otherwise irrelevant here.
Now a key element linking this invocation to the Egyptian cosmogony we discussed earlier occurs a
bit later in the invocation, where the Ogdoad is named as the ‘8 guards’ who attend the
Agathodaimon: Ē Ō KHŌ KHOUKH NOUN NAUNI AMOUN AMAUNI. Right before the
prayer, the Ogdoad is also described as a powerful name of God: “the Name of the Lord, which is
Ogdoas, the God who commands and directs all things, since to Him angels, archangels, hedaimons, she-daimons, and all things under the Creation have been subjected.”. The description
here quoted, with the Ogdoad governing creation, matches the Hermetic scheme described by
Iamblichus41, wherein the Ogdoad rules over the realm of generation and the elements (where it is
subject to the sun).
The ‘Seven lettered name’ refers to the seven Greek vowels (aeêiouô), also referred to as the
Heptagram, which are associated to the 7 planets, and were a universal component of GrecoEgyptian magic and related traditions, their permutations forming the names of deities, and above all
that of the supreme God. The invocation itself is followed by an exercise designed to align oneself
with the vowels, performed at dawn, where they are intoned in conjunction with gestures and
varying spatial directions:
“Speaking to the rising sun, stretching out your hands to the left, say A. To the North, putting
forward you right fist, say E. Then to the West, extending both hands before you, say Ē. To the
South, holding both hands on your stomach, say I. To the Earth, bending over, touching the ends of
your toes, say O. Looking into the air, having your hand on your heart, say U. Looking into the sky,
having both hands on your head, say Ō.”
This is followed by another invocation to the supreme God (presumably Agathodaimon as well, but
simply referred to as the ‘eternal and unbegotten’), consisting of a series of vowel permutations to be
again intoned in different directions throughout the prayer. Afterward, as an additional ritual
40
Quoted by Eusebius Preparatio Evangelica (Wipf and Stock 2002), 109
41
Clarke, De Mysteriis, 313
component to the initiation, various vowel permutations are to be written on gold lamellae, and
licked off by the magician (to absorb their power). Gold is a fitting choice, considering the solar
attributions of the Good Daimon.
In PGM IV, 3169, in a concluding prayer for a ritual to prosper in business, Agathos Daimon is
called Aion (‘eternity’), a common name for the supreme God in the PGM, Hermetic, and late
Platonic theology42: “Give me all favor, all success, for the angel bringing good, who stands beside
Tyche, is with you. Accordingly, give profit [and] success to this house. Please, Aion, ruler of hope,
giver of wealth, O holy Agathos Daimon, bring to fulfillment of all favors and your divine oracles.”
Lastly, I must mention another invocation (PGM XII, 201-269), involving varying sections to
different Gods. It is part of a ritual to consecrate a talismanic ring. The part addressed to
Agathodaimon is derived to some extent from that in the 8th Book of Moses, but contains other
valuable elements, and more clearly emphasizes the God’s immanence in nature, as its creator and
vivifier: “Who moulded the forms of the beasts (zodiac?)? Who found their routes? Who was the
begetter of fruits? Who raises up the mountains? Who commanded the winds to hold to their annual
tasks? What Aion nourishing and Aion rules the Aions? One deathless God. You are the begetter of
all and assign souls to all and control all, king of the Aions and lord....”
We thus see that Agathodaimon in the magical papyri is a remarkable figure, equated with God
himself as the Demiurge and Pshai, but also accessible to man for immediate blessings, the true
reconciler between the material and the spiritual realms. Furthermore most of the syncretism applied
to him in these texts, though extreme at times, is theologically sound and logical when properly
analyzed.
V. Kmêph and Agathodaimon in the Hermetica and other works
In the Hermetic theology described by Iamblichus in his De Mysteriis chapter VIII (which he fit into
his elaborate Neoplatonic paradigm), Agathodaimon is not mentioned by that name, but reference is
made to Kmêph (Kematef), as the 2nd hypostasis in the divine hierarchy, called ‘the leader of the
celestial gods, whom he declares to be an intellect thinking himself, and turning his thoughts toward
himself’, equivalent to the Demiurgic Zeus in the later theology of Proclus.43 His title of leader of the
celestial Gods seems contradictory to his role as the self-reflecting intellect, but in fact it shows his
manifold nature. The self reflecting intellect fits in well into his symbolic form as the Ouroboros (a
42
43
Brian Copenhaver, Hermetica (Cambridge 1995), 167
Dennis Clark, Iamblichus’ Egyptian Neoplatonic Theology in De Mysteriis, in The International Journal of the Platonic
Tradition 2 (BRILL 2008), 188
fitting symbol of self reflection and absorption), while his title ‘leader of the celestial gods’ is used by
the emperor Julian44 with reference to Helios, and so we again come full circle to KmêphAgathodaimon as both an exalted and remote creator, and solar demiurge linking the lower and
higher. The Platonic demiurge orders the components of the cosmos, and links the physical and
intelligible realms45, i.e. the world of forms.
Kmêph may have been the origin of the Ouroboros serpent, as he occurs in this form in one myth46.
This form fits in well not only with his nature as described in Iamblichus, but also with his
embodiment of eternity which is attested by Plutarch in his Iside et Osiride, chapter 2147: “Also they
say that all the other Egyptians pay the agreed assessment for the entombment of the animals held in
honour, but that the inhabitants of the Theban territory only do not contribute because they believe
in no mortal god, but only in the god whom they call Kneph, whose existence had no beginning and
shall have no end”.
Outside of Iamblichus’ Hermetic theology, in the extant Hermetica Agathodaimon is only
mentioned a few times, not as a divine hypostasis, but one of the teachers, like Hermes, Asclepius,
Isis, etc. According to a Byzantine reference quoting older texts, he was the father of Hermes
Trismegistos himself48. In surviving Hermetic fragments, we find him teaching Osiris on the nature
of God and creation49; in one interesting fragment preserved by an Islamic writer50, Agathodaimon
teaches that the first principles were 5: Creator, reason, soul, space, void.
One particular passage that may be referring to Agathodaimon or Pshai as an agent of creation
occurs in Corpus Hermeticum 1, which preserves vestiges of Egyptian creation theology (albeit
heavily modified), with the primeval abyss: “I saw an endless vision in which everything became light
- clear and joyful - and in seeing the vision I came to love it. After a little while, darkness arose
separately and descended - fearful and gloomy - coiling sinuously so that it looked to me like a
44
Jeffrey Kupperman, Living Theurgy (Avalonia 2013), 115
45
Kupperman, Living Theurgy, 116
46
Clark Egyptian 178
47
Frank Babbitt, Plutarch’s Moralia (Loeb, 1957) 55
48
Copenhaver, Hermetica XVI
49
Walter Scott, Hermetica Volume 1 (Shambhala 1993), 545, 547
50
Scott Hermetica, 549
<snake>. Then the darkness changed into something of a watery nature, indescribably agitated and
smoking like a fire...”51.
Finally, the Agathodaimon is also mentioned in the dream vision of Zosimus, the Greco-Egyptian
alchemist, but as an entirely different personage: “And again I saw an old man of hair so white my
eyes were blinded by the whiteness. His name was Agathodaemon. And the white old man, turning,
looked on me for a whole hour. And I asked him, "Show me the right way." He did not turn toward
me but hastened to go on the right way. And going and coming in this manner he quickly effected
the altar. As I went up to the altar I saw the white old man. He was cast into the mortifications. O
Creator-gods of celestial natures -- straightaway the flames took him up entire, which is a terrible
story, my brother. For from the great energy of the mortifications his eyes became full with blood.”52
VI. Conclusion
As we have explored in this article, the Agathodaimon was the quintessential syncretistic deity of late
antique religion, but managed to retain solid roots in Egyptian and Greek theology. I will conclude
with a simple illustrative table, showing Agathodaimon’s component deities, to shed some light on
the complex syncretism in visible form. This is by no means complete or exhaustive, but I hope it
may prove useful to the reader:
Primary
Pshai
Greek Agathodaimon
Zeus Meilichos
Kematef
Prê\Helios
Zeus\Serapis
51
Copenhaver, Hermetica, 1
52
Michael Palmer, Io Magazine (North Atlantic Books, 1983), 9
Secondary
Thoth\Hermes
Sobek
Horus
Asclepius