Daimonology of the PGM:

Session 2.5
July 12, 2023
Brian P. Alt, PhD
[email protected]
Terminology (2.5)
1. epithetos (ἐπίθετος) – adj. additional, “put upon;” n. epithet, a term used as a qualifier of the name of a
deity in order to designate said deity in a particular aspect or role; e.g., “eye of the sun”
2. pantheism – god(s) is/are identical with the cosmos/all; prominent in Stoicism; gods are immanent
only
3. panentheism – the cosmos is entirely in the god(s), but the gods also transcend the cosmos; gods are
both immanent and transcendent
4. phulaktērion (φυλακτήριον) – protective amulet or spoken formula; phylactery
5. pathos (πάθος) – that which happens to a person; experience, misfortune, suffering, emotion, passion,
passivity
6. tukhē (τύχη) – fortune, providence (foresight or forethought: pronoia [πρόνοια])
7. agath-os/-ē/-on (ἀγαθός, -ή, -όν) – good (well-born, gentle, brave, capable)
8. kharaktēres (χαρακτῆρες) – magical symbols or pseudo-alphabetic signs
9. aiōn (αἰών) – lifetime, epoch, eternity; Pythagorean name for 10 (Theol. Arith. 59)
10. angelos (ἄγγελος) – messenger, envoy; semi-divine being or angel
11. psukhē (ψυχή) – life, soul, personality, psyche
12. pneuma (πνεῦμα) – wind, breath, breathed air; “spirit” (Latin spīritus: breath)
• In Jewish contexts (LXX), pneuma translates rúakh (roughly equivalent to Nous (Νοῦς), “mind”).
• Otherwise, pneuma is an intermediary between the immaterial soul (ψυχή) and the material body.
Agathos (Good) Daimon
PGM XIII.761-83, with parallels at PGM XII.238-67 and XXI.1-29:
• “Hither to me, you from the four winds, ruler of all, you who breathe breath
into human beings for the purpose of life. Yours is the hidden and unutterable
name…. The sun… and the moon… are your untiring eyes (ὀφθαλμοί…
ἀκάματοι) shining in the pupils of human beings. Heaven is your head, aether
your body, earth is your feet, and the water surrounding you is the Ocean, O
Agathos Daimon, you who beget good things and nourish the inhabited
world. Yours is the ever-flowing way of revelry…, you whose good
outpourings of the stars (οὗ αἱ ἀγαθαὶ ἀπόρροιαι τῶν ἀστέρων) are Daimons
and Fortunes and Fates, from which are given wealth, healthy old age, the
blessing of children, good fortune, and a good burial.”
• The Greek phrase ὀφθαλμοί ἀκάματοι, “untiring/inexhaustible eyes,” is a
very close parallel to a hymn to Amun at Hibis Temple, in which the eyes of
Amun illuminate the day and night “without drying out throughout eternity”
(nn wSr=f xn D.t).
• PGM XIVa.9 = GEMF 16.109: “Agathos Daimon, the almighty, the four-
faced, highest daimon…” (τετραπροσώπου δαίμονος ὑψίστου).
• Solar Consecration (PGM IV.1596-1715): “Hither to me, you who rise from
the four winds, propitious Agathos Daimon, for whom heaven has become the
way of revelry…. you, the one standing nearby, Good Daimonion (Ἀγαθὸν
Δαιμόνιον)…”
Ogden, Daniel. Drakon: Dragon Myth and Serpent Cult in the Greek and Roman
Worlds. Oxford, UK: Oxford University Press, 2013. Agathos Daimon depicted in the Catacombs of
Kom El Shoqafa, Alexandria, Egypt
• On Abstinence from Killing Animals 2.38: “All the souls Neoplatonists (a scholarly term):
which, having issued from the universal soul, administer
large parts of regions below the moon (μεγάλα μέρη
διοικοῦσι τῶν ὑπὸ σελήνην τόπων), 1. Plotinus (c. 204/5 – 270 CE)
• “resting on their pneuma but controlling it by reason (κατὰ
λόγον), should be regarded as good daimons (δαίμονάς… 2. Porphyry of Tyre (c. 234 – c. 305 CE)
ἀγαθοὺς) who do everything for the benefit of those they
rule, 3. Iamblichus (c. 245 – c. 325 CE)
• “whether they are in charge of certain animals, or of crops …
that have been assigned to them, or of what happens for the
sake of these – showers of rain, moderate winds, fine 4. Proclus (8 February 412 – 17 April
weather, and the other things that work with them, and the
balance of seasons within the year; 485)
• “or again, for our sake, they are in charge of skills, or of all
kinds of education in the liberal arts, or of medicine
(ἰατρικῆς) and physical training (γυμναστικῆς) and other
such things. Translation adapted from: Gillian Clark. Porphyry: On
Abstinence from Killing Animals. London: Duckworth, 2000.
• “It is impossible for these daimons both to provide benefits
and also to cause harm to the same beings….
• “But the souls which do not control the pneuma adjacent to
them, but are mostly controlled by it, are for that very reason
too much carried away, when the angers (ὀργαί: dispositions,
moods) and desires (ἐπιθυμίαι) of the pneuma lead to
impulse (ὁρμή). These souls are also daimons, but may
reasonably be called maleficent (κακοεργοί).”
 “O Fortune and Daimon of this
place…” (PGM VII.505-28)
• Good Fortune and Good Daimon are often identified
with various local pairings of Egyptian deities
(perhaps an “epithet” rather than an identification?).
• Good Daimon as Shaï, Kematef, Amun, Osiris,
Sarapis, Sobek (Sokonopis at Narmouthis), all of
whom could be elevated (locally) to the role of
primordial first creator (or “monad”).
• Among the most popular gods of the household
during the Greco-Roman period.
• For Iamblichus, the seeming paradox of household
gods being identified with primordial creator gods is
merely an instance of the paradox of transcendent
gods being also immanent in their creation.
• Shenoute on Panopolis: “Woe to any man or woman
who gives thanks to demons, saying that ‘Today is the
worship of Shaï, or Shaï of the village, or Shaï of the
home…” (translated from Coptic in Frankfurter,
Christianizing Egypt [2018] p. 13).
• PDM xiv = GEMF 16.60: “Today’s Shaï, the lord of
today, the one whose hours are these…”
• Pictured: Good Daimon and Good Fortune on a
second century CE limestone votive relief (auctioned
in 2004).
Esoteric Structure of the Divine World
(or Monad, Dyad, and Triad, part 1)
Correspondences on the right are derived from Coffin
Texts 80.
Heliopolitan Ennead (group of nine gods):
1. Atum
2. Shu
3. Tefnut
4. Geb
5. Nut
6. Osiris
7. Isis
8. Seth
9. Nephthys
(10.) Horus

Most common Egyptian triad: (1) Father, (2) Mother,

(3) Child.
 Mediterranean Sea
Jerusalem

Alexandria
Rosetta

Naukratis
Buto

Sais
Busiris
Damietta

Tanis
Avaris
Pelusium
Rafah
Gaza

Mediterranean Sea
NW
N

NE
Wadi Natrun Bubastis
W E
Nile Delta
Jerusalem
SW

S
SE
Merimda Great Bitter
Lake
Heliopolis
Cairo
Giza
0 (km) 100

Sinai
0 (mi) 60

Saqqara
Memphis
Helwan
Dahshur

Faiyum Lower Timna

Egypt
Meydum

Lahun
Damietta Gaza
Herakleopolis Serabit al-Khadim Rosetta
Rafah
Bahariya Oasis Alexandria Buto
Beni Hasan
Sais Tanis Pelusium
Naukratis
Hermopolis
Amarna Busiris
Avaris
Asyut
Badari
Eastern Desert
Qau
NW
N

NE
Wadi Natrun Bubastis
Red Sea
Nile Delta
Western Desert Akhmim
W E
Thinis
Abydos

Kharga Oasis Naqada

Dendera
Koptos
Quseir
SW

S
SE
Merimda Great Bitter
Lake
Thebes
Heliopolis
Dakhla Oasis Tod
(Luxor and Karnak)

Upper Cairo
Giza
0 (km) 100

Egypt Sinai
Hierakonpolis 0 (mi) 60

Edfu
Saqqara
Memphis
Helwan
Dahshur

Lower
Kom Ombo

Timna
Aswan
First Cataract
Bernike Faiyum

Egypt
Dunqul Oasis Meydum

Lahun
Nabta Playa

Abu Simbel
Herakleopolis Serabit al-Khadim

Buhen

Second Cataract Kush

Bahariya Oasis
Nubian Desert

Third Cataract

Kerma
Beni Hasan
Kawa
Hermopolis
Amarna
Fourth Cataract

Napata Gebel Barkal

Fifth Cataract

Asyut
Badari
Eastern Desert
Meroe
 Beni Hasan

Mediterranean Sea Hermopolis

Amarna
Jerusalem

Damietta Gaza
Rosetta
Rafah
Alexandria Buto

Sais Tanis Pelusium

Asyut
Eastern Desert
Naukratis Busiris
Avaris

N
Wadi Natrun
Badari
NW NE Bubastis
W E
Nile Delta
Qau
SW

S
SE
Merimda Great Bitter
Lake
Heliopolis
Cairo
Giza
0 (km) 100

Sinai
0 (mi) 60

Saqqara
Memphis
Helwan

Red Sea
Dahshur

Lower
Western Desert
Timna
Faiyum
Akhmim
Egypt
Meydum

Lahun

Herakleopolis Serabit al-Khadim

Thinis
Bahariya Oasis
Abydos
Dendera
Quseir
Hermopolis
Beni Hasan
Kharga Oasis Naqada Koptos
Amarna

Asyut
Badari
Eastern Desert Thebes
Qau
Dakhla Oasis Tod
(Luxor and Karnak)

Red Sea
Upper
Western Desert Akhmim

Thinis
Abydos
Dendera
Quseir
Kharga Oasis Naqada Koptos

Egypt
Thebes Hierakonpolis
Dakhla Oasis Tod
(Luxor and Karnak)

Upper
Edfu
Egypt
Hierakonpolis

Edfu

Kom Ombo

Kom Ombo
Aswan
First Cataract
Bernike

Dunqul Oasis

Aswan
Nabta Playa
First Cataract
Bernike
Abu Simbel

Buhen

Dunqul Oasis
Second Cataract Kush

Nubian Desert

Third Cataract

Kerma

Nabta Playa
Kawa

Fourth Cataract

Napata Gebel Barkal

Abu Simbel
Fifth Cataract

Meroe
Buhen
 Monad, Dyad, and Triad (part 2)
Iamblichus On the Mysteries 8.2-3:
PGM XII.232-33 = GEMF 15.281-82: 1. “Monad emerging from the One,” self-begotten
Nous, Kmēph
1. ἐγώ εἰμι ὁ Ἥλιος ὁ δεδειχὼς φῶς, 2. Essentiality (ἡ οὐσιότης) and Essence (ἡ οὐσία)
I am the Sun (Rē-Atum) who has brought forth light, 3. The demiurgic Nous: Amun-Ptah-Osiris
4. Matter derived from Essentiality/Essence
2. ἐγώ εἰμι Ἀφροδείτη προσαγορευομένη Τῦφι,
I am Aphrodite, the one who is called Tuphi (Tefnut), Corpus Hermeticum 1 (Poimandres):
1. Poimandres, the first Nous
3. ἐγώ εἰμι ὁ ἅ[γ]ι[ο]ς ἐπίβολος ἀνέμων,
2. Nature (ἡ φύσις)
I am the holy impulse/sender of the winds (Shu),
3. The demiurge, second Nous, and Logos
4. ἐγώ εἰμι Κρόνος ὁ δεδειχὼ<ς> φῶς, 4. Four elements derived from Nature
I am Kronos (Gēb) who has brought forth light…
See p. 142 of Christian Bull (2018), The Tradition of
Hermes Trismegistus: The Egyptian Priestly Figure as a
Teacher of Hellenized Wisdom. Brill.
 Good Fortune (Renenet) and Good Daimon (Shaï)
• Diodorus Siculus (first century BCE) 1.17.4: “Now
after Osiris had established the affairs of Egypt and
turned the supreme power over to Isis his wife, they
say that he placed Hermes (i.e., Thoth) as counsellor
because his prudence raised him above the king’s other
friends….”
• Korē Kosmou (SH 23) 32.2-7: (Isis:) “Pay attention,
my son Horus, for you listen to a hidden teaching
which my forefather Kamēphis (Καμῆφις) happened to
hear from Hermes (i.e., Thoth), the recorder of all
deeds. I in turn received the tradition from Kamēphis,
progenitor of all, when he honored (ἐτίμησε) me with
the perfect black (land). Now you hear it from me.”
• PGM VII.492-93: “I call upon you, O Mistress Isis,
whom Agathos Daimon appointed to rule in the perfect
black (land).”
• Compare the “Lunar Prayer” (PGM VII.756-94): “I call
upon you, the all-formed and many-named one, two-
horned goddess Mēnē, whose true form no one knows
except the one who made the entire cosmos, Iaō, who Good Fortune and Good Daimon with more Hellenistic
fashioned you into the twenty-eight figures of the attributes (Isis and Sarapis). National Museum of
cosmos, so that you might bring to completion every Antiquities, Leiden (Inv. F 1960/9.1)
form and distribute breath to every animal and plant,
that it might flourish…”
Data (and Methodology) for this Course:
Preliminary findings: TLG = Thesaurus Linguae Graecae:
1. Corpse-daimon (νεκυδαίμων and variants): 40 https://stephanus.tlg.uci.edu/
2. Protection or exorcism against: 21
3. Agathos Daimon (ἀγαθὸς δαίμων): 19 Other intermediate beings include:
4. A name (or god) whom the daimons fear (literary): 17 • Messengers/Angels (and Archangels)
5. Earth/underworld (χθόνιος, καταχθόνιος): 15 • Fortunes (τύχαι: see, e.g., PGM IV.665-66, XII.254)
6. Daimons of place (and time): 14 • Fates (μοῖραι: in PGM often identified with decans)
7. “Send your daimon” (and variants): 11 • Glories (δόξαι: see, e.g., PGM I.199, IV.1052)
8. Alongside other types of intermediary: 9 • Heroes (ἥρωες as illustrious ancestors)
9. “The Headless Daimon” (ὁ ἀκέφαλος δαίμων): 6 • Rulers/Archons (usually planets)
10. Wicked/Evil Daimons: 4 • Guards (φύλακες: PGM XIII.788, XXI.20)
11. Personal Daimon (ὁ ἴδιος / οἰκεῖος δαίμων): 3* • “time-rulers” (χρονοκράτορες) – hours, days, decans,
etc.
12. Barudaimon (βαρυδαίμων: “[pressed by] heavy fate”): 2
13. Assistant (parhedros) Daimon (πάρεδρος δαίμων): 1*

Total: 162 (of 213, with 51 so-far uncategorized)

Add: “daimon” as an epithet of the highest gods, daimon of daimons,
“great(est) daimon,” astrological categories