DAEMONES (SPIRITS)

Daemon is the Latin word for the Ancient Greek daimon (δαίμων: "god", "godlike", "power",
"fate"), which originally referred to a lesser deity or guiding spirit; the daemons of ancient
Greek religion and mythology and of later Hellenistic religion and philosophy. The word is
derived from Proto-Indo-European *daimon "provider, divider (of fortunes or destinies)",
from the root *da- "to divide". Daimons were possibly seen as the souls of men of the
golden age acting as tutelary deities

Daemons are benevolent or benign nature spirits, beings of the same nature as both mortals
and deities, similar to ghosts, chthonic heroes, spirit guides, forces of nature, or the deities
themselves (see Plato's Symposium). According to Hesiod's myth, "great and powerful
figures were to be honoured after death as a daimon… Daimon is not so much a type of
quasi-divine being, according to Burkert, but rather a non-personified "peculiar mode" of
their activity.

Daemones was also as (personified spirits) of the human condition and abstract concepts
formed a large part of the Greek pantheon of gods. Their names are simply capitalized
nouns so, for example, Eros is "Love" and Thanatus is "Death".

EROS was the mischievous god of love, a minion and constant companion of the goddess
Aphrodite.

Eventually Eros was multiplied by ancient poets and artists into a host of Erotes (Roman
Cupides). The singular Eros, however, remained distinct in myth. It was he who lit the flame
of love in the hearts of the gods and men, armed with either a bow and arrows or a flaming
torch. Eros was often portrayed as the disobedient but fiercely loyal child of Aphrodite.

DIKE (Dicé) was the goddess of justice, fair judgements and the rights established by
custom and law.

She was one of the three Horai (Horae), goddesses of the

seasons, and keepers of the gates of heaven. Her sisters
were Eunomia (Good Order) and Eirene (Peace). Like her
siblings, she probably also represented an aspect of
springtime growth. Dike was identified with Dikaiosyne (RIghteousness) and Astraia
(Astraea) (the Contellation Virgo). Her opposite number was Adikia (Adicia) (Injustice).

ERIS was the goddess or personified spirit

(daimona) of strife, discord, contention and
rivalry. She was often portrayed, more
specifically, as the daimona of the strife of war,
haunting the battlefield and delighting in human
bloodshed.

Because of Eris' disagreeable nature she was the

only goddess not to be invited to the wedding of Peleus and Thetis. When she turned up
anyway and was refused admittance, she raged and threw a golden apple amongst the
goddesses inscribed "To the fairest." Three laid claim to it--Hera, Aphrodite and Athena--and
in their rivalry brought about the events leading up to the Trojan War.

Eris was closely identified with the war-goddess Enyo. Homer uses the names
interchangeably. Her Roman name was Discordia.

GERAS was the personified spirit (daimon) of old age,

one of the malevolent spirits spawned by the goddess
Nyx (Night).

He was depicted as a tiny, shrivelled-up old man.

Geras' opposite number was Hebe, the goddess of
youth.

HEBE was the goddess of youth and the cupbearer of the gods who served ambrosia at the
heavenly feast. She was also the patron goddess of the young bride and an attendant of
the goddess Aphrodite

Herakles (Heracles) received Hebe in marriage upon his ascension to Olympos, a wedding
which reconciled the hero with Hebe's mother Hera.

In Greek vase painting Hebe was depicted either as the bride of Herakles, or the cupbearer
of the gods, pouring ambrosia from a pitcher. Sometimes she had wings like the goddesses
Iris and Nike.
Hebe's male counterpart was the boy Ganymedes and her opposite number was Geras (Old
Age). She may have been equated with Selene's daughter Pandeia. Her Roman name was
Juventas.

HYGEIA was the goddess of good health. She was a daughter and
attendant of the medicine-god Asklepios (Asclepius), and a
companion of the goddess Aphrodite. Her sisters included
Panakeia (Panacea) (Cure-All) and Iaso (Remedy).

Hygeia, the goddess of health, sanitation and hygiene, was the

stepdaughter of Asclepius. She was worshipped alongside
Asclepius in all his healing sanctuaries, or Asclepions.
Since ancient times, healers have noticed the close relationship between cleanliness and
health. Pestilence and disease flourish where filth and impurities accumulate. Cleanse the
body, both inwardly and outwardly, through diet, exercise, lifestyle and physical regimen,
and most diseases are greatly ameliorated, or vanish of their own accord.

HYPNOS was the god or personified spirit (daimon) of sleep. He dwelt in Erebos, the land
of eternal darkness beyond the gates of the rising sun, and rose into the sky each night in
the train of his mother Nyx (Night).

Hypnos was often paired with his twin brother

Thanatos (Peaceful Death), and the Oneiroi
(Dreams) were his brothers or sons.

Hypnos was depicted as a young man with wings

on his shoulders or brow. His attributes included
either a horn of sleep-inducing opium, a poppy-stem, a branch dripping water from the river
Lethe (Forgetfulness), or an inverted torch. His Roman equivalent was Somnus or Sopor.

LYSSA was the goddess or personified spirit (daimona) of mad rage, fury, crazed frenzy
and, in animals, rabies. The Athenians spelt her name Lytta.

Lyssa was a figure of Athenian tragedy. In

Aeschylus she appears as an agent of Dionysos sent
to drive the Minyades mad, and in Euripides she is
sent by Hera to inflict Herakles with madness.
Greek vase-painting depicts her standing beside
Aktaion (Actaeon) as he is torn apart by his
maddened hounds. In this scene she appears as a
women dressed in a short skirt and crowned with a
dog's-head cap representing the madness of rabies.

Lyssa was closley related to the Maniai (Maniae), the goddesses of mania and madness. Her
Roman equivalents were Ira, Furor and Rabies. Sometimes she was multiplied into a host of
Irae and Furores.
MNEMOSYNE was the Titan goddess of memory and
remembrance and the inventress of language and
words.

As a Titan daughter of Ouranos (Uranus, Heaven),

Mnemosyne was also a goddess of time. She represented
the rote memorisation required to preserve the stories
of history and the sagas of myth before the introduction
of writing. In this role she was the mother of the Mousai (Muses) who were originally patron
goddesses of poets of the oral tradition.

Finally Mnemosyne was a minor oracular goddess like her sister-Titanesses. She presided
over the underground oracle of Trophonios (Trophonius) in Boiotia (Boeotia).

NEMESIS was the goddess of indignation against, and retribution for, evil deeds and
undeserved good fortune. She was a personification of the resentment aroused in men by
those who commited crimes with apparent impunity, or who had inordinate good fortune.

Nemesis directed human affairs in such a way as to maintain equilibrium. Her name means
she who distributes or deals out. Happiness and unhappiness were measured out by her,
care being taken that happiness was not too frequent or too excessive. If this happened,
Nemesis could bring about losses and suffering. As one who checked extravagant favours by
Tykhe (Tyche) (Fortune), Nemesis was regarded as an avenging or punishing divinity.

In myth Nemesis was particularly concerned with matters of love. She appears as an
avenging agent in the stories of Narkissos and Nikaia, whose callous actions brought about
the death of their wooers. In some versions of the Trojan War, she was the mother of
Helene, and is shown in scenes of her seduction

NIKE (Nicé) was the winged goddess of victory--victory both in war and in peaceful
competition. When Zeus was gathering allies at the start of the Titan War, Styx brought
her four children Nike (Victory), Zelos (Rivalry), Kratos (Cratus Strength) and Bia (Force)
into the god's service.
Nike was appointed his charioteer and together the four became sentinels of Zeus' throne.

Nike was depicted in ancient Greek vase painting with a variety of attributes including a
wreath or sash to crown a victor, an oinochoe and phiale (bowl and cup) for libations, a
thymiaterion (incense burner), an altar, and a lyre for the celebration of victory in song.
In scenes of the War of the Giants she appears as the charioteer of Zeus. In mosaic art and
coins Nike is often shown holding a palm branch as a symbol of victory.

Nike was closely identified with the goddess Athena and at times was little more than an
attribute of the goddess. Nike was sometimes multiplied into a host of Nikai (Nicae,
Victories).by Paris pointing an accusing finger at the girl.

PEITHO was the goddess or personified spirit (daimona) of persuasion, seduction and
charming speech. She was a handmaiden and herald of the goddess Aphrodite.

Peitho was usually depicted as a woman with her

hand raised in the act of persuasion or fleeing from
the scene of a rape. Her attributes were a ball of
twine and a dove.

PLOUTOS (Plutus) was the god of wealth. At first he was

solely concerned with agricultural bounty but later came to
represent wealth in general.

Ploutos was born to the goddess Demeter after she lay with
the hero Iasion in a thrice-ploughed field. The young god was
blinded by Zeus so he would distribute wealth indiscriminately
and not favour the good.

Ploutos was usually depicted as a boy holding a cornucopia full of grain. In sculpture he was
portrayed as an infant in the arms of Eirene (Irene), goddess of peace, or Tykhe (Tyche),
goddess of good fortune.
Ploutos was closely identified with Plouton (Pluton), the god Haides in his guise as lord of
the earth's hidden bounty. Plouton was also depicted holding a cornucopia.

POINE (Poena) was the personififed spirit (daimona) of

retribution, vengeance, recompense, punishment and penalty
for the crime of murder and manslaughter.

The word poinê also referred to the bloodmoney paid to the

victim's family to expiation the crime of murder. She was
sometimes pluralized into multiple Poinai (Poenae).

Poine was closely connected with Praxidike the "Exacter of

Justice." Like that daimona she was sometimes described as
the mother of the Erinyes, goddesses concerned with avenging
filial crimes.

POTHOS (Pothus) was the god of sexual longing, yearning and

desire. He was one of the winged love-gods known as Erotes.

Late classical writers describe him as a son of Zephyros (the

west wind) and Iris (the rainbow) representing the variegated
passions of love.

SOTERIA was the goddess or personified spirit (daimona) of

safety, and deliverance and preservation from harm.

Her male counterparts were the daimon Soter and the god
Dionysos Soter. The Romans named her Salus (Preservation

THANATOS was the god or personified spirit (daimon) of

non-violent death. His touch was gentle, likened to that of
his twin brother Hypnos (Sleep).

Violent death was the domain of Thanatos' blood-craving

sisters, the Keres, spirits of slaughter and disease.

Thanatos plays a prominent role in two myths. Once when

he was sent to fetch Alkestis (Alcestis) to the underworld, he
was driven off by Herakles in a fight. Another time he was captured by the criminal Sisyphos
(Sisyphus) who trapped him in a sack so as to avoid death.
DEIMOS and PHOBOS were the gods or personified
spirits (daimones) of fear. Deimos represented
terror and dread, while his brother Phobos was
panic, flight and rout. They were sons of the war-
god Ares who accompanied their father into battle,
driving his chariot and spreading fear in his wake.
As sons of Aphrodite, goddess of love, the twins
also represented fear of loss.

CLASSIFICATION OF DAEMONES OR SPIRIT PERSONIFICATIONS

The abstract personifications can be divided into seven broad categories:

1. Emotions and states of mind, e.g. Love and Hate, Sexual-Desire, Affection, Anger,
Harmony and Discord, Joy and Grief, Laughter, Hope and Fear, Indignation, Delusion;

2. The human condition, e.g. Birth and Death, Sleep and Dreams, Pleasure and Pain, Youth
and Old Age, Wealth and Poverty, Hunger and Disease, Ease and Toil, Fate and Opportunity;

3. Qualities, e.g. Strength, Beauty and Grace, Wisdom, Stupidity;

4. Morality, e.g. Valour, Modesty, Moderation, Hubris, Mercy, Truth, Lies, Impiety, Justice,
Oath, Respect, Insolence;

5. Voice, e.g. Eloquence, Persuasion, Criticism, Lies, Quarrels, Prayer, Counsel, Curse,
Lament, Rumour, Message, Fame, Battle-Cry;

6. Actions, e.g. Force, Rivalry, Victory, Labor, Contest, Fighting, Murder;

7. State of society, e.g. Peace and War, Good-Governance, Law and Lawlessness, Justice and
Injustice.
Most of these divinities were pure personification with little or no mythology. Only a
handful achieved full characterisation, including Eris (Strife) and Hypnus (Sleep). A few
including Eros (Love), Nike (Victory) and Nemesis (Indignation) achieved cult status, with
minor altars and precincts dedicated to them in historical times.

The first section of this page lists the Spirits (or Daemones) by their Greek names, the
second gives their Latin counterparts. After each there follows an English translation of the
name-word. In many cases multiple terms are used to clarify the meaning of the word,
especially moral concepts which do not translate easily.