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In ancient Greek religion
Ancient Greek religion

Greek religion encompasses the collection of beliefs and rituals practiced in ancient Greece in the form of both popular public religion and cult ....
, Agathos Daimon or Agathodaemon (Greek
Greek language

Greek is an Indo-European languages native to the southern Balkan peninsula, the language of the Greek people. It forms an independent branch within Indo-European....
: a?a??? da?µ??, "very good spirit") was a daimon
Daimon

Daimon may refer to:...
 or presiding spirit of the vineyard
Vineyard

A vineyard is a plantation of grape-bearing vines, grown mainly for winemaking, but also raisins, table grapes and non-alcoholic grape juice. The science, practice and study of vineyard production is known as viticulture....
s and grain
Cereal

Cereals, or cereal grains, are mostly Poaceae cultivated for their edible brans or fruit seeds . Cereal grains are grown in greater quantities and provide more energy worldwide than any other type of crop; they are therefore staple foods....
fields and a personal companion spirit, similar to the Roman genius
Genius (mythology)

In Roman mythology, every man had a genius and every woman a juno .Originally, the genii and junones were ancestors who guarded over their descendants....
, ensuring good luck
Luck

Luck is a chance happening, or that which happens beyond a person's control. Luck can be good or bad ....
, health
Health

In 1948, the World Health Organisation defined health as ?a state of complete physical, mental, and social well-being and not merely the absence of disease or infirmity.? ...
 and wisdom
Wisdom

Wisdom is knowledge, understanding, experience, discretion, and Intuition , along with a capacity to apply these qualities well towards finding solutions to problems....
. Though he was little noted in Greek mythology
Greek mythology

Greek mythology is the body of myths and legends belonging to the Ancient Greece concerning their List of Greek mythological figures#Immortals and Greek hero cult, Cosmology#Metaphysical cosmology, and the origins and significance of their own cult and ritual practices....
 (Pausanias
Pausanias (geographer)

Pausanias was a Roman Greece traveller and geographer of the 2nd century AD, who lived in the times of Hadrian, Antoninus Pius and Marcus Aurelius....
 conjectured that the name was a mere epithet of Zeus
Zeus

Zeus in Greek mythology is the king of the gods, the ruler of Mount Olympus and the god of the sky father and List of thunder gods. His symbols are the thunderbolt, eagle, bull , and oak....
), he was prominent in Greek folk religion; it was customary to drink or pour out a few drops of unmixed wine
Wine

Wine is an alcoholic beverage often made of fermentation grape juice. The natural chemical balance of grapes is such that they can ferment without the addition of sugars, acids, enzymes or other nutrients....
 to honor him in every symposium
Symposium

Symposium originally referred to a drinking party but has since come to refer to any academic conference, or a style of university class characterized by an openly discursive rather than lecture and question–answer format....
 or formal banquet
Banquet

Image:State Banquet Serving the Peacock Fac simile of a Woodcut in an edition of Virgil folio.A BANQUET is a large public meal or feast, complete with main courses and desserts....
.






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In ancient Greek religion
Ancient Greek religion

Greek religion encompasses the collection of beliefs and rituals practiced in ancient Greece in the form of both popular public religion and cult ....
, Agathos Daimon or Agathodaemon (Greek
Greek language

Greek is an Indo-European languages native to the southern Balkan peninsula, the language of the Greek people. It forms an independent branch within Indo-European....
: a?a??? da?µ??, "very good spirit") was a daimon
Daimon

Daimon may refer to:...
 or presiding spirit of the vineyard
Vineyard

A vineyard is a plantation of grape-bearing vines, grown mainly for winemaking, but also raisins, table grapes and non-alcoholic grape juice. The science, practice and study of vineyard production is known as viticulture....
s and grain
Cereal

Cereals, or cereal grains, are mostly Poaceae cultivated for their edible brans or fruit seeds . Cereal grains are grown in greater quantities and provide more energy worldwide than any other type of crop; they are therefore staple foods....
fields and a personal companion spirit, similar to the Roman genius
Genius (mythology)

In Roman mythology, every man had a genius and every woman a juno .Originally, the genii and junones were ancestors who guarded over their descendants....
, ensuring good luck
Luck

Luck is a chance happening, or that which happens beyond a person's control. Luck can be good or bad ....
, health
Health

In 1948, the World Health Organisation defined health as ?a state of complete physical, mental, and social well-being and not merely the absence of disease or infirmity.? ...
 and wisdom
Wisdom

Wisdom is knowledge, understanding, experience, discretion, and Intuition , along with a capacity to apply these qualities well towards finding solutions to problems....
. Though he was little noted in Greek mythology
Greek mythology

Greek mythology is the body of myths and legends belonging to the Ancient Greece concerning their List of Greek mythological figures#Immortals and Greek hero cult, Cosmology#Metaphysical cosmology, and the origins and significance of their own cult and ritual practices....
 (Pausanias
Pausanias (geographer)

Pausanias was a Roman Greece traveller and geographer of the 2nd century AD, who lived in the times of Hadrian, Antoninus Pius and Marcus Aurelius....
 conjectured that the name was a mere epithet of Zeus
Zeus

Zeus in Greek mythology is the king of the gods, the ruler of Mount Olympus and the god of the sky father and List of thunder gods. His symbols are the thunderbolt, eagle, bull , and oak....
), he was prominent in Greek folk religion; it was customary to drink or pour out a few drops of unmixed wine
Wine

Wine is an alcoholic beverage often made of fermentation grape juice. The natural chemical balance of grapes is such that they can ferment without the addition of sugars, acids, enzymes or other nutrients....
 to honor him in every symposium
Symposium

Symposium originally referred to a drinking party but has since come to refer to any academic conference, or a style of university class characterized by an openly discursive rather than lecture and question–answer format....
 or formal banquet
Banquet

Image:State Banquet Serving the Peacock Fac simile of a Woodcut in an edition of Virgil folio.A BANQUET is a large public meal or feast, complete with main courses and desserts....
. In Aristophanes
Aristophanes

Aristophanes , son of Philippus, of the deme Cydathenaus, was a prolific and much acclaimed comedy playwright of ancient Athens. Eleven of his forty plays have come down to us virtually complete....
' Peace
Peace (play)

Peace is an Athenian Old Comedy written and produced by the Greek playwright Aristophanes. It was staged in 421 BC and was awarded second prize at the City Dionysia festival....
, 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." A temple dedicated to him was situated on the road from Megalopolis
Megalopolis, Greece

Ancient Megalopolis, or now Megal?poli is a town in the western part of the prefecture of Arcadia. "Megalopolis" is a Greek word for Great city....
 to Maenalus
Mainalo

The Mainalo or Menalo , older forms: Mainalon, Mainalos, Menalon, Menalos, rarely Menalus or Mainalos, Latin forms: Maenalos and Maenalus, rarely Maenalon is a mountain range that spans about 15 to 20 from north to south and from east to west from 5 to 10 km....
 in Arcadia
Arcadia

Arcadia, Arkad?a , or Arcady is a region of Greece in the Peloponnesus. It takes its name from the mythological character Arcas....
.

Agathos Daimon was the spouse or companion of Tyche
Tyche

In Ancient Greek religion, Tyche was the presiding tutelary deity that governed the fortune and prosperity of a city, its destiny. Increasingly during the Hellenistic period, cities had their own specific iconic version of Tyche, wearing a mural crown ....
 Agathe ("Good Fortune"; Latin, and dialect, Agatha
Agatha

Agatha may refer to:*Agatha , a given name*Agatha , a 1979 film about Agatha Christie*Agatha , a genus of gastropods*Agatha , a fictional character in the Pok?mon franchise...
); "Tyche we know at Lebadeia
Livadeia

Livadeia is a city in central Greece. It is the capital of the prefecture Boeotia Prefecture. Levadia is located 130 km NW of Athens, E of Nafpaktos, ESE of Amfissa and Desfina, SE of Lamia and west of Chalkida....
 as the wife of the Agathos Daimon, the Good or Rich Spirit." His numinous presence could be represented in art as a serpent
Serpent (symbolism)

Serpent is a word of Latin origin that is commonly used in a specifically mythology or religion context, signifying a snake that is to be regarded not as a mundane natural phenomenon nor as an object of scientific zoology, but as the bearer of some symbolic value....
 or more concretely as a young man bearing a cornucopia
Cornucopia

The cornucopia is a symbol of food and abundance dating back to the 5th century BC, also referred to as horn of plenty, Horn of Amalthea, and harvest cone....
 and a bowl in one hand, and a poppy
Poppy

A poppy is any of a number of showy flowers, typically withone per Plant stem, belonging to the Papaveraceae. They include a number of attractive wildflower species with showy flowers found growing singularly or in large groups; many species are also grown in gardens....
 and an ear of grain in the other. The agathodaemon was later adapted into a general daemon
Daemon (mythology)

The words daemon, d?mon, are Latinized spellings of the Greek language da???? , used purposely today to distinguish the daemons of Ancient Greek religion, good or malevolent "supernatural beings between mortals and gods, such as inferior divinities and ghosts of dead heroes" , from the Judeo-Christian usage demon, a malignant...
 of fortuna
Fortuna

Fortuna can mean:*Fortuna, the Roman goddess of luck Geographical*19 Fortuna, an asteroid*Fortuna, California, a town located on the north coast of California...
, particularly of the continued abundance of a family's good food
Food

Food is any substance, usually composed of carbohydrates, fats, proteins and water, that can be Eating or Drinking by an animal or human for nutrition or pleasure....
 and drink
Drink

A drink, or beverage, is a liquid specifically prepared for human consumption. In addition to basic needs, beverages form part of the culture of human society....
.

In the syncretic atmosphere
Syncretism

Syncretism consists of the attempt to reconcile disparate or contrary beliefs, often while melding practices of various schools of thought. The term may refer to attempts to merge and analogy several originally discrete traditions, especially in the theology and mythology of religion, and thus assert an underlying unity allowing for an inclu...
 of Late Antiquity
Late Antiquity

Late Antiquity is a periodization used by historians to describe the transitional centuries from Classical antiquity to the Middle Ages, in both mainland Europe and the Mediterranean world: generally from the end of the Roman Empire's Crisis of the Third Century to the Islamic conquests and the re-organization of the Byzantine Empire under...
, Agathodaemon could be bound up with Egyptian bringers of security and good fortune: a gem carved with magic emblems bears the images of Serapis
Serapis

Serapis was a Syncretism Hellenistic-ancient Egypt god in classical antiquity. His most renowned temple was at Alexandria,. Under Ptolemy I of Egypt, efforts were made to integrate Egyptian religion with that of their Hellenic rulers....
 with crocodile, sun-lion and Osiris
Osiris

Osiris was an Egyptian mythology, usually called the god of the Afterlife.Osiris is one of the oldest gods for whom records have been found; one of the oldest known attestations of his name is on the Palermo Stone of around 2500 BC....
 mummy surrounded by the lion-headed snake Cnum-Agathodaemon-Aion, with Harpocrates
Harpocrates

In Greek mythology, Harpocrates is the god of silence. Harpocrates was adapted by the Ancient Greece from the Ancient Egypt Horus. To the Ancient Egypt, Horus represented the new-born Sun, rising each day at dawn....
 on the reverse.

External links

  • Greek and Latin sources in translation