Themis, a study of the social origins of Greek ... - Warburg Institute

294 Daimon and Hero [ch.
Wool of the sheep was there, fruit of the vine,
Libations and the treasured store of grapes
And manifold fruits were there, mingled with grain
And oil of olive and fair, curious combs
Of wax, compacted by the murmuring bee.
Following Porphyry, I explained the 2 xln ^ar P^ a and the
panspermia, as simple fare for simple-hearted gods. But its gist
is really magical, and the rite long preceded any god however
primitive and gentle, it preceded even the Agathos Daimon.
The Anthesteria was then a feast of the revocation of souls
and the blossoming of plants, a feast of the great reincarnation
cycle of man and nature. One final point of cardinal importance
remains to be noted— the god in whose honour the panspermia
was offered.
Hermes Chthonios as Agathos Daimon.
The scholiast on the Frogs 1
, already quoted, makes, in commenting
on the Chytrci, a second statement of scarcely less interest
than the first. Not only does 'no one taste of the Pot' but
They have the custom of sacrificing at this feast, not to any of the
Olympian gods at all, but to Hermes Chthonios.
We are thankful to find the Olympians refraining for once; as
a rule they are only too ready to lay greedy hands on a magical
rite, pervert its meaning and turn it into a 'gift- sacrifice' for
themselves. Had Hermes Chthonios been an Olympian we must
have postponed the consideration of him to the next chapter, but
Hermes Chthonios, it is expressly said, is no Olympian, he is— it
is perhaps by now scarcely necessary to state it—our ancient
friend, the Agathos Daimon.
Photius- tells us in so many w T ords :
'Hermes a kind of drink
as of the good Daimon and Zeus Soter'; but evidence abounds
more deep-seated than this hitherto enigmatic yet curiously
explicit gloss.
It was the Agathos Daimon who presided over the Pithoigia
^ of the wine-casks ; it is Hermes who with magic rhabdos and
1 Ad Ar. Ran. 218 ...tivtiv avro'is edos ^x 01"71 T^v P-*" OeCov ovdevi to irapairav, 'Epfirj
5i x6° vi( i>-
2 s.v. "EtpfxrjS woaews etoos ' is dyadov dai/iovos xai Aids cruTrjpos. I owe this
evidence to Professor Murray.
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