Editing Daimon (section)

==Description==
{{See also|Tutelary deity#Near East and Mediterranean}}

Daimons are lesser [[divinity|divinities]] or spirits, often [[personification]]s of [[abstraction|abstract]] concepts, beings of the same nature as both mortals and deities, similar to [[ghost]]s, [[chthonic]] heroes, [[spirit guide]]s, forces of nature, or the deities themselves (see Plato's ''[[Symposium (Plato)|Symposium]]''). According to Hesiod's myth, "great and powerful figures were to be honoured after death as a daimon…"<ref name="Burkert1985"/> A daimon is not so much a type of quasi-divine being, according to [[Walter Burkert]], but rather a non-personified "peculiar mode" of their activity.{{Citation needed|date = May 2021}}

In [[Hesiod]]'s ''[[Theogony]]'', [[Phaethon (son of Eos)|Phaëton]] becomes an incorporeal ''daimon'' or a divine spirit,<ref>"ποιήσατο, δαίμονα δῖον"; Hesiod, ''Theogony'' [https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text;jsessionid=ED319EE8D7A9AC490B9C44B7C684D2AB?doc=Hes.+Th.+980&fromdoc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.01.0129 991.]</ref> but, for example, the ills released by [[Pandora]] are deadly deities, ''[[Keres (mythology)|keres]]'', not ''daimones''.<ref name="Burkert1985"/> From Hesiod also, the people of the [[Golden Age]] were transformed into ''daimones'' by the will of [[Zeus]], to serve mortals benevolently as their guardian spirits; "good beings who dispense riches…[nevertheless], they remain invisible, known only by their acts".<ref>Hesiod, ''[[Works and Days]]'' 122-26.</ref> The ''daimones'' of venerated [[Greek hero|hero]]es were localized by the construction of shrines, so as not to wander restlessly, and were believed to confer protection and good fortune on those offering their respects.<ref name="Burkert1985"/>

One tradition of Greek thought, which found agreement in the mind of [[Plato]], was of a daimon which existed within a person from their birth, and that each individual was obtained by a singular daimon prior to their birth [[Cleromancy|by way of lot]].<ref name="Burkert1985"/>