Abstract
The daimones evoked in Les Travaux et les Jours are collective and mandated by Zeus. The only attestation of the word in the Theogony appears in the singular. It concerns Phaethon, " the luminous ", son of Eos, the goddess Aurora, and Kephalos, a mortal human [1]. Abducted by Aphrodite in the flower of his youth, the goddess made him a divine daimōn, " ministering from within in her divine temples " (986-991). Other cases of human abduction by a goddess are listed by the same Aphrodite in thepseudo-Homeric Hymn that honors her, when she tells Anchises that her family has experienced at least two events of this type, with Ganymede abducted by Zeus and Tithonos abducted by Eos. These humans " come closest to the gods in appearance and bearing "(HhomAph,201-202; cf. 218-219). Such comparisons allow us to consider both similarities and distinctions with the case of Phaethon as outlined in the Theogony. For, while he too enjoys a complexion close to the gods and the flower of youth, the destiny reserved for him by Aphrodite lies in her sanctuaries, and thus among men. This status of " guardian of the temple " refines the notion of " power of action of a divinity among men " identified so far. A comparison with certain priestly profiles attested in theIliad and, much later, in Pausanias, also helps to confirm the potential proximity between priest/priestess and divinity served, and to understand the association between the status of nēopolos, " serving the temple ", and that of Phaethon's daimōn in the Theogony.
