Plutarch And Daemons

Once asked what a daemon is, what generally comes to mind is an evil guy trying to tempt people into doing things but the Greeks had a different concept of what a daemon is. When comparing what daemons are, there are variations based on area and time period. Alpheus, Plutarch, and Iamblichus seem to agree on three concepts when referring to daemons: they rank between Gods and men in cosmic level, there are different types of daemons, and they can directly influence our life. However they disagree on several matters, such as: how these creatures behave, how much control they have over us, and how we recognize them.
When considering the behavior of a daemon, we must first consider its rank and what its purpose is. It is generally thought that
They are so closely connected that they can be good and give beneficial desires, even going as far to imply that the person connected to this particular daemon is blessed. Even while not directly influencing their person’s behavior in such a way, it still observes the persons actions and records them for later reference. That reference material is then used at the death of that individual to determine what type of afterlife they will have and allows the righteous souls an opportunity become the man’s god and be worshiped after death (Alpheus XV). Similarly Iamblichus has a system, where the gods have the most divine power and humans the least, that if a human soul lives perfectly in line with the gods’ plans for a couple of lives then they can become more angelic (Iamblichus 85). These individuals’ daemons will help them with this process on their own, until a god steps in to take over the process. Once the god takes over guiding the individual, the daemon has three choices: leave the individual to the god’s guidance, assist the individual in following the god’s plans, or lose its powers and authority (Iamblichus