Agathodaemon

Agathos Daimon (, , ) originally was a lesser deity (daemon) of classical ancient Greek religion and Graeco-Egyptian religion. In his original Greek form, he served as a household god, to whom, along with Zeus Soter, libations were made after a meal. In later Ptolemaic antiquity he took on two partially distinct roles; one as the Agathos Daimon a prominent serpentine civic god, who served as the special protector of Alexandria. The other as a genus of serpentine household gods, the Agathoi Daimones, individual protectors of the homes in which they were worshipped.

== Early history == Agathos Daimon was attested in domestic context in Greece as early as the fifth century BC, and yet he was typically not represented there in the form of a snake, as opposed to in Alexandria, where he was abundantly so represented. "His origin in Alexandria is a matter of dispute, with two conflicting views either painting Agathos Daimon as a Greek cultural importation later identified with Serapis and with Egyptian gods Šai (Shai), Knephis (Kneph), Khnum, Soknopis, or as a Hellenized native Egyptian household god. Quaegebeur points out the near absence of Greek sources of the Ptolemaic age for the cult of Agathos Daimon, contrasted with the abundance of Egyptian attestations of the god Šai in this age and the poignant evidence of the Oracle of the Potter ..."