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<blockquote data-quote="tarchon" data-source="post: 1809620" data-attributes="member: 5990">I think the source it relies upon is too hasty in dismissing the misreading theory.&nbsp; I was going to give some compelling arguments why a novel coinage is unlikely for an ineffable name and a misreading probable, but it turns out my local college library has a copy of In Statii Thebaida Commentum*, which I'd been looking for for years.&nbsp; The recensor, Sweeny, takes δημιουργόν as the correct reading after a number of scholars.&nbsp; The MSS have &quot;demoirgon&quot; and &quot;demogorgon&quot; in Latin letters.Lactantius' comment to lines 516-517 of the Thebaid in Sweeny's recension reads:&quot;He's saying the god Demiourgos, whose name he was not permitted to know.&nbsp; &nbsp; Unrestricted ones, however, among the philosophers &lt;and&gt; magi &lt;of Persia&gt; also confirm [him] in fact to be the other prince and greatest lord before those known gods who are tended in the temples, ordainer of all other supernatural powers, from whose race alone are the Sun and Moon.&quot;And it runs on for another 30 lines.&nbsp; But I'd say it's fairly obvious that Lactantius is talking about the Demiurge.*Lactantii Placidi in Statii Thebaida commentum. Anonymi in Statii Achilleida commentum. Fulgentii ut fingitur Planciadis super Thebaiden commentariolum&nbsp; recensuit Robertus Dale Sweeney, Stuttgart : Teubner, 1997, p. 295</blockquote>

[QUOTE="tarchon, post: 1809620, member: 5990"] I think the source it relies upon is too hasty in dismissing the misreading theory. I was going to give some compelling arguments why a novel coinage is unlikely for an ineffable name and a misreading probable, but it turns out my local college library has a copy of [i]In Statii Thebaida Commentum[/i]*, which I'd been looking for for years. The recensor, Sweeny, takes δημιουργόν as the correct reading after a number of scholars. The MSS have "demoirgon" and "demogorgon" in Latin letters. Lactantius' comment to lines 516-517 of the Thebaid in Sweeny's recension reads: "He's saying the god Demiourgos, whose name he was not permitted to know. Unrestricted ones, however, among the philosophers <and> magi <of Persia> also confirm [him] in fact to be the other prince and greatest lord before those known gods who are tended in the temples, ordainer of all other supernatural powers, from whose race alone are the Sun and Moon." And it runs on for another 30 lines. But I'd say it's fairly obvious that Lactantius is talking about the Demiurge. *[i]Lactantii Placidi in Statii Thebaida commentum. Anonymi in Statii Achilleida commentum. Fulgentii ut fingitur Planciadis super Thebaiden commentariolum[/i] recensuit Robertus Dale Sweeney, Stuttgart : Teubner, 1997, p. 295 [/QUOTE]

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