demiurgos

Noun

demiurge (plural demiurges)

1. (Platonic philosophy) The (usually benevolent) being that created the universe out of primal matter.
   • A demiurge or craftsman god takes pre-existing matter and fashions it in light of the eternal Forms.
2. A (usually jealous or outright malevolent) being who is inferior to the supreme being, and sometimes seen as the creator of evil.
   • The Gnostic Demiurge then assumes a surprising likeness to Ahriman, the evil counter-creator of Ormuzd in Mazdean philosophy. The character of the Gnostic Demiurge became still more complicated when in some systems he was identified with Jehovah, the God of the Jews or of the Old Testament, and was...1908, Charles G[eorge] Herbermann, editor, The Catholic Encyclopedia: An International Work of Reference on the Constitution, Doctrine, Discipline, and History of the Catholic Church, New York, N.Y....
3. (figuratively) Something (such as an idea, individual or institution) conceived as an autonomous creative force or decisive power.
   • An abiding tradition depicted the sage-kings of yore as demiurges who invented useful technologies to advance the progress of civilization. For example, Shun was acclaimed by the philosopher Mozi (circa late fifth century BCE) for teaching farming, pottery, and fishing to his subjects.2024, Richard von Glahn, “Classical Chinese Monetary Theory”, in The Palgrave Handbook of Philosophy and Money, vol. 1, Palgrave Macmillan, page 86
4. (historical, Ancient Greece) The title of a magistrate in a number of states of Ancient Greece, and in the city states (poleis) of the Achaean League.
   • The demiurgi were next in power to the prætor, and therefore ſtiled by Polybius and Livy, the ſupreme magiſtrates of the Achæans. They were ten in number, choſen by the general aſſembly from among the moſt eminent men of the whole league for prudence, equity, and experience. It was their office to...1747, George Sale et al., “Sect. III. The History of the Several States of Greece, from the Beginning of the Achæan League to Its Dissolution, and thence Succinctly to the Present Time”, in An...

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