In Greek mythology, Eurynomos (/jʊəˈrɪnəməs/; Greek Εὐρύνομος; Latin Eurynomus) was the netherworld daimon (spirit) of rotting corpses dwelling in the Underworld.[1] Eurynomos is either a minor figure whose associated literature is lost to time, or possibly an invention by the painter Polygnotos. The sole piece of evidence concerning him is the following paragraph by Pausanias in a painting of Hades by Polygnotos at Delphoi, Phocis:
Eurynomos, said by the Delphian guides to be one of the daimones of Hades, who eats off all the flesh of the corpses, leaving only their bones. But Homer’s Odyssey, the poem called the Minyad, and the Returns, although they tell of Hades and its horrors, know of no daimon called Eurynomos. However, I will describe what he is like and his attitude in the painting. He is of a colour between blue and black, like that of meat flies; he is showing his teeth and is seated, and under him is spread a vulture’s skin.[2]
In popular culture
- In the last book of The Cronus Chronicles, The Immortal Flame, Eurynomus is mentioned. He was stated as wearing vulture feathers as a cloak, with blue-black skin the colour of flies. He also had the ability to turn invisible and intangible, the perfect spy. He was "hired" by the antagonist Philonecron to spy on the protagonist, and Philonecron stated that he had hygiene issues.
- In the Japanese animated series Yondemasuyo, Azazel-san, Eurynomos appears as a blue-black pig demon who spreads despair by inflicting his victims with severe hemorrhoids.
- This character is found in Umberto Eco's Foucault's Pendulum (chapter 41) with the spelling 'Eurynomius' as an example of a "principal of evil."
- The Swiss extreme metal band Hellhammer have a track entitled "Eurynomos", which appears on their 1983 demo tape Satanic Rites.
- Eurynomos appears in the fourth book of The Trials of Apollo, The Tyrant's Tomb, by Rick Riordan as a species of ghouls who eat the flesh off of corpses, raising up the picked-clean bodies as elite skeleton warriors. Their claws also carry a disease that, should a scratch victim die from it, will rise up as a zombie, also dubbed a vrykolakas.
Notes
- ^ Smith, William; Dictionary of Greek and Roman Biography and Mythology, London (1873). "Eurynomus"
- ^ Pausanias, Description of Greece, 10.28.7
Further reading
- Anton LaVey, The Satanic Bible
- Miriam Van Scott, The Encyclopedia of Hell