DEMIURGE (Gr. S'quovpyos, from Si7µeos, of or for the

See also:

• PEOPLE

people, and Epyov,

See also:

• WORK

work)  , a handicraftsman or artisan . In Homer the word has a wide application, including not only hand-workers but even heralds and physicians . In Attica the demiurgi formed one of the three classes (with the Eupatridae and the geomori, georgi or agroeci) into which the early population was divided (cf . Arist . Ath . Pol. xiii . 2) . They represented either a class of the whole population, or, according to Busolt, a commercial nobility (see EUPATRIDAE) . In the sense of " worker for the people " the word was used throughout the Peloponnese, with the exception of Sparta, and in many parts of Greece, for a higher magistrate . The demiurgi among other officials represent Elis and Mantineia at the treaty of peace between Athens, Argos, Elis and Mantineia in 420 B.C . (Thuc. v . 47) .

In the Achaean

League (q.v.) the name is given to ten elective officers who presided over the assembly, and Corinth sent " Epidemiurgi " every year to Potidaea, officials who apparently answered to the Spartan harmosts . In Plato 8bµuovpy6s is the name given to the " creator of the world " (Timaeus, 40) and the word was so adopted by the Gnostics (see GNOSTICISM) .