Eurynomos

Eurynomos is a chthonic daemon of the Greek Hades documented solely by Pausanias in Description of Greece 10.28.7 as the central figure of the lost painting by Polygnotus of Thasos in the Lesche of the Cnidians at Delphi. The fifth-century BCE fresco depicted the Homeric Nekyia and showed Eurynomos devouring cadaverous flesh so that only bones would pass into the realm of shadows. Pausanias notes that neither Homer nor the Minyas verses mention this entity, so his description is limited to the painting: blue-black color like flies on corpses, visible teeth and seated on an extended vulture skin. This is the only direct classical source that fixes his ritual origin in the underworld.

According to the sole ancient description, Eurynomos appears as a middle-aged male seated in an absorbed posture on the extended skin of a vulture. His skin presents a uniform blue-black tone comparable to flies alighting on corpses, without shine or ornaments. The half-open mouth shows teeth in a continuous gesture of devouring, while the bare torso and lower dark gray cloth follow classical Greek iconography. His ritual function consists of consuming the flesh of the newly deceased so that only bones reach Hades as pure shadows, enabling the separation between corruptible body and soul. This labor occurs exclusively in the underworld and lacks interaction with the living.

In 1818 Collin de Plancy included Eurynomos in the Dictionnaire Infernal as the Prince of Death of the Christianized Hades, transforming the Greek chthonic daemon into a subordinate demonic entity. This medieval recodification dispenses with the original purifying function and emphasizes his exclusive residence in the underworld, without powers over the living or granting of favors. Plancy's source draws directly from Pausanias' description and does not derive from later goetic treatises. Thus Eurynomos retains his ritual role of body-soul separation but within an infernal hierarchy adapted to the Christian context.