DEMIURGE (de'mi-urj) (Gr. demiourgos, artisan or handi craftsman). In Homer it includes hand-workers and heralds and physicians. In Attica the demiourgoi formed one of the three classes, with the Eupatridae (q.v.) and the gedrnoroi, into which the early population was divided. (See EUPATRIDAE.) The word was used in the Peloponnese, with the exception of Sparta, for a higher magistrate. The demiourgoi represented Elis and Mantinea at the treaty of peace between Athens, Argos, Elis, and Mantinae in 420 B.C. (Thuc. v. 47). In the Achaean League (q.v.) the name is given to ten officers who presided over the assembly, and Corinth sent Epiderniourgoi to Potidaea.
In Plato demiourgos is the name given to the "creator of the world" (Timaeus, 40) and the word was so adopted by the Gnostics. (See GNosTICISM.)