Eukles

Eukles is a name on a gold sheet folded into a grave. The leaves buried with Orphic initiates carry instructions for the soul arriving below, and among the powers they name are Eukles and Eubouleus — the glorious one and the good counsellor, both of them titles as much as names. The usual reading takes Eukles for the lord of the dead addressed obliquely, on the same instinct that produced Plouton, 'the rich one', rather than saying Hades outright. He is recorded as his own entry because the leaves address him as one, with that alternative stated. Eubouleus is already carried in this registry as an alias of the Orphic Dionysos.

Variant accounts

• Whether Eukles names a distinct god or titles a known one is debated.The name means 'of good repute', and the usual reading makes it a respectful way of naming the lord of the dead — the same avoidance that produces Plouton, 'the wealthy one', instead of Hades. On that reading Eukles is a title rather than a separate being. The record keeps him as his own entry because the leaves name him as a distinct addressee alongside Eubouleus, and states the alternative rather than deciding it.Scholarly study of the divinities in the Orphic gold leaves. (secondary)

Domains

• underworld

Relations

• ally: BrimoNamed among the same small group of divinities on the gold leaves as Brimo.Scholarly treatment of the divinities of the Orphic gold leaves — Euklês, Eubouleus, Brimo, Kybele, Kore and Persephone — and the relationships among them. (secondary)

Sources

• Eukles, 'the glorious one', is a divinity named with Eubouleus on the Orphic gold leaves, generally understood as a cult-title of the lord of the dead.: The Orphic gold leaves. (epigraphic); Scholarly study of the divinities in the Orphic gold leaves: Euklês, Eubouleus, Brimo, Kybele, Kore and Persephone. (secondary)