ILLUSTRATIONS Andre Toma
THIS ARTICLE IS PART OF THE REPORT THE UNIVERSE OF ANGELS AND DEMONS. ALSO READ THE OTHER PARTS:
+ How is the hierarchy of Catholic angels?
+ How was Lucifer expelled from paradise and turned into Satan?
+ 6 stories of people who had contact with the devil
+ What does the Devil look like, according to Christianity?
The illustrations in this article are inspired by the work Infernal Dictionairepublished in 1818, which contains descriptions and drawings of 69 demons.
Beelzebub
In 1589, O German theologian and bishop Peter Binsfield associated each demon to a sin. This one would cause greediness. image of it came of fertility god Baal, idolized by Canaanites but considered a false idol by Christians. Texts from 1613 of French inquisitor Sebastien Michaelis, however, O consider the origin of pride.
mammon
O name is Aramaic and means «wealth». Not by chance, Binsfield O refers to avarice. It appears in two Gospels, Luke and Matthew. In the latter, it is quoted in the verse “You cannot serve both God and mammon”, also sometimes translated as “You cannot serve both God and money”. It is not mentioned by Michaelis.
azazel
Binsfield said this was O leader of a group of fallen angels who had sex with mortal women. He was the one who would have taught men how to make weapons of war – so he is linked to the will. Michaelis disagrees: he proposes that this sin was caused by the former prince of cherubs Baalberith, who turned men into murderers.
Lucifer
For Binsfield, Lucifer was O pridesince it was yours pride before God that caused his disgrace. According to Michaelis, he would also be O leader of the «first sphere» of hell, reserved for ex-cherubim, seraphim and thrones. (Beelzebub would be his right-hand man and second-in-command).
asmodeus
It’s a spirit of evil whose origin actually refers to a Persian religion called Zoroastrianism. It was absorbed by Judaism, which O associates with the king of Sodom (that biblical city full of sexual exaggerations, destroyed by God in the Old Testament). Hence its connection with the lust. He is also a former seraph.
Leviathan
Also a former seraphim, he is one of the most powerful devils, responsible for making men become heretics. inhabits O bottom of sea, is mentioned in Bible and has several appearances: sea dragon, snake, whale and even crocodile. Binsfield claims he promotes envy and leads to obsession with material possessions.
Belphegor
Taken from Assyrian mythology. He would have an athletic appearance, great stature and ram’s horns. His ingenious inventions would bring men easy wealth, making them victims of laziness. In Michaelis’s analysis, however, this addiction would be caused by another evil creature, Astaroth, a former member of the thrones class.
THE OTHER SPHERES
Meet the inhabitants of the remaining sectors
For Michaelis, the second sphere belonged to the demons who were once virtues, dominions, or powers. Between them:
– Carreau: hardens O heart of men
– Carnivean: provokes the obscenity
– Belias: makes women vain
– Oeillet: causes violations of the vows of poverty
In the third sphere are former principalities, archangels and angels:
– Olivier: linked to cruelty
– Luvart: makes humans worship other gods
CONSULTANCY Volney Berkenbrock, Doctor of Theology from the University of Bonn, Germany, and Graduate Professor in Religious Science at the Federal University of Juiz de Fora, and Gary E. Gilley, Doctor of Theology from the University of Cambridge
SOURCES Book Satan – A Biographyby Henry Ansgar Kelly, documentaries Satan, Prince of Darkness It is gates to O Hell and academic thesis Speak of the Devil: A Brief Look at the History and Origins of Iconography of the Devil from Antiquity to the Renaissanceby Eric Williams