Asmodeus

For the Dungeons and Dragons deity named Asmodeus, see Asmodeus (Dungeons and Dragons).

Asmodai or Asmodeus (see below for other variations) is a demon mostly known from the deuterocanonical Book of Tobit. The demon is also mentioned in some Talmudic legends, for instance, in the story of the construction of the Temple of Solomon. Spelling variations deriving from Asmodai/Asmodeus include Ashmadia, Ashmedai (Hebrew), Asmodaios-Ασμοδαίος (Greek), Asmoday, Asmodée (French), Asmodee, Asmodei, Ashmodei, Ashmodai, Asmodeios, Asmodeo (Spanish and Italian, from a Latin declination), Asmodeu (Portuguese), Asmodeius, Asmodi, Chammaday, Chashmodai, Sidonay, Sydonai.

Etymology

The name Asmodai is believed to derive from Avestan language *aēšma-daēva, where aēšma means "wrath", and daēva signifies " demon ". While the daēva Aēšma is thus Zoroastrianism's demon of wrath and is also well attested as such, the compound aēšma-daēva is not attested in scripture. It is nonetheless likely that such a form did exist, and that the Book of Tobit's "Asmodaios" (Ἀσμοδαῖος) and the Talmud's "Ashmedai" (אשמדאי) reflect it. Although there are also functional parallels between Zoroastrianism's Aēšma and Judaism's Asmodai/Asmodeus, the linguistic relationship does not denote conceptual continuity. The two are mythologically and culturally distinct.

In the Book of Tobit

The Asmodeus of the Book of Tobit is attracted by Sarah, Raguel's daughter, and is not willing to let any husband possess her (Tobit, vi.13); hence he slays seven successive husbands on their wedding-nights, thus impeding the consummation of the sexual act. When the young Tobias is about to marry her, Asmodeus purposes the same fate for him; but Tobias is enabled, through the counsels of his attendant angel Raphael, to render him innocuous. By placing a fish's heart and liver on red-hot cinders, Tobias produces a smoky vapor which causes the demon to flee to Egypt, where Raphael binds him (viii.2, 3).

Asmodeus would thus seem to be a demon characterized by carnal desire; but he is also described as an evil spirit in general: 'Ασμοδαίος τὸ πονηρὸν δαιμόνιον or τõ δαιμόνιον πονηρόν, and πνεῦμα ἀκάϑαρτον (iii.8, 17; vi.13; viii.3). It is possible, moreover, that the statement (vi.14), "Asmodeus loved Sarah," implies that he was attracted not by women in general, but by Sarah only.

In the Talmud

The figure of Ashmedai in the Talmud is less harmful in character than Tobit's Asmodeus. In the former, he appears repeatedly in the light of a good-natured and humorous fellow. But besides that, there is one feature in which he parallels Asmodeus, inasmuch as his desires turn upon Solomon's wives and Bath-sheba. But even here, Ashmedai seems more comparable to a Greek satyr, rather than to an evil demon.

Another Talmudic legend has King Solomon tricking Asmodai into collaborating in the construction of the temple of Jerusalem. In yet another legend Asmodai changed place for some years with King Solomon. An aggadic narrative describes him as the king of all the shades (Pesachim 109b-112a). Another passage describes him as marrying Lilith, who became his queen.[1]

It is also stated that he was the off-spring of the union between Adam and the angel of prostitution, Naamah, conceived whilst Adam was married to Lilith.

In the Testament of Solomon

In the Testament of Solomon, a 1st-3rd century text, the king invokes Asmodeus to aid in the construction of the Temple. The demon appears and predicts Solomon's kingdom will one day be divided (Testament of Solomon 5:4-5). When Solomon interrogated Asmodeus further, the king learns that Asmodeus is thwarted by the angel Raphael, as well as by sheatfish found in the rivers of Assyria. He also admits to hating water.

In the Malleus Maleficarum

In the Malleus Maleficarum (1486), Asmodai was considered the demon of lust, to which agreed Sebastian Michaelis saying that his adversary is St. John. Some demonologists of the 16th century assigned each month to a demon and considered November to be the month in which Asmodai's power was stronger. Other demonologists asserted that his zodiacal sign was Aquarius but only between the dates of January 30th and February 8th. He has seventy-two legions of demons under his command. He is one of the Kings of Hell under Lucifer the emperor. He incites gambling, and is the overseer of all the gambling houses in the court of Hell. Some Catholic theologians compared him with Abaddon. Yet other authors considered Asmodai a prince of revenge.

In the Dictionnaire Infernal

In the Dictionnaire Infernal by Collin de Plancy, Asmodai is depicted with the breast of a man, cock legs, serpent tail, three heads (one of a man spitting fire, one of a sheep, and one of a bull), riding a lion with dragon wings and neck, all of these animals being associated with either lascivity, lust or revenge.

In the Lesser Key of Solomon

Asmodai appears as the king 'Asmoday' in the Ars Goetia, where he is said to have a seal in gold and is listed as number thirty-two according to respective rank.[2]

He "is strong, powerful and appears with three heads; the first is like a bull, the second like a man, and the third like a ram; the tail of a serpent, and from his mouth issue flames of fire."[2] Also, he sits upon an infernal dragon, holds a lance with a banner and, amongst the Legions of Amaymon, Asmoday governs seventy two legions of inferior spirits.[2]

References

1 p. 8 of Lilith's Cave: Jewish tales of the supernatural, by Howard Schwartz (San Francisco: Harper & Row, 1988)

2 a b c MacGregor, Mathers (trans.) (1995), Crowley, Aleister & Liddell, Samuel, eds., The Goetia: The Lesser Key of Solomon the King, York Beach: Samuel Weiser, ISBN 0-87728-847-X