Asmodeus
The name Asmodai is believed to derive from the Avestan *aēšma-daēva (𐬀𐬉𐬴𐬨𐬀𐬛𐬀𐬉𐬎𐬎𐬀*, *aēṣ̌madaēuua), where aēšma means "wrath", and daēva signifies "demon".
[4] In the Zoroastrian and Middle Persian demonology, there did exist the conjuncted form khashm-dev (خشم + دیو), where both terms are cognates.
The name is alternatively spelled in the bastardized forms (based on the basic consonants אשמדאי, ʾŠMDʾY) Hashmedai (חַשְמְדּאָי, Ḥašməddāy; also Hashmodai, Hasmodai, Khashmodai, Khasmodai),[14][15][16][17] Hammadai (חַמַּדּאָי, Hammaddāy; also Khammadai),[18][19] Shamdon (שַׁמְדּוֹן, Šamdon),[20] and Shidonai (שִׁדֹנאָי, Šīdōnʾāy).
Still, the encyclopedia proposes that the "Asmodeus" from the Apocrypha and the Testament of Solomon are not only related somewhat to Aeshma but have similar behaviour, appearance and roles,[21] to conclude in another article under the entry "Aeshma", in the paragraph "Influence of Persian Beliefs on Judaism",[22] that Persian Zoroastrian beliefs could have heavily influenced Judaism's theology on the long term, bearing in mind that in some texts there are crucial conceptual differences while in others there seems to be a great deal of similarity, proposing a pattern of influence over folk beliefs that would extend further to the mythology itself.
However, the Jewish Encyclopedia asserts that although 'Æshma does not occur in the Avesta in conjunction with dæva, it is probable that a fuller form, such as Æshmo-dæus, has existed, since it is paralleled by the later Pahlavi-form "Khashm-dev"'.
[24] The Asmodeus of the Book of Tobit is hostile to Sarah, Raguel's daughter,[25] and slays seven successive husbands on their wedding nights, impeding the sexual consummation of the marriages.
By placing a fish's heart and liver on red-hot cinders, Tobias produces a smoky vapour that causes the demon to flee to Egypt, where Raphael binds him.
Another legend depicts Asmodeus throwing King Solomon over 400 leagues away from the capital by putting one wing on the ground and the other stretched skyward.
The Dictionnaire Infernal (1818) by Collin de Plancy portrays Asmodeus with the breast of a man, a cock leg, 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 creatures being associated with either lascivity, lust or revenge in some cultures.
[37] Asmodeus 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.
[38] 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 or a goat; the tail of a serpent, and from his mouth issue flames of fire.
The 16th-century Dutch demonologist Johann Weyer described him as the banker at the baccarat table in hell, and overseer of earthly gambling houses.
[45][46] The French novelist Alain-René Lesage adapted the Spanish source in his 1707 novel le Diable boiteux,[43] where he likened him to Cupid.
[43] In another episode Asmodeus takes Don Cleophas for a night flight, and removes the roofs from the houses of a village to show him the secrets of what passes in private lives.
[47] Asmodeus was widely depicted as having a handsome visage, good manners and an engaging nature; however, he was portrayed as walking with a limp and one leg was either clawed or that of a rooster.
His letter enclosed a newspaper clipping about an inappropriate joke allegedly told by Lincoln at the Hampton Roads Peace Conference.
[49] According to the Kabbalah and the school of Shlomo ibn Aderet, Asmodeus is born as the result of a union between Agrat bat Mahlat and King David.
Asmodeus became a central figure in of the Quranic Ṣād verse 38:34: "We allowed Solomon to be seduced by temptation, and we cast a body upon his seat.
[57] Abd al-Razzaq Kāshānī comments on the same verse, "The satan who sat thereupon [sovereignity's throne] and took its ring away, represents the elemental earthly nature, ruler over the lower sea of matter, called Sakhr, the 'rock,' on account of its inclination toward the lowest things and clinging thereto, even as a stone on account of heaviness.
"[58] Aziz ad-Din Nasafi [fa] depicts Solomon as caliph, a symbol of the ruling intellect, whose task it is to reduce the physical passions to proper obedience, else the forces will capture the mind's seat and turn into an usurping demon.
[59] Attar of Nishapur elucidates a similar allegory: one must behave like a triumphant 'Solomon' and chain the demons of the nafs or lower self, locking the demon-prince into a 'rock', before the rūḥ (soul) can make the first steps to the Divine.
He had two great wings and four arms, two of them like the arms of the sons of Adam and other two as they were lions' paws, with claws of iron, and he was black and tall and frightful of aspect, with hair like horses' tails and eyes like blazing coals, slit upright in his face.In the essay on the Arabic "Tale of the City of Brass", Andras Hamori relied only on incomplete versions of the story without mentioning the name of the demon.
Later on a different island, he meets Asmodeus the king of demons, who explains the seven layers (ṭabaqāt) and the punisher angels (zabāniyya) who sire hell's snakes and scorpions by self-copulation.
