The case of the devil Part 7: Profiling Asmodeus

 

Origins

Asmodeus seems to be of Persian origin and may be identical to the demon Aeshma, one of the seven arch-demons of Persian mythology. According to that tradition, he visited heaven every day to eavesdrop on the angels' conversations.
The Latinized version of his name may be derived from the Hebrew, Ashmedai or Shamad ('to destroy'), and it is among the Jews that Asmodeus achieved his highest degree of power. He belongs to the order of the Seraphim, the highest order of angels, from whence he fell. He is the son of Naamah and Shamdon. In his female incarnation, Asmodeus is the spirit of lust and the beautiful sister of Tubal-Cain. Often portrayed as an ugly man endowed with a pair of large wings, Asmodeus inspires men with such lust that they betray their wives.

The Book of Tobit

This demon makes his first appearance in the apocryphal Book of Tobit, which tells how Asmodeus fell in love with a beautiful young woman and wanted to possess her. Sarah, the daughter of Raguel, had already been married to seven men, but the jealous demon had slain each one of them before the marriage could be consummated, Sarah was so deeply grieved that she thought of hanging herself. However, she did not want to bring disgrace and sorrow to her father, who was in old age. Praying fervently to God, she begged Him to have pity on her.

The Lord heard her prayer and sent the archangel Raphael to earth to help her new suitor, Tobias, the son of Tobit, to overcome the demon. Raphael taught the young man to prepare a charm by burning the heart and liver of the glanos fish, with incense made from tamarish wood. After the marriage ceremony, the newlyweds retired to their chambers, and Tobias did as the archangel had instructed him. When Asmodeus entered the room to kill the new husband, the odour of the burning incense drove him away.

King Solomon’s Temple

Asmodeus is however best known for his help in building King Solomon's Temple. This story is told in the Testament of Solomon, and in a number of other ancient sources on magic and demons. When the Temple was being built, a demon plagued a boy by taking his pay and food, and making him sick. This boy was a favourite of Solomon. When the king heard the complaints, he went into the temple to pray for a night and a day so that he might gain power over the demon.
The archangel Michael himself appeared to Solomon and gave him a magic ring which was inscribed with the powerful pentacle. This enabled the owner to command all spirits. With the help of this formidable weapon, the King freed the boy from the demon, and then proceeded to use the ring to call other demons to help complete the Temple.

According to the Aggadah, a traditional collection of Hebrew folklore, Asmodeus was the third demon to be conjured up. Solomon knew that Asmodeus was a particularly brutal captive. By hurling insults and thrusting the magic ring in his face, the King forced the demon to reveal the spell which would protect from the fiend's evil influence.

One day the King asked Asmodeus wherein the greatness of demons lay if their prince could be kept in bonds like a mortal. Asmodeus replied that if Solomon would remove the chains and lend him his magic ring, he would prove his greatness. When he was released, the demon seized Solomon, flung him out of Jerusalem and set himself up as king. Asmodeus – a demon – was thus ruling the nation.
When Solomon managed to return, he decided to surround himself by other demons, but fell prey to their evil influence. He fell in love with a woman from the Shumannite tribe. Although there is very little information concerning this, it seems most likely that this woman was goaded in her seduction by Lilith, the queen of demons and equal in power to the male Asmodeus. For her sake, Solomon built a temple to Baal, sacrificed to Moloch, and thus fell one of the great wise men, perhaps the greatest of all magi.

Medieval magic

During the Middle Ages, Asmodeus was considered to be an evil spirit who caused men to be unfaithful, taking up his traditional image, encountered in the Book of Tobit. He plotted against the newly-wed, and wasted the beauty of virgins.

It seems that despite Christianity, Asmodeus lost none of his evil energies, and he was much dreaded. It took a figure of truly great power, such as John the Baptist, to help the tempted man oppose this demon. Sister Elizabeth, one of the Louviers nuns, was said to have been possessed by Asmodeus. He was supposedly sent to trouble her by two witches, Father Picard and Sister Madeleine Bavent.

Paul Lucas, a medieval writer and traveller, describes meeting Asmodeus during one of his journeys through Egypt. Most intriguingly, the Courier de L' Egypte reports that at the time many Egyptians still adored the serpent Asmodeus. The serpent had a temple in the desert of Ryanneh. There he was said to cut himself into pieces, and to reappear immediately afterwards, healed and whole.

The medieval demonologists ranked him high in the hierarchy of hell, calling him “a strong and powerful king disposing of seventy-two legions.” He is described as possessing three heads: the first one resembling that of a bull, the second that of a man, and the third that of a ram. He has the tail of a serpent, the feet of a goose, and fiery breath. Carrying a banner and a lance, he appears mounted on a dragon. Asmodeus bequeaths his followers with rings engraved with planetary symbols. He teaches men the difficult but useful art of becoming invisible, as well as instructing them in geometry, arithmetic, astronomy, and the mechanical sciences. He has vast knowledge concerning buried treasures, and can be forced to reveal their site with the help of appropriate spells and incantations.

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Filip Coppens