Asmodeus, or Ashmedai, also called Ashema Deva, is a prince of demons. In both Jewish and Islamic traditions, he is the king of the earthly spirits, mostly known from the deuterocanonical Book of Tobit, in which he is the primary antagonist. In the Binsfeld's classification of demons, Asmodeus represents lust. He particularly hates water and birds because they both remind him of God. The demon is also mentioned in some Talmudic legends such as the story of the construction of the Temple of Solomon. Renaissance Christians suppose Asmodeus to be the king of nine hells.
Asmodeus is also referred to as one of the seven princes of Hell. In Binsfeld's classification of demons, each one of these princes represents one of the seven deadly sins which are lust, gluttony, greed, sloth, wrath, envy, and pride. It is said that people who fall to Asmodeus' ways, they will be sentenced to an eternity in the second level of hell.
The name Asmodai is believed to derive from Avestan language where aēšma means "wrath", and daēva signifies "demon". Some believes have identified Shamdon as the father of Asmodeus.
The Jewish Encyclopedia of 1906, support the fact that "Asmodeus" from the Apocrypha and the Testament of Solomon, are not only related somewhat to Aeshma who is the demon of wrath found in Zoroastrian traditions, but have similar behaviour, appearance and roles. According to the Kabbalah and the school of Shlomo ibn Aderet, Asmodeus is born as the result of a union between a succubus named Agrat bat Mahlat, and King David.
There are different portraits for Asmodeus's true form. One is that of a huge serpent hundreds of miles long. But this appearance made it difficult for him to meet and talk with humans and therefore difficult to carry out his evil plans. So he made human looking avatars and took their form. He keeps his form secret, even from his fellow demons and those who know of his form were killed within the day. Because he rules over lust, Asmodeus had charismatic and beautiful looks that captivated people.
In the Dictionnaire Infernal by Collin de Plancy, Asmodeus is depicted with the breast of a man, a cock leg, serpent tail, three heads, riding a lion with dragon wings and neck, all of these creatures being associated with either lascivity, lust or revenge. The Archbishop of Paris approved his portrait.
In the Lesser Key of Solomon he is depicted as 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.
In Bible Asmodeus appears in the book of tobit. He put his wrath upon Raguel's daughter Sarah killing seven of her husbands on her wedding night. When the young Tobias is about to marry her, Asmodeus proposes the same fate for him. But he was instructed by angel Raphael on how to make the demon flee. In Tobit 8: 2 - 3:
“Then Tobias remembered the words of Raphael, and he took the fish’s liver and heart out of the bag where he had them and put them on the embers of the incense. The odour of the fish so repelled the demon that he fled to the remotest parts of Egypt. But Raphael followed him, and at once bound him there hand and foot.”
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. Some interpret the story as Asmodeus having a desire over Sarah. He intended to keep her for himself and caused all of her husbands deaths before anyone of them could claim her.
The Jewish text Talmud, Asmodeus is less evil in than the Asmodeus of Tobit. He appears as a good natured and humorous fellow and a desires to have Bathsheba, who was the wife of Uriah the Hittite and later Solomon's wives. Another Talmudic legend has King Solomon tricking Asmodeus to construct the Temple of Jerusalem which is also called the temple of Solomon.
Legend also has it that Asmodeus takes the form of King Solomon banishing king Solomon from the capital for forty days. According to Islamic tradition when King Solomon reclaimed his kingdom, he imprisoned him inside a box of rock, chained with iron, and thrown it into the sea.
According to Malleus Maleficarum which is translated as the Hammer of Witches, he has 72 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 which reference to a bottomless pit. Yet other authors considered Asmodeus a prince of revenge.
Some demonologists of the 16th century assigned a month to a demon. They considered November to be the month in which Asmodai's power was strongest. Other demonologists asserted that his zodiacal sign was Aquarius but only between the dates of January 30 and February 8, his powers reach it’s full potential.
Asmodeus' reputation as the personification of lust continued into later writings, as he was known as the "Prince of Lechery" in the 16th-century romance Friar Rush. The 16th-century Dutch demonologist Johann Weyer described him as the banker at the baccarat table in hell, and overseer of earthly gambling houses.
Legends and stories around him support the fact that Asmodeus is surely a powerful demon and trickster. Though there is a lot of contradiction to how he look like, majority of the stories side with the fact he rules over lust, which is one of the most prominent desires of humans. He his intelligent enough to how to use this to his advantage and drag humans down on to their downfall. So it make him much more dangerous since it is easy for him to approach humans and to manipulate them. What do you guys think of this story?
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