Asmodeus (Asmodai). The manuscript which these engravings are from is called "Compendium totius rarissimum Artis Artis celeberrimos Magicae sistematisatae per hujus Magistros. Anno 1057. Noli Me Tangere "Next I checked Wikipedia, which offered this information:
Asmodeus or Asmodai... is a king of demons mostly known from the deuterocanonical Book of Tobit... He was supposed by some Renaissance Christians to be the King of the Nine Hells. Asmodeus also is referred to as one of the seven princes of hell...I also checked my Advanced D&D Monster Manual from 1977, which lists Asmodeus as an arch-devil of Armor Class -7 and with 199 hit points (!) and 90% magic resistance. Formidable.
The Asmodeus of the Book of Tobit is attracted to 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 sexual consummation of the marriages. When the young Tobias is about to marry her, Asmodeus proposes 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 that 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...
The original source for the image is Elisandre - L'Oeuvre au Noir, which also has these images:
This is a German book on demonology written in Latin, which was published in 1775, covering all aspects and mastery of the art of magic in the years 1057.The second demon is not identified at the link; perhaps someone can read the script above his head. The third guy is Beelzebub - who doesn't look particularly scary.
I can't be absolutely sure, but it looks like the first line says "Der Thier huetter der Hoelle Amahbuel". The spelling is not like modern or correct German, but probably means "the animal protector of Hell Amahbuel". "Hueter", with one "t" is protector or herder, "Huette", with two "t"s but no "e" at the end means "hut", an unlikely meaning.
ReplyDeleteAs for the line below, I can't make it out, sorry.
Incidentally, the name Hitler is a corruption of Huettler, someone living in a hut, and a very Alpine sounding name. There are varieous spellings of the Hitler name amongst his living and, mostly, dead relatives.
Oh, and rose-coloured spectacles?!
ReplyDeleteThank you, Judy. We'll see if anyone can take it to the next level and find out more information about the creature. I've tried picture searches and keyword searches based on your clues, but haven't made any progress.
ReplyDeleteNot that it's important. But it is interesting...
Ah, you mean Ashmodi! Ashmodi, king of the demons, is a well-known figure in Jewish folklore. He's most well known for his interactions with King Solomon.
ReplyDeleteKing Solomon had Ashmodi kidnapped in order to learn the location of the shamir, a worm that could cut stone, in order to build the Temple (so weapons wouldn't be used to build a peaceful temple). But after Ashmodi gave the location of the shamir, he was still held prisoner. Eventually, Ashmodi tricks Solomon into giving him Solomon's magic ring. Ashmodi sends Solomon to the desert and takes on Solomon's form and rules in his place. After lots of adventures, Solomon returns, reclaims his ring, and boots Ashmodi out of the palace. Of course, all Ashmodi wanted was to be free, so perhaps Ashmodi was the real winner.
One of my snakes is named Ashmodi, after the demon. Coincidentally, another one is named Shamir! (the other three have normal names)
How do you get rid of this demonic spirit that comes to you when sleeping to have sex with you?
ReplyDeleteThat would be an incubus or succubus - a classic manifestation of sleep paralysis. Read the sleep paralysis posts in this blog -
Deletehttps://tywkiwdbi.blogspot.com/search/label/sleep%20paralysis
- and practice proper sleep hygiene.