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Asmodeus as depicted in Collin de Plancy's Dictionnaire Infernal. Asmodeus (/ ˌ æ z m ə ˈ d iː ə s /; Ancient Greek: Ἀσμοδαῖος, Asmodaios) or Ashmedai (/ ˈ æ ʃ m ɪ ˌ d aɪ /; Hebrew: אַשְמְדּאָי, romanized: ʾAšmədāy; Arabic: آشماداي; see below for other variations) is a king of demons in the legends of Solomon and the constructing of Solomon's Temple.
This is a list of demons that appear in religion, theology, demonology, mythology, and folklore. It is not a list of names of demons, although some are listed by more than one name. The list of demons in fiction includes those from literary fiction with theological aspirations, such as Dante's Inferno.
The incarnation of the demons has been a problem in Christian demonology and theology since early times. A very early form of the incarnation of demons was the idea of demonic possession, trying to explain that a demon entered the body of a person with some purpose or simply to punish that one for some allegedly committed sin.
The Testament of Solomon is a pseudepigraphical work, purportedly written by King Solomon, in which the author mostly describes particular demons who he enslaved to help build the temple, the questions he put to them about their deeds and how they could be thwarted, and their answers, which provide a kind of self-help manual against demonic activity.
Although theologians usually conflated demons, satans and the devil, medieval demonology fairly consistently distinguished between Lucifer, the fallen angel fixed in hell, and the mobile Satan executing his will. [144] Teutonic gods were often considered demons or even the devil.
Dante's Hell is divided into nine circles, the ninth circle being divided further into four rings, their boundaries only marked by the depth of their sinners' immersion in the ice; Satan sits in the last ring, Judecca. It is in the fourth ring of the ninth circle, where the worst sinners, the betrayers to their benefactors, are punished.
The sheyd Ashmodai (אַשְמְדּאָי) in birdlike form, with typical rooster feet, as depicted in Compendium rarissimum totius Artis Magicae, 1775 Child sacrifice to the sheyd Molekh (מֹלֶךְ), showing the typical depiction of the Ammonite deity Moloch of the Old Testament in medieval and modern sources (illustration by Charles Foster for Bible Pictures and What They Teach Us, 1897)
These two in particular were seen as some of the worst enemies of God. By the Middle Ages, these pagan deities were no longer worshiped, so their characterizations as archdemons were no longer important, but they still persisted anyway. New archdemons were invented over time, most of them revolving around Satan and the Antichrist.