History and Later Influence

Bethor appears in the Arbatel de magia veterum as printed at Basel in 1575 and reached English readers through Robert Turner's 1655 translation, issued together with Turner's edition of the pseudo Agrippa Fourth Book. Because that combined volume circulated widely, Bethor and the other six Olympic spirits became a fixed reference point in later English language ceremonial magic, distinct from the angelic hierarchy John Dee recorded a few years after the Arbatel first appeared in print and distinct again from the Goetia's catalogue of seventy two spirits compiled from an even later manuscript tradition.

Bethor's association with dignity, favor and treasure made him one of the more frequently cited of the seven in later popular accounts of the Arbatel, alongside Och's reputation for wealth and Hagith's for beauty. This atlas keeps the Arbatel's seven Olympic spirits, Dee's Heptarchia and the Goetic hierarchy as separate systems with separate manuscript histories, since conflating their names or structures would misstate what each source actually says. Later ceremonial magic primers that catalogue grimoire spirits by planet often list Bethor beside unrelated Jupiterian figures drawn from separate systems, a grouping this atlas avoids since the sources do not establish any shared origin between them.