Olympic Spirits
Bethor
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Origin 1575
Bethor is one of the seven Olympic spirits of the Arbatel de magia veterum, first printed in Latin at Basel in 1575 and rendered into English by Robert Turner in 1655. He is the governor set over the sphere of Jupiter. The Arbatel gives each Olympic spirit 196 provinces of the world and a successive age of the world lasting 490 years, a structure distinct from Dee's later Heptarchia and from the Goetic hierarchy of the Ars Goetia.
Facts
Origins
Origin PeriodSourced to the subject's own account Origin PeriodSourced to the subject's own account1575 is the date of the first printing. The book itself records neither when it was written nor by whom. 1 Place of OriginSourced to the subject's own accountBasel, where the Latin text was first printed 1 Attributed Author / CompilerSourced to the subject's own accountPrinted anonymously. The Arbatel names no author. 1 Attributed Author / CompilerSourced to the subject's own accountRobert Turner made the 1655 English translation by which the seven are known in English 1 LanguageSourced to the subject's own account LanguageSourced to the subject's own account Rival Systems
A Rival System's AttributionSourced to the subject's own accountAgrippa's Three Books of Occult Philosophy sets its own intelligence and its own spirit over the sphere of Jupiter, under names the Arbatel does not use 2 A Rival System's AttributionJohn Dee's Heptarchia Mystica sets King Bynepor over Thursday and Jupiter, a separate system with a separate cast of names 3 Sources
Primary SourceSourced to the subject's own accountArbatel de magia veterum, 1575, English translation by Robert Turner, 1655. 1 Attributions
Ruling PlanetSourced to the subject's own account GovernsSourced to the subject's own accountDignity and high office; hidden treasures; the spirits of the air and true answers from them; the moving of precious stones; swift medicines; long life. 1 Status
Standing as a Comparative CategorySourced to the subject's own accountA modern system making claims scholarship never entertained; it never held scholarly standing 1 Learn More
Powers and Office in the Arbatel
In the Arbatel de magia veterum, Bethor is the Olympic spirit given governance over the sphere of Jupiter, and the text presents him as quick to answer when called. He is credited with raising those who bear his character to high dignity and office, opening hidden treasures, reconciling the spirits of the air so that they give true answers, and moving precious stones from one place to another. The Arbatel also attributes to him medicines that work with unusual speed, familiar spirits drawn from the airy realm, and a notably long lifespan granted to those he favors, extending it well beyond the ordinary span the text allows most people.
Like Aratron, Bethor commands a nested court of subordinate kings, princes, dukes, counsellors and ministers, and his reign is counted among the seven successive 490 year ages the Arbatel assigns to the Olympic spirits as a group. The text frames Jupiter's associations, dignity, wealth, favor and long life, consistently with the planet's wider role across astrological tradition, rather than inventing them freshly for this one grimoire. This entry describes what the Arbatel claims for Bethor rather than treating any of it as verified or as instruction to be carried out.
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.
Cross-Tradition Connections
Associated With
Named as the Olympic spirit of this planetary sphere.
Attributed To
One of the seven Olympic Spirits the Arbatel assigns to the seven classical planets.
Disciplines That Use This
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