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Demons
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Beings that a tradition classes as hostile to its order, with the tradition doing the classing named in every entry. The word carries its own history. Greek daimon meant a spirit of no fixed moral character, and the narrowing to evil is a later Jewish and Christian development. Several occupants strain the heading. Pazuzu was invoked in Mesopotamia for protection against Lamashtu, so one figure filed here was a defence against another, and Mahishasura belongs to a Hindu narrative of a quite different shape.
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Overview
What Defines This GroupingMalevolent or hostile spirit-beings as they appear in sacred narrative, kept apart from the ranked ceremonial spirits the atlas catalogues elsewhere. What counts as a demon differs by tradition: a fallen angel in one, a lesser deity displaced by an incoming religion in another, a class of being neither wholly good nor wholly evil in a third. 2 Learn More
The Demons
This group holds demons, malevolent or hostile spirit-beings of sacred narrative, distinct from the ranked ceremonial spirits treated elsewhere in the atlas. Across traditions demons figure as tempters, tormentors and enemies of gods and humans.
The browser will find the demon figures the atlas classes here as characters. The entries describe each within its tradition, noting how conceptions of the demonic differ from one religion to another.
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