Everything about Sydonai totally explained
Asmodai or
Asmodeus (see below for other variations) is a
demon mostly known from the
deuterocanonical Book of Tobit. The demon is also mentioned in some Talmudic legends, for instance, in the story of the construction of the
Temple of Solomon.
Spelling variations deriving from Asmodai/Asmodeus include Ashmadia, Ashmedai (Hebrew), Asmodaios-Ασμοδαίος (Greek), Asmoday, Asmodée (French), Asmodee, Asmodei, Ashmodei, Ashmodai, Asmodeios, Asmodeo (Spanish and Italian, from a Latin declination), Asmodeu (Portuguese), Asmodeius, Asmodi, Chammaday, Chashmodai, Sidonay, Sydonai, Asimodai (Romanian).
Etymology
The name
Asmodai is believed to derive from
Avestan language *aēšma-daēva, where
aēšma means "wrath", and
daēva signifies "demon". While the
daēva Aēšma is thus
Zoroastrianism's demon of wrath and is also well attested as such, the compound
aēšma-daēva isn't attested in scripture. It is nonetheless likely that such a form did exist, and that the
Book of Tobit's "Asmodaios" (Ἀσμοδαῖος) and the
Talmud's "Ashmedai" reflect it.
Although there are also functional parallels between Zoroastrianism's Aēšma and Judaism's Asmodai/Asmodeus, the linguistic relationship doesn't denote conceptual continuity. The two are mythologically and culturally distinct.
In the texts
In the Book of Tobit
The Asmodeus of the
Book of Tobit is attracted by Sarah,
Raguel's daughter, and isn't willing to let any husband possess her (
Tobit, vi.13); hence he slays seven successive husbands on their wedding-nights, thus impeding the consummation of the sexual act. When the young Tobias is about to marry her, Asmodeus purposes 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 which 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; but he's also described as an evil spirit in general: 'Ασμοδαίος τὸ πονηρὸν δαιμόνιον or τõ δαιμόνιον πονηρόν, and πνεῦμα ἀκάϑαρτον (iii.8, 17; vi.13; viii.3). It is possible, moreover, that the statement (vi.14), "Asmodeus loved Sarah," implies that he was attracted not by women in general, but by Sarah only.
In the Talmud
The figure of Ashmedai in the
Talmud is less harmful in character than Tobit's Asmodeus. In the former, he appears repeatedly in the light of a good-natured and humorous fellow. But besides that, there's one feature in which he parallels Asmodeus, inasmuch as his desires turn upon
Solomon's wives and
Bath-sheba. But even here, Ashmedai seems more comparable to a Greek
satyr, rather than to an evil demon.
Another Talmudic legend has King Solomon tricking Asmodai into collaborating in the construction of the temple of Jerusalem. In yet another legend Asmodai changed place for some years with King Solomon. An
aggadic narrative describes him as the king of all the
shades (
Pesachim 109b-112a). Another passage describes him as marrying
Lilith, who became his queen.
It is also stated that he was the off-spring of the union between Adam and the angel of prostitution,
Naamah, conceived whilst Adam was married to Lilith.
In the Testament of Solomon
In the
Testament of Solomon, a 1st-3rd century text, the king invokes Asmodeus to aid in the construction of the Temple. The demon appears and predicts Solomon's kingdom will one day be divided (Testament of Solomon 5:4-5). When Solomon interrogated Asmodeus further, the king learns that Asmodeus is thwarted by the angel Raphael, as well as by sheatfish found in the rivers of Assyria. He also admits to hating water.
In the Malleus Maleficarum
In the
Malleus Maleficarum (1486), Asmodai was considered the demon of lust, to which agreed
Sebastien Michaelis saying that his adversary is
St. John. Some demonologists of the 16th century assigned each month to a demon and considered November to be the month in which Asmodai's power was stronger. Other demonologists asserted that his
zodiacal sign was
Aquarius but only between the dates of January 30th and February 8th.
He has seventy-two legions of demons under his command. He is one of the
Kings of Hell under
Lucifer the emperor. He incites gambling, and is the overseer of all the gambling houses in the court of Hell. Some Catholic theologians compared him with
Abaddon. Yet other authors considered Asmodai a prince of revenge.
In the Dictionnaire Infernal
In the
Dictionnaire Infernal by
Collin de Plancy, Asmodai is depicted with the breast of a man, cock legs, serpent tail, three heads (one of a man spitting fire, one of a
sheep, and one of a bull), riding a lion with dragon wings and neck, all of these animals being associated with either lascivity, lust or revenge.
In the Lesser Key of Solomon
Asmodai appears as the king 'Asmoday' in the
Ars Goetia, where he's said to have a seal in gold and is listed as number thirty-two according to respective rank.
He "is strong, powerful and appears with three heads; the first is like a bull, the second like a man, and the third like a ram; the tail of a serpent, and from his mouth issue flames of fire."
Also, he sits upon an infernal dragon, holds a lance with a banner and, amongst the Legions of
Amaymon, Asmoday governs seventy two legions of inferior spirits.
Fiction
- In Dungeons & Dragons, Asmodeus is the Lord of the Ninth, the ruler of Nessus, the ninth layer of Baator (Hell) and the most powerful of the archdevils.
- Named Sydonai, he's the final boss in the computer game . He looks similar to Cthulhu.
- In "Voices in the Dark", the first installment of, a man named Simon Burke was possessed by a demon who claimed to be Asmodeus, acting as a part of God's strategy to bring mankind back to the Church.
- In Brian Jacques's Redwall Series, Asmodeus is a giant adder. (Poisonous snake)
- He is the principal antagonist (though this isn't revealed until the last pages) of the novel Asmodejev šal (Asmodej's shawl) by the prominent Croatian author Ivan Aralica.
- In Robert Jordan's The Wheel of Time, Asmodean is one of the Forsaken.
- in the PS2 game, Asmodai, here called Asmodeus, appears as one of the main enemies as well as a crest that gives the user magic abilities. in this incarnation, he appears as a pale mass of bloated flesh in the shape of a butterfly, with six arms and an old mans' head on the end of a long fat neck.
- In the adult anime series of Jiburiru - The Devil Angel, Asmodai was known as Asmo, Although, his romanized name is Asmodesu. He appears as a grey hair and as a young devil who tries to kidnap Rika Manabe with tenticles, who is later to transform to Jibril to lose virginity to Naoto (as Luvriel or Naoto throws a halo onto her head). He failed to kidnap Rika so he gets help from Meimi to have revenge on Rika for her jealously from Naoto.
- In the real time strategy game Starcraft, there's a popular Use Map Settings game by the name of Heaven's Last Defense/Stand, where Asmodeus is a playable character portrayed as a Terran Goliath.
- In the anime and light novel series Shakugan no Shana, Sidonay is the name of the Bal Masque member. He is shown to be able to change his form into that of a large sea monster and a flighted creature, as well as change his limbs into different forms. He is extremely protective of Hecate, refering to her as 'my Hecate'.
- In Equinox (film), Asmodeus is the controller of different demons and spirits.
- In the Australian movie 'Gabriel', he's one demon fighting against archangels sent to Earth.
- In Megatokyo Asmodeus is the name of Piro's anti-conscience.
Further Information
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