Abyzou
Encyclopedia
In the myth and folklore
of the Near East
and Europe
, Abyzou is the name of a female demon
. Abyzou was blamed for miscarriage
s and infant mortality
and was said to be motivated by envy
( phthonos), as she herself was infertile. In the Jewish tradition
she is identified with Lilith
, in Copt
ic Egypt with Alabasandria, and in Byzantine culture
with Gylou
, but in various texts surviving from the syncretic
magical practice of antiquity and the early medieval era she is said to have many or virtually innumerable names.
Abyzou (also spelled Abizou, Obizu, Obizuth, Obyzouth, Byzou etc.) is pictured on amulet
s with fish- or serpent-like attributes. Her fullest literary depiction is the compendium
of demonology
known as the Testament of Solomon
, dated variously by scholars from as early as the 1st century AD to as late as the 4th.
n Apsu or Sumerian Abzu
, the undifferentiated sea from which the world was created in the Sumerian belief system, equivalent to Babylonian Tiamat
, or Hebrew Tehom
in the Book of Genesis. The entity Sea was originally bi- or asexual, later dividing into male Abzu (fresh water
) and female Tiamat (salt water
). The female demons among whom Lilith is the best-known are often said to have come from the primeval sea. In classical Greece
, female sea monsters that combine allure and deadliness may also derive from this tradition, including the Gorgons (who were daughters of the old sea god Phorcys
), Siren
s, Harpies, and even water nymphs and Nereids
.
In the Septuagint, the Greek version of the Hebrew scriptures
, the word Abyssos is treated as a noun
of feminine grammatical gender
, even though Greek nouns ending in -os are typically masculine. Abyssos is equivalent in meaning to Mesopotamian Abzu as the dark chaotic sea before Creation. The word also appears in the Christian scriptures
, occurring six times in the Book of Revelation
, where it is conventionally translated not as “the deep” but as “the bottomless pit”
of Hell
. Barb argues that in essence the Sumerian Abzu is the “grandmother” of the Christian Devil
.
in public view. The writer of the Testament appears to have been thinking of the gorgoneion, or the icon of the Medusa
’s head, which often adorned Greek temple
s and occasionally Jewish synagogue
s in late antiquity.
Envy is a theme in the Testament, and during his interrogation by the king, Beelzebub
himself asserts that he inspires envy among humans. Among the succession of demons bound and questioned, the personification of Envy is described as headless, and motivated by the need to steal another's head: "I grasp in an instant a man's head … and put it on myself." As with Envy's Sisyphean efforts to replace his head, Abyzou (Obizuth) cannot rest until she steals a child each night.
On the inscribed healing amulet
s of the Near Eastern and European magico
-medical tradition, illness or affliction is often personified and addressed directly; the practitioner may be instructed to inscribe or chant a phrase that orders the ailment to depart: for example, “Flee, Fever!” The ailment may also be conceived of as caused by a demon, who must be identified correctly by name and commanded to depart. In this mode, magico-healing practice bears comparison to exorcism
.
Abyzou is depicted and named on several early Byzantine bronze
amulets. With her hands tied behind her back, she kneels as she is whipped by a standing figure, identified as Solomon or Arlaph, called Afarof in the Testament of Solomon and identified with the archangel Raphael
. On one amulet, the figure is labeled as Arlaph, but an inscription reads “The Seal of Solomon [is] with the bearer; I am Noskam.” The reverse inscription is written within an ouroboros
, the symbol of a snake biting its tail to form a circle: “Flee, flee, Abyzou, [from] Sisinios and Sisinnia; the voracious dog dwells here.” (St. Sisinnios sometimes takes the Solomon role on Christian amulets.) Although Abyzou is regarded mainly as a threat to child-bearing women and to infants, some of the names of those seeking protection from her on extant amulets are masculine.
Medieval amulets show a variation on this iconography
, with Abyzou trampled underfoot by a horseman. The rider is identified again either as Solomon or Arlaph; one example depicts the rider as Sisinnios, with the demon named as both Abizou and Anabardalea, and an angel named Araph (for Arlaph) standing by with one raised wing. The medieval lead amulets that show the rider subduing the female often have a main image that resembles a gorgoneion and is likely a womb symbol (hystera).
confronts Abyzou and compels her to tell him the 40 names that can control her. In magico-religious practice, the knowledge of the secret name of a deity, divine force, or demon offers power over that entity.
In the Testament of Solomon, the demon herself declares that she has ten-thousands of names and forms, and that Raphael is her antithesis. She says that if her name is written on a scrap of papyrus
when a woman is about to give birth, “I shall flee from them to the other world.”
Variants on the name of Abyzou appear frequently in charms in languages such as ancient Greek
, Hebrew
, and Romanian
.
the King,” Gyllou under torture reveals her “twelve and a half names”:
In medieval texts, one of Gylou’s twelve and a half names is given as Anabardalea, a name also associated with Abyzou.
In the form of Gello
, the demon appears in a fragment from Sappho
's poetry.
headaches. She is known primarily from a 2nd/3rd century silver lamella (inscribed metal leaf) found at the Roman
military settlement Carnuntum
in present-day Austria
. Antaura, whose name means something like “Contrary Wind,” is said to come out of the sea. In the inscription, she is confronted by the Ephesian Artemis, who plays the role assigned to the male figures Solomon, Arlaph, and Sisinnios in Judaeo-Christian magic.
manner, and an inscription
, now faded, was read at the time of its discovery as Sisinnios. This central image is surrounded by other figures, including a centaur
, the piercing of the evil eye
, and the demon's daughter, winged and reptile-tailed, identified by an inscription.
Conybeare, F.C.
“The Testament of Solomon,” translation and introduction. Jewish Quarterly Review 11 (1898) 1– 46 online, full text available and downloadable.
Fulgum, Mary Margaret. "Coins Used as Amulets in Late Antiquity." In Between Magic and Religion (Rowman & Littlefield, 2001), pp. 139–148 limited preview online.
Spier, Jeffrey. “Medieval Byzantine Magical Amulets and Their Tradition.” Journal of the Warburg and Courtauld Institutes 56 (1993) 25–62, online.
Folklore
Folklore consists of legends, music, oral history, proverbs, jokes, popular beliefs, fairy tales and customs that are the traditions of a culture, subculture, or group. It is also the set of practices through which those expressive genres are shared. The study of folklore is sometimes called...
of the Near East
Near East
The Near East is a geographical term that covers different countries for geographers, archeologists, and historians, on the one hand, and for political scientists, economists, and journalists, on the other...
and Europe
Europe
Europe is, by convention, one of the world's seven continents. Comprising the westernmost peninsula of Eurasia, Europe is generally 'divided' from Asia to its east by the watershed divides of the Ural and Caucasus Mountains, the Ural River, the Caspian and Black Seas, and the waterways connecting...
, Abyzou is the name of a female demon
Demon
call - 1347 531 7769 for more infoIn Ancient Near Eastern religions as well as in the Abrahamic traditions, including ancient and medieval Christian demonology, a demon is considered an "unclean spirit" which may cause demonic possession, to be addressed with an act of exorcism...
. Abyzou was blamed for miscarriage
Miscarriage
Miscarriage or spontaneous abortion is the spontaneous end of a pregnancy at a stage where the embryo or fetus is incapable of surviving independently, generally defined in humans at prior to 20 weeks of gestation...
s and infant mortality
Infant mortality
Infant mortality is defined as the number of infant deaths per 1000 live births. Traditionally, the most common cause worldwide was dehydration from diarrhea. However, the spreading information about Oral Re-hydration Solution to mothers around the world has decreased the rate of children dying...
and was said to be motivated by envy
Envy
Envy is best defined as a resentful emotion that "occurs when a person lacks another's superior quality, achievement, or possession and either desires it or wishes that the other lacked it."...
( phthonos), as she herself was infertile. In the Jewish tradition
Judaism
Judaism ) is the "religion, philosophy, and way of life" of the Jewish people...
she is identified with Lilith
Lilith
Lilith is a character in Jewish mythology, found earliest in the Babylonian Talmud, who is generally thought to be related to a class of female demons Līlīṯu in Mesopotamian texts. However, Lowell K. Handy notes, "Very little information has been found relating to the Akkadian and Babylonian view...
, in Copt
Copt
The Copts are the native Egyptian Christians , a major ethnoreligious group in Egypt....
ic Egypt with Alabasandria, and in Byzantine culture
Byzantine Empire
The Byzantine Empire was the Eastern Roman Empire during the periods of Late Antiquity and the Middle Ages, centred on the capital of Constantinople. Known simply as the Roman Empire or Romania to its inhabitants and neighbours, the Empire was the direct continuation of the Ancient Roman State...
with Gylou
Gello
In the myth and folklore of the Near East and Europe, Gello is one of the many names for a female demon or revenant who threatens the reproductive cycle by causing infertility, spontaneous abortion, and infant mortality.By the Byzantine era, the gello had become a type of demonic possession...
, but in various texts surviving from the syncretic
Syncretism
Syncretism is the combining of different beliefs, often while melding practices of various schools of thought. The term means "combining", but see below for the origin of the word...
magical practice of antiquity and the early medieval era she is said to have many or virtually innumerable names.
Abyzou (also spelled Abizou, Obizu, Obizuth, Obyzouth, Byzou etc.) is pictured on amulet
Amulet
An amulet, similar to a talisman , is any object intended to bring good luck or protection to its owner.Potential amulets include gems, especially engraved gems, statues, coins, drawings, pendants, rings, plants and animals; even words said in certain occasions—for example: vade retro satana—, to...
s with fish- or serpent-like attributes. Her fullest literary depiction is the compendium
Compendium
A compendium is a concise, yet comprehensive compilation of a body of knowledge. A compendium may summarize a larger work. In most cases the body of knowledge will concern some delimited field of human interest or endeavour , while a "universal" encyclopedia can be referred to as a compendium of...
of demonology
Demonology
Demonology is the systematic study of demons or beliefs about demons. It is the branch of theology relating to superhuman beings who are not gods. It deals both with benevolent beings that have no circle of worshippers or so limited a circle as to be below the rank of gods, and with malevolent...
known as the Testament of Solomon
Testament of Solomon
The Testament of Solomon is an Old Testament pseudepigraphical work, the authorship of which is ascribed to King Solomon. It describes how Solomon was enabled to build the Temple by commanding demons by means of a magical ring entrusted to him by the Archangel Michael.- History :Despite the text's...
, dated variously by scholars from as early as the 1st century AD to as late as the 4th.
Origins
A.A. Barb connected Abyzou and similar female demons to the Sumerian myth of primeval Sea. Barb argued that although the name “Abyzou” appears to be a corrupted form of the Greek word abyssos ("the abyss"), the Greek itself was borrowed from AssyriaAssyria
Assyria was a Semitic Akkadian kingdom, extant as a nation state from the mid–23rd century BC to 608 BC centred on the Upper Tigris river, in northern Mesopotamia , that came to rule regional empires a number of times through history. It was named for its original capital, the ancient city of Assur...
n Apsu or Sumerian Abzu
Abzu
The abzu also called engur, literally, ab='ocean' zu='to know' or 'deep' was the name for fresh water from underground aquifers that was given a religious quality in Sumerian and Akkadian mythology...
, the undifferentiated sea from which the world was created in the Sumerian belief system, equivalent to Babylonian Tiamat
Tiamat
In Babylonian mythology, Tiamat is a chaos monster, a primordial goddess of the ocean, mating with Abzû to produce younger gods. It is suggested that there are two parts to the Tiamat mythos, the first in which Tiamat is 'creatrix', through a "Sacred marriage" between salt and fresh water,...
, or Hebrew Tehom
Tehom
Tehom , literally the Deep or Abyss , refers to the Great Deep of the primordial waters of creation in the Bible. Tehom is a cognate of the Akkadian word tamtu and Ugaritic t-h-m which have similar meaning...
in the Book of Genesis. The entity Sea was originally bi- or asexual, later dividing into male Abzu (fresh water
Freshwater
Fresh water is naturally occurring water on the Earth's surface in ice sheets, ice caps, glaciers, bogs, ponds, lakes, rivers and streams, and underground as groundwater in aquifers and underground streams. Fresh water is generally characterized by having low concentrations of dissolved salts and...
) and female Tiamat (salt water
Seawater
Seawater is water from a sea or ocean. On average, seawater in the world's oceans has a salinity of about 3.5% . This means that every kilogram of seawater has approximately of dissolved salts . The average density of seawater at the ocean surface is 1.025 g/ml...
). The female demons among whom Lilith is the best-known are often said to have come from the primeval sea. In classical Greece
Classical Greece
Classical Greece was a 200 year period in Greek culture lasting from the 5th through 4th centuries BC. This classical period had a powerful influence on the Roman Empire and greatly influenced the foundation of Western civilizations. Much of modern Western politics, artistic thought, such as...
, female sea monsters that combine allure and deadliness may also derive from this tradition, including the Gorgons (who were daughters of the old sea god Phorcys
Phorcys
In Greek mythology, Phorcys , a primordial sea god, generally cited as the son of Pontus and Gaia. According to the Orphic hymns, Phorcys, Cronus and Rhea were the eldest offspring of Oceanus and Tethys. Classical scholar Karl Kerenyi conflated Phorcys with the similar sea gods Nereus and Proteus...
), Siren
Siren
In Greek mythology, the Sirens were three dangerous mermaid like creatures, portrayed as seductresses who lured nearby sailors with their enchanting music and voices to shipwreck on the rocky coast of their island. Roman poets placed them on an island called Sirenum scopuli...
s, Harpies, and even water nymphs and Nereids
Nereids
In Greek mythology, the Nereids are sea nymphs, the fifty daughters of Nereus and Doris, sisters to Nerites. They often accompany Poseidon and can be friendly and helpful to sailors fighting perilous storms. They are particularly associated with the Aegean Sea, where they dwelt with their father...
.
In the Septuagint, the Greek version of the Hebrew scriptures
Hebrew Bible
The Hebrew Bible is a term used by biblical scholars outside of Judaism to refer to the Tanakh , a canonical collection of Jewish texts, and the common textual antecedent of the several canonical editions of the Christian Old Testament...
, the word Abyssos is treated as a noun
Noun
In linguistics, a noun is a member of a large, open lexical category whose members can occur as the main word in the subject of a clause, the object of a verb, or the object of a preposition .Lexical categories are defined in terms of how their members combine with other kinds of...
of feminine grammatical gender
Grammatical gender
Grammatical gender is defined linguistically as a system of classes of nouns which trigger specific types of inflections in associated words, such as adjectives, verbs and others. For a system of noun classes to be a gender system, every noun must belong to one of the classes and there should be...
, even though Greek nouns ending in -os are typically masculine. Abyssos is equivalent in meaning to Mesopotamian Abzu as the dark chaotic sea before Creation. The word also appears in the Christian scriptures
New Testament
The New Testament is the second major division of the Christian biblical canon, the first such division being the much longer Old Testament....
, occurring six times in the Book of Revelation
Book of Revelation
The Book of Revelation is the final book of the New Testament. The title came into usage from the first word of the book in Koine Greek: apokalupsis, meaning "unveiling" or "revelation"...
, where it is conventionally translated not as “the deep” but as “the bottomless pit”
Abyss (religion)
Abyss refers to a bottomless pit, to the underworld, to the deepest ocean floor, or to hell.The English word "abyss" derives from the late Latin abyssimus through French abisme , hence the poetic form "abysm", with examples dating to 1616 and earlier to rhyme with "time"...
of Hell
Hell
In many religious traditions, a hell is a place of suffering and punishment in the afterlife. Religions with a linear divine history often depict hells as endless. Religions with a cyclic history often depict a hell as an intermediary period between incarnations...
. Barb argues that in essence the Sumerian Abzu is the “grandmother” of the Christian Devil
Devil
The Devil is believed in many religions and cultures to be a powerful, supernatural entity that is the personification of evil and the enemy of God and humankind. The nature of the role varies greatly...
.
The Testament of Solomon
In the late antique Testament of Solomon, Abyzou (as Obizuth) is described as having a “greenish gleaming face with dishevelled serpent-like hair”; the rest of her body is covered by darkness. The speaker (“King Solomon”) encounters a series of demons, binds and tortures each in turn, and inquires into their activities; then he metes out punishment or controls them as he sees fit. Put to the test, Abyzou says that she does not sleep, but rather wanders the world looking for women about to give birth; given the opportunity, she will strangle newborns. She claims also to be the source of many other afflictions, including deafness, eye trouble, obstructions of the throat, madness, and bodily pain. Solomon orders that she be chained by her own hair and hung up in front of the TempleTemple in Jerusalem
The Temple in Jerusalem or Holy Temple , refers to one of a series of structures which were historically located on the Temple Mount in the Old City of Jerusalem, the current site of the Dome of the Rock. Historically, these successive temples stood at this location and functioned as the centre of...
in public view. The writer of the Testament appears to have been thinking of the gorgoneion, or the icon of the Medusa
Medusa
In Greek mythology Medusa , " guardian, protectress") was a Gorgon, a chthonic monster, and a daughter of Phorcys and Ceto. The author Hyginus, interposes a generation and gives Medusa another chthonic pair as parents. Gazing directly upon her would turn onlookers to stone...
’s head, which often adorned Greek temple
Greek temple
Greek temples were structures built to house deity statues within Greek sanctuaries in Greek paganism. The temples themselves did usually not directly serve a cult purpose, since the sacrifices and rituals dedicated to the respective deity took place outside them...
s and occasionally Jewish synagogue
Synagogue
A synagogue is a Jewish house of prayer. This use of the Greek term synagogue originates in the Septuagint where it sometimes translates the Hebrew word for assembly, kahal...
s in late antiquity.
Envy is a theme in the Testament, and during his interrogation by the king, Beelzebub
Beelzebub
Beelzebub -Religious meaning:Ba‘al Zəbûb is variously understood to mean "lord of flies", or "lord of the dwelling". Originally the name of a Philistine god, Beelzebub is also identified in the New Testament as Satan, the "prince of the demons". In Arabic the name is retained as Ba‘al dhubaab /...
himself asserts that he inspires envy among humans. Among the succession of demons bound and questioned, the personification of Envy is described as headless, and motivated by the need to steal another's head: "I grasp in an instant a man's head … and put it on myself." As with Envy's Sisyphean efforts to replace his head, Abyzou (Obizuth) cannot rest until she steals a child each night.
On medical amulets
Amulet
An amulet, similar to a talisman , is any object intended to bring good luck or protection to its owner.Potential amulets include gems, especially engraved gems, statues, coins, drawings, pendants, rings, plants and animals; even words said in certain occasions—for example: vade retro satana—, to...
s of the Near Eastern and European magico
Magic in the Greco-Roman world
The study of magic in the Greco-Roman world is a branch of the disciplines of classics, ancient history and religious studies. In the ancient post-hellenistic world of the Greeks and Romans , the public and private rituals associated with religion are accepted by historians and archaeologists to...
-medical tradition, illness or affliction is often personified and addressed directly; the practitioner may be instructed to inscribe or chant a phrase that orders the ailment to depart: for example, “Flee, Fever!” The ailment may also be conceived of as caused by a demon, who must be identified correctly by name and commanded to depart. In this mode, magico-healing practice bears comparison to exorcism
Exorcism
Exorcism is the religious practice of evicting demons or other spiritual entities from a person or place which they are believed to have possessed...
.
Abyzou is depicted and named on several early Byzantine bronze
Bronze
Bronze is a metal alloy consisting primarily of copper, usually with tin as the main additive. It is hard and brittle, and it was particularly significant in antiquity, so much so that the Bronze Age was named after the metal...
amulets. With her hands tied behind her back, she kneels as she is whipped by a standing figure, identified as Solomon or Arlaph, called Afarof in the Testament of Solomon and identified with the archangel Raphael
Raphael (archangel)
Raphael is an archangel of Judaism, Christianity, and Islam, who in the Judeo-Christian tradition performs all manners of healing....
. On one amulet, the figure is labeled as Arlaph, but an inscription reads “The Seal of Solomon [is] with the bearer; I am Noskam.” The reverse inscription is written within an ouroboros
Ouroboros
The Ouroboros is an ancient symbol depicting a serpent or dragon eating its own tail. The name originates from within Greek language; οὐρά meaning "tail" and βόρος meaning "eating", thus "he who eats the tail"....
, the symbol of a snake biting its tail to form a circle: “Flee, flee, Abyzou, [from] Sisinios and Sisinnia; the voracious dog dwells here.” (St. Sisinnios sometimes takes the Solomon role on Christian amulets.) Although Abyzou is regarded mainly as a threat to child-bearing women and to infants, some of the names of those seeking protection from her on extant amulets are masculine.
Medieval amulets show a variation on this iconography
Iconography
Iconography is the branch of art history which studies the identification, description, and the interpretation of the content of images. The word iconography literally means "image writing", and comes from the Greek "image" and "to write". A secondary meaning is the painting of icons in the...
, with Abyzou trampled underfoot by a horseman. The rider is identified again either as Solomon or Arlaph; one example depicts the rider as Sisinnios, with the demon named as both Abizou and Anabardalea, and an angel named Araph (for Arlaph) standing by with one raised wing. The medieval lead amulets that show the rider subduing the female often have a main image that resembles a gorgoneion and is likely a womb symbol (hystera).
The names of Abyzou
In one magic-related text, the archangel MichaelMichael (archangel)
Michael , Micha'el or Mîkhā'ēl; , Mikhaḗl; or Míchaël; , Mīkhā'īl) is an archangel in Jewish, Christian, and Islamic teachings. Roman Catholics, Anglicans, and Lutherans refer to him as Saint Michael the Archangel and also simply as Saint Michael...
confronts Abyzou and compels her to tell him the 40 names that can control her. In magico-religious practice, the knowledge of the secret name of a deity, divine force, or demon offers power over that entity.
In the Testament of Solomon, the demon herself declares that she has ten-thousands of names and forms, and that Raphael is her antithesis. She says that if her name is written on a scrap of papyrus
Papyrus
Papyrus is a thick paper-like material produced from the pith of the papyrus plant, Cyperus papyrus, a wetland sedge that was once abundant in the Nile Delta of Egypt....
when a woman is about to give birth, “I shall flee from them to the other world.”
Variants on the name of Abyzou appear frequently in charms in languages such as ancient Greek
Ancient Greek
Ancient Greek is the stage of the Greek language in the periods spanning the times c. 9th–6th centuries BC, , c. 5th–4th centuries BC , and the c. 3rd century BC – 6th century AD of ancient Greece and the ancient world; being predated in the 2nd millennium BC by Mycenaean Greek...
, Hebrew
Hebrew language
Hebrew is a Semitic language of the Afroasiatic language family. Culturally, is it considered by Jews and other religious groups as the language of the Jewish people, though other Jewish languages had originated among diaspora Jews, and the Hebrew language is also used by non-Jewish groups, such...
, and Romanian
Romanian language
Romanian Romanian Romanian (or Daco-Romanian; obsolete spellings Rumanian, Roumanian; self-designation: română, limba română ("the Romanian language") or românește (lit. "in Romanian") is a Romance language spoken by around 24 to 28 million people, primarily in Romania and Moldova...
.
Gyllou, Gylou, Gello
The female childbirth demon appears frequently in magical texts under her Babylonian name Gyllou or Gylou. In one Greek tale set in the time of “TrajanTrajan
Trajan , was Roman Emperor from 98 to 117 AD. Born into a non-patrician family in the province of Hispania Baetica, in Spain Trajan rose to prominence during the reign of emperor Domitian. Serving as a legatus legionis in Hispania Tarraconensis, in Spain, in 89 Trajan supported the emperor against...
the King,” Gyllou under torture reveals her “twelve and a half names”:
In medieval texts, one of Gylou’s twelve and a half names is given as Anabardalea, a name also associated with Abyzou.
In the form of Gello
Gello
In the myth and folklore of the Near East and Europe, Gello is one of the many names for a female demon or revenant who threatens the reproductive cycle by causing infertility, spontaneous abortion, and infant mortality.By the Byzantine era, the gello had become a type of demonic possession...
, the demon appears in a fragment from Sappho
Sappho
Sappho was an Ancient Greek poet, born on the island of Lesbos. Later Greeks included her in the list of nine lyric poets. Her birth was sometime between 630 and 612 BC, and it is said that she died around 570 BC, but little is known for certain about her life...
's poetry.
Antaura
Antaura is a female demon who causes migraineMigraine
Migraine is a chronic neurological disorder characterized by moderate to severe headaches, and nausea...
headaches. She is known primarily from a 2nd/3rd century silver lamella (inscribed metal leaf) found at the Roman
Roman Empire
The Roman Empire was the post-Republican period of the ancient Roman civilization, characterised by an autocratic form of government and large territorial holdings in Europe and around the Mediterranean....
military settlement Carnuntum
Carnuntum
Carnuntum was a Roman army camp on the Danube in the Noricum province and after the 1st century the capital of the Upper Pannonia province...
in present-day Austria
Austria
Austria , officially the Republic of Austria , is a landlocked country of roughly 8.4 million people in Central Europe. It is bordered by the Czech Republic and Germany to the north, Slovakia and Hungary to the east, Slovenia and Italy to the south, and Switzerland and Liechtenstein to the...
. Antaura, whose name means something like “Contrary Wind,” is said to come out of the sea. In the inscription, she is confronted by the Ephesian Artemis, who plays the role assigned to the male figures Solomon, Arlaph, and Sisinnios in Judaeo-Christian magic.
Alabasandria
At the monastery of St. Apollo in Bawit, Egypt, a wall painting depicts the childbirth demon under the name Alabasandria (or Alabasdria) as she is trampled under the hooves of a horse. The rider wears a belted tunic and trousers in the ParthianParthian Empire
The Parthian Empire , also known as the Arsacid Empire , was a major Iranian political and cultural power in ancient Persia...
manner, and an inscription
Epigraphy
Epigraphy Epigraphy Epigraphy (from the , literally "on-writing", is the study of inscriptions or epigraphs as writing; that is, the science of identifying the graphemes and of classifying their use as to cultural context and date, elucidating their meaning and assessing what conclusions can be...
, now faded, was read at the time of its discovery as Sisinnios. This central image is surrounded by other figures, including a centaur
Centaur
In Greek mythology, a centaur or hippocentaur is a member of a composite race of creatures, part human and part horse...
, the piercing of the evil eye
Evil eye
The evil eye is a look that is believed by many cultures to be able to cause injury or bad luck for the person at whom it is directed for reasons of envy or dislike...
, and the demon's daughter, winged and reptile-tailed, identified by an inscription.
See also
For similar or related figures, see:- LilithLilithLilith is a character in Jewish mythology, found earliest in the Babylonian Talmud, who is generally thought to be related to a class of female demons Līlīṯu in Mesopotamian texts. However, Lowell K. Handy notes, "Very little information has been found relating to the Akkadian and Babylonian view...
- LamiaLamia (mythology)In ancient Greek mythology, Lamia was a beautiful queen of Libya who became a child-eating daemon. Aristophanes claimed her name derived from the Greek word for gullet , referring to her habit of devouring children....
- LamashtuLamashtuIn Mesopotamian mythology, Lamashtu was a female demon, monster, malevolent goddess or demigoddess who menaced women during childbirth and, if possible, kidnapped children while they were breastfeeding. She would gnaw on their bones and suck their blood, as well as being charged with a number of...
- EmpusaEmpusaEmpusa is a demigoddess of Greek mythology. In later incarnations she appeared as a species of monsters commanded by Hecate ....
Selected bibliography
Barb, A.A. “Antaura. The Mermaid and the Devil’s Grandmother: A Lecture.” Journal of the Warburg and Courtauld Institutes 29 (1966) 1–23.Conybeare, F.C.
Frederick Cornwallis Conybeare
Frederick Cornwallis Conybeare was a British orientalist, Fellow of University College, Oxford, and Professor of Theology at the University of Oxford.-Biography:...
“The Testament of Solomon,” translation and introduction. Jewish Quarterly Review 11 (1898) 1– 46 online, full text available and downloadable.
Fulgum, Mary Margaret. "Coins Used as Amulets in Late Antiquity." In Between Magic and Religion (Rowman & Littlefield, 2001), pp. 139–148 limited preview online.
Spier, Jeffrey. “Medieval Byzantine Magical Amulets and Their Tradition.” Journal of the Warburg and Courtauld Institutes 56 (1993) 25–62, online.