In the myth and folklore of the Near East and Europe, Abyzou is the name of a female demon. Abyzou was blamed for miscarriages and infant mortality and was said to be motivated by envy, as she herself was infertile. In the Coptic Egypt she is identified with Alabasandria, and in Byzantine culture with Gylou, but in various texts surviving from the syncretic magical practice of antiquity and the Early Middle Ages, she is said to have many or virtually innumerable names. [1]
Abyzou (also spelled Abizou, Obizu, Obizuth, Obyzouth, Byzou etc.) is pictured on amulets 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. [2]
A.A. Barb connected Abyzou and similar female demons to the story of the primeval sea, Abzu, in ancient Mesopotamian religion. Barb argued that although the name "Abyzou" appears to be a corrupted form of the Greek ἄβυσσοςábyssos'abyss', [3] the Greek itself was borrowed from Akkadian Apsu or Sumerian Abzu.
The primeval sea was originally an androgyne or asexual, later dividing into the male Abzu (fresh water) and the female Tiamat (seawater, appearing as the Tehom in the Book of Genesis). The female demons, among whom Lilith is the best-known, are often said to have come from the primeval sea. In ancient Greek religion, 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), sirens, harpies, and even water nymphs and Nereids. [4]
In the Septuagint, the Greek version of the Hebrew Bible, 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 Abzu as the dark chaotic sea before Creation. The word also appears in the Christian New Testament, 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. [5]
In the late antique Testament of Solomon, [6] 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. [7] 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. [8] Solomon orders that she be chained by her own hair and hung up in front of the Temple 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 temples and occasionally Jewish synagogues in late antiquity. [7]
Envy is a theme in the Testament, [9] and during his interrogation by the king, Beelzebub himself asserts that he inspires envy among humans. [10] 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." [11] 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 amulets of the Near Eastern and Graeco-Roman 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!" [12] 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. [13]
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." (Saint Sisinnios [14] 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. [15]
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). [16]
In one magic-related text, the archangel Michael confronts Abyzou and compels her to tell him the 40 names that can control her. [17] In magico-religious practice, the knowledge of the secret name of a deity, divine force, or demon offers power over that entity. [18]
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." [19]
Variants on the name of Abyzou appear frequently in charms in languages such as ancient Greek, Hebrew, and Romanian. [20]
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 "Trajan the King", Gyllou under torture reveals her "twelve and a half names":
My first and special name is called Gyllou; the second Amorphous; the third Abyzou; the fourth Karkhous; the fifth Brianê; the sixth Bardellous; the seventh Aigyptianê; the eighth Barna; the ninth Kharkhanistrea; the tenth Adikia; ... [21] the twelfth Myia; the half Petomene. [22]
In medieval texts, one of Gylou's twelve and a half names is given as Anabardalea, a name also associated with Abyzou. [23]
In the form of Gello, the demon appears in a fragment from Sappho's poetry. [24]
Antaura is a female demon who causes migraine 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 Jewish and Christian texts. [26]
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 Parthian manner, and an inscription, now faded, was read at the time of its discovery as Sisinnios. [1] 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. [27]
For similar or related figures, see:
A grimoire is a textbook of magic, typically including instructions on how to create magical objects like talismans and amulets, how to perform magical spells, charms, and divination, and how to summon or invoke supernatural entities such as angels, spirits, deities, and demons. In many cases, the books themselves are believed to be imbued with magical powers. The only contents found in a grimoire would be information on spells, rituals, the preparation of magical tools, and lists of ingredients and their magical correspondences. In this manner, while all books on magic could be thought of as grimoires, not all magical books should be thought of as grimoires.
The Key of Solomon, also known as the Greater Key of Solomon, is a pseudepigraphical grimoire attributed to King Solomon. It probably dates back to the 14th or 15th century Italian Renaissance. It presents a typical example of Renaissance magic.
The Testament of Solomon is a pseudepigraphical composite text ascribed to King Solomon but not regarded as canonical scripture by Jews or Christian groups. It was written in the Greek language, based on precedents dating back to the early 1st millennium AD, but was likely not completed in any meaningful textual sense until sometime in the Middle Ages. In its most noteworthy recensions, the text describes how Solomon was enabled to build his temple by commanding demons by means of a magical ring that was entrusted to him by the archangel Michael.
In ancient Roman religion, Averruncus or Auruncus is a god of averting harm. Aulus Gellius says that he is one of the potentially malignant deities who must be propitiated for their power to both inflict and withhold disaster from people and the harvests.
A curse tablet is a small tablet with a curse written on it from the Greco-Roman world. Its name originated from the Greek and Latin words for "pierce" and "bind". The tablets were used to ask the gods, place spirits, or the deceased to perform an action on a person or object, or otherwise compel the subject of the curse.
Frederick Cornwallis Conybeare, was a British orientalist, Fellow of University College, Oxford, and Professor of Theology at the University of Oxford.
Magic in the Greco-Roman world – that is, ancient Greece, ancient Rome, and the other cultures with which they interacted, especially ancient Egypt – comprises supernatural practices undertaken by individuals, often privately, that were not under the oversight of official priesthoods attached to the various state, community, and household cults and temples as a matter of public religion. Private magic was practiced throughout Greek and Roman cultures as well as among Jews and early Christians of the Roman Empire. Primary sources for the study of Greco-Roman magic include the Greek Magical Papyri, curse tablets, amulets, and literary texts such as Ovid's Fasti and Pliny the Elder's Natural History.
Practical Kabbalah in historical Judaism, is a branch of the Jewish mystical tradition that concerns the use of magic. It was considered permitted white magic by its practitioners, reserved for the elite, who could separate its spiritual source from qlippoth realms of evil if performed under circumstances that were holy (Q-D-Š) and pure, tumah and taharah. The concern of overstepping Judaism's strong prohibitions of impure magic ensured it remained a minor tradition in Jewish history. Its teachings include the use of Divine and angelic names for amulets and incantations.
Incantation bowls are a form of protective magic found in what is now Iraq and Iran. Produced in the Middle East during late antiquity from the sixth to eighth centuries, particularly in Upper Mesopotamia and Syria, the bowls were usually inscribed in a spiral, beginning from the rim and moving toward the center. Most are inscribed in Jewish Babylonian Aramaic.
Love magic is a type of magic that has existed or currently exists in many cultures around the world as a part of folk beliefs, both by clergy and laity of nearly every religion. Historically, it is attested on cuneiform tablets from Mesopotamia, in ancient Egyptian texts and later Coptic texts, in the Greco-Roman world, in Syriac texts, in the European Middle Ages and early modern period, and among all Jewish groups who co-existed with these groups.
The Medicina Plinii or Medical Pliny is an anonymous Latin compilation of medical remedies dating to the early 4th century AD. The excerptor, saying that he speaks from experience, offers the work as a compact resource for travelers in dealing with hucksters who sell worthless drugs at exorbitant prices or with know-nothings only interested in profit. The material is presented in three books in the conventional order a capite ad calcem, the first dealing with treatments pertaining to the head and throat, the second the torso and lower extremities, and the third systemic ailments, skin diseases, and poisons.
An amulet, also known as a good luck charm or phylactery, is an object believed to confer protection upon its possessor. The word "amulet" comes from the Latin word amuletum, which Pliny's Natural History describes as "an object that protects a person from trouble". Anything can function as an amulet; items commonly so used include statues, coins, drawings, plant parts, animal parts, and written words.
The Cyranides is a compilation of ancient Greek works on magic and medicine first put together in the 4th century. Latin and Arabic translations also exist. It has been described as a "farrago" and a texte vivant, owing to the complexities of its transmission: it has been abridged, rearranged, and supplemented. The resulting compilation covers the magical properties and practical uses of gemstones, plants, and animals, and is a virtual encyclopedia of amulets; it also contains material pertinent to the history of western alchemy, and to New Testament studies, particularly in illuminating meanings of words and magico-religious practices. As a medical text, the Cyranides was held in relatively low esteem even in antiquity and the Middle Ages because of its use of vernacular language and reliance on lore rather than Hippocratic or Galenic medical theory.
Gello, in Greek mythology, is a female demon or revenant who threatens the reproductive cycle by causing infertility, miscarriage, and infant mortality. By the Byzantine era, the gelloudes (γελλούδες) were considered a class of beings. Women believed to be under demonic possession by gelloudes might stand trial or be subjected to exorcism.
In English translations of the Bible, unclean spirit is a common rendering of Greek pneuma akatharton, which in its single occurrence in the Septuagint translates Hebrew ruaḥ tum'ah.
A talisman is any object ascribed with religious or magical powers intended to protect, heal, or harm individuals for whom they are made. Talismans are often portable objects carried on someone in a variety of ways, but can also be installed permanently in architecture. Talismans are closely linked with amulets, fulfilling many of the same roles, but a key difference is in their functions. An amulet protects a person or possession against evil forces while a talisman provides good fortune.
The Abzu or Apsu, also called engur, is the name for fresh water from underground aquifers which was given a religious fertilising quality in ancient near eastern cosmology, including Sumerian and Akkadian mythology. Lakes, springs, rivers, wells, and other sources of fresh water were thought to draw their water from the abzu. In Mesopotamian mythology, it is referred to as the primeval sea below the void space of the underworld (Kur) and the earth (Ma) above.
The Magical Treatise of Solomon, also known as the Hygromanteia or Solomonikê, is a collection of late Byzantine-era grimoires written in medieval Greek. A pseudepigraphon, the book purports to contain Solomon's instructions to his son Rehoboam on various magical techniques and tools to summon and control different spirits and their powers, astrological beliefs, select charms, different means of divination, and the magical uses of herbs. The Magical Treatise survives in fragments from a number of manuscripts dating from the 15th century CE. The book has been important for the history of European magic, serving as a link between the earlier Greek magical practices and the later grimoires of Western Europe. During the early modern period, the book begun to be translated in Latin, becoming the source for future European grimoires, most notably the Key of Solomon.
Goetia is a type of European sorcery, often referred to as witchcraft, that has been transmitted through grimoires—books containing instructions for performing magical practices. The term "goetia" finds its origins in the Greek word "goes", which originally denoted diviners, magicians, healers, and seers. Initially, it held a connotation of low magic, implying fraudulent or deceptive mageia as opposed to theurgy, which was regarded as divine magic. Grimoires, also known as "books of spells" or "spellbooks", serve as instructional manuals for various magical endeavors. They cover crafting magical objects, casting spells, performing divination, and summoning supernatural entities, such as angels, spirits, deities, and demons. Although the term "grimoire" originates from Europe, similar magical texts have been found in diverse cultures across the world.
Christopher A. Faraone is an American classicist. He is the Edward Olson Distinguished Service Professor in the Department of Classics and the College at the University of Chicago. His work largely covers the study of Ancient Greek poetry, religion and magic, from sources such as text, myths, rituals, and hymns, and from objects such as pottery, papyrus, inscriptions on gems, curse tablets, and figurines or effigies. Faraone is considered to be a foremost scholar on ancient Mediterranean magic.