Introduction to the History of Religions: Handbooks on the History of Religions, Volume IVToy, Crawford Howell
HistoryHistory
Introduction to the History of Religions: Handbooks on the History of Religions, Volume IV
Toy, Crawford Howell
Mythology; Religion -- History; Religions -- History; Rites and ceremonies
+691+. In early societies demons have not individual names. In savage
societies there are malefic deities, with individual names, connected
with sicknesses and other ills; but such deities are not demons. Demons
do not enter into friendly social relations with men,[1178] and
observation of experiences is not carried so far as to assign every ill
to a separate author. In more advanced societies, as, for instance, the
Babylonian,[1179] demons are divided into classes according to their
various lines of activity, and to these classes names are given. If some
individual demon, representing a particular ill, becomes specially
important, it may receive an individual name. In general, the demonic
name-giving follows the theistic, but lags behind it. Clan gods have at
first some such appellation as Old One, Grandfather, or a descriptive
epithet (as among some American Indian tribes), and later, Lord, Lady,
Mighty One, Exalted One; in process of time they receive proper names,
which must have arisen at a relatively early period, since the meaning
of the names of most of the old deities was to the ancients, as it is to
us, unknown. In the case of the demonic world this development has not
been carried so far, for the reason stated above, namely, that these
beings, unlike gods, have not become real citizens of the communities
with which they are connected.
+692+. In like manner the organization of demons has not kept pace with
that of gods. In most regions they have remained a mob, every individual
pursuing his way independently. It is only in advanced cults that they
form a community with a head. In China and Persia the sharp division of
supernatural forces into two classes was the outcome of great religious
reformations that followed the usual savage chaos of the hordes of
demons. The Jewish demonology (probably influenced by the Persian) chose
for the head of its kingdom of evil an old god (the Satan) or the
similar figure Azazel.[1180]
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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