
The 1863 edition of the “Dictionnaire Infernal” is the stuff of nightmares - prismatic
http://www.atlasobscura.com/articles/demons-illustrations-dictionnaire-infernal
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paulgerhardt
While the trope of mixing animals with human forms to create demonic images
goes back as long as we have had civilization (notable examples from Greeks,
Egyptians, and Mesopotamia) - it was Leonardo Da Vinci's notes from "Study of
a Dragon" from 1513 that crystalized an important component of the concept:

    
    
      If you wish to make your imaginary animal seem natural…take   
      for the head that of a mastiff or a hound, the eyes of a 
      cat, the ears of a porcupine, the nose of a greyhound, the 
      brow of a lion, the temples of an old cock, and the neck of 
      a turtle
    

Which is to say - if you want to make something terrifying to humans you take
known (fearsome) elements and mix them into a previously unknown combination.
One strikes that balance of known and unknown.

Truly terrifying things that may exist in the universe at large may not come
across as terrifying to us given that we have had no exposure day to day
(GRB's, anti-matter, etc).

One of my favorite (possibly apocryphal) anecdotes about this failing is when
the Egyptian dynasty under the reign of Thutmose I expanded into Phoenicia
(modern day Israel/Syria) they tried bringing their religion with them. During
the Middle Kingdom the god of Chaos (and evil) Set was depicted by a Hippo.
The Phoenicians were unfamiliar with the animal and in turn had a hard time
taking the religion seriously. The religion was not adopted widely outside the
Nile valley.

Anyways, here's a fun tool that let's you mix and match various animals to
create your own terryfing beast:
[http://www.universalleonardo.org/playActivity.php?id=525](http://www.universalleonardo.org/playActivity.php?id=525)

~~~
pmoriarty
_" if you want to make something terrifying to humans you take known
(fearsome) elements and mix them into a previously unknown combination"_

Truly, the platypus is a terrifying beast!

~~~
jpatokal
Did you know they're actually venomous?

[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Platypus_venom](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Platypus_venom)

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njharman
I did!

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tptacek
TIL: _The palindromic prime number 1000000000000066600000000000001 is known as
Belphegor 's Prime, due to the significance of containing the number 666, on
both sides enclosed by thirteen zeroes and a one._

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weeksie
Fun stuff. I write novels on the side and for a series of pulp supernatural
detective books I'm writing I picked up the Lesser Key of Solomon which is a
compendium of demons, their ranks in hell, and their specialties. Christian
mythology is pretty crazy stuff once you start digging around in it.

~~~
tpeo
I don't know how much of the stuff associated with ceremonial magic can be
called "christian mythology", since most of it was only attested pretty late,
between the 15th and 17th centuries, at a time when Christianity was already
pretty well established in Europe. Plus, it didn't enjoy widespread currency.
Partially because it implied unlawful practices under both Church and local
laws. But either way, it's much too restricted to be called a "mythology".

"Christian mythology" would be more along the lines of folk tales concerning
the Virgin Mary and the saints, the Tetramorph, the hierarchies of angels and
the Great Chain of Being.

~~~
djur
The influence of Jewish mysticism was pretty significant, too, to the point
that Christian writers would fabricate an old rabbi as the purported "author"
of their document. You also got a lot of fake Hebrew scriptures with obvious
tells that they were written by Christians. And, of course, sorcery is part of
the whole antisemitic complex of stereotypes that was used to oppress Jews in
Europe for centuries. It lasted long enough that in 19th century America you
get occasional stories of fake Jewish wizards.

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AdmiralAsshat
Wow, this takes me back to my undergrad days of dabbling in the occult.

If memory serves, an actual copy of Dictionnaire Infernal is ridiculously
difficult, and expensive, to track down.

If all you want are the illustrations, you can find them more easily by
grabbing a copy of "The Goetia: The Lesser Key of Solomon" for about $20 or so
on Amazon.

~~~
eriknstr
Maybe the Internet Archive has a digital copy of Dictionnaire Infernal?

~~~
bitexploder
The way you do this is you say, "I doubt you can even find copies on the
Internet." Then someone is going to take up your challenge :)

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13of40
[https://books.google.com/books?id=bjESAAAAYAAJ&printsec=fron...](https://books.google.com/books?id=bjESAAAAYAAJ&printsec=frontcover&dq=Dictionnaire+Infernal&hl=en&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwiUhoil84bVAhUO82MKHVHKBLAQ6AEIKzAA#v=onepage&q=Dictionnaire%20Infernal&f=false)

Now we just need to find a vendor who will bind an on-demand copy in human
skin.

Ahem: "I doubt you can even find _that_ on the Internet."

~~~
mirimir
Maybe now you can ;)

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jonathankoren
I always find works like the Dictionarire Infernal to be a fascinating trip
down a rabbit hole. It's not even a compilation of folk demons (although I'm
sure some appear in here), as much as it's an earnest D&D Monster Manual, or
editing Wookiepedia. It's hard to imagine if I was writing it taking it as
anything more than escapism.

Of course the flip side of this book is De Coelesti Hierarchia, which defines
angelology with a hierarchy and different types to closely mimic contemporary
feudal society. ("How can you have a kingdom, without a minor land barons?
Let's make some up!")

If it was just scholarship that something, but it's no even that, it's more
pseudo-scholarship.

Religion is a hell of a drug.

~~~
toyg
To be honest, occultism is less religion and more straight superstition. Which
is why it was generally shunned or outlawed even when religious authorities
were in charge.

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jl6
I feel the author would have been in his element playing Dwarf Fortress.

~~~
parshimers
The forgotten beast Asmodeus has come! A great centaur. It has a pair of
dragon-like wings and it squirms and fidgets. Beware its deadly dust!

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mod50ack
There's a lot of stuff in there too besides the illustrations --- interesting
to read a little bit of it. I'm not any expert on this stuff --- are all the
demons from folklore or of the author's creation?

(Oh, and, yes, it's in French, for those who don't speak it)

~~~
CWuestefeld
It makes me wonder if the author and artists actually believed they were
documenting real-world phenomena. Did they treat this as fiction or non-
fiction?

~~~
mirimir
It strikes me as daemon porn.

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mcguire
One could possibly draw some kind of conclusion about the way many of the
illustrations look to be traditionally mocking Jewish caricatures.

~~~
coliveira
I think it is the other way around. Many known Jewish caricatures were taken
directly from this book.

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okreallywtf
I think GP shares your opinion and was noticing the similarity between the
illustrations and modern anti-semetic caricatures.

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memracom
Is it my imagination or does the demon ruler Bael have the face of a
Rothschild? I wonder if these drawings have some hidden political protest
meaning...

Compare them to the political cartoons of the same era.

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csense
I'm pretty sure Andras, at least, is in Persona 5. It's interesting how the
cultural influence of something like this is still with us.

~~~
sotojuan
As you might know, most (all?) of SMT/Persona demons are from somewhere. It's
actually a pretty cool idea - the creatures may be familiar but Atlus can give
them their own spin.

You might recognize this guy:
[http://i.imgur.com/tonkSbq.jpg](http://i.imgur.com/tonkSbq.jpg)

~~~
Razengan
The Shin Megami Tensei and Persona series just might be the "Carmen Sandiego"
of demonology.

~~~
djur
And mythology in general. Really, the only religious figures I can think of
that they never put in a SMT game are ones who are (purportedly) actual people
-- Jesus, Mary, Zoroaster, Buddha, etc. Otherwise, it's open season. Although
in later games they've pumped the brakes a little on having the God of Abraham
as the final boss and such.

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pimentel
Heh, this takes me back, due to the "Slayers" anime series. Although it looks
a bit like a juvenile history (fantasy, magic, demons), the background story
takes a lot from Ars Goetia, like the demons' seals and whatnot. A huge
wikipedia rabbit hole :)

