Satan) locked in an eternal struggle with God, demons are often also thought to be subordinates of the principal Devil. In religions featuring a principal Devil (e.g. In many traditions, demons are independent operators, with different demons causing different types of evils (destructive natural phenomena, specific diseases, etc.). ĭemons may or may not also be considered to be devils: minions of the Devil. Large portions of Jewish demonology, a key influence on Christianity and Islam, originated from a later form of Zoroastrianism, and was transferred to Judaism during the Persian era. In ancient Near Eastern religions and in the Abrahamic religions, including early Judaism and ancient-medieval Christian demonology, a demon is considered a harmful spiritual entity which may cause demonic possession, calling for an exorcism. īelief in demons probably goes back to the Paleolithic age, stemming from humanity's fear of the unknown, the strange and the horrific. The German word ( Dämon code: deu promoted to code: de ), however, is different from devil ( Teufel code: deu promoted to code: de ) and demons as evil spirits, and akin to the original meaning of a Daimon. The English use of demon as synonym for devils goes back at least as far as about 825. The Western medieval and neo-medieval conception of a demon derives seamlessly from the ambient popular culture of Late Antiquity. This was then inherited by the Koine text of the New Testament. It was no longer beautiful, it was infested." The term had first acquired its negative connotations in the Septuagint translation of the Hebrew Bible into Greek, which drew on the mythology of ancient Semitic religions. Far into the Byzantine period, Christians eyed their cities' old pagan statuary as a seat of the demons' presence. By the early centuries of the Roman Empire, cult statues were seen, by Pagans and their Christian neighbors alike, as inhabited by the numinous presence of the Greco-Roman gods: "Like pagans, Christians still sensed and saw the gods and their power, and as something, they had to assume, lay behind it, by an easy traditional shift of opinion they turned these pagan daimones into malevolent 'demons', the troupe of Satan. In fact, εὐδαιμονία ( eudaimonia, which literally translates as "good-spiritedness") means happiness. The Greek terms do not have any connotations of evil or malevolence. The original Greek word daimōn code: ell promoted to code: el does not carry the negative connotation initially understood by implementation of the Koine δαιμόνιον ( daimonion), and later ascribed to any cognate words sharing the root. The Greek conception of a daimōn notably appears in the philosophical works of Plato, where it describes the divine inspiration of Socrates. Daimōn most likely came from the Greek verb daiesthai code: ell promoted to code: el ("to divide" or "distribute"). The Ancient Greek word δαίμων ( daimōn) denotes a spirit or divine power, much like the Latin genius code: lat promoted to code: la or numen code: lat promoted to code: la. Further information: Daemon (classical mythology), Agathodaemon, Cacodemon, Daimonic, and Eudaimonia
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