Adrammelech (; ''Adramélekh'') is an ancient Semitic god mentioned briefly by name in the

Book of Kings Book of Kings may refer to: * Books of Kings in the Bible * ''Shahnameh'', an 11th-century epic Persian poem * ''Pararaton'', the Javanese Book of Kings, a 16th-century Javanese history of southeast Asia * ''The Book of Kings'', a 1999 World War II ...

, where he is described as a god of "

Sepharvaim Sepharvaim () was a city mentioned in the Bible as being captured by the Assyrians. It was taken by a king of Assyria, probably Sargon II, cited in the Hebrew Bible in 2 Kings 17:24, 31; 18:34; 19:13; and Isaiah 37:13). It was a double city, and r ...

". Sepharvaim (a word which is grammatically dual) is commonly, but not certainly, identified with the twin cities of Sippar Yahrurum and Sippar Amnanum on the banks of the

Euphrates The Euphrates ( ; see #Etymology, below) is the longest and one of the most historically important rivers of West Asia. Tigris–Euphrates river system, Together with the Tigris, it is one of the two defining rivers of Mesopotamia (). Originati ...

, north of

Babylon Babylon ( ) was an ancient city located on the lower Euphrates river in southern Mesopotamia, within modern-day Hillah, Iraq, about south of modern-day Baghdad. Babylon functioned as the main cultural and political centre of the Akkadian-s ...

. The name Adrammelech probably translates to "Magnificent king."

Historical background

Biblical account

reports: "The Sepharvites burned their children in the fire as sacrifices to Adrammelech and

Anammelech Anammelech ( ''ʿAnammelekh''), according to the Hebrew Bible,2 Kings 17:31 was a Syrian and Mesopotamian deity worshipped alongside Adrammelech. He is a lunar deity and is said to have been worshipped at Sepharvaim, an Assyrian town. Although so ...

, the gods of Sepharvaim" ( NIV). The Sepharvites are given as a people deported by the

Assyrians Assyrians (, ) are an ethnic group indigenous to Mesopotamia, a geographical region in West Asia. Modern Assyrians share descent directly from the ancient Assyrians, one of the key civilizations of Mesopotamia. While they are distinct from ot ...

Samaria Samaria (), the Hellenized form of the Hebrew name Shomron (), is used as a historical and Hebrew Bible, biblical name for the central region of the Land of Israel. It is bordered by Judea to the south and Galilee to the north. The region is ...

. Adrammelech and the god Anammelech (about whom likewise little is known) are again seemingly alluded to in : "Where are the gods of

Hama Hama ( ', ) is a city on the banks of the Orontes River in west-central Syria. It is located north of Damascus and north of Homs. It is the provincial capital of the Hama Governorate. With a population of 996,000 (2023 census), Hama is one o ...

th and Arpad? Where are the gods of Sepharvaim, Hena and Ivvah? Have they rescued Samaria from my hand?" (NIV). has an almost identical passage.

Interpretation

According to A. R. Millard, Saul Olyan, and others, ''Adrammelech'' likely represents an original ''ʾAddîr-meleḵ'', "majestic king" or "the majestic one is king".

Cognate In historical linguistics, cognates or lexical cognates are sets of words that have been inherited in direct descent from an etymological ancestor in a common parent language. Because language change can have radical effects on both the s ...

''ʾAddîr-milk'', along with similar ''Milk-ʾaddîr'' (with the

morpheme A morpheme is any of the smallest meaningful constituents within a linguistic expression and particularly within a word. Many words are themselves standalone morphemes, while other words contain multiple morphemes; in linguistic terminology, this ...

s inverted) and ''Baʿal-ʾaddîr'' ("majestic master" or "majestic Baal"), is recorded in ancient Semitic sources as an

epithet An epithet (, ), also a byname, is a descriptive term (word or phrase) commonly accompanying or occurring in place of the name of a real or fictitious person, place, or thing. It is usually literally descriptive, as in Alfred the Great, Suleima ...

Baal Baal (), or Baʻal, was a title and honorific meaning 'owner' or 'lord Lord is an appellation for a person or deity who has authority, control, or power (social and political), power over others, acting as a master, chief, or ruler. The ...

, or a baal. Adrammelech is commonly understood as a companion of

, due to their association in 2 Kings 17, the similarity of their names, and the similarity of their worship through child sacrifice. Before the identification with

epigraphic Epigraphy () is the study of inscriptions, or epigraphs, as writing; it is the science of identifying graphemes, clarifying their meanings, classifying their uses according to dates and cultural contexts, and drawing conclusions about the wr ...

''ʾAddîr-milk'', various attempts (since generally rejected) were made to interpret the origin of the name ''Adrammelech''. The reconstructed form ''*Adar-malik'' (or the variant ''*Adru-malku'') was once almost universally accepted as the original Akkadian form of the name. For example,

Eberhard Schrader Eberhard Schrader (7 January 1836 – 4 July 1908) was a German orientalist primarily known for his achievements in Assyriology. Biography He was born at Braunschweig, and educated at Göttingen under Ewald. In 1858 he won a university prize f ...

wrote in 1885: Peter Jensen proposed in the late nineteenth century that (''ʾAḏrammeleḵ'', "Adrammelech") was a manuscript error for (''*ʾĂḏaḏmeleḵ'', "*Adadmelech"), due to the typographical similarity of (''r'') and (''d''), which Jensen thought was a variant of unrecorded (''*Ḥăḏaḏmeleḵ'', "King Hadad" or "Hadad is king"), thus identifying Adrammelech with the Canaanite god

Hadad Hadad (), Haddad, Adad ( Akkadian: 𒀭𒅎 '' DIM'', pronounced as ''Adād''), or Iškur ( Sumerian) was the storm- and rain-god in the Canaanite and ancient Mesopotamian religions. He was attested in Ebla as "Hadda" in c. 2500 BCE. From ...

. ''Adad'' is in fact recorded as a variant of ''Hadad''; but Millard writes: "If the Sepharvites were of Aramean or Phoenician origin, it is very unlikely that the name of their god would have lost its initial ''h'', unless the Hebrew authors of Kings copied the information from a cuneiform text in Babylonian, which would not express it." At the turn of the century,

William Muss-Arnolt William (Wilhelm) Muss-Arnolt (May 7, 1860 in Cologne – June 25, 1927 in New York) was an Assyriologist and librarian known for his exposition of the Assyrian language. Muss-Arnolt received a B.D. from New Brunswick Theological Seminary in 188 ...

suggested that ''ʾAḏrammeleḵ'' could represent his own reconstructed Akkadian ''*Atra-malik'', comparing the form to the names '' Atra-ḫasis'' and ''*(A)tar-ilu'', writing, "''Atra-malik'' would probably yield ."

In the Talmud

From the

Jewish Encyclopedia ''The Jewish Encyclopedia: A Descriptive Record of the History, Religion, Literature, and Customs of the Jewish People from the Earliest Times to the Present Day'' is an English-language encyclopedia containing over 15,000 articles on the ...

Demonology

Like many pagan gods, Adrammelech is considered a

demon A demon is a malevolent supernatural entity. Historically, belief in demons, or stories about demons, occurs in folklore, mythology, religion, occultism, and literature; these beliefs are reflected in Media (communication), media including f ...

in some

Judeo-Christian The term ''Judeo-Christian'' is used to group Christianity and Judaism together, either in reference to Christianity's derivation from Judaism, Christianity's recognition of Jewish scripture to constitute the Old Testament of the Christian Bibl ...

traditions. So he appears in Milton's ''

Paradise Lost ''Paradise Lost'' is an Epic poetry, epic poem in blank verse by the English poet John Milton (1608–1674). The poem concerns the Bible, biblical story of the fall of man: the temptation of Adam and Eve by the fallen angel Satan and their ex ...

'', where he is a

fallen angel Fallen angels are angels who were expelled from Heaven. The literal term "fallen angel" does not appear in any Abrahamic religions, Abrahamic religious texts, but is used to describe angels cast out of heaven. Such angels are often described ...

who, along with

Asmodeus Asmodeus (; , ''Asmodaios'') or Ashmedai (; ; ; see below for other variations) is a king of demons in the legends of Solomon and the constructing of Solomon's Temple."Asmodeus" in '' The New Encyclopædia Britannica''. Chicago: Encyclopædia B ...

, is vanquished by

Uriel Uriel , Auriel ( ''ʾŪrīʾēl'', " El/God is my Flame"; ''Oúriḗl''; ''Ouriēl''; ; Geʽez and Amharic: or ) or Oriel ( ''ʾÓrīʾēl'', "El/God is my Light") is the name of one of the archangels who is mentioned in Rabbinic tradition ...

and

Raphael Raffaello Sanzio da Urbino (; March 28 or April 6, 1483April 6, 1520), now generally known in English as Raphael ( , ), was an Italian painter and architect of the High Renaissance. List of paintings by Raphael, His work is admired for its cl ...

. According to

Collin de Plancy Jacques Albin Simon Collin de Plancy (28 January 1793 in Plancy-l'Abbaye – 1881 in Paris) was a French occultist, demonologist and writer. He published several works on occultism and demonology. Biography He was born Jacques Albin Simon Colli ...

's book on

demonology Demonology is the study of demons within religious belief and myth. Depending on context, it can refer to studies within theology, religious doctrine, or occultism. In many faiths, it concerns the study of a hierarchy of demons. Demons may be n ...

, '' Infernal Dictionary'', Adrammelech became the

President President most commonly refers to: *President (corporate title) * President (education), a leader of a college or university *President (government title) President may also refer to: Arts and entertainment Film and television *'' Præsident ...

of the

Senate A senate is a deliberative assembly, often the upper house or chamber of a bicameral legislature. The name comes from the ancient Roman Senate (Latin: ''Senatus''), so-called as an assembly of the senior (Latin: ''senex'' meaning "the el ...

of the demons. He is also the

Chancellor Chancellor () is a title of various official positions in the governments of many countries. The original chancellors were the of Roman courts of justice—ushers, who sat at the (lattice work screens) of a basilica (court hall), which separa ...

Hell In religion and folklore, hell is a location or state in the afterlife in which souls are subjected to punishment after death. Religions with a linear divine history sometimes depict hells as eternal destinations, such as Christianity and I ...

and supervisor of

Satan Satan, also known as the Devil, is a devilish entity in Abrahamic religions who seduces humans into sin (or falsehood). In Judaism, Satan is seen as an agent subservient to God, typically regarded as a metaphor for the '' yetzer hara'', or ' ...

's wardrobe. He is generally depicted with a human torso, a mule's head, a peacock tail, and the limbs of a

mule The mule is a domestic equine hybrid between a donkey, and a horse. It is the offspring of a male donkey (a jack) and a female horse (a mare). The horse and the donkey are different species, with different numbers of chromosomes; of the two ...

peacock Peafowl is a common name for two bird species of the genus '' Pavo'' and one species of the closely related genus '' Afropavo'' within the tribe Pavonini of the family Phasianidae (the pheasants and their allies). Male peafowl are referred t ...

. In the

Ars Goetia ''The Lesser Key of Solomon'', also known by its Latin title ''Lemegeton Clavicula Salomonis'' or simply the ''Lemegeton'', is an anonymously authored grimoire on sorcery, mysticism and magic. It was compiled in the mid-17th century from mate ...

, he was known as Andrealphus.

In fiction

A poet's description of Adrammelech (spelled ''Adramelech'' as in Greek) can be found in

Robert Silverberg Robert Silverberg (born January 15, 1935) is a prolific American science fiction author and editor. He is a multiple winner of both Hugo Award, Hugo and Nebula Awards, a member of the Science Fiction and Fantasy Hall of Fame, and a SFWA Grand ...

's short story "Basileus". He is described as "The enemy of

God In monotheistic belief systems, God is usually viewed as the supreme being, creator, and principal object of faith. In polytheistic belief systems, a god is "a spirit or being believed to have created, or for controlling some part of the un ...

, greater in ambition, guile and mischief than Satan. A fiend more curst—a deeper hypocrite." An attempt to summon Adrammelech (spelled ''Adramelech'' throughout) is central to the plot of

Graham Masterton Graham Masterton (born 16 January 1946, in Edinburgh) is a British author known primarily for horror fiction. Originally editor of ''Mayfair'' and the British edition of '' Penthouse'', his debut novel, ''The Manitou'', was published in 1976. T ...

's 1978 horror novel "The Devils of D Day". He appears as an enemy in the video game '' Shin Megami Tensei IV: Apocalypse'', being the first boss of said video game and is fought again later on.

References

{{Reflist Books of Kings Deities in the Hebrew Bible Mesopotamian gods Demons in Christianity Sippar