Astaroth
Astaroth (also Ashtaroth, Astarot and Asteroth), in demonology, is the Great Duke of Hell in the first hierarchy with Beelzebub and Lucifer; he is part of the evil trinity. He is a male figure most likely named after the Mesopotamian goddess Ishtar. The name "Astaroth" as a male demon is first known from The Book of Abramelin, purportedly written in Hebrew c. 1458, and recurred in most occult grimoires of the following centuries. Astaroth also features as an archdemon associated with the Qlippoth (adverse forces) according to later Kabbalistic texts.
The Seventy-Two Demons
List of demons in the Ars Goetia [1]
The demons' names (given below) are taken from the Ars Goetia, which differs in terms of number and ranking from the Pseudomonarchia Daemonum of Weyer.[2] As a result of multiple translations, there are multiple spellings for some of the names, which are given in the articles concerning them.
- Astaroth is listed as #29 out of the 72. See Fallen Angelics.
Background
The name Astaroth was ultimately derived from that of 2nd millennium BCE Phoenician goddess Astarte, an equivalent of the Babylonian Ishtar, and the earlier Sumerian Inanna. She is mentioned in the Hebrew Bible in the forms Ashtoreth (singular) and Ashtaroth (plural, in reference to multiple statues of her). This latter form was directly transliterated in the early Greek and Latin versions of the Bible, where it was less apparent that it had been a plural feminine in Hebrew.
The pseudepigraphal work Testament of Solomon, attributed to King Solomon of Israel, but thought to date to the early centuries CE, mentions "Asteraoth" (in Greek) as an angel, who is opposed to the demon of power (cf. 1 Kings 11:4–5). [3]