DEMONS (Gr. daimlines, Lat. genii) are, according to superstitious belief, spirits which exercise an influence on the fortunes of men. Their dignity and character have both changed greatly in the course of time. Homer calls the gods demons, and daimoniakos is with him equivalent to divine. Hesiod affirms that there are in the air 30,000 D. or ministering spirits, who were the, souls of men in the golden age; but a proper classi fication of these is first found in the Pythagorean and Neo-Platonic systems. Aristotle separates the immortals into gods and D.; mortals, into heroes and men. Plato, from whom Aristotle probably received the hint of his division, says in his Symposium that " the demon is a middle intelligence between God and man, and the uniting link which completes the chain of being." In other places, he informs us that they inhabit the air, wander through the sky, hover over the stars, and tarry on the earth. They also see the hidden issues of the future, and can alter them at their pleasure. Every mortal receives at his birth a particular demon, who accompanies him to the end of his life, and bears his soul to the place of purification and punishment. In general, it may be said that the Greeks included the divinity or Deity among the D., in so far as he arranged and disposed the dissimilar fortunes of men. In reference to the actions ascribed to them, the D. were divided into good and bad—agathodaimoves and kakoclai manes. These evil D. were not, however, originally supposed to be hostile to the divinity or supreme demon. They came from him, and carried out his purpose as truly as the good demons. This was precisely the belief of the earlier Jews also, as we find, for example, from the history of Saul, into whom God repeatedly sent an " evil spirit," i.e., a demon, in the classical and not in the mediaeval sense of the term. The demon ism of the Romans consisted chiefly in the worship of departed spirits. See LARES, MANES, and PENATES. The origin of the doctrine of D. is to be sought for in the east. In the teaching of the Hindus, who, besides the highest Deity, Brahma, recognize a countless number of divine agents or messengers, the D. are called deitjas. In Parseeism, or the religion of Zoroaster, however, this doctrine is found in its most systematic and elaborate development. Indeed, the Persians and Jews alone among the nations of the old world had the conception of evil spirits headed by a chief demon, a Satan, who was over them as a god. To the genii or D. in the kingdom of Ormuzd (light), who are called Izeds, stand opposed the genii in the kingdom of Ahriman (darkness), who are called Dews. According to the belief of the Egyp
tians, the circuit of the world (the sea, the earth, the air) was filled with D., who ruled the elements, exercised mysterious influence over stones, metals, and plants, and had the souls of men in their power. Although demonism came to Greece from various countries, and by various channels, yet the principal source of it was Egypt. The Jews derived theirs—at least to a great extent—directly from the Persians, during the time of the Babylonish captivity; and although acquainted with "angels" from an early period, angelology, beyond all question, first received elaborate treatment after the return from exile. The dualism which characterizes the system of Zoroaster now made itself conspicuous here. According to the Jewish demonology, there were seven good D. who formed the council of Jehovah, and ever stood before his throne, while the evil D. have at their head Satan or Asmodi. After the Jews had, under the Seleucidm and Ptolemies, entered into extensive commercial relations with the Egyp tians and Greeks, especially in Alexandria, Grieco-Egyptian conceptions were associated with those derived from Persia. When Christ made his appearance in the world, the Jewish conception of a demon as an " evil spirit," not from God, had become definitely fixed and popular. This narrowing of the application of the word may have partly originated in the wish to glorify Judaism at the expense of paganism. It would gratify the national pride, which was strongest when it had least to boast of, to include the D., i.e., the spirits both good and bad, of all the surrounding Greek-speaking nations, in one black category, and so make them stand as the repre sentatives of evil. The early Christian writers carried out this tendency to perfec tion; for instead of denying the existence of the heathen gods, they turned them into D., who, acting under the inspiration of their wicked master, had cheated the souls of men, and so made them also worship Satan unawares. See DEVIL: The doctrine of the early church concerning the fall of the D., based on Genesis vi. 2, and concern ing their activity, is a mixture of Jewish and Platonic notions, Christianized, how ever, by the belief that all their action is controlled and directed by God. Among the Germanic races, during the middle ages, the idea of a person's being taken posses sion of by D., led to the other idea of a covenant with the devil, of which the legend of Faust is a well-known example. See tikert, Ueber Damonen Heroen and Genien (Ldp. 1850); and Conway's Demonology and Derail Lore (1878).