6,484
edits
Difference between revisions of "Obizuth"
no edit summary
Occultwiki (talk | contribs) |
Occultwiki (talk | contribs) |
||
| Line 1: | Line 1: | ||
'''Obizuth''' or '''Abyzou''' (Akkadian: 𒁹 𒄷 𒈫 𒁇 Dap.bi.zu) is the name of a female [[demon]]. Obizuth was blamed for miscarriages and infant mortality and was said to be motivated by envy, as she herself was infertile. In the Coptic Egypt she is identified with Alabasandria, and in Byzantine culture with Gylou, but in various texts surviving from the syncretic magical practice of antiquity and the early medieval era she is said to have many or virtually innumerable names. | '''Obizuth''' or '''Abyzou''' (Akkadian: 𒁹 𒄷 𒈫 𒁇 Dap.bi.zu) is the name of a female [[demon]]. Obizuth was blamed for miscarriages and infant mortality and was said to be motivated by envy, as she herself was infertile. In the Coptic Egypt she is identified with Alabasandria, and in Byzantine culture with Gylou, but in various texts surviving from the syncretic magical practice of antiquity and the early medieval era she is said to have many or virtually innumerable names. | ||
Obizuth is pictured on | Obizuth is pictured on [[amulet]]s with fish- or serpent-like attributes. Her fullest literary depiction is the compendium of demonology known as the ''[[Testament of Solomon]]'', dated variously by scholars from as early as the 1st century AD to as late as the 4th. | ||
==Origins== | ==Origins== | ||
| Line 22: | Line 22: | ||
==On medical amulets== | ==On medical amulets== | ||
Obizuth is depicted and named on several early Byzantine bronze | Obizuth is depicted and named on several early Byzantine bronze [[amulet]]s. With her hands tied behind her back, she kneels as she is whipped by a standing figure, identified as Solomon or Arlaph, called Afarof in the ''Testament of Solomon'' and identified with the Archangel Raphael. On one amulet, the figure is labeled as Arlaph, but an inscription reads "The [[Seal of Solomon]] [is] with the bearer; I am Noskam." The reverse inscription is written within an ouroboros, the symbol of a snake biting its tail to form a circle: "Flee, flee, Abyzou, [from] Sisinios and Sisinnia; the voracious dog dwells here." (Saint Sisinnios sometimes takes the Solomon role on Christian amulets.) Although Abyzou is regarded mainly as a threat to childbearing women and to infants, some of the names of those seeking protection from her on extant amulets are masculine. | ||
Medieval amulets show a variation on this iconography, with Abyzou trampled underfoot by a horseman. The rider is identified again either as Solomon or Arlaph; one example depicts the rider as Sisinnios, with the demon named as both Abizou and Anabardalea, and an angel named Araph (for Arlaph) standing by with one raised wing. The medieval lead | Medieval amulets show a variation on this iconography, with Abyzou trampled underfoot by a horseman. The rider is identified again either as Solomon or Arlaph; one example depicts the rider as Sisinnios, with the [[demon]] named as both Abizou and Anabardalea, and an angel named Araph (for Arlaph) standing by with one raised wing. The medieval lead [[amulet]]s that show the rider subduing the female often have a main image that resembles a gorgoneion and is likely a womb symbol (hystera). | ||