Ancient

Michael · Archangel — Captain of the Heavenly Host, Vanquisher of Satan

Michael (Hebrew Mikha'el, Greek Mikhael, Latin Michael, Arabic Mikail) is the decisive canonical archangel chief of Judaism, Christianity, and Islam — three decisive canonical religions. The etymology is the decisive canonical vocabulary of the Hebrew 'mi-ka-El' — 'who is like God (quis ut Deus)'. The decisive textual canon is the Old Testament Book of Daniel (Daniel) 10:13, 10:21, and 12:1 of c. 2nd century BCE — 167-164 BCE — the decisive canon in which Michael is 'one of the chief princes' and 'the protector of the children of Israel' — and the New Testament Revelation (Revelation) 12:7-9 of c. 1st century CE — the decisive canon in which Michael had 'war in heaven' and defeated the great dragon (dragon), namely the 'ancient serpent' Satan (Satan), and his minion angels, and threw them out of heaven. The Mikail (Mikail) of the c. 7th century Islamic Qur'an (Qur'an) 2:98 — the angel of rain and plants — is the decisive canonical iconography. The decisive canonical iconography of the warrior angel in armor and helmet, trampling Satan (dragon) with a flaming sword or spear, and holding scales (scales) for weighing souls in one hand.

Raphael · Archangel — Angel of Healing and Guide of Travelers

Raphael (Hebrew Rafa'el, Greek Rhaphael, Latin Raphael, 'healing of God') is the decisive canonical archangel of Judaism and Christianity — two decisive canonical religions. The etymology is the decisive canonical vocabulary of the Hebrew compound of 'rapha (healing)' and 'El (God)' — 'healing of God'. The decisive textual canon is the apocryphal Book of Tobit (Tobit) 3:17, 5:4-22, 6:1-18, 7:9-17, 8:1-9, 11:1-15, and 12:1-22 of c. 3rd-2nd century BCE — c. 225-175 BCE — the decisive canon in which Raphael, under the alias 'Azariah (Azariah)', accompanied the young Tobiah (Tobiah) on his journey, drove out the demon Asmodeus (Asmodeus), and healed Tobit's (Tobit) blindness with fish gall (gall) — and the apocryphal 1 Enoch (1 Enoch) 9:1, 10:4, 20:3, 40:9, and 71 of c. 3rd-1st century BCE — the decisive canon establishing Raphael as one of the seven archangels or four archangels (along with Michael, Gabriel, Raphael, and Uriel). The decisive canonical iconography of the angel in travel attire with a walking staff, a fish (Tobit episode) and a vial of medicinal herbs, the accompanying young Tobiah iconography, and green or teal robes.

Uriel · Archangel — Light of God, Angel of Wisdom and Repentance

Uriel (Hebrew Uri'el, Greek Ouriel, Latin Uriel, 'light of God') is the decisive canonical archangel of Jewish apocalyptic literature — apocrypha. The etymology is the decisive canonical vocabulary of the Hebrew compound of 'ur (light or flame)' and 'El (God)' — 'light of God' or 'fire of God'. The decisive textual canon is the apocryphal 1 Enoch (1 Enoch) 9:1, 10:1-8, 20:2, 21-22, and 33-36 of c. 3rd-1st century BCE — the decisive canon in which Uriel is one of the seven archangels or four archangels (Michael, Gabriel, Raphael, Uriel) — and the apocryphal 2 Esdras (2 Esdras, 4 Ezra) 4, 5, and 10 of c. 70-100 CE — the decisive canon in which Uriel taught Ezra (Ezra) the providence of God and the mysteries of the end of times. The decisive canonical iconography in which it was excluded from the Catholic canon at the Council of Rome (Council of Rome) of 745 but is considered the decisive canon in the Eastern Orthodox (Eastern Orthodox), Gnostic (Gnostic), and Christian-comparative traditions. The decisive canonical iconography of the angel holding a flaming sword or torch, the scroll of wisdom (scroll of wisdom), gold or crimson robes, and a shining flame on the forehead or hand.

Metatron · Scribe of Heaven — Voice of God and Recorder of Divine Acts

Metatron (Hebrew Mēṭāṭrōn, Greek Metatrōn) is one of the highest-ranking angels of the Jewish Kabbalah and apocryphal tradition — the decisive canonical iconographic figure called 'the one who stands closest to God', 'Lesser YHVH', 'Prince of the Presence (Sar ha-Panim)', and 'heavenly scribe'. The etymology derives from Greek meta (beyond, near) + thronos (throne) — 'the one who stands beside the throne' — or Greek metator (messenger, guide). Aliases Yahoel, Sar ha-Panim, Sar ha-Olam ('Prince of the World'), Mitatron, and Lesser YHVH are the decisive canonical vocabulary. The decisive textual canon is 3 Enoch (Sefer Hekhalot) chapters 4-16 of c. 5th-6th century CE in which the human Enoch ascended to heaven and was transformed into Metatron, and Babylonian Talmud Hagigah 15a of the 4th-6th century in which Elisha ben Abuyah (Aher) saw Metatron sitting in heaven and was misled into the 'two powers in heaven' heresy. The decisive Zohar by Moses de Leon of the 1280s — Kabbalah — in which Metatron is the angel of Kether of the Tree of Life (Sephirot), and Metatron (the voice of God) played by Alan Rickman of the film Dogma (directed by Kevin Smith) released in the USA on 12 November 1999 is the 21st-century decisive video canon.

Azrael· Angel of Death Reaper of Souls

Azrael (Hebrew Azra'el, Arabic Azra'il) is the angel of death in Jewish and Islamic traditions — the decisive canon — derived from the Hebrew azra ('help') + el ('God') meaning 'God helps (God helps)' — the decisive canonical vocabulary. Aliases — Malak al-Mawt (Malak al-Mawt, Arabic 'angel of death'), Izra'il, Azra'il, and the reaper-angel — are the decisive canonical vocabulary. The decisive textual canon is the decisive origin canon of Azrael in 3 Enoch (3 Enoch, Sefer Hekhalot) of c. 5th-6th century CE, and the decisive canon of Qur'an (Qur'an) 32:11 of the 7th century CE — 'Say: the angel of death (Malak al-Mawt) put in charge of you will surely take your souls; then to your Lord shall you be returned'. The decisive canon as one of the four archangels of Islam (Mikail, Jibril, Israfil, Azrael), and the decisive canon of Muslim tradition that he appears veiled in 70,000 veils when taking souls. The decisive 20th-century comics canon of the black cat Azrael (Azrael) of the wizard Gargamel (Gargamel) in the comic Smurfs (Les Schtroumpfs) by the Belgian Peyo (Peyo, real name Pierre Culliford) from 1958.

Seraphim · Highest Order of the Nine Angelic Choirs — The Burning Ones Around God

Seraphim (Hebrew Səraphim, singular Saraph) is the highest rank of the 9 angelic hierarchies of Judeo-Christian angelology — the decisive canon — the decisive canonical iconographic figure of 'the burning ones' derived from the Hebrew saraph meaning 'to burn'. Aliases — burning ones, fiery angels, guardians of the throne, and together with the Cherubim the two closest ranks to God — are the decisive canonical vocabulary. The decisive textual canon is the decisive origin canon of the vision Isaiah saw in Isaiah (Isaiah) 6:1-7 of c. 8th century BCE in which 6-winged beings flew around God's throne crying 'Holy, holy, holy, Lord of Hosts; the whole earth is full of His glory', and the decisive canon of the first rank of the 9-rank angelic hierarchy in The Celestial Hierarchy (De Coelesti Hierarchia) chapter 7 of Pseudo-Dionysius (Pseudo-Dionysius) of c. 5th-6th century CE. The decisive canon of the Summa Theologica (Summa Theologica) Part I question 108 article 5 of Thomas Aquinas (Thomas Aquinas) of the 13th century, and the decisive canon of the 6-winged Seraph vision and the stigmata (stigmata) of St. Francis of Assisi (St. Francis of Assisi) on Mount La Verna on 14 September 1224.

Cherubim · Second of the Nine Angelic Choirs — Guardians of Divine Wisdom and the Throne

Cherubim (Hebrew kerubim, singular kerub, Greek cheroubin, Latin cherubim) is the 2nd-rank angel after Seraphim (Seraphim) of the 9 ranks of Jewish-Christian angelology — the decisive canon, the decisive canonical iconographic figure who supports the throne of God and transmits divine wisdom. The etymology is the decisive canonical vocabulary derived from the Akkadian karibu (intercessor) or Aramaic kerub (close), and the influence of the composite iconography of the Assyrian lamassu (lamassu) and shedu (shedu) of bull, human, and eagle is the decisive canon. The decisive textual canon is the Genesis (Bereshit) chapter 3 verse 24 of c. 6th century BCE — the decisive canon of 'the cherubim and the flaming sword that turned every way (lahat ha-herev ha-mithapeketh)' that guarded the way to the Garden of Eden — and Exodus (Shemot) chapter 25 verses 18-22 and chapter 26 verse 31 — the decisive canon of the two gold cherubim on the mercy seat (kapporet) of the Ark of the Covenant (Ark of the Covenant) — and 1 Kings chapter 6 verses 23-28 — the decisive canon of the 10-cubit (about 4.5 m) cherubim of Solomon's temple. The Ezekiel (Yehezkel) chapter 1 verses 5-14 of 593-571 BCE — the decisive canon of the 'four living creatures (chayot, faces of human, lion, ox, and eagle, four wings)' — and chapter 10 — the decisive canon of the cherubim and wheels (ophanim) — and the Pseudo-Dionysius the Areopagite (Pseudo-Dionysius the Areopagite)'s Celestial Hierarchy (De Coelesti Hierarchia) chapter 7 of c. 5th-6th century CE — the decisive canon as the 2nd rank of the 9 ranks.

Ophanim · Third of the Nine Angelic Choirs — Wheels of God, Throne of Justice

Ophanim (Hebrew Ofannim, singular Ofan) is the third-rank angel of the 9-rank angelic hierarchy of Judeo-Christian angelology — the decisive canon — the decisive canonical iconographic figure derived from the Hebrew 'ofan' meaning 'wheel' in plural form. Aliases — Galgalim ('wheels'), Thrones (Latin Throni), wheels of God's chariot (Merkabah, Merkabah) — are the decisive canonical vocabulary. The decisive textual canon is the decisive origin canon of Ezekiel (Ezekiel) 1:15-21 and 10:9-13 of c. 6th century BCE in which beside the Cherubim are giant wheels with a wheel within a wheel (Wheel within a wheel) whose rims are full of eyes, and the decisive canon of Daniel (Daniel) 7:9 of c. 2nd century BCE — the 'wheels of burning fire' throne of the 'Ancient of Days'. The decisive theological canon of the third rank Thrones (Thrones) of the 9-rank angelic hierarchy in The Celestial Hierarchy (De Coelesti Hierarchia) chapter 7 of Pseudo-Dionysius the Areopagite of c. 5th-6th century CE, and the decisive canon of the Thrones in the Summa Theologica (Summa Theologica) Part I question 108 of Thomas Aquinas (Thomas Aquinas) of the 13th century. The decisive 14th-century canon is the decisive canon of the third rank Thrones of the 9-rank angelic hierarchy in Dante Alighieri's (Dante Alighieri) Divine Comedy (Divina Commedia) Paradiso (Paradiso) Canto 28 lines 103-105 of c. 1320.

Lucifer · Bearer of Light — Fallen Archangel, Prince of Pride

Lucifer (Latin Lucifer — 'light-bringer', Hebrew Heylel — 'morning star') is the most famous fallen angel in Christian tradition — the decisive canon — and the Prince of Pride (Pride, Superbia) of the Seven Deadly Sins — originally God's most glorious archangel, who fell from heaven due to pride in seeking to make himself equal to God and became the King of Hell — the decisive canonical iconographic figure. Aliases — Satan (Satan), Morning Star (Morning Star, Lucifer), Heylel ben Shahar (Heylel ben Shahar), Helel (Helel), the fallen archangel, the King of Hell — are the decisive canonical vocabulary. The decisive Old Testament canon is the decisive origin canon of Isaiah (Isaiah) 14:12-15 of c. 6th century BCE — 'How art thou fallen from heaven, O Lucifer (Heylel ben Shahar), son of the morning! how art thou cut down to the ground, which didst weaken the nations'. The decisive literary canon is the decisive canon of Dante Alighieri's (Dante Alighieri) Divine Comedy (Divina Commedia) Inferno (Inferno) Canto 34 of c. 1308-1320 — the giant with three faces and six wings frozen up to his chest in the ice of Cocytus (Cocytus) — and John Milton's (John Milton) Paradise Lost (Paradise Lost) of 1667 — Lucifer as the tragic hero of free will.

Satan · The Adversary — Prince of Wrath, Accuser of Humanity

Satan (Hebrew Satan, Greek Satanas, Latin Satanas, Aramaic Satana) is the supreme demon of the Judeo-Christian-Islamic tradition — the decisive canon, the decisive canonical vocabulary derived from the Hebrew 'satan' meaning 'adversary' or 'accuser'. The aliases Diabolos (Greek 'slanderer'), devil, Lucifer ('light-bearer'), Belial, Beelzebub, Iblis (Islamic Satan), old serpent, great dragon, and prince of darkness are the decisive canonical vocabulary. The decisive textual canon is the decisive origin canon of Job (Job) chapters 1:6-12 and 2:1-7 of c. 6th-4th century BCE — the adversary (the-satan, with the definite article) who tested Job (Job) in the heavenly court — and the decisive canon of Zechariah (Zechariah) 3:1-2 of c. 6th-5th century BCE — Satan accusing Joshua (Joshua). The decisive canon of the 40-day temptation of Jesus Christ in the wilderness in Matthew (Matthew) 4:1-11 and Luke (Luke) 4:1-13 of the 1st century CE, the decisive canon of the heavenly war in Revelation (Revelation) 12:7-9 in which the great dragon Satan was cast down by the archangel Michael, and the decisive canon of the thousand-year binding and the final eternal lake of fire in 20:1-3 and 20:10.

Beelzebub · Lord of the Flies — Prince of Gluttony

Beelzebub (Hebrew Baʿal-Zəvuv, Greek Beelzeboul, Latin Beelzebub) is the great demon of the Judeo-Christian tradition — the decisive canon — derived from the Hebrew Baal-zebub meaning 'Lord of the Flies' — the decisive canonical iconographic figure originating in the city of Ekron of Philistia where the god 'Baal-Zebul (Baal-Zebul, prince Baal)' was worshipped, with Jews scornfully changing the name to 'Lord of the Flies (zebub = fly)'. Aliases — Beelzeboul, Lord of the Flies, prince of devils, and Archduke of 'Gluttony (Gula, Gluttony)' among the Seven Deadly Sins — are the decisive canonical vocabulary. The decisive textual canon is the decisive origin canon of 2 Kings 1:2-16 of c. 6th-4th century BCE in which the king of Israel Ahaziah (Ahaziah) fell ill and sent messengers to consult Beelzebub of Ekron, only to be rebuked by Elijah (Elijah), and the decisive canon of Matthew (Matthew) 12:24-27, Luke (Luke) 11:15-19, and Mark (Mark) 3:22 of the 1st century CE in which the Pharisees slandered Christ by saying 'he casts out demons by Beelzebub, the prince of demons'. The decisive 17th-century English-literary canon of John Milton's (John Milton) Paradise Lost (Paradise Lost) Book 1 lines 78-81 of 1667 — the fallen angel next to Lucifer — and the decisive 20th-century English-literary canon of William Golding's (William Golding) novel Lord of the Flies (Lord of the Flies) of 1954.

Asmodeus · Prince of Lust — Demon Who Destroys Marriages

Asmodeus (Hebrew Ashmedai, Greek Asmodaios, Latin Asmodaeus) is the great demon of lust, marriage destruction, and wrath of Jewish apocrypha and Christian tradition — the decisive canon, the decisive canonical iconographic figure derived from the Persian Zoroastrian Aeshma-daeva (Aeshma-daeva, 'wrath demon'). The etymology is the decisive canonical vocabulary of the Zoroastrian Avesta (Avesta) Aeshma (Aeshma, 'wrath') + daeva (daeva, 'evil god'), and the Hebrew Ashmedai (Ashmedai) and Greek Asmodaios are the decisive canonical vocabulary. The decisive textual canon is the Book of Tobit (Book of Tobit) chapter 3 verse 8 of c. 200 BCE Jewish apocrypha — the decisive canon of the lust demon who killed Sarah's (Sarah) seven husbands on their wedding night — and chapter 3 verse 17, chapter 6 verses 14-18, and chapter 8 verses 1-3 — the decisive canon in which the archangel Raphael (Raphael) made Tobias (Tobias) burn fish liver and heart on incense, and the smoke drove Asmodeus away and Raphael bound him in upper Egypt. The Testament of Solomon (Testament of Solomon) chapter 5 of c. 1st-3rd century CE — the decisive canon of the lust towards Solomon's wife — and the Lesser Key of Solomon (Lesser Key of Solomon, Ars Goetia) of c. 17th century — the decisive canon as the 32nd king of the 72 demons.

Belphegor · Prince of Sloth — He Who Ruins Humanity Through Laziness

Belphegor (Latin Belphegor, English Belphegor) is the demon of Judeo-Christian tradition — the decisive canon — and the Prince of Sloth (Sloth, Acedia) — one of the Seven Deadly Sins — derived from the Hebrew Baal-Peor (Baal-Peor, 'Lord of Peor') — the decisive canonical vocabulary — the decisive canonical iconographic figure of the Moabite god of the Old Testament era personified from the Judeo-Christian perspective. Aliases — Baal-Peor (Baal-Peor), Belfagor (Belfagor), Balphegor (Balphegor), Prince of Sloth — are the decisive canonical vocabulary. The decisive Old Testament canon is the decisive origin canon of Numbers (Numbers) 25:1-9 of c. 6th-4th century BCE — 'And Israel abode in Shittim, and the people began to commit whoredom with the daughters of Moab. And they called the people unto the sacrifices of their gods: and the people did eat, and bowed down to their gods. And Israel joined himself unto Baal-Peor (Baal-Peor): and the anger of the LORD was kindled against Israel'. The decisive satirical literary canon is the decisive canon of Novella di Belfagor Arcidiavolo (Novella di Belfagor Arcidiavolo) by the Italian Niccolò Machiavelli (Niccolò Machiavelli) of 1518.

Bael · First of Solomon's 72 Spirits — King of the East

Bael (Latin Bael, English Bael, Hebrew Baal — 'lord') is the 1st of the 72 demons in Book 1 Ars Goetia (Ars Goetia) of the 17th-century grimoire — the decisive canon — The Lesser Key of Solomon (Lemegeton Clavicula Salomonis) — and the King of the East (King of the East), commanding 66 legions (legions) of demons — the decisive canonical iconographic figure. The etymological origin is the decisive origin canon of Baal (Baal, son of El), the Canaanite and Phoenician god of fertility, thunder, and war, in the Ugaritic Baal Cycle (Ugaritic Baal Cycle, KTU 1.1-1.6) of c. 13th century BCE — the decisive canonical vocabulary degraded by the later Judeo-Christian tradition to a foreign idol. Aliases — Baal (Baal), Baal Hadad (Baal Hadad), Baal-Zebub (Baal-Zebub), Baal-Peor (Baal-Peor), King of the East — are the decisive canonical vocabulary. The decisive Old Testament canon is the decisive canon of the confrontation between Elijah and the 450 prophets of Baal on Mount Carmel in 1 Kings (1 Kings) 18:17-40 of c. 6th-4th century BCE.

Paimon · Ninth of Solomon's 72 Spirits — King of Arts and Knowledge

Paimon (Latin Paimon, English Paimon) is the powerful king of the 9th rank among the 72 demons in Book 1 of the 17th-century grimoire — the decisive canon — The Lesser Key of Solomon (Lemegeton Clavicula Salomonis) — Ars Goetia (Ars Goetia) — commanding 200 legions (legions) of demons — the decisive canonical iconographic figure. Aliases — Paimaim, King Paimon, King of Camels, King of Arts and Sciences — are the decisive canonical vocabulary. The decisive textual canon is the decisive origin canon of Paimon in Pseudomonarchia Daemonum (Pseudomonarchia Daemonum) of Johann Weyer (Johann Weyer) of 1563 and the decisive canon of the 9th rank king of the 72 demons in Book 1 Ars Goetia (Ars Goetia) of The Lesser Key of Solomon (Lemegeton Clavicula Salomonis) of the 17th century. The decisive grimoire canon of Paimon in The Magus (The Magus) of Francis Barrett (Francis Barrett) of 1801 of England, and the decisive art canon of the Paimon iconography depicting a crowned man on a camel in the Dictionnaire Infernal (Dictionnaire Infernal) of Collin de Plancy (Collin de Plancy) of 1863, and the decisive 21st-century film canon of 'Hail Paimon' in the film Hereditary (Hereditary) (directed by Ari Aster (Ari Aster), A24) released in the USA on 8 June 2018.

Astaroth · 29th of Solomon's 72 Spirits — Great Duke

Astaroth (Latin Astaroth, English Astaroth) is the demon of the Great Duke rank, 29th of the 72 demons in Book 1 Ars Goetia (Ars Goetia) of the 17th-century grimoire — the decisive canon — The Lesser Key of Solomon (Lemegeton Clavicula Salomonis) — commanding 40 legions (legions) of demons — the decisive canonical iconographic figure. The etymological origin is the decisive canonical vocabulary of Ishtar (Ishtar, Akkadian), the Mesopotamian goddess of fertility, love, and war of c. 2000 BCE → Phoenician and Canaanite Astarte (Astarte) → the foreign goddess Ashtoreth (Ashtoreth) of the Old Testament → the male duke-demon of the 16th-17th century grimoires. Aliases — Ashtoreth (Ashtoreth), Astarte (Astarte), Ishtar (Ishtar), the Duke of liberal sciences — are the decisive canonical vocabulary. The decisive textual canon is the decisive origin canon of Astaroth in Pseudomonarchia Daemonum (Pseudomonarchia Daemonum) of Johann Weyer (Johann Weyer) of 1563, and the decisive canon of the 29th rank Great Duke of the 72 demons in Book 1 Ars Goetia of The Lesser Key of Solomon (Lemegeton Clavicula Salomonis) of the 17th century. The decisive 19th-century art canon of the Astaroth iconography on the wicked dragon in the Dictionnaire Infernal (Dictionnaire Infernal) of Collin de Plancy of 1818, and the decisive 21st-century global game canon of Astaroth (in the form of a golem wielding a giant axe) in the Soulcalibur (Soul Edge/Soulcalibur) series by Japanese Namco (Namco) from 1995.

Mara · Buddhist Demon-King of Desire — Hinderer of Enlightenment

Mara (Sanskrit Māra, Pali Māra) is the demon king of Buddhist mythology — the decisive canon — derived from the Sanskrit 'Māra' meaning 'death, destruction' — the decisive canonical vocabulary — the lord of the sixth heaven of the desire realm (Kāmadhātu), Paranirmita-vaśavartin, who tempts humans with desire and illusion to obstruct liberation — the decisive canonical iconographic figure. Aliases — Māra (Māra), Demon King (Demon King), God of Death, Lord of the Desire Realm, Māra Pāpīyas (Māra Pāpīyas, Evil One) — are the decisive canonical vocabulary. The decisive textual canon is the decisive origin canon of the Padhāna Sutta (Padhāna Sutta) of the Pali Sutta Nipāta (Sutta Nipāta) of c. 5th-3rd century BCE — the Buddha defeating the trial of Māra and his three daughters under the Bodhi tree — and the decisive canon of Buddhacarita (Buddhacarita) Canto 13 by Aśvaghoṣa (Aśvaghoṣa) of the 2nd century CE.

Mammon · Demon of Wealth — Prince of Greed

Mammon (Aramaic Māmōnā mamona, Greek Mamōnas, Latin Mammona) is the demon of wealth and greed of the Christian tradition — the decisive canon, the decisive canonical iconographic figure — the decisive canon, derived from the Aramaic 'mamona' meaning 'wealth, money', originally a common noun but personified in the New Testament to become an idol opposed to God. The aliases Mamōnas, prince of riches, king of gold, and Archduke of 'Greed (Avaritia, Greed)' among the Seven Deadly Sins are the decisive canonical vocabulary. The decisive textual canon is the decisive origin canon of 'No man can serve two masters: for either he will hate the one, and love the other; or else he will hold to the one, and despise the other. Ye cannot serve God and Mammon (You cannot serve God and Mammon)' in Matthew (Matthew) 6:24 of the 1st century CE New Testament and the same verse in Luke (Luke) 16:13 and the 'mammon of unrighteousness (mammon of unrighteousness)' in 16:9-11. The decisive canon of the fallen angel who always gazed at the golden pavements even in heaven in Paradise Lost (Paradise Lost) Book 1 lines 678-688 of John Milton (John Milton) of 1667.

Orobas · 55th of Solomon's 72 Spirits — Horse-Headed Prince of Truth

Orobas (Latin Orobas) is the 55th demon of the 72 demons of Solomon (Goetia) — the decisive canon — of the rank of Great Prince — the decisive canonical iconographic figure with a horse's head and a human body, or a complete horse, an honest demon who never lies. Aliases — Orobas (Orobas), Prince of Truth, Horse-headed Demon, Gentlemanly Demon, 55th Spirit of Solomon — are the decisive canonical vocabulary. The decisive textual canon is the decisive origin canon of Pseudomonarchia Daemonum (Pseudomonarchia Daemonum, 'The False Hierarchy of Demons') by the German physician and occult writer Johann Weyer (Johann Weyer, 1515-1588) of 1577, and the decisive canon of Spirit 55 Orobas in Part I Goetia of the Lesser Key of Solomon (Lesser Key of Solomon, Lemegeton) of the 17th century. The decisive uniqueness canon is the decisive canon as a 'gentlemanly' demon clearly favorable to the summoner unlike the other 71 demons and never lying — the decisive canon summoned in Solomonic magic to receive the oracle of truth.

Gabriel · Archangel — Messenger of God, Bearer of the Annunciation

Gabriel (Hebrew Gavri'el, Greek Gabriel, Latin Gabriel, Arabic Jibril) is the decisive canonical archangel of Judaism, Christianity, and Islam — three decisive canonical religions. The etymology is the decisive canonical vocabulary of the Hebrew 'God's strength' (geber + El) or 'man of God'. The decisive textual canon is the Old Testament Book of Daniel (Daniel) 8:15-26 of c. 2nd century BCE — 167-164 BCE — the decisive canon in which Gabriel interprets Daniel's vision — and 9:21-27 — the decisive canon of the 70-weeks prophecy. The Gospel of Luke (Luke) 1:11-20 of the c. 1st-century-CE New Testament — the decisive canon in which Gabriel announces the conception of John the Baptist to the priest Zechariah (Zechariah) — and 1:26-38 — the decisive canon of the Annunciation, the announcement of Jesus's conception to Mary — are the decisive canon. The Qur'an (Qur'an) 2:97-98 of c. 7th century — 610-632 CE — the decisive canon in which Jibril (Jibril) revealed the Qur'an to Muhammad over 23 years — is the decisive canonical iconography. The decisive canonical iconography of the graceful angel holding a lily, the golden trumpet, white silk robes, and large white feathered wings.

Sandalphon · Angel of Prayer — Bearer of Mortal Prayers to God

Sandalphon (Hebrew Sandalphon, Greek Sandalphōn) is the highest-ranking angel paired with Metatron in the Jewish Kabbalah tradition — the decisive canon — the decisive canonical iconographic figure of the 'angel of prayer (angel of prayer)' who receives human prayers and weaves them into garlands (wreath) to offer to God. The etymology derives from Greek synadelphos — 'co-brother (co-brother)' — the decisive canonical vocabulary meaning Metatron's twin brother. Aliases — Sanadalphon, angel of Malkuth, angel of prayer, angel of music, and foot of the Tree of Life — are the decisive canonical vocabulary. The decisive textual canon is the decisive origin canon of Babylonian Talmud Hagigah 13b of the 4th-6th century in which Sandalphon stands 500 years' worth of height above the other angels, and the decisive canon of Sandalphon in 3 Enoch (3 Enoch, Sefer Hekhalot) of c. 5th-6th century CE. The decisive canon of the angel of Malkuth (Malkuth, Kingdom) of the Kabbalah Tree of Life (Sephirot) in the Zohar (Zohar) by Moses de Leon of the 1280s, and the decisive 19th-century English and German literary canon of Heinrich Heine's (Heinrich Heine) poem Sandalphon of 1851 and Henry Wadsworth Longfellow's (Henry Wadsworth Longfellow) poem Sandalphon (Sandalphon) of 1858.

Leviathan· Vast Sea Monster Prince of Envy

Leviathan (Hebrew Liwyāṯān, Greek Leviathan, Latin Leviathan) is the great sea monster of the Old Testament — the decisive canon, the demon that developed into the Archduke of Envy in the Christian tradition — the decisive canonical iconographic figure of 'the coiling one', derived from the Hebrew 'lawah' meaning 'to twist, coil'. The aliases Liwyāṯān, Lotan (Ugaritic prototype), sea serpent, piercing serpent, and nachash bariach are the decisive canonical vocabulary. The decisive textual canon is the decisive origin canon of the 7-headed sea chaos monster Lotan (Lotan, ltn) in the Baal Cycle (Baal Cycle) of Ugarit (Ugarit) of c. 13th century BCE, and the decisive canon of the invincible sea monster that only God could subdue in Job (Job) 41:1-34 (40:25-41:26 in the Hebrew text) of c. 6th-4th century BCE. The decisive canon of the slaying of Leviathan at the 'end of days' in Isaiah (Isaiah) 27:1, Psalm (Psalm) 74:14 and 104:26, and the decisive canon of Leviathan and Behemoth (Behemoth) in the Babylonian Talmud Bava Batra (Bava Batra) 74b-75a of the 4th-6th century.

Ra · Egyptian Sun God — Creator and King of the Gods

Ra (Egyptian Ra or Re, 'sun') is the decisive canonical sun-god, creator, and king of the gods of ancient Egyptian mythology — the Heliopolis (Heliopolis, Egyptian Iunu, 'city of the pillar') theology — and the decisive canonical iconographic figure, who rose by himself from Nun (Nun), the primordial chaos sea, and as the ancestor of the Heliopolis Ennead (Ennead) of Shu (Shu), Tefnut (Tefnut), Geb (Geb), Nut (Nut), Osiris (Osiris), Isis (Isis), Seth (Seth), and Nephthys (Nephthys). The etymology is the decisive canonical vocabulary of the Egyptian Ra ('sun'), and during the New Kingdom 18th dynasty (1550-1292 BCE) he merged with the god Amun of Thebes to become Amun-Ra (Amun-Ra), the supreme god — the decisive canon. The decisive textual canon is the Pyramid Texts (Pyramid Texts) of c. 2400-2300 BCE — Old Kingdom 5th-6th dynasty — the decisive canon of the inside of the pyramids of Unas (Unas, 2375-2345 BCE) and Pepi I (Pepi I) — and the Coffin Texts (Coffin Texts) of c. 2100-1700 BCE Middle Kingdom — and the Book of the Dead (Book of the Dead) and the Amduat (Amduat) of c. 1550 BCE New Kingdom are the decisive canon. The pharaoh's title 'son of Ra (sa-Ra)' and the decisive canonical iconography of a falcon head with sun disc and the Uraeus (Uraeus) cobra.

Abaddon· Angel of Destruction King of the Abyss

Abaddon (Hebrew Avaddon, Greek Apollyōn, Latin Abaddon) is the angel of destruction in the Judeo-Christian tradition — the decisive canon — derived from the Hebrew verb avad meaning 'to perish, destroy' — the decisive canonical iconographic figure of 'destruction (destruction)' and the Greek Apollyon (Apollyōn) meaning 'destroyer (destroyer)'. Aliases — Apollyon, Abaddon, King of the Abyss (Abyss), King of the Locust Swarm — are the decisive canonical vocabulary. The decisive textual canon is the decisive origin canon of Job (Job) 26:6, 28:22, and 31:12 of c. 6th-4th century BCE in which 'Abaddon' is personified as the grave or place of destruction, and the decisive canon of Proverbs (Proverbs) 15:11 and 27:20 and Psalm (Psalm) 88:11. The decisive New Testament canon is the decisive canon of Revelation (Revelation) 9:11 of the 1st century CE — 'And they had a king over them, which is the angel of the bottomless pit (angel of the bottomless pit), whose name in the Hebrew tongue is Abaddon, but in the Greek tongue hath his name Apollyon'. The decisive 17th-century English-literary canon of Apollyon's combat with Christian in The Pilgrim's Progress (The Pilgrim's Progress) by John Bunyan (John Bunyan) of 1678.

Osiris · Egyptian King of the Afterlife — God of Resurrection and Abundance

Osiris (Egyptian Wsjr Asar or Usir, Greek Osiris, 'seat of the strong' or 'throne') is the god of the underworld, resurrection, fertility, and grain of ancient Egyptian mythology — the decisive canon, the son of Geb (Geb, earth) and Nut (Nut, sky) of the Heliopolitan Ennead (Ennead), husband of Isis (Isis), who was killed by his brother Seth (Seth), whose dismembered body was gathered and resurrected by Isis, and then became the king of the underworld Duat (Duat) judging the souls of the dead — the decisive canonical iconographic figure. The decisive textual canon is the Pyramid Texts (Pyramid Texts) of c. 2400-2300 BCE — Old Kingdom 5th dynasty — the decisive origin canon of about 200 of the about 759 spells of the pyramid texts of Unas (Unas, reigned 2375-2345 BCE) in Saqqara — and the Coffin Texts (Coffin Texts) of c. 2100-1700 BCE Middle Kingdom — and the Book of the Dead (Book of the Dead) of c. 1550 BCE New Kingdom, especially chapter 125 'Negative Confession (Negative Confession)' — the decisive canon of Osiris's 42 judges. The De Iside et Osiride (De Iside et Osiride) of the Greek Plutarch (Plutarch, c. 46-119) of c. 100 CE of the c. 1st century CE is the most complete decisive Greek-Latin mythological canon.

Lilith · Witch of the Night — Adam's First Wife, Mother of Demons

Lilith (Hebrew Lilith, Latin Lilith) is the female demon of Jewish mythology — the decisive canon — and in some traditions, the 'first woman' formed by God from earth at the same time as Adam, not from his rib, but who, considering herself equal to Adam and refusing to submit to him, left Eden and then united with Satan (Samael) and gave birth to countless demons (Lilim) — the decisive canonical iconographic figure. Aliases — Lilitu (Lilitu, Mesopotamian), Mother of Lilim, Consort of Samael, Night Demoness, Adam's First Wife — are the decisive canonical vocabulary. The decisive Old Testament canon is the decisive origin canon of Isaiah (Isaiah) 34:14 of c. 6th century BCE — 'Lilith (Hebrew Lilith), the night creature dwelling with wild beasts'. The decisive Jewish apocryphal canon is the decisive canon of the Alphabet of Ben Sira (Alphabet of Ben Sira) of c. 8th-10th century — the myth of Adam's first wife — and the decisive Kabbalah canon is the decisive canon of Lilith as the consort of Samael (Samael) in the Zohar (Zohar) by Moses de León (Moses de León) of c. 1280.

Isis · Egyptian Goddess of Magic and Motherhood — Goddess of Ten Thousand Names

Isis (Egyptian Iset or Aset, Greek Isis, Latin Isis) is the goddess of magic, healing, motherhood, and kingship of ancient Egyptian mythology — the decisive canon, the daughter of Geb (Geb) and Nut (Nut) of the Heliopolitan Ennead (Ennead), the sister and wife of Osiris (Osiris), and the mother of Horus (Horus) — the decisive canonical iconographic figure. The etymology of the Egyptian Iset (Aset) is 'throne (throne)' — the decisive canon as the personification of the throne — and the aliases Aset (Aset), Auset (Auset), Weret-hekau (Weret-hekau, 'Great Sorceress'), Mut-netjeret (Mut-netjeret, 'Mother of God'), and Anima Versatilis (Anima Versatilis, 'goddess of ten thousand names') are the decisive canonical vocabulary. The decisive textual canon is the decisive origin canon of the Pyramid Texts (Pyramid Texts) of Unas (Unas) of the Old Kingdom 5th dynasty of c. 2400-2300 BCE, and the decisive canon of 'Isis and the Secret Name of Ra (Isis and the Secret Name of Ra)' of the Turin Papyrus (Turin Papyrus) of the New Kingdom of c. 1250 BCE. The De Iside et Osiride (De Iside et Osiride) of Plutarch (Plutarchos) of c. 100 CE of the c. 1st century CE and the decisive canon of the 'goddess of ten thousand names' in Book 11 of the Metamorphoses (Metamorphoses) of Apuleius (Apuleius) of c. 170 CE.

Horus · Egyptian God of Sky and Kingship — Falcon-Eyed Restorer of Justice

Horus (Egyptian Ḥr Hor, Greek Hōros) is the god of the sky, kingship, and justice of ancient Egyptian mythology — the decisive canon, the son of Osiris (Osiris) and Isis (Isis), the decisive canonical iconographic figure who became the legitimate king of Egypt after an 80-year throne struggle with his uncle Seth (Seth). The etymology of the Egyptian Ḥr is the decisive canonical vocabulary of 'the high one' or 'the distant one', and the aliases Heru (Heru), Hor (Hor), Hor-sa-Iset (Hor-sa-Iset, 'Horus son of Isis'), Hor-wer (Hor-wer, 'Horus the Great'), Hor-akhti (Hor-akhti, 'Horus of the two horizons'), and Harpokrates (Harpokrates, 'Horus the Child') are the decisive canonical vocabulary. The decisive textual canon is the decisive origin canon of the Pyramid Texts (Pyramid Texts) of Unas (Unas) of the Old Kingdom 5th dynasty of c. 2400-2300 BCE, and the decisive canon of the 80-year struggle of the 'Contendings of Horus and Seth (Contendings of Horus and Seth)' of the Chester Beatty Papyrus I (Chester Beatty Papyrus I) of the New Kingdom 20th dynasty period of Rameses V of c. 1250 BCE. The De Iside et Osiride (De Iside et Osiride) chapters 12-20 and 54-58 of Plutarch (Plutarchos) of c. 100 CE of the Greek 1st century CE — the decisive Greek-Latin canon.

Anubis · Egyptian God — Guardian of Death and Mummification

Anubis (Egyptian Anpu, Greek Anubis) is the underworld god of ancient Egyptian mythology — the decisive canon — who guides the souls of the dead and presides over the mummification (embalming) ritual — the decisive canonical iconographic figure with a jackal's head and a human body, black skin or fur. Aliases — Anpu (Anpu), Imy-ut (Imy-ut, 'He who is in the bandages'), Khenty-amentiu (Khenty-amentiu, 'Foremost of the Westerners'), Wepwawet (Wepwawet) — are the decisive canonical vocabulary. The decisive textual canon is the decisive origin canon of the Pyramid Texts (Pyramid Texts) of Pharaoh Unas (Unas) of Saqqara of the 5th Dynasty of Egypt of c. 2400-2300 BCE, and the decisive canon of Spell 125 of the Book of the Dead (Book of the Dead, Book of Coming Forth by Day) of the New Kingdom of Egypt of c. 1550 BCE. The decisive mythological canon is the decisive canon of the 'Weighing of the Heart' — the decisive canon in which Anubis brings the soul of the deceased to the Hall of Two Truths and weighs his heart against the feather of Maat (Ma'at, goddess of justice) on a scale.

Indra · God of Thunder — Supreme Deity of Hindu Mythology

Indra (Sanskrit Indra) is the supreme deity of Indian Vedic mythology — the decisive canon — and god of thunder, lightning, war, and rain — derived from the Sanskrit 'indra' meaning 'strong, ruler' — the decisive canonical iconographic figure of the most praised deity of the Vedic era (c. 1500-500 BCE). Aliases — Shakra ('mighty one'), Vajrapani ('bearer of vajra'), Purandara ('destroyer of fortresses'), Meghavahana ('rider of clouds'), Devaraja ('king of the gods'), Sakra Devanam Indra (Buddhist Indra) — are the decisive canonical vocabulary. The decisive textual canon is the decisive origin canon of the Rigveda (Rigveda) of c. 1500-1200 BCE in which about 250 of the 1028 hymns are dedicated to him — the most of any deity. The decisive mythological canon is the decisive origin canon of Rigveda 1.32 in which Indra slew the drought demon Vritra (Vritra) with the vajra (vajra, thunder weapon) and released the blocked waters, bringing rain to humanity.

Shiva · Hindu God of Destruction and Renewal — Cosmic Dancer

Shiva (Sanskrit Śiva, 'the auspicious one') is the god of destruction and regeneration of Hindu mythology — the decisive canon, one of the Trimūrti (Trimūrti) — the decisive canonical iconographic figure. The decisive textual canon is the Rudra (Rudra) hymns 1.43, 1.114, 2.33, and 7.46 of the storm god of the Rigveda (Rigveda) of c. 1500-1200 BCE — the decisive origin canon — and the Shvetashvatara Upanishad (Shvetashvatara Upanishad) 3.4-5 of c. 6th-4th century BCE — the decisive canon of the identification of Rudra and Shiva. The Mahabharata (Mahābhārata) Anushasana Parva 14.4 of c. 4th century BCE-4th century CE — the decisive canon of the Shiva Sahasranama (Shiva Sahasranama, 'Thousand Names of Shiva') — and the Shiva Purana (Śiva Purāṇa) of c. 800 CE — one of the 18 Mahapuranas (Mahāpurāṇa) — and the Natya Shastra (Nāṭya Śāstra) of Bharata Muni of c. 200 CE — the decisive canon of the Tandava (Tāṇḍava, cosmic dance) — and the Kumarasambhava (Kumārasambhava) of Kalidasa (Kālidāsa) of c. 5th century CE — the decisive canon of marriage to Parvati (Pārvatī).

Serpent-bodied Enchantress · Seductress and Devourer in Greek Mythology

A monster of Greek myth, the upper body a beautiful woman and the lower body that of a great serpent. Once the beautiful queen of Libya and a lover of Zeus, she was driven by Hera's jealousy to the loss of all her children, and from her grief and rage was changed into a creature that, by night, steals and devours the children of other mothers (Diodorus Siculus, Library 20.41, 1st c. BCE). Hera further denied her sleep by cursing one of her eyes to remain forever open, and she carries her eyes out in a bowl when she leaves home (Plutarch, On Curiosity 2). Philostratus's Life of Apollonius of Tyana 4.25 (3rd c. CE) tells how a Lamia seduced the young Menippus, and was unmasked at the wedding feast by the philosopher Apollonius — the source which John Keats reworked in his poem Lamia (Lamia, Isabella, the Eve of St. Agnes, and Other Poems, Taylor & Hessey, 1820), turning her into a tragic figure of love and revealed truth.

Strix · Night Bird — Vampiric Bird of Ancient European Myth

A vampiric bird-creature of Roman and Greek myth, a nocturnal raptor that creeps into the bedrooms of sleeping infants to drink their blood and entrails. It is described variously as a witch transformed into a bird, or as a demon born in the shape of a bird. The most canonical account is Ovid's Fasti 6.131-168 (c. 8 CE), which depicts it as 'with a large head, staring eyes, a beak fit for plunder, grey feathers and curved talons', and describes the ritual of the goddess Carna with hawthorn branches that protected the newborn king Procas. Etymologically the figure is the direct ancestor of the later European vampire tradition — Romanian Strigoi, Italian strega 'witch', French stryge — all of which descend from the Latin strix.

Seventh Labor of Heracles in Greek Myth

The Cretan Bull (Greek Tauros Kretikos, Latin Taurus Cretensis) is the great sacred bull of Greek myth, the target of the seventh of Heracles' Twelve Labours and of Theseus' Marathonian exploit — one of the rare beasts to appear in the cycles of two major heroes. The bull was originally sent by Poseidon to King Minos of Crete as a sign of royal legitimacy, with the understanding that Minos would sacrifice it back to the sea-god. Minos kept the beast and substituted another for the sacrifice, and the angered Poseidon caused Minos' queen Pasiphae to fall in love with the bull. Using a wooden cow constructed by the master craftsman Daedalus, Pasiphae mated with the bull and bore the Minotaur. The bull then ran mad across Crete until Heracles caught it bare-handed and brought it across the sea to Mycenae as his seventh labour; released there, it wandered to the plain of Marathon, where Theseus subdued it and offered it at the Athenian temple of Apollo.

Chimera · Monstrous hybrid — Mythical creature with combined animal traits

A composite monster of Greek myth — head of a lion, body of a goat (with a goat-head springing from the back), tail ending in a snake-head, and mouth spewing perpetual flame. First named in Homer's Iliad 6.179-183 (c. eighth century BCE) and given her parentage in Hesiod's Theogony 319-325 (c. 700 BCE) as the daughter of Typhon and Echidna, sibling of Cerberus and the Hydra. She laid waste to Lycia until the hero Bellerophon, riding the winged horse Pegasus, plunged a lead-tipped spear into her gullet; her own fire melted the lead, which seared her vitals (Apollodorus, Library 2.3.1). 'Chimera' has since become the common English noun for any composite or fantastic hybrid, and in biology the term chimerism (Hans Spemann, 1920s) denotes an organism with two distinct genotypes.

Centaur · Half-human, half-horse — Legendary creature of Greek myth

A Greek mythological race with the upper body of a human joined to the lower body of a horse, dwelling chiefly on Mount Pelion in Thessaly. Most centaurs are depicted as savage and lecherous — the famous Centauromachy began when the centaurs, drunk at the wedding of Peirithoos, attacked the bride Hippodameia and the Lapith women (Parthenon south metopes, 447-432 BCE). The decisive exception is Chiron, son of Cronus and the nymph Philyra, master of medicine, music, philosophy, and astronomy, and the teacher of Heracles, Achilles, Jason, and Asclepius. Struck by accident with Heracles's hydra-poisoned arrow, Chiron gave up his immortality to Prometheus to end his pain, and Zeus set him in the heavens as the constellation Centaurus.

Two-Headed Serpent of Greek Myth

The Amphisbaena (Greek Amphisbaina, 'going both ways') is a legendary two-headed serpent of Greek and Roman myth, possessing a head at each end of its body and able to travel in either direction. Its name derives from Greek amphis (both ways) and bainein (to go). The Roman poet Lucan's Pharsalia describes the Amphisbaena among the desert serpents born when Perseus carried the head of Medusa over Libya and her blood dripped onto the sand. Pliny the Elder, Natural History VIII.35, notes drily that the Amphisbaena is the only serpent with two heads, 'as if a single mouth were not enough to release its poison'. The motif entered medieval bestiaries and heraldry as a standard charge, and was canonised again in Jorge Luis Borges's Book of Imaginary Beings (1957). Folk medicine credited its skin and living body with talismanic powers, particularly to protect pregnant women.

Sphinx · Guardian of Riddles — Hybrid of Human and Lion

The Sphinx (Greek Sphinx, Egyptian shesep-ankh) is a mythic composite of human head and lion body, developed in two parallel traditions. The Egyptian Sphinx, usually a wingless male with the head of a pharaoh, served as guardian of temples and tombs, exemplified by the Great Sphinx of Giza (73 m long, 20 m high), carved from a single limestone outcrop in the reign of Khafre around 2530 BCE. The Greek Sphinx, by contrast, is a winged female with a savage temper who took her station outside Thebes in Boeotia and devoured travellers who could not answer her riddle. When Oedipus solved her riddle, 'What walks on four legs at dawn, two at noon, and three at evening?', answering 'Man', the Sphinx hurled herself from her cliff. From this Egyptian-Greek synthesis the Sphinx became the archetype of the guardian-tester: wisdom and threat, protection and danger, fused in a single hybrid body.

Monoceros · Unicorn — Legendary one-horned creature

The Monoceros (Greek Monokeros, Latin Monoceros, 'single horn') is the archetype of the one-horned beast in Greek and Roman natural history. It first appears in the Indika of Ktesias of Knidos (fifth century BCE), a Greek physician at the Persian court who describes wild asses of India with white bodies, purple heads, blue eyes, and a single horn about one cubit long, banded in white, black, and crimson; cups carved from the horn make the drinker immune to poison, seizures, and epilepsy. In the first century CE, Pliny the Elder's Natural History VIII.31 standardised the description as 'a body like a horse, head like a stag, feet like an elephant, tail like a boar, and a single black horn about two cubits long in the middle of the forehead.' When this image reached medieval Europe through Latin sources it was equated with unicornus, the unicorn. In later fantasy, however, Monoceros often persists as a wilder, fiercer original distinct from the white-horse unicorn.

Humanity's oldest weapon

The spear is the oldest and most universal weapon in human history. A simple thing of a wooden shaft about 150 to 250 cm with a metal head, or in the Stone Age a head of stone or bone, it was so easy and cheap to make that it was the first weapon any civilization took in hand. The simple act of thrusting alone was enough to be effective, so the training was short, and used in a dense formation it let the strength of the group make up for the want of individual skill. Above all, the essence of the spear lies in distance: the long shaft reaches first, before the enemy can close, mastering by reach a foe armed with sword or dagger. From the Greek phalanx to the Viking shield wall to the medieval militia, it was the core weapon of nearly every army in history.

The double-edged short sword of ancient Greek hoplites

The xiphos is the short double-edged sword that the ancient Greek hoplite wore at his hip, with a blade only about 45 to 60 cm long. Its defining feature is the leaf-shaped blade: it widens gradually from the hilt, reaches its broadest point about two-thirds of the way along, then tapers sharply to the tip. This shape sets the center of mass toward the point to strengthen the cut, while the sharp tip also allows a thrust. First made in bronze and later in iron, it is light, around 500 to 700 g. The hoplite hung it on his left hip from a baldric and drew it with the right hand only when his main weapon, the long spear called the dory, broke or the enemy pressed in too close behind the shields.

A light spear designed for throwing

The javelin is a light spear, about 150 to 200 cm long, designed to be thrown. Unlike an ordinary spear held to thrust, its shaft is thin and light and its balance is set so that it flies far and true. Its most famous variant is the Roman pilum, whose thin soft-iron shank below the head was designed to bend under its own weight once it stuck in an enemy shield, making it hard to pull out: a lodged pilum dragged the shield down and forced the enemy at last to throw it away. The javelin is a universal weapon that arose independently among the civilizations of nearly every continent, and it was usual, just after the throw, to switch to a sword or another spear and carry on the fight.

An ancient projectile weapon hurling stones by centrifugal force

The sling is an ancient projectile weapon that hurls a stone or a lead bullet by centrifugal force from a small pouch made of leather or cloth. Two cords are fixed to the sides of the pouch, and as one whirls it overhead or to the side and lets go of one cord, the projectile flies off at a fearsome speed. The structure is utterly simple and costs almost nothing in materials, yet a stone cast by a skilled slinger reached a speed able to shatter a skull. The slingers of the Balearic Islands in particular, today's Spanish Mallorca and Menorca, were the finest elite slinging troops of the ancient world, serving as mercenaries in the armies of Carthage and Rome. It is widely known too as the weapon with which David felled the giant Goliath in the Hebrew Bible, and with lead bullets, the glandes, its range and power greatly increased.

The standard short sword of the Roman legionnaire

The gladius is the standard infantry short sword of the ancient Roman legions. A short, broad, double-edged blade of about 45 to 68 cm with a sharp point, it is optimized for the thrust. It changed over time from the early leaf-shaped hispaniensis, through the waisted Mainz type, to the Pompeii type with parallel edges. The blade was forged of high-carbon steel and hard, and the hilt was made of wood or bone to prevent slipping, with a round pommel to balance it. The Roman legionary, sheltering behind the great shield, the scutum, thrust the short blade swiftly through the gaps between the shields at the enemy's exposed body: this combination of the short sword, the great shield, and the disciplined formation was the heart of Rome's conquest of the Mediterranean.

A throwing weapon that entangles legs with weighted cords

The bola is a throwing weapon of two or three heavy stone or metal weights joined by cords, which on being thrown spins through the air and wraps around the legs of its target to bind its movement. Its chief trait is that it is a capturing weapon, made to seize rather than to kill. It is a hunting weapon developed by the indigenous peoples of South American Patagonia, used mainly to hunt fast grassland animals such as the rhea, the South American ostrich, and the guanaco, a wild relative of the llama. It later grew more famous as the gauchos, the South American cowboys, used it to drive cattle. Each weight is about 200 to 500 g and the cords about 60 to 100 cm, and it was used as a weapon of war too, fielded by the army of the Inca Empire.

A silent tube weapon firing poison darts

The blowgun (or blowpipe) is a projectile weapon: a long, narrow tube, roughly 100–300 cm, through which a dart is launched by the breath. With no powder or bowstring, it sends only a light dart by lung power, so the weapon itself does little harm — the plant poison smeared on the dart tip is the real killing agent. Its great strength is silence: the shot makes almost no sound and has no recoil, letting a hunter hit the mark before the quarry takes alarm. Its effective range is short, about 10–30 m, but its accuracy is high. The hunting peoples of the tropics — the Amazon, the Dayak of Borneo, the practitioners of the Japanese fukiya — each developed it independently as the archetypal silent, poison-tipped hunting tool.

A bow with outward-curving limb tips for greater power

The recurve bow is a bow whose tips, the limbs, curve away from the archer when it is unstrung. This reverse curve makes the limbs hold force out to their very ends as the string is drawn, storing more energy than a straight self bow of the same length and shooting a more powerful arrow. This lets the bow be made short while keeping its power, so at about 100 to 150 cm long it suits handling from horseback. Historically the finest recurve bows were composite bows, made of horn, wood, and sinew glued together, of which the Korean gakgung is a prime example. The bow used in Olympic archery today is of this very recurve type.

Armor made of overlapping metal scales

Scale armor is armor made of small metal scales, or scales of leather or horn, overlapped like fish scales and fixed by sewing or lacing to a backing of cloth or leather. One of the oldest metal armor types, used from before the common era, it spread widely across the ancient world. The scales overlap from top to bottom to shed the shock of a blow, so it protected against cuts and arrows while still allowing flexible movement. The Roman lorica squamata and the scale armor of Sasanian Persia are prime examples, and because every scale is the same shape, it was relatively simple to make and easy to maintain, a damaged scale being simply replaced. It is, however, distinct from lamellar armor, in which small plates are laced directly to one another to form the structure with no backing: scale armor instead fixes the scales to a backing.

Segmented plate armor of the Roman legions

The lorica segmentata is the segmented plate armor of the ancient Roman legionary, a structure of several curved iron plates, or bands, joined by leather straps and bronze buckles and hooks to enclose the torso and shoulders. Used mainly in the 1st to 3rd century AD, its horizontally overlapping girdle bands and shoulder guards slide as the body moves, like a lobster's shell, to protect it. Stronger against cuts and arrows than mail (the lorica hamata) of the same weight, yet light enough to keep mobility, it could be taken apart into a few sections for carrying on the march. Carved in detail on the reliefs of Trajan's Column, it became the visual symbol of the Roman legion. The name lorica segmentata, however, is not ancient but a later one given in the 16th century, and the name the Romans actually used for it does not survive.

Iconic full-face helmet of ancient Greece

The Corinthian helmet is the most iconic bronze helmet of ancient Greece. Beaten from a single sheet of bronze with no seam, it enclosed the whole head, and cheek guards covering the cheeks and a nasal covering the nose wrapped the face almost completely, leaving only narrow eye slits and a gap at the mouth. It was essential equipment of the hoplite, the Greek heavy infantryman, guarding the head and face from the front in the close-packed phalanx where men fought shoulder to shoulder with overlapping shields. It appeared around the 8th century BC at Corinth and was widely used down to the 5th century BC, and when not in battle it was commonly worn pushed up onto the top of the head. Inside, a lining of felt or leather softened the shock, and a crest of horsehair was often mounted on top. Covering nearly the whole face, its protection was excellent, but at the cost of greatly limited vision and hearing.

Curved rectangular shield of the Roman legions

The scutum is the iconic large curved shield of the Roman legionary, its most marked feature a semi-cylindrical curve about 100 to 120 cm tall and 60 cm wide that wraps around the whole body. On a base of plywood, thin wooden boards glued in several cross-grained layers, it was covered with leather and cloth, the edge reinforced, and finished with an iron boss (the umbo) at the center. The umbo protected the hand gripping the horizontal handle behind it and also served as an offensive boss to ram and strike the enemy. The surviving example excavated nearly whole at Dura-Europos in Syria confirms this very plywood-and-leather construction. The true power of the scutum showed in the testudo (tortoise) formation, a mobile shield wall in which soldiers pressed their shields close to the front and overhead to stop arrows and missiles. Its combination with the gladius, the short stabbing sword, blocking with the shield and stabbing through the gaps, was the foundation of the Roman military power that ruled the Mediterranean for centuries.

Round shield of the ancient Greek hoplite

The aspis (Greek ἀσπίς) is the large round shield carried by the hoplite, the heavy-armed citizen-soldier of ancient Greece, a heavy piece of defense some 80 to 100 centimeters across and 7 to 8 kilograms in weight. A disk of light wood, mostly poplar or willow, was hollowed deep like a bowl and faced with a thin sheet of bronze, the inner rim finished with leather or cloth. Its greatest mark was the double grip: a bronze armband called the porpax at the center and a leather hand-grip called the antilabe at the rim, which spread the weight of the shield across arm and shoulder instead of one wrist, so that a great shield could be carried long. In the phalanx, the close-packed line, each man's aspis covered his own left half and the right half of the comrade on his left, so that to throw away the shield and flee was the gravest shame, for it threw the man at one's side bare to death. It is said that the very name hoplites came from hopla, the heavy gear, of which the aspis was the greatest, and so the shield defined the identity of the classical Greek citizen-soldier.

Roman legionary chainmail armor

Lorica hamata is the armor that the Roman legion wore the longest, and the very Latin name, hamata, comes from hamus, the hook, meaning the cuirass set of hooked rings. Small iron rings, each linked into four neighbors, were woven together as if into cloth, with one row of rings riveted shut and the next row punched solid alternating, and this weave is its sharpest mark. A single suit was made of as few as 20,000 and as many as 30,000 rings, and on the shoulders a doubled layer was added to make a strong seat against the blow falling from above. The lorica segmentata of laminar plate is the best-known mark of Rome in film and period drama, but in truth the hamata took root much earlier and lived much longer, and was worn alike by the auxiliaries, the cavalry, and many of the legionaries. A single suit weighed about 10 to 15 kilograms, not far above the segmentata, and with the great advantage that a cut ring could be replaced on the spot in camp, the hamata took its place as the most practical single piece of armor in the field.

Fortified riding platform atop a war elephant

The howdah is the small turret set on the back of the war elephant, a piece of war gear that was itself a single small fortress placed on the back of a single beast. On a floor of thick wooden planks and iron bands, side walls of breast height were raised, and within sat two or three, sometimes as many as four, archers and spearmen, who shot bow and spear, and in the side walls small loopholes were cut, so that arrows could pour out to one side while turning aside the arrows of the enemy. The single great mark of that seat was its height: the howdah set on the back stood some three to four meters above the ground, and the archers above it looked down at once on the whole formation of the enemy's foot. In India and Southeast Asia the same turret was also the seat of the king and the general, and a single howdah stood as a single point at the center of the enemy host, and from it commands went to every part of the army by banner and gesture. The Mughal court and the royal houses of Rajasthan also set aside a splendid ceremonial howdah, the ambari, adorned with gold and silver and silken hangings, as a moving throne, and so the same turret moved back and forth between a piece of war gear and a piece of the throne.

Traditional dress of China's Han ethnic majority

Hanfu is the collective term for the traditional clothing of China's Han ethnicity, spanning over 2,000 years from the Han through Ming dynasties. Its three defining elements — the cross-collar closure, wide sleeves, and waist sash — reflect Confucian ritual propriety and yin-yang philosophy. Dozens of variants existed across eras, from the separated ruqun to the one-piece shenyi. Though suppressed under Qing Manchu rule, a vibrant hanfu revival movement in 21st-century China has brought these garments back into everyday wear among younger generations.

One-piece Confucian robe of ancient China

The shenyi (deep robe) is one of the most representative forms of Chinese hanfu, a one-piece garment connecting the upper and lower body that dates back to the Zhou dynasty before the Han. Featuring wide, flowing sleeves and a cross-collar closure, its name means "deeply wrapping the body." The garment carried deep Confucian symbolism — the round upper portion representing heaven and the square lower portion representing earth — and its exact cutting and sewing methods were recorded in the Book of Rites.

Pinned rectangular garment of ancient Greek women

The peplos was the fundamental garment of ancient Greek women, created from a single rectangle of cloth fastened at the shoulders with pins (fibulae) without any sewing. Its folded-over top portion, called the apoptygma, varied in length by era and region. The Doric peplos used heavy wool for weighty folds, while the Ionic version employed lighter linen for a flowing silhouette. This elegantly simple unsewn construction, secured only by pins and a waist belt, reflects Greek practical aesthetics and was widespread from the 6th to 4th century BC.

Draped symbol of Roman citizenship

The toga was the most iconic garment of ancient Rome — a single semicircular cloth roughly six meters long, draped around the body without any sewing. Wearing a toga was itself proof of Roman citizenship, forbidden to foreigners and slaves. Color strictly indicated rank: the white toga candida for political candidates, the purple-bordered toga praetexta for senators, and the full purple toga picta reserved for triumphal generals. Its elaborate draping required a slave's assistance, and the deliberate impracticality of keeping one arm wrapped symbolized the leisure of the citizen class.

India's unstitched drape of infinite variety

The sari is India's most iconic traditional garment — a single unstitched cloth of 5 to 9 meters draped around the body, with a history stretching back nearly 5,000 years to the Indus Valley civilization. Its most remarkable feature is the existence of over 100 distinct regional draping styles, from the universal Nivi style to Gujarati, Bengali, and Marathi variations. Fabric ranges from everyday cotton to the legendary silks of Varanasi and Kanchipuram, while colors carry deep cultural meaning: red for marriage and prosperity, white for mourning, and gold for celebration.

Buddhist monastic robe of patched cloth

The kāṣāya is the traditional robe of Buddhist monks, composed of rectangular pieces of cloth stitched together in a patched pattern. The form originates in the Buddha's instruction that disciples sew their robes from discarded rags, making the patchwork itself a visible symbol of poverty and renunciation. Originally dyed with earth, rust, or plant juices into ochre tones, the kāṣāya adopted regional colors as Buddhism spread — black or brown in Chinese Chan, gray in Korean Seon, vivid multicolor in Japanese schools, and elaborate gold-woven variants among Tibetan lamas. It can be worn with the right shoulder bared (ekāṃsikaṃ) or covering both shoulders. Three sizes — outer, middle, and inner — correspond to different occasions. In East Asian fantasy, the kāṣāya marks the enlightened monk, martial priest, or sage.

Jiangshi · The Chinese Hopping Corpse — A Stiff, Leaping Corpse-Spirit

The Jiangshi (Chinese jiangshi, 'stiff corpse') is the Chinese corpse-yokai of an unburied dead body grown rigid and reanimated. The figure is defined by post-mortem rigor that holds its arms outstretched, by the canonical hopping motion in which it moves with both feet together, by the Qing-dynasty Manchu official's robe (magua) and round cap, and by its qi-draining (xi jing) nature: it absorbs the life-energy of the living through its breath. The etymology is jiang ('stiff') plus shi ('corpse'), so 'stiff corpse'. The figure entered formal Chinese literature in the late eighteenth century through Yuan Mei's Zibuyu (1788) and Ji Yun's Yuewei caotang biji (1789-1798), the Qing-era biji notation collections. The iconographic root is the Hunan Xiangxi corpse-walking custom (ganshi), in which a Daoist sorcerer was said to lead the bodies of those who died abroad home through the night using talismans. Lau Koon-wai's 1985 Hong Kong film Mr. Vampire, starring Lam Ching-ying, decisively fixed the modern hopping-jiangshi iconography and launched the Hong Kong jiangshi-film boom of 1985-1992.

Kappa · The Japanese Water Yokai — A River Prankster With Power in a Head-Dish

The Kappa (Japanese Kappa, 'river child') is the water yokai that dwells in the rivers and ponds of Japan, the canonical iconographic figure of Japanese water-deity (suijin) belief, child-sized in build, with a turtle shell (kora), webbed hands and feet, and a water-holding plate (sara) on the crown of its head. The Sino-Japanese characters Kawa-warabe ('river child') correspond to the Japanese vernacular Kawako (river child), Kawataro (river boy), and many regional names. The iconographic origin is the fusion of Japanese indigenous water-deity belief with the drowning lore of riversides and ponds. The decisive textual source is the section in book 40 of the encyclopaedia Wakan Sansai Zue compiled in 1712 by Terajima Ryoan, which systematised the Kappa as the canonical figure with a beak, turtle shell on the back, and plate on the crown. The visual canon was established in the yokai catalogue Gazu Hyakki Yagyo (1776) of Toriyama Sekien (1712-1788). The decisive modern canon is Kunio Yanagita's (1875-1962) Tono Monogatari of June 1910 — seventeen Kappa folktales of the Tono region in Iwate Prefecture — which established the Japanese folkloristic Kappa canon, and Keiichi Hara's 2007 animated film Summer Days with Coo (Kappa no Ku to Natsuyasumi), released on 28 July 2007, settled the popular canon of twenty-first-century global Kappa iconography.

Mummy · The Bandaged Dead — A Cursed Corpse Guarding the Tomb

The Mummy (English mummy, from Persian mumiya 'bitumen') is the undead embalmed corpse, wrapped in linen bandages, that rises from the tomb to take vengeance and curse the living. Its iconographic prototype is the ancient Egyptian mummification practice and afterlife belief: the seventy-day funerary rite — extraction of the brain through the nostril, separation of the viscera into four canopic jars dedicated to the sons of Horus (Imsety, Hapy, Duamutef, Qebehsenuef), natron desiccation, linen wrapping with embedded Book of the Dead amulets — was canonised from the Old Kingdom (c. 3000 BC) and refined through the New Kingdom (1550-1295 BC). Herodotus described the procedure in detail in Histories Book II (c. 440 BC). The 1922 November discovery of the tomb of Tutankhamun (c. 1341-1323 BC) in the Valley of the Kings by the British archaeologist Howard Carter, and the April 1923 death of his patron Lord Carnarvon, globalised the 'Curse of the Pharaohs' legend. Karl Freund's Universal horror film The Mummy (1932), with Boris Karloff as Imhotep, fixed the cinematic canon of the vengeful resurrected mummy.

Ghoul · The Corpse-Eater — A Desert Monster That Digs Up and Devours the Dead

The Ghoul (English ghoul, from Arabic ghul) is the corpse-eating monster and shape-shifting cannibal of the desert and graveyard, originating in pre-Islamic Bedouin Arabian folklore of the Jahiliyyah (before the sixth century), transmitted through the One Thousand and One Nights (Alf Laylah wa-Laylah, compiled in the ninth century), and established in Western horror canon from the eighteenth century onwards. The etymology lies in Arabic ghul, from the verb ghala ('to seize, to snatch'). In Arabian folklore, the ghoul is a malevolent variety of jinn that haunts the desert to lure and devour travellers, possessing the power to transform into human or animal form (particularly the hyena) and disinterring corpses from graves. Antoine Galland's French translation of the Arabian Nights (1704-1717), William Beckford's Gothic novel Vathek (1786), and Lord Byron's poem The Giaour (1813) introduced the ghoul to Western literature, and H. P. Lovecraft's short story Pickman's Model (1927) and The Dream-Quest of Unknown Kadath (1927) established the modern horror canon of the ghoul as a foundational race of the Cthulhu Mythos.

Oni · The Japanese Demon — A Horned, Hulking Man-Eating Ogre

The Oni (Japanese oni) is the gigantic and ferocious demon of Japanese tradition, the canonical iconographic figure of Japanese yokai distinguished by red or blue skin, horns on its head, sharp tusks, a tiger-skin loincloth (torainu fundoshi), and a wielded iron club, the kanabo. The etymology combines the Chinese ideogram 'gui' (the soul of the dead) with the Japanese indigenous root 'on' ('to hide'), per the canonical hypothesis of the eighteenth-century Japanese dictionary Wakun no Shiori compiled by Tanigawa Kotosuga. The iconographic origin is a composite of (1) the Chinese 'gui' belief, (2) the hell-wardens of Indian Buddhism (the ox-headed and horse-headed naraka-pala), and (3) the indigenous Japanese mountain-spirit belief. The most decisive Japanese text is the depiction of mountain spirits in the eighth-century Kojiki (712) and Nihon Shoki (720), and the canonical heroic narrative is the Shuten-doji story in the eleventh- and twelfth-century Konjaku Monogatarishu — in which Minamoto no Yorimitsu (948-1021) leads the Four Heavenly Kings including Watanabe no Tsuna to slay the oni Shuten-doji of Mount Oe in Tanba Province and present his head to the imperial court. The 2016-2020 Japanese manga Demon Slayer (Kimetsu no Yaiba) by Koyoharu Gotouge established the twenty-first-century global canon of oni iconography.

Onryo · The Japanese Vengeful Ghost — A Cursing Specter Returned in Grudge

The Onryo (Japanese onryo, 'vengeful spirit') is the Japanese vengeful ghost born of injustice and deep resentment, dealing calamity to the living. The kanji combine on ('grudge, resentment') with ryo ('spirit'), giving 'spirit of grudge'. The canonical iconography is a white shinishozoku (burial robe), tangled long black hair, pale face, and resentful eyes. The defining trait that distinguishes the onryo from other East Asian ghosts is that the curse spreads not only to those who wronged the spirit but to unrelated bystanders. The iconographic origin lies in the goryo cult of the ninth-century Heian period, in which the politically defeated dead returned as vengeful spirits causing natural disasters and plagues; the canonical case is the deification of Sugawara no Michizane (845-903), who returned as an onryo and was placated by the establishment of the Tenmangu shrine system. Tsuruya Nanboku IV's kabuki play Tokaido Yotsuya Kaidan (1825), featuring the female onryo Oiwa, fixed the visual canon, and the modern J-horror canon of Suzuki Koji's novel Ring (1991), Nakata Hideo's film Ring (1998), and Shimizu Takashi's Ju-on (2002) globalised the figure.

Tsukumogami · The Tool Yokai — A Spirit Dwelling in a Hundred-Year-Old Object

The Tsukumogami (Japanese tsukumogami, 'tool kami') is the Japanese object-yokai born when a household tool has been in use for nearly ninety-nine years and acquires a soul. The etymology lies in Japanese tsukumo (ninety-nine), the indigenous animist belief from the Heian period (794-1185) that any tool surviving ninety-nine years gains consciousness and emotion. The canonical iconography is the Hyakki Yagyo (Night Parade of a Hundred Demons) procession of personified umbrellas, paper lanterns, straw sandals, kettles, lutes, mallets of fortune, and biwa lutes, which acquire eyes, arms, and legs to march at night. The Muromachi-period scroll Tsukumogami-ki (c. late fifteenth century) and the sixteenth-century Hyakki Yagyo Emaki scrolls fixed the visual canon, and Toriyama Sekien's Edo-period Gazu Hyakki Yagyo series (from 1776) systematised nearly one hundred tsukumogami types in an encyclopaedic catalogue. The motif of carelessly discarded tools harbouring resentment and avenging themselves on the living settled the figure as the iconographic condensation of the distinctively Japanese mottainai ethic of frugality and respect for objects.

Tengu · The Japanese Mountain Yokai — Master of Martial Arts and Punisher of Pride

The Tengu (Japanese tengu, 'celestial dog') is a yokai of Japan's deep mountains, depicted with the head of a crow or a red face with a long nose, with wings on its back. A master of swordsmanship, martial arts, and supernatural power, the tengu tests ascetics in the mountains or transmits secret techniques to the worthy. The etymology comes from the Han-period Chinese Tian-gou ('celestial dog') of the Shanhaijing, but the figure was decisively reshaped in Japan from the eighth century onward. The Nihon Shoki of 720 records the first Japanese reference, but the canonical iconography crystallised in the twelfth-century Konjaku Monogatari-shu as the avatar of a corrupt monk. Kamakura-era tales such as the Heike Monogatari fixed the tengu as a martial-arts master, with Sojobo of Mount Kurama said to have taught swordsmanship to Minamoto no Yoshitsune. The crow-headed Karasu-tengu represents the earlier iconography, while the red-faced, long-nosed Daitengu in yamabushi (mountain ascetic) garb crystallised in the Muromachi period. The tengu punishes the proud and teaches the humble.

Cheonyeo-gwisin · The Grudge-Bound Maiden Ghost — A Korean Spirit Wandering With Unresolved Han

The Cheonyeo-gwisin (Korean Cheonyeo-gwisin, 'maiden ghost') is the avenging spirit of a woman who has died unmarried, harbouring han (resentful sorrow), the canonical iconographic figure of Korean horror identified by a white mourning robe (sobok), long, untied black hair, and a pale bloodless face. Also called sonkaksi (the wife who has been lost), the term is composed of the Sino-Korean characters for cheonyeo (maiden) and gwisin (ghost). The iconographic origin lies in the combination of the Confucian conjugal worldview and Korean shamanism (musok) of the Joseon period (1392-1910): the belief that the wandering soul of an unmarried woman roams the nine springs (gucheon), and the doctrine of haewon (the resolution of grievance) by which the wandering spirit attains nirvana only when its han is resolved. The decisive literary canon is the late-Joseon classical Chinese novel The Story of Janghwa and Hongnyeon (Janghwa Hongnyeon-jeon) of the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries — in which the sisters Janghwa and Hongnyeon of Cheolsan in Pyeongan Province are falsely accused by their stepmother, die unjustly, become Cheonyeo-gwisin, and appeal to the new magistrate Jeong Dong-u, who resolves their grievance — establishing the decisive canon of Cheonyeo-gwisin iconography. The 1977 KBS television anthology series Legends of the Hometown (Jeonseol-ui Gohyang) established the canonical Korean horror television, and Park Ki-hyung's 1998 film Whispering Corridors (Yeogo Goedam) and Kim Jee-woon's 2003 film A Tale of Two Sisters (Janghwa, Hongnyeon, starring Im Soo-jung and Moon Geun-young) settled the twenty-first-century global canon of Korean horror Cheonyeo-gwisin iconography.

Yuki-onna · The Snow Woman — A Cold, Sorrowful Beauty Appearing in the Blizzard

The Yuki-onna (Japanese Yuki-onna, 'snow woman') is the pale female yokai who appears suddenly in the night blizzard, the canonical iconographic figure of the Japanese winter snow-mountain yokai who in white kimono, jet-black hair, and a bloodless face approaches the lost traveller and freezes him to death with her cold breath. The iconographic origin is the fusion of the lethal-cold (toshi) folklore of Japan's heavy-snowfall regions in Tohoku, Chubu, and Hokkaido with mountain-deity (yama-no-kami) belief. The earliest textual record is the Sogi Shokoku Monogatari, a travel account by the renga poet Sogi (1421-1502) of the late Muromachi period (estimated late fifteenth century), describing a tall white-clad woman encountered in the snow mountains of Echigo Province (now Niigata Prefecture). In the Edo period, the Yuki-onna was systematised as a canonical yokai in the yokai catalogue Gazu Hyakki Yagyo (1776) of Toriyama Sekien (1712-1788). The decisive canon is the short story Yuki-Onna in Kwaidan: Stories and Studies of Strange Things, the English-language short-story collection published in April 1904 by Lafcadio Hearn (1850-1904, Japanese name Koizumi Yakumo): the woodcutters Mosaku (the elder) and Minokichi of Musashi Province are trapped in a blizzard and rest in a hut, where the Yuki-onna kills Mosaku but spares the young Minokichi on his promise never to disclose the secret; years later Minokichi marries a woman named Oyuki, who turns out to be the same Yuki-onna, and she vanishes when he breaks the secret. This established the decisive canon of modern Yuki-onna iconography. Masaki Kobayashi's 1965 film Kwaidan, with its Yuki-onna episode, won the Special Jury Prize at the Cannes Film Festival and completed the global canon.

Wight · The Barrow Dead — A Cursed Corpse Guarding the Tomb's Treasure

The Wight (English Wight, the barrow-dwelling variant being the Barrow-wight) is the graveyard undead in which a corpse buried in a barrow or burial mound has risen by reason of obsession with treasure and curse, and is the canonical iconographic figure of the self-aware corpse-form undead, in contrast to the incorporeal wraith. The etymology lies in the Old English wiht ('creature, being'), and the general 'being' sense that appears in the eighth-century Old English epic Beowulf was later specified as the graveyard-undead meaning. The iconographic origin is the draugr ('walking corpse') and haugbui ('mound-dweller') of the thirteenth- and fourteenth-century Icelandic family sagas, and the decisive English-literary canon is the Barrow-wight that appears in J.R.R. Tolkien's The Fellowship of the Ring (Allen and Unwin, July 1954), Book One Chapter 8 'Fog on the Barrow-Downs', in which Frodo and the hobbits are captured by a Barrow-wight in the Barrow-downs east of the Old Forest and are to be buried with grave-goods but are rescued by Tom Bombadil's song. Gary Gygax's first edition AD&D Monster Manual of January 1977 added the wight as the undead canon of modern fantasy role-playing games, with the energy-draining ability by which the slain becomes a new wight.

自然祭司 · Druid — An ancient priest who has become one with nature

The druid is an ancient priest class becoming one with nature and wielding its power. The historical archetype is the scholarly class responsible for religion, law, and education in Celtic societies (Gaul, Britain, Ireland) from the 1st century BCE, recorded in detail in Caesar's Gallic Wars. They held ceremonies in oak groves, taught disciples orally over 20 years, divined the future, and mediated tribal disputes. In fantasy they become a class with animal shapeshifting, nature magic, healing, and elemental summoning — D&D's Druid class, Warcraft's Druids, and Tolkien's Radagast are prominent examples. Strong association with hermits living in forests and wilderness away from cities and civilization.

盧恩術師 · Runemaster — A mage who inscribes the laws of the world into ancient script

The runemaster inscribes magical energy onto weapons, armor, or environments using runic letters, creating permanent effects. Slower than traditional spellcasting but uniquely persistent — once carved, runes remain forever even after the caster's death. Norse Odin is the first runemaster, having hung from Yggdrasil (the world tree) for nine days to discover the secret of runes. Rune magic was historically practiced by Vikings and Germanic societies, with many runic inscriptions found on tombstones, swords, and amulets. Warcraft's Death Knight rune system and Diablo 2's Runeword system are prominent gaming implementations.

巫師 · Shaman — A spirit communicator who traverses between the spirit world and reality

The shaman is a religious intermediary who travels between spirit and physical worlds, communicating with spirits, ancestors, and gods. The name derives from the Tungus 'šamán' of Siberia, but anthropologically the role exists universally across all continents in primitive religions — Siberian, Mongolian, Native American, African tribal, Korean mudang — varying in form but identical in essence. They enter trance states (possession) during rituals to receive spirits for prophecy and healing. In fantasy they become a class using totems, rituals, and spirit summoning — Warcraft's Shaman class and D&D's Shaman are prominent examples. Korean mudang are the same lineage as religious specialists for gut rituals, divination, and healing.

巫女 · Shrine Maiden — The Sacred Woman Who Bridges God and Humanity

The shrine maiden (巫女, miko) is a sacred female position in Japanese Shinto shrines connecting gods and humans. The image of white tops (hakui) and crimson hakama (orange long skirts) is Shinto's most iconic, with miko handling shrine rites, cleaning, prayer, oracle transmission, and traditional dance (kagura). Originally in ancient times, miko were powerful religious intermediaries receiving divine oracles, but their role was reduced to auxiliary functions after the Meiji era. The most famous miko was Queen Himiko of Yamatai (3rd c.), a theocratic ruler holding both religious and political authority. Ame-no-Uzume of Shinto myth (the first heavenly miko) is the miko archetype. In Japanese manga and anime they often appear as black-haired pure beauties — Inuyasha's Kikyō and Demon Slayer's Aoi being examples.

占術師 · Oracle — The heavy eyes of one who sees the future

The oracle is a religious intermediary interpreting the will of gods, spirits, and fate through divination to convey to people. Originally 'oracle' meant a priest or priestess delivering divine messages (神託) at Greek temples — the most famous being the Pythia, priestess of Apollo at Delphi, who guided all major decisions of the Greek world for 1,000 years through Apollo's oracles. Eastern traditions feature Korean mudang, Japanese miko, and Chinese taoists in the same role, using diverse divination tools like oracle bones, I Ching, four pillars, and tarot. Not mere future prediction but interpreters between gods and humans, distinctively delivering oracles in ambiguous metaphors, poems, or dreams so listeners discover meaning themselves. Even Alexander the Great consulted oracles for conquest decisions.

祭司長 · High Priest — The highest religious authority who bridges gods and humanity

The high priest (祭司長) is the supreme religious leader of a religion, overseeing all rites and theology of temples and churches. Not merely a priest but a comprehensive leader controlling the religious community's politics, education, and finance, with power rivaling kings in ancient societies where religion and politics were inseparable. The most famous historical example is the High Priest of ancient Israel (Cohen Gadol of the Jerusalem Temple), the only person who could enter the Holy of Holies once a year before Yahweh. They existed in all ancient civilizations — High Priests of Amun in Egypt, Delphi in Greece, and Inca and Mayan priest-kings — and the prototype continues today through the Pope of Catholicism, Dalai Lama of Tibetan Buddhism, and Grand Shrine Priests of Shinto.

Ancient Egyptian ritual necklace with counterweight

The menat is an ancient Egyptian ritual necklace closely associated with the worship of the goddess Hathor, consisting of multiple strands of beads and a distinctive metal counterweight at the back of the neck. Priests and priestesses shook the menat during temple rituals, producing a rattling sound believed to please Hathor and bring fertility and renewal. Wall paintings frequently depict Hathor offering the menat to the pharaoh as a symbol of divine protection and life force. Crafted from faience, semi-precious stones, and glass beads, menats have been found in numerous tombs including Tutankhamun's burial chamber.

Ancient Greek band-style crown

A diadem is a metal-band headpiece used in ancient Greece and Rome — the original ancestor of the crown in its most classical form. Featuring a thin metal band adorned with gemstones or relief decoration, its elegant simplicity laid the foundation for all later crown designs. Alexander the Great famously adopted the Persian diadem after his conquests, symbolizing the fusion of East and West. Hellenistic kings wore white cloth diadems as royal insignia, and the form evolved into the imperial headband of late Roman emperors.

Damascus Steel · The Lost Steel That Forges Watered Blades

Damascus Steel (English Damascus Steel, Arabic fūlādh dimashqī, Sanskrit wootz) is the lost steel of legendary blades with watery damask patterns of the decisive canon — derived from the name of the Syrian Damascus (Damascus) and English 'damask (wave-pattern)' — the decisive canonical vocabulary — the decisive canon of the Indian wootz (wootz) steel ingot. Aliases — Damascus Steel (Damascus Steel), wootz (Sanskrit), fūlādh dimashqī (Arabic), crucible steel, watery steel, damask pattern — are the decisive canonical vocabulary. The decisive wootz canon is the decisive canon of the Indian wootz steel (wootz steel) of the 3rd century BCE. The decisive Damascus canon is the decisive canon of the forging in Damascus of Syria of the 3rd-17th centuries. The decisive Crusader canon is the decisive canon of the fear of Damascus steel of the Crusaders of the 11th-13th centuries.