History of Devil

A devil is the personification of evil as it is conceived in many and various cultures and religious traditions.[1] It is seen as the objectification of a hostile and destructive force.[2]

It is difficult to specify a particular definition of any complexity that will cover all of the traditions, beyond that it is a manifestation of evil. It is meaningful to consider the devil through the lens of each of the cultures and religions that have the devil as part of their mythos.[3]

The history of this concept intertwines with theology, mythology, psychiatry, art and literature, maintaining a validity, and developing independently within each of the traditions.[4] It occurs historically in many contexts and cultures, and is given many different names - Satan, Lucifer, Beelzebub, Mephistopheles - and attributes: It is portrayed as blue, black, or red; It is portrayed as having horns on its head, and without horns, and so on.[5][6] The idea of the devil has been taken seriously often, but not always, for example when devil figures are used in advertising and on candy wrappers.