demons - gods without so much personality

In ancient Greece, gods were supernatural forces with personalities while demons were activities and events with much less emphasis on the personality. Sudden unexpected interventions were blamed on demons.

The seven deadly sins actually equate to different demons. In modern Christianity all these names refer to the same creature, but Jesus referred to Beelzebub as the chief of all demons, so at that time they were all supposed to be separate. In the middle ages a hierarchy of demons was developed and many demons were assigned specific sins:

• pride : Lucifer
• avarice : Mammon
• lechery : Asmodeus
• anger : Satan
• gluttony : Beelzebub
• envy : Leviathan (I hadn't realized this was a demon at all.)
• sloth : Belphegor

Islam has its own hierarchy of demons which shares much in common with Jewish and Christian demonology. In particular, the devil is Iblis which became leader of a host of jinn which are generally evil. He is also known as Shaytan (Satan).


Hinduism has devas (benevolent supernatural beings) and asuras (demons) which battle each other constantly. Nāga are serpent demons.