ASMODEUS  , or AsImIEDAI, an evil demon who appears in later Jewish tradition as "

king of demons." He is sometimes identified with Beelzebub or Apollyon (Rev. ix . 11) . In the Talmud he plays a great part in the legends concerning Solomon . In the apocryphal book of Tobit (iii . 8)occurs the well-known story of his love for Sara, the beautiful daughter of Raguel, whose seven husbands were slain in succession by him on their respective bridal nights . At last Tobias, by burning the heart and liver of a fish, drove off the demon, who fled to Egypt . From the part played by Asmodeus in this story, he has been often familiarly called the genius of matrimonial unhappiness or jealousy, and as such may be compared with Lilith . Le Sage makes him the principal character in his novel Le Diable boiteux . Both the word and the conception seem to have been derived originally from the Persian . The name has been taken to mean "covetous." It is in any case no doubt identical with the demon Aeshma of the Zend-Avesta and the Pahlavi texts . But the meaning is not certain . It is generally agreed that the second part of the name Asmodeus is the same as the Zend daewa, dew, " demon." The first part may be equivalent to Aeshma, the impersonation of anger .

But W . Baudissin (

Herzog-Hauck, Realencyklopadie) prefers to derive it from ish, to drive, set in motion; whence ish-min, driving, impetuous . The legend of Asmodeus is given fully in the Jewish Encyclopaedia,s.v . See also the articles in the Encyclopaedia Biblica,Hastings' Dictionary of the Bible, and Herzog-Hauck, Realencyklopadie .