ABADDON. — Hebrew term (*perdition*, from *'abhad* “to perish”), which occurs in the sapiential literature of the Old Testament (6 times) and in Rev 9:11.
To the primitive general sense (preserved in Job 31:12) there usually succeeds the metonymic meaning “abode of the dead, *sheol*”: Job 26:6 and Prov 15:11; 27:20 (parallel with *sheol*); Ps 88:11 (with “sepulchre”). Abaddon in the sense of *sheol* (hell) remained common: cf. *Ethiopic Enoch* 10:18, 90; *Psalms of Solomon* 14; *Ascension of Isaiah* 10; *Apocalypse of Abraham* 21; etc. In the rabbinic period it designated the lowest place in *Gehenna* (*Midrash Tehillim* 97:2; *Qoheleth Rabbah* 5:9). In Job 28:22 the term (joined with “death”) is personified (as “Heaven” in Dan 4:23 and “Hades” in Rev 6:8; 20:14). The Septuagint always renders it *ἀπὸ* λεῖα (except in Job 31:12 where they read a text different from the Masoretic).
In Rev 9:11 it is the proper name of the king of the abyss (“angel of the abyss”) at the head of the demons pouring forth from the pit, symbolised in monstrous locusts like fierce centaur-scorpions. It is translated *Ἀπὸ* λύων (“destroyer”; Vulgate: *exterminans*), perhaps with a sarcastic allusion to Apollo (*Ἀπὸ* λύων). In the Talmud (*Shabbat* 55a) Abaddon is set over (with Death, cf. Rev 20:14) the six “angels of destruction.” It seems that Abaddon is identified with the fallen star of Rev 9:1, perhaps also with the beast from the abyss (Rev 11:7), with the dragon (Rev 12:3-4) and with Satan (Rev 20:7). A similar personification is found in Wis 18:25 (ὁ Ὀλόπερων; cf. 1 Cor 10:10).
Asmodeus (q.v.) “destroyer,” Heb. *Asmedai* (from *samad* “to destroy”), who in the Talmudic-Kabbalistic tradition is the prince of demons, is equivalent to Abaddon. In the *Apocalypse* he is contrasted with the “Saviour.”
In Jewish-Christian legends Abaddon appears as a devil (Fr. Barret, *The Magus*, London 1801) or as an angel (*Abaddona*, in Klopstock’s *Messias*).