ABADDON. - Hebrew term (perdition, from abhad "to perish"), which occurs in the wisdom literature of the Old Testament (6 times) and in Rev. 9:11.
The primitive general sense (preserved in Job 31:12) is usually replaced by the metonymic meaning "dwelling of the dead, sheol": Job 26:6 and Prov. 15:11; 27:20 (parallel with sheol); Ps. 88:11 (with "grave"). A. 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 era it would designate the lowest place in Gehenna (Midrash Tehillim 97:2; Qoheleth Rabbah 5:9). In Job 28:22 the term (joined with "death") is personified (like "Cyclos" in Dan. 4:23 and "Hades" in Rev. 6:8; 20:14). The Septuagint always translates it ἀπώλεια (except 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 hell ("angel of the abyss") at the head of the demons that stream out of the pit, symbolized in monstrous locusts resembling fierce centaur-scorpions. It is translated Ἀπολύων ("destroyer"; Vulgate: exterminans), perhaps with a sarcastic allusion to Apollo (Ἀπόλλων). In the Talmud (Shabbat, 55ᵃ) A. is set over (with death, cf. Rev. 20:14) the six "angels of destruction." It seems that A. 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 in Wis. 18:25 (ὁ Ὀλοθρεύων; cf. I Cor. 10:10).
Asmodeus (v.) "destroyer," Heb. Almedai (from famad "to destroy"), who in Talmudic-cabbalistic tradition is the prince of demons, is equivalent to A. In the Apocalypse A. is the prince of the death-dealing powers, implicitly opposed to the "Savior."
In Judeo-Christian legends A. figures as a devil (Fr. Barret, The Magus, London 1802) or as an angel (Abaddona, in Klopstock's Messiah).