ASMODEO. – Demon (Tob. 3:8) who caused the death of Sara’s seven husbands, the daughter of Raguele, from the very first nights of marriage (ibid. 6:14–17). RAFFAELE, SANTO (v.), the young Tobia rendered him powerless (6:5 ff.), and Raffaele drove him away from Tobia forever, confining him to the desert of Upper Egypt (8:3).
The name (Hebr. 'Abmedaj) probably derives from the Hebrew root tāmad, “to destroy,” and means “devastator.” Motti reasonably associate it with the Iranian Aelma daeva (demon of wrath), which in the Avesta represents the perverse diabolical power. A. appears in Talmudic and cabbalistic legends ('Abmedaj, 'Abmedah, Samaj), and later in “magical” formulas, as prince of the demons.
BIBL.: J. H. Reusch, Der Dämon Amandhus im Buche Tobias, in Theol. Quartalschrift, 38 (1857), pp. 422–45.