ASMODEO. — V. Aesma Daeva.
ASMODEO. — Demon (Tob. 3:8) who caused the death of the seven husbands of Sara, daughter of Raguel, from the very first nights of marriage (ibid. 6:14–17). Following the directives of Raphael (v.), the young Tobias rendered him powerless (6:5 ff.), and Raphael banished him forever from Tobias, relegating him to the desert of upper Egypt (8:3).
The name (Heb. ’Asmēdaj) probably derives from the Hebrew root šanmad “to destroy,” and means “devastator.” Many reasonably associate him with the Iranian Aesma daeva (demon of wrath) who in the Avesta represents the perverse diabolical power. A. appears in Talmudic and Kabbalistic legends (’Asmēdaj, ’Asmēdōn, Šanmad), and later in “magical” formulas, as prince of demons.
BIBL.: J. H. Reusch, Der Dämon Asmōdāns im Buche Tobias, in Theol. Quartalschrift, 38 (1857), pp. 422–45.