Asmodae'us (AofioSaToe'), a daemon or evil spirit mentioned in the apocryphal book of Tobit (iii, 8) as having become enamored of Sara, the daughter of Kagucl, and killed the seven husbands whom she had
ASMONJEAN 4
married (Tob. vi, 14), but as being put to flight by the charm used by Tobias on his marriage with her (Tub. viii, 2, 3). The rabbins have a number of absurd traditions respecting Asmodaeus ("H-rrX or ^S^a^K, Talm. Getten, lxviii, 1) as a libidinous daemon (comp. Gen. vi, 1), and indeed the Talmudists represent him as the prince of devils, even Satan himself (see Eisen- menger, Enid. Jul nth. ii, 410; Lightfoot, Ilor. Ilebr. ad Luc. xi, 15). Hence Beelzebub has been supposed tn refer to the same daemon. But a similar title they also give to " the angel of death," as the destroyer of all mankind ; hence some derive the name Asmodaeus from the Hebrew Ted, shamad' ', to exterminate, which identifies it also with Abaddon (q. v.), the same as Apollyon (Rev. ix, 11, where he is called "a king, the angel of the bottomless pit"), and 6 '0\o9pevu)i>, Wisd. xviii, 25, where he is represented as the "evil angel" (Psa. lxxviii, 40) of the plague (Schleusner's Thesaur. s. v.), the angel of death (see Ilgen, zu Tob. p. 42). Thus the story in Tobit means no more than that the seven husbands died successively on their marriage with Sara. (For other interpretations, see Fritzsche, Comment, p. 38.) Others, however (Ge- senius, Alg. Lit. Zeit. 1815, No. 123 ; De Wette, Bibl. Theol. p. 146 ; Reland, Ant. Sacr. iv, 6), rather refer it to the Persic word azmadan, to tempt (Castelli Lex. Pers. col. 24 sq.). In the book of Tobit, this evil spirit is represented as causing, through jealousy, the death of Sara's seven husbands in succession on the bridal night ; gaining the power to do so (as is hinted) through their incontinence. Tobias, instructed by Raphael, burns on "the ashes of perfume" the heart and liver of the fish which he caught in the Tigris; "the which smell when the evil spirit had smelled, he fled into the utmost parts of E-jypt, and the angel bound him" (Tob. viii, 3). It is obviously a vain en- deavor to attempt to rationalize this story, since it is throughout founded on Jewish daemonology, and " the loves of the angels," a strange fancy derived from Gen. vi, 2. Those, however, who attempt this task make Asmodaeus the daemon of impurity, and suppose merely that the fumes deadened the passions of Tobias and bis wife. The rabbins (among other odd fables) make this daemon the offspring of the incest of Tubal- cain with his sister Noema, and say (in allusion to Solomon's many wives) that Asmodaeus once drove him from his kingdom, but, being dispossessed, was forced to serve in building the Temple, which he did noiselessly, by means of a mysterious stone Shamir (Calmet, s. v. and Fragments, p. 271, where there is a great deal of fanciful and groundless speculation). See generally Wichmann, De Asmodmo spiritu ma- ligno avSpuiiroKTOvtft (Lub. lOOli) ; Hosum, Di Aschmo- dcEo dcemonio maligna (Hafn. 1709); Neubauer, De an- gelo mortis cr mente Ebr. et Muhzmmedanorum (Hal. 17.12); Hezel, Schrijftforscher (Giess. 1792), ii, 1 sq. ; Calmet's Dissertation on the dcemon Asmodmis (trans- lated in Arnald's Commentary on the Apocrypha) ; Ode, De Angelis, p. Gil Bq. See Demon.
Asmonaean (^AaafiuvaJoc, 'Avcrapiovaloc, Joseph. Ant. xii, G, 1 sq. ; in Joseph. Gorionid. plur. D^Waft Chashmonim' ; more fully "Wrrrn r^n, Jonathan's Targ. on 1 Sam. ii, 4; comp. Arab, chaskim, noble,- C^p'rn, Psa. lxviii, 82; fat ones, i. e. opulent), the proper designation of the family of the priest Mattathi- as, wlio-' Bona became better known by the surname of tli ■ Maccabees. (For the linear and history of the Asmonseans in full, see the Penny Cyclopaedia, s. v.") See Jdda8 Macoab*08. With Mattathias(B.C. 167) began tli • exploits of the Asroonseans in delivering the Jewish people from the oppressive yoke of the Syrian Seleucidae, which was accomplished by Jonathan, son of Matt.it bias already a high-priest in rank — a dignity that was now attached t<> thai of Syrian "meridareh." Simon, another sou of Mattathiua, became himself he-
2 ASOR
reditary prince of the Jews. His grandson Aristobu- lus assumed the diadem, and the royal dynasty of the Asmonaeans continued on the Jewish throne till the in- terference of Pompey in Jewish affairs. Aristobulus II, the third king of the Asmonaean line, was dethroned by the Romans, and upon his sons devolved the peril- ous endeavor of regaining their ancestral crown, but without permanence. They both paid therefor the pen- alty of their lives, the last being Antigonus (whom An- tony caused to be beheaded at Antioch, Joseph. Ant. xv, 1, 2), with whom the Asmonaean dynasty expired, after a duration of 126 years, in the consulship of M. Vips. Agrippa and Canin. Gallus, i. e. B.C. 37 (see Joseph. Ant. xiv, 16, 4). The two surviving members of the family, Aristobulus and Mariamne, grandchil- dren of Aristobulus II, appear, it is true, at first to have striven to maintain a position in life under the Herodian sway suitable to their rank; but they soon fell under the suspicion of King Herod, and, with the assassination of Mariamne, the family of the Asmonae- ans likewise became extinct (apparently after Herod's return from Antioch, where he had met Octavianus on his return from Egypt, B.C. 29 ; Joseph. Ant. xv, 7, 4). The exploits of the Maccabees under Simon are related in the books of the Apocrypha that bear their name (1 and 2 Mace, among the Jews, n^XSTa'i'n "HB&, books of the Chashmonceans ; see Eichhorn, Einl. in die Apokr. Schr. A. T. p. 208 sq. ; Jahn, II, iv, 949 sq. ; Bertholdt, iii, 1036) ; but the complete history of the Asmonaeans is given by Josephus (Ant. xii, 6 to xiv, 16), who was himself a descendant of their lineage (Ant. xvi, 7, 1). See Maccabee.