Lucifer

The Fallen Angel

Lucifer, a Latin term, is commonly used in Christian theology as a name for the Devil. It originated in the King James Version of the Bible and the Vulgate, translating to "the morning star", "the planet Venus", or "light-bringing". The Latin name for Venus' morning appearances corresponds to the Greek names Phosphorus and Eosphorus. The entity's Latin name was later absorbed into Christianity as a name for the devil. Modern scholarship generally translates the term as "morning star" or "shining one" in the relevant Bible passage. The word "Lucifer" is also used in the Latin version of Exsultet, the Easter proclamation. In Greco-Roman civilization, Lucifer was often personified and considered a god, possibly a son of Aurora. A similar name was used by Roman poet Catullus for the planet in its evening aspect, "Noctifer".

## Background

### Roman Pantheon

Lucifer, the name of the planet Venus in Roman folklore, was often personified as a male figure bearing a torch. The Greek name for this planet was Phosphoros or Heosphoros, meaning "light-bringer" or "dawn-bringer". Lucifer was the fabled son of Aurora and Cephalus, and father of Ceyx. He was often presented in poetry as heralding the dawn. The Latin word corresponding to Greek Phosphoros is Lucifer, used in its astronomical sense both in prose and poetry. Lucifer's mother Aurora corresponds to goddesses in other cultures, such as the Vedic goddess Ushas, the Lithuanian goddess Aušrinė, and the Greek goddess Eos. These goddesses are considered derivatives of the Proto-Indo-European stem \*h₂ewsṓs, meaning "dawn". Scholars have reconstruct a Proto-Indo-European dawn goddess. Pseudo-Hyginus, a 2nd-century Roman mythographer, and Ovid, a 1st-century Latin poet, describe Lucifer as ordering the heavens.

### Sumerian Pantheon

The concept of a heavenly being striving for the highest seat of heaven only to be cast down to the underworld has its roots in the motions of the planet Venus, also known as the morning star. The Sumerian goddess Inanna, associated with Venus, has her actions in several myths, including Inanna and Shukaletuda and Inanna's Descent into the Underworld. A similar theme is present in the Babylonian myth of Etana. In ancient Canaanite religion, the morning star is personified as the god Attar, who attempted to occupy the throne of Ba'al but was unable to do so. Hermann Gunkel's reconstruction of the myth tells of a mighty warrior called Hêlal, whose ambition was to ascend higher than all stellar divinities but had to descend to the depths. However, the Eerdmans Commentary on the Bible argues that no evidence of any Canaanite myth or imagery of a god being forcibly thrown from heaven has been found. The closest parallels with Isaiah's description of the king of Babylon as a fallen morning star cast down from heaven are found in traditional ideas of the Jewish people, echoed in the Biblical account of the fall of Adam and Eve and the picture in Psalm 82 of the "gods" and "sons of the Most High" destined to die and fall. The Greek myth of Phaethon, a personification of the planet Jupiter, follows a similar pattern.

### Christianity

#### In the Bible

In the Book of Isaiah, chapter 14, the king of Babylon is condemned in a prophetic vision by the prophet Isaiah. He is called הֵילֵל בֶּן-שָׁחַר (Helel ben Shachar, Hebrew for "shining one, son of the morning"), who is addressed as הילל בן שחר (Hêlêl ben Šāḥar). The Hebrew word is usually interpreted as "shining one, light-bearer," and the translation given in the King James text is the Latin name for the planet Venus, "Lucifer." However, the translation of הֵילֵל as "Lucifer" has been abandoned in modern English translations of Isaiah 14:12. Present-day translations render הֵילֵל as "morning star", "daystar", "Day Star", "shining one", or "shining star".

The passage begins with the statement: "On the day the Lord gives you relief from your suffering and turmoil and from the harsh labor forced on you, you will take up this taunt against the king of Babylon: How the oppressor has come to an end! How his fury has ended!" After describing the death of the king, the taunt continues. A wide range of identifications have been proposed for the unnamed "king of Babylon," including a Babylonian ruler of the prophet Isaiah's own time, Nebuchadnezzar II, Nabonidus, and the Assyrian kings Tiglath-Pileser, Sargon II, and Sennacherib.

Isaiah 14:12 became a source for the popular conception of the fallen angel motif, but Rabbinical Judaism has rejected any belief in rebel or fallen angels. An association of Isaiah 14:12–18 with a personification of evil, called the devil, developed outside of mainstream Rabbinic Judaism in pseudepigrapha and later in Christian writings, particularly with the apocalypses.

### As the Devil

The metaphor of the morning star in Isaiah 14:12, applied to a Babylonian king, led to the use of the Latin word for "morning star" as the devil's name before his fall from grace. Lucifer, a major sin, became the devil's template, and early medieval Christianity distinguished between Lucifer and Satan.

#### Interpretations

The Hebrew word "hêlêl" is derived from the verb "yalal" meaning to lament, and was later translated as Lucifer by Christian church fathers. The connection between Lucifer and the Devil was based on Jesus' statement in the Gospel of Luke, "I saw Satan fall from heaven like lightning." Some Christian writers have applied the name "Lucifer" and the motif of a heavenly being cast down to the earth to the devil. Augustine of Hippo, a Latin writer, believed that the rebellion of the devil was the first and final cause of evil, rejecting earlier teachings about Satan's fall and the idea that envy could have been the first sin. He argued that evil came first into existence by the free will of Lucifer, and that anyone who falls away from God is within the body of Lucifer and is a devil.

The King James Only movement and others argue that Isaiah 14:12 refers to the devil, with Origen and Tertullian and Augustine of Hippo being key figures. The 1409 Lollard manuscript associated Lucifer with pride, while Protestant theologian John Calvin and Martin Luther rejected the connection. Counter-Reformation writers like Albertanus of Brescia and Peter Binsfield classified the seven deadly sins to a specific Biblical demon.

#### Gnosticism

Gnostic sects identify Lucifer with the Old Testament creator deity, as he fell from heaven to establish his kingdom. Jesus descended to free souls, but the cross was denounced as a symbol of Lucifer and his attempt to kill Jesus.

#### Letter Day Saint Movement

The Latter Day Saint movement views Lucifer as the pre-mortal devil, rebelling against God's plan and being cast out. After becoming Satan, he seeks to destroy human souls. Isaiah 14:12 refers to both the king and the devil.

## Gallery

Lucifer (the morning star) represented as a winged child pouring light from a jar.Planet Venus in alignment with Mercury (above) and the Moon (below)Illustration of Lucifer in the first fully illustrated print edition of Dante Alighieri's Divine Comedy. Woodcut for Inferno, canto 33. Pietro di Piasi, Venice, 1491.Gustave Doré, illustration to Paradise Lost, book IX, 179–187: "he [Satan] held on / His midnight search, where soonest he might finde / The Serpent: him fast sleeping soon he found"J. Mehoffer, fallen Lucifer and the hound of hellLucifer, by Alessandro Vellutello (1534), for Dante's Inferno, canto 34Lucifer, by William Blake, for Dante's Inferno, canto 34Satan/Lucifer arousing rebel angels in Milton's Paradise Lost, by William BlakeCover of 1887 edition of Mario Rapisardi's poem LuciferoLucifer before the Lord, by Mihály Zichy (19th century)Mayor Hall and Lucifer, by an unknown artist (1870)Gustave Doré's illustration for Milton's Paradise Lost, III, 739–742: Satan on his way to bring about the fall of manGustave Doré's illustration for Milton's Paradise Lost, V, 1006–1015: Satan yielding before Gabriel