The history of the devil – Gerald Messadie – Newleaf – 1996 – Dura

**The history of the devil**: Exploring the personification of evil, through the ages and across cultures, a French historian and critic shows that our image of Satan - the antithesis of God and good - was a concept unknown to the Greeks, Romans, Egyptians, Hindus and Chinese. The Devil as we know him was probably invented in Persia six centuries before Christ, by Zoroastrian high priests eager to demonize their adversaries and aid their own political machinations. The image of evil has been a useful tool of political power ever since, from the proponents of the Spanish Inquisition to the Cold Warriors, fundamentalists and proponents of "ethnic cleansing" of our own time. Gerald Messadie's historical references and broad cultural analysis aim to show that it is precisely a belief in the Devil that lies at the root of contemporary religious fanaticism.

Contents:
Introduction

1.-The Ambiguous Demons of Oceania

2.-India: Spared from Evil

3.-China and Japan: Exorcism through Writing

4.-Zoroaster, the First Ayatollahs, and the True Birth of the Devil

5.-Mesopotamia: The Appearance of Sin

6.-The Celts: Thirty-five Centuries without the Devil

7.-Greece: The Devil Driven Out by Democracy
8.-Rome: The Devil Banned

9.-Egypt: Unthinkable Damnation
10.-Africa: The Cradle of Religious Ecology.