Devil

The Devil is the name given to a supernatural entity who, in most Western religions, is the central embodiment of evil. This entity is commonly referred to by a variety of other names, including Satan, Asmodai, Beelzebub, Lucifer and/or Mephistopheles. In classic demonology, however, each of these alternate names refers to a specific supernatural entity, and there is significant disagreement as to whether any of these specific entities is actually evil. The English word devil is derived from the Greek word diabolos ("to slander"), and the term devil can refer to a greater demon in the hierarchy of Hell. In other languages devil may be derived from the same Indo-European root word for deva, which roughly translates as "angel".

The devil in literature

Many writers have incorporated the character of Satan into their works. Among the most famous are:

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• Dante Alighieri's Inferno
• Christopher Marlowe's Doctor Faustus
• John Milton's Paradise Lost
• Johann Wolfgang Goethe's Faust
• Mikhail Bulgakov's The Master and Margarita.
• Steven Vincent Benét's The Devil and Daniel Webster
• Anne Rice's Memnoch the Devil
• Piers Anthony's Incarnations of Immortality
• Devils, an anthology edited by Isaac Asimov, Martin Greenburg, and Charles Waugh.