Dictionary of Deities and Demons in the Bible Online

I. Name The name Hēra (the form of her name in Mycenaean Greek is Era), perhaps a feminine form of the Greek noun hērōs (‘hero’, meaning ‘master’), or hōra (‘season’, see Pausanias 2.13.3), was genealogically linked with other Greek deities as the daughter of Kronos and Rhea (Hesiod, Th. 454), and sister of Zeus. While the name Hera itself does not occur in either the Bible or the Apocrypha, nevertheless the theophoric name Herakles (Heracles) does occur in 2 Macc. 2.19–20. This name is composed of two elements, ‘Hera’ and ‘-kles’. Though the -a-is problematic, since t…

I. Name Heracles was undoubtedly the most popular mythical hero of ancient Greek mythology; he was also one of the most complex. Etymologically the name derives from Ἥρα (Hera) and κλέος (fame). Though he is explicitly mentioned only in 2 Macc. 2.19–20, there is evidence to suggest that Heracles traditions were incorporated into the cycle of Samson legends found in the Old Testament and in certain aspects of the depiction of Jesus in the Christology of Hebrews. II. Identity Ancient mythographers divided the exploits of Heracles into three groups: (1) The Twelve Labours ( athloi or erga)…

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I. Name Hermes was one of the most popular and frequently represented, if most complex, of the Greek Olympian deities. Identified by the Romans with Mercury, he was associated from the archaic through the Hellenistic periods with cunning and theft, music and eloquence, travel and commerce, and (especially as the Hellenistic Hermes Trismegistus) magic, alchemy and astrology. In the Bible, Hermes occurs as a divine name in Acts 14.12, and as the name of an otherwise unknown Roman Christian greeted by Paul in Rom. 16.14. II. Identity The name, Hermes, is attested from three palace ar…

I. Name Mount Hermon is mentioned several times in the Hebrew Bible (e.g. Deut. 3.8; Josh. 11.3, Josh. 17). The prominent mountain at the west-end of Lebanon and Anti-Lebanon rises to a height of 2.814 m above sea-level. Its modern name is Jebel eš-Šeḫ “Mountain of the Hoar” or Jebel et-talǧ “Mountain of Snow”, both designations pointing to the long-lasting snow-cap on its summit. The etymology of Hermon ( Heb. ḥermōn) is disputed: a) The root ḥrm I Niph. means “to be split”, cf. Ar. ḥarama “perforate”. This may describe the situation of the mountain massif separated fro…

I. Name Heros (ἥρως) is a word of uncertain etymology, perhaps related to the name Hera (Augustine, CD 10, 2; Adams 1987). It has two main semantic fields: in Greek myth and epos, a heros is a human warrior of the heroic age; in religion, he is a (real or fictitious) dead person who remained powerful also in death, and who therefore received cult. Religious theorists defined heroes as intermediate beings between man and God (ἡμίθεοι, half-gods). In the Bible Heros occurs only in the toponym ‘City of the Heroes’, which is the LXX rendering for Goshen in Gen. 46.28–29. II. Identity Greek relig…