What (who) is devil - definition
![Statue of the devil in the [[Žmuidzinavičius Museum]] or Devil's Museum in Kaunas, Lithuania](https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Special:FilePath/022 devil representation.JPG?width=200 "Statue of the devil in the [[Žmuidzinavičius Museum]] or Devil's Museum in Kaunas, Lithuania")
![[[Iblis]] (top right on the picture) refuses to prostrate before the newly created [[Adam]] from a [[Persian miniature]].](https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Special:FilePath/Adam honored.jpg?width=200 "[[Iblis]] (top right on the picture) refuses to prostrate before the newly created [[Adam]] from a [[Persian miniature]].")
![National Museum]] in [[Warsaw]].](https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Special:FilePath/Backer Judgment (detail).JPG?width=200 "National Museum]] in [[Warsaw]].")
![A fresco detail from the [[Rila Monastery]], in which demons are depicted as having grotesque faces and bodies](https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Special:FilePath/Devils-from-Rila-monastery.jpg?width=200 "A fresco detail from the [[Rila Monastery]], in which demons are depicted as having grotesque faces and bodies")
![[[Satan]] (the dragon; on the left) gives to the beast of the sea (on the right) power represented by a [[sceptre]] in a detail of panel III.40 of the medieval French [[Apocalypse Tapestry]], produced between 1377 and 1382.](https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Special:FilePath/La tenture de lApocalypse (Angers) (2).jpg?width=200 "[[Satan]] (the dragon; on the left) gives to the beast of the sea (on the right) power represented by a [[sceptre]] in a detail of panel III.40 of the medieval French [[Apocalypse Tapestry]], produced between 1377 and 1382.")
![A lion-faced deity found on a Gnostic gem in [[Bernard de Montfaucon]]'s ''L'antiquité expliquée et représentée en figures'' may be a depiction of the Demiurge.](https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Special:FilePath/Lion-faced deity.jpg?width=200 "A lion-faced deity found on a Gnostic gem in [[Bernard de Montfaucon]]'s ''L'antiquité expliquée et représentée en figures'' may be a depiction of the Demiurge.")
![Ahriman Div being slain during a scene from the [[Shahnameh]]](https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Special:FilePath/Shah Namah, the Persian Epic of the Kings Wellcome L0035183.jpg?width=200 "Ahriman Div being slain during a scene from the [[Shahnameh]]")
Wikipedia
A devil is the personification of evil as it is conceived in various cultures and religious traditions. It is seen as the objectification of a hostile and destructive force. Jeffrey Burton Russell states that the different conceptions of the devil can be summed up as 1) a principle of evil independent from God, 2) an aspect of God, 3) a created being turning evil (a fallen angel), and 4) a symbol of human evil.: 23
Each tradition, culture, and religion with a devil in its mythos offers a different lens on manifestations of evil. The history of these perspectives intertwines with theology, mythology, psychiatry, art, and literature developing independently within each of the traditions. It occurs historically in many contexts and cultures, and is given many different names—Satan, Lucifer, Beelzebub, Mephistopheles, Iblis—and attributes: it is portrayed as blue, black, or red; it is portrayed as having horns on its head, and without horns, and so on. While depictions of the devil are usually taken seriously, there are times when it is treated less seriously; when, for example, devil figures are used in advertising and on candy wrappers.
