Oddity of the Week - An Infernal Diplomat
Created | Updated Nov 17, 2013
It's November, a good time for dodgy subjects. Let's do something infernal – and French!
An Infernal Diplomat
He's not very pretty, but then, we suspect the paparazzi haven't caught his good side. This fella is Belphegor, a prince of hell. Who says so? Well, some German named Binsfeld, in Binsfeld's Classification of Demons. Also in the source of our image, Jacques Auguste Simon Collin de Plancy's seminal work, Dictionnaire infernal. It was published in 1863, a good year for that sort of thing.
According to de Plancy, Belphegor was the Underworld's ambassador to France. Maybe he met him at the opera. If so, poor Ba'alpeor had come down in the world. He was originally a Mesopotamian god. Mesopotamian gods must be used to it by now. They get no respect from all these late-comers. Maybe they should have been classier, I don't know. Somehow, the fact that their favourite food was pancakes sort of takes the majesty out of them.
According to demonologists – is this a profession? Then it's right up there with that guy that makes up the horoscopes – Belphegor is the demon in charge of helping people get rich quick by means of 'ingenious inventions'. By which I think is meant, 'useless ones'. For this reason, I nominate Belphegor as the patron god of the computer app industry.
I've felt this was suitable, ever since I found out you could buy an app to keep up with the Duchess of Cambridge's wardrobe changes. Don't believe me? Look it up. I am absolutely sure this is down to Belphegor. He's probably behind the Segway, too.
Whatever you think of the ancient Mesopotamians, they built their gods to last. Look, they're managing to keep up with the times.
