Ahrimanes

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Ahrimanes

The name given to the chief of the Cacodaemons, or fallen angels, by the ancient Persians and Chaldeans. These Cacodaemons were believed to have been expelled from Heaven for their sins; they endeavored to settle down in various parts of the Earth, but were always rejected, and out of revenge they found their pleasure in injuring the inhabitants. Xenocritus thought that penance and self-mortification, though not agreeable to the gods, pacified the malice of the Cacodaemons. Ahrimanes and his followers finally took up their abode in all the space between the Earth and the fixed stars, and there established their domain, which is called Ahriman-abad. As Ahrimanes was the spirit of evil, his counterpart in Persian dualism was Ormuzd, the creative and benevolent being.

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