Inferno in colours: Moloch the demon, from Collin de Plancy's Dictionnaire Infernal

From an original 1863 Louis le Breton's illustration 'Moloch was the god of the Ammonites, portrayed as a bronze statue with a calf’s head adorned with a royal crown and seated on a throne. His arms were extended to receive the child victims sacrificed to him.' The name Moloch results from a dysphemic vocalisation in the Second Temple period of a theonym based on the root mlk, "king". There are a number of Canaanite gods with names based on this root, which became summarily associated with Moloch, including biblical Malkam (מַלְכָּם‎) "Great King" (KJV Milcom), which appears to refer to a god of the Ammonites, as well as Tyrian Melqart and others. Rabbinical tradition depicted Moloch as a...View all