In the Hebrew Bible (Genesis 14) Arioch appears as the named king of Ellasar who, with Amraphel of Shinar, Chedorlaomer of Elam, and Tidal of Goiim, led a coalition that fought against the kings of the Jordan plain at the Battle of Siddim. The supplied sources present Arioch primarily as a human ruler in a patriarchal-era narrative; later literary and occult traditions reuse the name for infernal or chaotic figures. Scholarly sources summarized in the provided material offer multiple, competing identifications for the place name Ellasar (including Larsa/Eri-Aku, Cappadocia, Alashiya/Elishah, and an Ilānṣurā/Arriuk reading), but none are settled in the cited summaries.
The biblical text provides no physical description of Arioch, identifying him only by name and title (king of Ellasar). Later imaginative sources vary: Greyhawk lore (as summarized in provided material) describes a stylized diabolic humanoid form (purple- to wine-red skin, head resembling a lion-maned crocodile) specific to that fictional setting; Michael Moorcock's fiction and related commentary portray Arioch in some contexts as a monstrous or giant figure wielding a black runesword. These later depictions are literary inventions and are not present in the Genesis account.
In Genesis 14 Arioch's recorded activity is political and military—participation in a coalition war, plunder, and taking captives—without supernatural powers attributed in the biblical account. Later traditions recast the name as belonging to infernal or chaotic personae: summaries note appearances in grimoires (as a named demon), inclusion among fallen angels in Milton's Paradise Lost, depiction as a lord of Chaos in Michael Moorcock's fiction, and a duke of Hell in Greyhawk lore; the provided sources do not offer a consistent, cross-tradition catalog of supernatural abilities tied to the name.
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Shaitan
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Aristaeus
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Aristomachus
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Community Record
- [1]Arioch — Wikipedia. Wikipedia, 'Arioch' (summary of biblical appearance, later literary and grimoire uses)wiki
- [2]Genesis 14 (Archive transcription). Archive.org transcription of Genesis 14 (mentions 'Arioch king of Ellasar')literary
- [3]Arioch — International Standard Bible Encyclopedia (entry). International Standard Bible Encyclopedia entry summarizing biblical appearanceacademic
- [4]Arioch — Greyhawk Wiki (Great Library of Greyhawk). Greyhawk wiki entry describing the name's use as a duke of Hell and a fictional appearance (setting-specific depiction)wiki
- [5]What sword is fluctuating next to Arioch in the first volume of the Corum Chronicles? (Scifi.StackExchange). Discussion noting Michael Moorcock's use of Arioch as a lord of Chaos and literary depictions (Corum-related reference)other
- [6]Abarim Publications — 'Arioch' (name and etymology summary). Summary of Hebrew form (ʼAryōḵ) and discussion of proposed identifications cited in secondary summariesother
- [7]Genesis Apocryphon / Book of Jubilees (summarized variants). Summarized note (via Wikipedia) that Genesis Apocryphon calls Arioch 'king of Cappadocia' and Book of Jubilees uses a variant 'Sellasar'wiki