Botis

Botis is a product of the European grimoire corpus rather than a figure with an independent mythic origin in folk tradition. He is attested in multiple ritual manuals and demonological catalogues compiled in Renaissance and early modern Europe: most prominently the Ars Goetia section of the Lesser Key of Solomon and Johann Weyer’s Pseudomonarchia Daemonum, where he is catalogued with an office, functions, and a commanded retinue. Variant manuscript traditions preserve slightly different profiles (for example the Munich Manual treats him as Otius). The provided sources do not supply an etymology or a pre-grimoire origin narrative; instead Botis functions within the magico-theological worldview of the grimoires as an office-holding spirit that can be summoned and commanded by ritual technique.

Descriptions vary across the grimoire sources. In the Ars Goetia and Pseudomonarchia Daemonum summaries Botis is said to appear initially as a viper and then to assume a human form described in those accounts as sword-toting, fanged, and horned. By contrast, the Munich Manual (where he appears as Otius) is reported to give him a humanoid appearance from the outset. The Grand Grimoire does not detail his visual form but places him in a chain of command under Agaliarept. These variant attestations indicate a transformative or polymorphic iconography in the manuscript tradition rather than a single fixed depiction.

Across the cited grimoire summaries Botis is attributed with broad divinatory knowledge—he answers questions and "discusses matters past, present, and future"—and with social-magical functions, notably reconciling friends and foes and bringing favour from allies and enemies. He is also assigned command of subordinate spirits: the Ars Goetia / Pseudomonarchia entries credit him with ruling 60 legions of demons, while the Munich Manual attributes 36 legions; the Grand Grimoire lists him as subordinate to Agaliarept. Additional cosmogonic detail in some secondary sources (via Rudd) pairs him with an opposing Shem HaMephorash angel, Loviah, reflecting the grimoires’ dualistic mapping of spirit offices onto angelic counterparts. The supplied materials do not include ritual formulas, methods of binding, or operational limits beyond these catalogued functions.