Information AboutMammon |
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ETYMOLOGY Mammon is a word of Aramaic origin, means "riches", but has an unclear Etymology ; scholars have suggested connections with a word meaning "entrusted", or with the Hebrew word "matmon", meaning "treasure". It is also used in Hebrew as a word for "money" - ממון. The uses "richessis". Other scholars derive Mammon from Phoenician "mommon", benefit. The word is used in contemporary language with the same meaning in at least Finnish (''mammona''), Danish (''mammon''), and Polish (''mamona''). This is extremely likely to be a result of Biblical influence. PERSONIFICATIONS 's ''Dictionnaire Infernal'']] In the Bible, mammon is personified in , and , the latter verse repeating Luke 16:13. In some translations, and also personifies mammon; but in others, it is translated as 'dishonest wealth' or equivalent. In some spanish versions, it is said as "Mamón", but in others, as "Dinero". Early mentions of mammon appear to stem from the personification in the Gospels , e.g. '' Didascalia '', "Do solo Mammona cogitant, quorum Deus est sacculus"; and Saint Augustine , "Lucrum Punice Mammon dicitur" (Serm. on Mt., ii). Gregory Of Nyssa also asserted that Mammon was another name for Beelzebub . During the Middle Age s, Mammon was commonly personified as the demon of avarice, richness and injustice. Thus Peter Lombard (II, dist. 6) says, "Riches are called by the name of a devil, namely Mammon, for Mammon is the name of a devil, by which name riches are called according to the Syrian tongue." Piers Plowman also regards Mammon as a deity. Nicholas De Lyra (commenting on the passage in Luke) says: "Mammon est nomen daemonis" (Mammon is the name of a demon). No trace, however, of any Syriac god of such a name exists, and the common literary identification of the name with a god of covetousness or avarice likely stems from Spenser 's '' The Faerie Queene '', where Mammon oversees a cave of worldly wealth. Milton 's '' Paradise Lost '' describes a fallen angel who values earthly treasure over all other things. Later Occult ist writings such as De Plancy 's '' Dictionnaire Infernal '' describe Mammon as Hell's ambassador to England . Mammon is somewhat similar to the Greek god Plutus , and the Roman Dis Pater , in his description, and it is likely that he was at some point based on them; especially since Plutus appears in The Divine Comedy as a wolf-like demon of wealth, wolves being associated with ''greed'' in the Middle Ages. Thomas Aquinas metaphorically described the sin of Avarice as "Mammon being carried up from Hell by a wolf, coming to inflame the human heart with Greed". APPEARANCES IN POPULAR CULTURE
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