Editing Devil (section)

=== Spread through Europe in late Antiquity and early Medieval Age ===
[[File:Nuremberg chronicles - Devil and Woman on Horseback (CLXXXIXv).jpg|thumb|right|The Devil on horseback. ''[[Nuremberg Chronicle]]'' (1493).]]
Due to Christian dualistic monotheism, non-Christian deities became associated with demons. [[Ephesians]] 6:12, stating " our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms." inspired early Christians to think of themselves on a mission to "drive out demons".<ref>Brown, Peter. Sorcery, Demons, and the Rise of Christianity from Late Antiquity into the Middle Ages. New York, NY, 1970. p. 31</ref> By the fourth century, most Christians took it for granted that the Greek pagans worshipped demons and thus belong to the realm of the spiritually impure.<ref>Brown, Peter. Sorcery, Demons, and the Rise of Christianity from Late Antiquity into the Middle Ages. New York, NY, 1970. p. 24</ref> In the 2nd century, [[Justin Martyr]] already conceptualized the pagan deities as demons, responsible for persecution of Christians.<ref>Annette Yoshiko Reed Fallen Angels and the History of Judaism and Christianity: The Reception of Enochic Literature Cambridge University Press 2005 ISBN 978-0-521-85378-1 p. 162</ref>
By the end of the sixth century, the Mediterranean society widely identified themselves as unequivocally Christian, with an exception to Jews.<ref>Brown, Peter. Sorcery, Demons, and the Rise of Christianity from Late Antiquity into the Middle Ages. New York, NY, 1970. p. 35</ref> The last recorded worship of another non-Christian deity is dated to the 570s.<ref>Brown, Peter. Sorcery, Demons, and the Rise of Christianity from Late Antiquity into the Middle Ages. New York, NY, 1970. p. 35</ref> [[Tatian]] considered the pagan gods to be under the power of fate.<ref>Quinn, Dennis P. "Early Christianity and Ancient Astrology–By Tim Hegedus." (2009): 125.</ref> The daimons (spirits) of the Greeks thus became the demons of the Christian's belief-system under the leadership of Zeus, whom they equated witht he Devil i.e. the leader of the foreign spirits.<ref>Quinn, Dennis P. "Early Christianity and Ancient Astrology–By Tim Hegedus." (2009): 125.</ref> The Christians, however, would have broken free from the influence of the gods of the Greek pantheon and thus also free from the fetters of fate and the law.<ref>Quinn, Dennis P. "Early Christianity and Ancient Astrology–By Tim Hegedus." (2009): 126.</ref>

Abstract notions of the Devil, such as regarding evil as the mere absence of good, were far too subtle to be embraced by most theologians during the Early Middle Ages. Instead, they sought a more concrete image of the Devil to represent spiritual struggle and pain. Thus, the Devil became more of a concrete entity. From the 4th through the 12th centuries, Christian ideas combined with European pagan beliefs, created a vivid folklore about the Devil. In many German folktales, the deceived giants of pagan tales, are substituted by a devil.<ref>Röhrich, Lutz (1970). "German Devil Tales and Devil Legends". Journal of the Folklore Institute. 7 (1): 21–35</ref> For example, the devil builds a bridge in exchange for the first passing being's soul, then people let a dog pass the bridge first and the devil is cheated.<ref>Russell, Jeffrey Burton (1986). Lucifer: The Devil in the Middle Ages. Cornell University Press. ISBN 978-0-8014-9429-1 p. 74</ref> At the same time, magical rites calling upon pagan deities were replaced by references to Jesus Christ.<ref>Scribner, Robert W. "The Reformation, popular magic, and the" Disenchantment of the World"." The Journal of Interdisciplinary History 23.3 (1993): 481</ref><ref>Cameron, Malcolm L. "Anglo-Saxon medicine and magic." Anglo-Saxon England 17 (1988): 214</ref>