Demons are everywhere. That at least is the impression one gets from watching any of the many horror films that fill cinemas. Whether they're killing with a smile, dragging people to hell or challenging exorcists to get rid of them, they seem to be inescapable. Yet the idea that demons infest our world is not a new one. For millennia people have seen malevolent spirits as the cause of illness, bad luck and madness.
WHAT WERE THE FIRST DEMONS?
Before searching for the history of demons, we need to define them. Despite the best efforts of demonologists there have been few reliable sightings of demons and so no scientific study is possible. To study demons is to study people's belief in demons. Demons can be loosely categorised as supernatural beings with evil intentions towards humanity.
The first demons will never be known by name to us. Hints of belief in the spirits can be found in cave art dating to tens of thousands of years ago. Therianthrope images, ones which blend humans and animals, have been found in widely disparate locations. In the cave of Les Trois Frères in France there are paintings of humans with deer antlers and tails, or bull's horns and faces. A painting in an Indonesian cave known as Leang
