Ahrimanes
The name given to the chief of the Cacodaemons, or fallen
angels, by the ancient Persians and Chaldeans. These Cacodaemons
were believed to have been expelled from Heaven for
their sins; they endeavored to settle down in various parts of
the Earth, but were always rejected, and out of revenge they
found their pleasure in injuring the inhabitants. Xenocritus
thought that penance and self-mortification, though not agreeable
to the gods, pacified the malice of the Cacodaemons. Ahrimanes
and his followers finally took up their abode in all the
space between the Earth and the fixed stars, and there established
their domain, which is called Ahriman-abad. As Ahrimanes
was the spirit of evil, his counterpart in Persian dualism
was Ormuzd, the creative and benevolent being.
