Abaddon is a Hebrew word meaning destruction or ruin. In the Hebrew Bible it names a place of the dead, closely paired with Sheol, while in the New Testament Book of Revelation it becomes the name of the angel of the bottomless pit, whose Greek name is Apollyon. Later Jewish and Christian writers, poets and occultists developed the figure in several directions.
Abaddon at a glance
| Meaning | Destruction, ruin, perdition (Hebrew root a-b-d, to perish) |
|---|---|
| Greek equivalent | Apollyon, the Destroyer |
| Hebrew Bible | Six occurrences, in Job, Psalms and Proverbs |
| New Testament | Revelation 9:11, king of the locusts and angel of the abyss |
| Rabbinic use | One of the names of Gehinnom (Babylonian Talmud, Eruvin 19a) |
| Literary appearances | Milton's Paradise Regained (1671); Bunyan's The Pilgrim's Progress (1678) |
Meaning of the word
The Hebrew abaddon is an intensive noun formed from the root meaning to perish or be lost. It can be translated destruction, ruin or perdition. In the Greek Septuagint it is usually rendered apoleia, destruction. The Greek name Apollyon used in Revelation is the participle of the verb meaning to destroy, so it signifies the Destroyer.
Because the same word could denote both a condition and a place, Abaddon moved easily from an abstract idea of annihilation to a location in the underworld, and finally, in apocalyptic literature, to a personal being who rules that place.
Abaddon in the Hebrew Bible
Abaddon occurs six times in the Masoretic text, always in poetic or wisdom literature. In Job 26:6, Sheol lies naked before God and Abaddon has no covering. In Job 28:22, Abaddon and Death speak of having heard only a rumor of wisdom, and in Job 31:12 wrongdoing is a fire that consumes down to Abaddon. Psalm 88:11 asks whether God's faithfulness will be declared in Abaddon, and Proverbs 15:11 and 27:20 set Sheol and Abaddon side by side as open before the Lord and never satisfied.
In all these texts Abaddon is a realm or state of the dead, a deeper or more final version of Sheol, rather than a demon. Its force is poetic: it expresses the limit of human life and the idea that even the underworld is visible to God. The Thanksgiving Hymns among the Dead Sea Scrolls continue this usage, describing the torrents of Belial bursting into Abaddon in their images of cosmic distress.
Early Jewish literature outside the Bible, including apocalyptic works of the Second Temple period, increasingly imagined the underworld as a structured place with regions reserved for the wicked. This wider development helps explain why a word for destruction could later be personified. By the first century CE, when Revelation was written, Jewish and Christian readers were accustomed to angels set over particular domains, such as the sea, the winds or the abyss, and a ruler of the place of destruction fit naturally into that picture.
The angel of the bottomless pit
The decisive change comes in the Book of Revelation. When the fifth trumpet sounds, a star falls and opens the bottomless pit, releasing locusts that torment those without God's seal. Revelation 9:11 then gives the locusts a ruler. In the King James Version:
And they had a king over them, which is the angel of the bottomless pit, whose name in the Hebrew tongue is Abaddon, but in the Greek tongue hath his name Apollyon.
This is the first text to present Abaddon clearly as a personal being. Some scholars have suggested that the Greek name contains a jab at the god Apollo, favored by Roman emperors, though this remains a proposal rather than a consensus.
The passage belongs to a sequence of seven trumpets, each announcing a plague, and its imagery of locusts with human faces, women's hair and lions' teeth draws on the locust plague of Exodus and the prophecy of Joel. Readers have long debated whether the scene should be read as symbolic, historical or future prophecy, and the identity of its king depends on how the whole book is interpreted.
Interpretations in Judaism and Christianity
Rabbinic tradition kept the older sense of a place. The Babylonian Talmud (Eruvin 19a) lists Abaddon among the seven names of Gehinnom, and medieval writers sometimes described it as one of the compartments of the underworld.
Christian commentators disagreed about the angel of Revelation. Some identified him with Satan or a chief devil, others with the Antichrist, and others read him as an angel acting under God's authority, carrying out judgment rather than rebelling against it. Various modern denominations have their own readings, including the Jehovah's Witnesses, who identify the angel with Christ. In later demonological literature Abaddon was sometimes listed among the princes of hell alongside figures such as Belial, but such rankings differ from author to author.
Literary and cultural legacy
English literature gave Abaddon and Apollyon lasting fame. Britannica notes that John Milton, in Paradise Regained (1671), extended the name to the abyss of hell itself. John Bunyan's The Pilgrim's Progress (1678) presents Apollyon as a scaled, winged monster whom the hero Christian must fight in the Valley of Humiliation, an episode that shaped the image of the demon for generations of readers.
Today the name appears in novels, films, heavy metal music and games, usually as a generic demon of destruction. For comparative context see the entries on Iblis, Samael and dualism.
Related entries
Frequently asked questions
What does Abaddon mean?
Abaddon is a Hebrew word meaning destruction or ruin. In the Hebrew Bible it refers to a place of the dead, often paired with Sheol. In the Book of Revelation it becomes the Hebrew name of the angel of the bottomless pit, whose Greek name, Apollyon, likewise means the Destroyer.
Is Abaddon the same as Satan?
Not necessarily. Revelation calls Abaddon the angel of the bottomless pit and king of the locusts, but does not identify him with Satan. Some Christian commentators equate the two, others see him as the Antichrist, and others as an angel carrying out God's judgment. Interpretations vary by tradition and interpreter.
Where does Abaddon appear in the Bible?
The word occurs six times in the Hebrew Bible: Job 26:6, 28:22 and 31:12, Psalm 88:11, and Proverbs 15:11 and 27:20, always as a realm of the dead. In the New Testament it appears once, in Revelation 9:11, as the name of the angel who rules the bottomless pit.
Sources and further reading
This entry replaces an article from the original Mystica encyclopedia (online since 2001). It was rewritten from the sources above by The Mystica Editorial Team under our editorial standards. Last reviewed: September 30, 2026.