In this episode, we discuss the groundbreaking Black Sabbath by Black Sabbath. A heavy metal classic! The demonic encounter narrated in the song allows us to explore what demonic encounters looked like in some fourteenth-century Medieval literature. First, we discuss some encounters related in the autobiography of Abbott Guibert of Nogent. Then we move on to Nicholas Eymerich's inquisitor manual, Directorium Inquisitorium.

Listen to the song here: https://youtu.be/0lVdMbUx1_k?si=Nm_twawUunKsWCYm.

Thank you for listening to the show. I love to hear from listeners and take song requests! Please get in touch via the contact page on my website, mythandmetalpodcast.com.

References:

Kerrang! (2021). An oral history of Black Sabbath: The album that started heavy metal. Kerrang! https://www.kerrang.com/an-oral-history-of-black-sabbath-the-album-that-started-heavy-metal

Bueno, I. (2015). Defining heresy: Inquisition, theology, and papal policy in the time of Jacques Fournier. BRILL.

Čiurlionienė, B. (2018). Prohibition versus Apotheosis of the Tritone: A Historical Perspective. Principles Of Music Composing: Links Between Audiation And Composing, 18, 67-78.

Dickens, A. J. (2024). Heresy in the Middle Ages : a history of authority and exclusion. Fortress Press.

Hill, D. (2019). Detection, Interrogation, Abjuration and the Inquisitor’s Relationship with His Suspects. In Inquisition in the Fourteenth Century: The Manuals of Bernard Gui and Nicholas Eymerich (pp. 92–141). Boydell & Brewer.

Irwin, W. (Ed.). (2012). Black sabbath and philosophy: Mastering reality. John Wiley & Sons, Incorporated.

Kras, P. (2021). The System of the Inquisition in Medieval Europe. Peter Lang International Academic Publishers. https://doi.org/10.3726/b17382.

Machielsen, J. (Ed.). (2020). The science of demons: Early modern authors facing witchcraft and the devil. Taylor & Francis Group.

Pegg, M. G., & Kiernan, B. (2023). The Albigensian Crusade and the Early Inquisitions into Heretical Depravity, 1208–1246. In B. Kiernan, T. M. Lemos, & T. S. Taylor (Eds.), The Cambridge World History of Genocide (pp. 470–497). Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

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This episode discusses Iron Maiden's The Number of the Beast. We discuss the song's history, themes, and influences, and then do some hardcore history and dive deep into the origins of the Beast, or Antichrist, as a mythological figure.

Iron Maiden - The Number of the Beast:

https://youtu.be/WxnN05vOuSM?si=TxR1cah_8r2bfpFW

Iron Maiden's Website:

https://www.ironmaiden.com/

Further Reading/Listening:

Psycho Schizo Espresso: Episode 1: Decoding the Bible’s Deepest, Darkest Secret: 666 - The Number of the Beast

https://podcasts.apple.com/gb/podcast/episode-1-decoding-the-bibles-deepest-darkest-secret/id1590913498?i=1000540256727

History Ago Go: The Antichrist: A New Biography (Philip C. Almond)

https://podcasts.apple.com/fi/podcast/the-antichrist-a-new-biography-philip-c-almond/id1523590325?i=1000542057078

Misquoting Jesus Podcast: The Book of Revelation and the End of the World: Are the Signs Now Being Fulfilled?

https://podcasts.apple.com/fi/podcast/the-book-of-revelation-and-the-end-of-the/id1650657462?i=1000599490312

The Antichrist: A New Biography, Philip C Almond

https://www.amazon.com.au/Antichrist-Biography-Philip-C-Almond/dp/1108479650

Armageddon: What the Bible Really Says about the End, Bart D. Ehrman

https://www.amazon.com.au/Armageddon-What-Bible-Really-about/dp/1982147997

Imperial Cults and the Apocalypse of John: Revelation In The Ruins, by Steven J. Friesen

https://www.amazon.com.au/Imperial-Cults-Apocalypse-John-Revelation/dp/0195131533

References:

Emanuel, S. (2020). Backgrounds, Backdrops, and Other Important Starting Points. In Humor, Resistance, and Jewish Cultural Persistence in the Book of Revelation: Roasting Rome (pp. 21–60). chapter, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

Frenschkowski, M. (2015). Nero Redivivus as a Subject of Early Christian Arcane Teaching. In M. Labahn & O. Lehtipuu (Eds.), People under Power: Early Jewish and Christian Responses to the Roman Power Empire (pp. 229–248). Amsterdam University Press. http://www.jstor.org/stable/j.ctt16f985d.12

Gumerlock, F. x. (2006). Nero Antichrist: Patristic Evidence for the Use of Nero’s Naming in Calculating the Number of the Beast (Rev 13:18). Westminster Theological Journal, 68(2), 347–360.

Malik, S. (2020). The Nero-Antichrist: Founding and Fashioning a Paradigm. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

McIntyre, G. (2019). Imperial cult. BRILL.

Shaw, B. D. (2015). The Myth of the Neronian Persecution. The Journal of Roman Studies, 105, 73–100. http://www.jstor.org/stable/26346894

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Season 1 of the Myth and Metal Podcast.

A podcast dedicated to exploring the historical and mythological themes in heavy metal music.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.