Legend of the Elder Saboth

Prof. Alexander Chaupin said that his therapist could not refute the arcana behind the Legend of the Elder Saboth. [RB Grinning]

It appears that "Saboth" is an alternate spelling for the Hebrew word "sabaoth," meaning "hosts." A correspondent, Eric Friedman, has investigated what Jewish legends involving hosts could possibly correspond to the Legend of the Elder Saboth. He hit upon "a real Jewish tradition concerning the fallen angels; how they corrupted the Earth, necessitating the Flood (Genesis; Ch. 6)... the oldest known source for the legend is the Book of Enoch..." The relevant verses from Genesis Ch. 6 are

4 There were giants in the earth in those days; and also after that, when the sons of God came in unto the daughters of men, and they bare children to them, the same became mighty men which were of old, men of renown. 5 And GOD saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth, and that every imagination of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually. 6 And it repented the LORD that he had made man on the earth, and it grieved him at his heart. [King James Version]

The Book of Enoch is "an ancient Hebrew apocalyptic religious text, ascribed by tradition to Enoch, the great-grandfather of Noah." [Book of Enoch, Wikipedia] Most denominations of Judaism and Christianity do not accept it as scripture. The Book of Enoch is in itself divided into several books. The first of these, the Book of Watchers, Chapters 6-10, describes how human women bore children of fallen angels, and these children were giants. "And when men could no longer sustain them, the giants turned against them and devoured mankind. And they began to sin against birds, and beasts, and reptiles, and fish, and to devour one another's flesh, and drink the blood. . . And there arose much godlessness, and they committed fornication, and they were led astray, and became corrupt in all their ways. Semjaza taught enchantments, and root-cuttings, 'Armaros the resolving of enchantments, Baraqijal (taught) astrology, Kokabel the constellations, Ezeqeel the knowledge of the clouds, Araqiel the signs of the earth, Shamsiel the signs of the sun, and Sariel the course of the moon. And as men perished, they cried, and their cry went up to heaven . . ." Some of the non-fallen angels observed the situation and went to complain to the Most High, who decided to send a flood to destroy mankind. [Book 1: Watchers, AncientTexts.org, retreived 2/12/2021]

If you interpret the Legend of the Elder Saboth as a reference to this episode, then presumably Prof. Alexander Chaupin would have interpreted the fallen angels as aliens, from other stars or other dimensions, perhaps similar to Yog-Sothoth, who begat offspring on Lavinia Whateley [Dunwich (online text)], or the Deep Ones who interbred with the people of Polynesia and Innsmouth [HPL Innsmouth (online text)].

Return to Cthulhu Universalis Contents Page

Return to CthulhuFiles.com Home Page

Send comments to jfm.baharna@gmail.com.