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 [orig from http://www.geocities.com/SoHo/9879/necfaq2.htm ]

#>                    Kendrick Kerwin Chua's
#>                       Necronomicon FAQ
#>                               

Commentary on This Document by Dan Clore

#> ____________________________________________________________

#> Frequently Asked Questions Part 1
#> The Necronomicon - FAQ Version 2.0
#> 
#> 20 May 1994
#> Written and compiled by Kendrick Kerwin Chua
#> (kchua@unf6.cis.unf.edu)
#> University of North Florida, United States of America
#> ____________________________________________________________

#> FAQ - Part 1
#> 
#> This FAQ supersedes all previous versions of the Necronomicon
#> FAQ, versions 1.0, 1.1, and 1.3. These versions should be
#> erased and replaced by this version.
#> 
You got it.

#> This Frequently Asked Questions document is divided into four
#> parts. The first part contains down and dirty information
#> designed for the impatient who wish to get their hands on a
#> book titled Necronomicon. The subsequent parts contain more
#> information, some factual and some subjective.
#> 
#> This FAQ is neither comprehensive nor exhaustive. If you feel
#> that the author of the FAQ has missed some vital point, please
#> feel free to e-mail the author at the above internet address.
#> Alternat[iv]ely, you may direct a Usenet post to
#> alt.necromicon, alt.magick or alt.toys.transformers and the
#> author may eventually run across your post.
#> 
Nice options, but I prefer to add my commentary directly, here on
this page.

Table of contents for part 1 --
#> * (1) What is the Necronomicon?
#> * (2) Where can I find a copy of the Necronomicon?
#> * (3) What if my lousy bookstore does not carry it?
#> * (4) What do I do now that I have a copy?
#> * (5) What should I believe?
#> ____________________________________________________________

#> (1) What is the Necronomicon?
#> 
#> This FAQ is chiefly concerned with the mass-media format books
#> on the international market which are titled Necronomicon.
#> 
So far, so good. Our area of study has been delimited.

#> These books are marketed in the occult and "New Age" sections
#> of bookstores, and are reputed to be books of magick, or
#> grimoires. This FAQ does not address the following items
#> related to the Necronomicon:
#> 
#> * Necronomicon - an anthology of B-grade horror movies;
#> * NecronomiCon - an annual convention of H.P. Lovecraft
#>   enthusiasts;
#> * Necronomicon, Vols. I and II - portfolios of adult oriented
#>   art from the files of fantasy artist H.R. Giger;
#>   
#> Vital information on the two commercially available
#> Necronomicons which fit our narrow description is as follows:
#> 
#> The Necronomicon: Second Edition
#> Edited by Simon
#> (c) 1977 Schlangekraft Inc.
#> pub Magickal Childe, Inc.
#> Avon Books, New York (1980 printing)
#> ISBN - 0 - 380 - 75192 - 5
#> US $ 5.99
#> 
#> The Necronomicon: The Book of Dead Names
#> Edited by George Hay
#> with Colin Wilson, Robert Turner, and David Langford
#> (c) 1978 Neville Spearman Ltd.
#> Skoob Books Publishing Ltd, London (1992 printing)
#> ISBN - 1 - 871438 - 16 - 0
#> US $ 9.95
#> 
I'm not vouching for this information. (And now that I have my
links to Amazon.com in, I don't need to be concerned about it.)
#> ____________________________________________________________

#> (2) Where can I find a copy of the Necronomicon?
#> 
#> As stated above, the book is frequently available in the local
#> book shop. In America, BDalton Booksellers and Books-a-Million
#> often carry one of the two Necronomicons, and can order the
#> other (provided with the right information, like the nifty
#> numbers and letters given above).
#> 
Well then, I guess I'll forget about my planned break-in of the
Miskatonic University Library....
#> ____________________________________________________________

#> (3) What if my lousy bookstore does not carry it?
#> 
#> Then you can order the books direct from wholesalers and
#> distributors, like the Abyss Distribution Company (free plug
#> coming up).
#> 
#> Abyss Distribution
#> 48 Chester Road
#> Chester MA 01011 - 9735
#> (413) 623 - 2155 , M-F 10am - 4 pm EST
#> (413) 623 - 2156 priority FAX orders
#> 
[Order form cut. No advertisements on this Page! If interested,
you can still try the address above for information. But we of
course recommend purchasing from Amazon.com -- after following
one of our links to them....]

#> Abyss is a large dealer of occult related books, supplies, and
#> materials, and has sent thousands of Necronomicons all over.
#> Cut out this form and send as an order, or call them with your
#> credit card handy. Or request a full catalog from the above
#> address.
#> 
[Ha! Try writing or calling, Wilbur!]

#> The author of the FAQ is in no way affiliated with Abyss, and
#> makes no claims regarding the company. End of free plug.
#> 
The author of this Page is in no way affiliated with Abyss, or
with the author of this FAQ....
#> ____________________________________________________________

#> (4) What do I do now that I have a copy?
#> 
#> You should read it.
#> 
But won't I go mad?

#> Many people own the book simply to own it and do not read it.
#> 
Such impudence! -- Let us cast ferocious curses upon these
people!

#> Therefore they have very little to contribute to discussions
#> about the Necronomicon on the Usenet groups alt.magick or
#> alt.necromicon. Please read your copy.
#> 
All right! all right! I'm reading mine now....

#> (5) What should I believe?
#> 
#> Now that you've read your copy(ies) of the book, we can try to
#> discuss what you should and should not believe, by filling in
#> what may or may not be gaps in your background knowledge
#> concerning the Necronomicon....
#> 
Kind of you, I'm sure.
#> ____________________________________________________________

#> The Necronomicon -- FAQ Version 2.0
#> 19 May 1994 -- Kendrick Kerwin Chua
#> kchua@unf6.cis.unf.edu -- University of North Florida, USA
#> 
#> (C) 1994 by Kendrick Kerwin Chua (kchua@unf6.cis.unf.edu)
#> Permission is hereby granted to all users of electronic mail
#> to post and distribute this document in an unaltered and
#> complete state, for non-profit and educational purposes. One
#> part may not be disseminated without the other three. For
#> CD-Rom and other commercial rights, please contact the
#> archivist.
#> ____________________________________________________________

#> Kendrick Kerwin Chua -- kchua@unf6.cis.unf.edu - "Which ones
#> friends?" Necronomicon FAQ author, OS/2 consultant,
#> Transformers collector, amateur Sumerologist, miniature
#> painter, student journalist, and cartomancer extraordinaire.
#> -- "Ones with this face, I think."
#> 
#> Frequently Asked Questions Part 2
#> The Necronomicon - FAQ Version 2.0
#> 
#> 20 May 1994 Written and compiled by Kendrick Kerwin Chua
#> (kchua@unf6.cis.unf.edu)
#> University of North Florida, United States of America
#> ____________________________________________________________

#> FAQ - Part 2
#> 
#> Table of Contents
#> Introduction to Version 2.0
#> Introduction to original version
#> Frequently Asked Questions
#> * (1) What is the Necronomicon?
#> * (1a) Who is H.P. Lovecraft?
#> * (2) What are the Necronomicons like? What is in these books?
#> * 1. The Necronomicon, edited by Simon
#> * 1a. The Necronomicon Spellbook, The Gates of the Necronomicon
#> * 2. The Necronomicon by Colin Wilson, edited by George Hay
#> * 3. Al Azif, the Owlswick Press Necronomicon
#> * (3) Who is/was Abdul Al-Hazred? Does he exist?
#> * (4) Who or what is Cthulhu?
#> * (5) What is a Necromicon? Shouldn't it be Necronomicon?
#> * (6) Does the Necronomicon really exist?
#> * (7) What is the Voynich Manuscript?
#> * (8) Where can I find more information?
#> * Appendix
#> * (1) History of the Necronomicon, as rendered by H.P.
#>   Lovecraft
#> * (2) An abridged Pantheon of Mythos, as given by Lovecraft and
#>   Simon
#> * (3) Miscellaneous useful information about the Necronomicon
#> ____________________________________________________________

#>                  INTRODUCTION TO VERSION 2.0
#> ____________________________________________________________

#> This revision is prompted by several small inconsistencies in
#> the original FAQ 1.3. A preface part has been added containing
#> more hands-on information on how to actually get a hold of the
#> books, as well as ISBN statistics and other fun stuff like
#> that. Also, various fact errors have been checked, re-checked,
#> and glossed over (IE, a lot of stuff has been left to remain,
#> even though the clarity and/or truth is quite questionable).
#> But that's okay, this FAQ is far more useful that its three
#> predecessors.
#> 
#> KKC 20 May 1994
#> 
#> Again, a revision is prompted by a change in the status of the
#> Faraday book. As I said in an eariler post, the Faraday
#> Necronomicon does not exist. It was a spoof that was
#> inadvertantly published by a Massachusetts newspaper, and does
#> not deserve the amount of research I've put into it (you may
#> properly infer that I'm a bit incensed at this find ... )
#> Anyway, the rest of the introduction comes from v. 1.2,
#> because most the rest of the FAQ is the same. Enjoy.
#> 
#> KKC 20 October 1993
#> 
#> Other than that, I have been able to fill in a few blanks in
#> the original FAQ, a table of contents, and I have added a
#> third part as a sort of appendix. This includes within it the
#> complete text of Lovecraft's fictional "History of the
#> Necronomicon", as well as a Pantheon listing of the dieties
#> [sic] which are common to Lovecraft and the Simon
#> Necronomicon. If you feel I have left anything out, or that I
#> have made an error, please don't hesitate to send me e-mail.
#> Thanks go out to Lupo the Butcher, who was a tremendous help
#> with the original text and in between revisions, as well as
#> Josh Geller and Thyagi Nagashiva (who is no longer listed as
#> an alias of Aliester Crowley....)
#> 
#> KKC, 29 June 1993
#> ____________________________________________________________

#>                         INTRODUCTION
#> ____________________________________________________________

#> I sometimes wonder why I have taken it upon myself to become a
#> caretaker of the argument over the "thing" called the
#> Necronomicon. Not the black paperback book, not the concept
#> H.P. Lovecraft invented, and not the big coloring book by H.R.
#> Giger. I cannot bring myself to call it anything but the
#> "thing", because at present, the human race cannot come to a
#> consensus on what the Necronomicon is. People who claim that
#> they are skeptics, people who believe that they practice
#> Magick, people who believe that they are Satanists, and just
#> about everyone else have argued and argued with their voices
#> and their e-mail accounts over the what, why, where, who, how,
#> and the when of the Necronomicon.
#> 
#> Most people who argue whatever viewpoint are reasonably
#> knowledgable about their subject, and are fairly expert in
#> their particular angle of entry into the subject of the
#> Necronomicon. Science fiction and horror fans who have
#> something to say are well-read in their H.P. Lovecraft and
#> August Derleth. Pagans and Satanists who join in are
#> reasonably well-read in their LaVey and Crowley. Skeptics know
#> their Colin Wilson and their Sumerian mythology. And so,
#> except for the big flamewar that happens every six months or
#> so, discussion is at best educational and enlightening, but
#> usually leads to no concrete conclusions or new ideas.
#> 
#> Aside from that problem, there are also newbies on Netnews and
#> beyond who may have seen a Lovecraft novel once or twice,
#> dabbled in the occult, or played a role playing game.
#> Innocently asking what the Necronomicon is, they become the
#> butt of numerous jokes, get caught in flamewars, and leave
#> their questions mostly unanswered and their information
#> confused and incomplete. I know, because I was once in this
#> predicament. I have since taken the time to research, filled
#> my disk space with other peoples' posts and flames, and
#> created this FAQ for the enlightenment of all.
#> 
#> If you have any comments to make, additions to contribute, or
#> corrections to offer, please e-mail me at
#> kchua@unf6.cis.unf.edu. Thanks go out to Thyagi Nagashiva,
#> "Grendel" Al Billings, Colin Low, and Josh Geller of
#> netnews.alt.magick, SemHaza and Lupo from alt.satanism, Marc
#> Carlson, and Issac Truder. Also to anyone out there that
#> helped whom I may have forgotten.
#> 
#> Kendrick Kerwin Chua 22 March 1993 Servant of the Dark Lord,
#> and keeper of the decade.
#> ____________________________________________________________

#>                  FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS
#> ____________________________________________________________

#> Note: Text within [brackets] indicate text which would
#> normally be placed in a footnote or a bibliography. However,
#> since this FAQ is most likely going to be read as a text file
#> on some newsreader, footnotes are unwieldly in the extreme.
#> Therefore, all such information will be bracketed and indented
#> like so. Read them or ignore them. KKC
#> 
Here, I've put these inside a deeper layer of
quotation/indentation for easy identification.
#> ____________________________________________________________

#> (1) What is the Necronomicon?
#> 
#> A question not answered easily, quickly, or with any level of
#> assurance. If we may begin at what seems to be the beginning,
#> we will also answer the question:
#> ____________________________________________________________

#> (1a) Who is H.P. Lovecraft?
#> 
#> In the early 1900s, a man by the name of Howard Phillips
#> Lovecraft lived in New England and struggled with an
#> unsuccessful career as a writer. Living as a bachelor and a
#> recluse most of his life,
#> 
That Lovecraft was a "recluse" is a myth.

#> he tried various occupations, journalism,
#> 
I'm unaware of any attempt on Lovecraft's part to ply the trade
of journalist.

#> literary criticism,
#> 
While Lovecraft certainly produced literary criticism, I'm
unaware of any attempt to make money of it.

#> and editing among them.
#> 
Lovecraft never took a paying job as an editor; perhaps the
confusion has arisen over Lovecraft's actual occupation,
ghost-writer and reviser. He supported himself on this sort of
work for much of his life.

#> He finally came upon an enjoyable form of composition, writing
#> horror fiction. Like his hero, Edgar Allan Poe, Lovecraft
#> dreamed of creating worlds of wonder and mystery, and is
#> credited with the creation of the modern mystery format
#> 
Perhaps this should be "horror" format.

#> by his student,
#> 
I'm not sure this term is wholly apposite. Lovecraft corresponded
with Bloch, and gave him advice on his writing, but they never
had any formal teacher/student relationship.

#> Robert Bloch, the author of Psycho.
#> 
At the time, his name was merely "Robert Bloch". Only later did
his name change to "Robert Bloch, author of Psycho".

#> While Lovecraft published much of his work, most notably in
#> the magazine Weird Tales, he died with no critical acclaim,
#> and little recognition by the public. It was much later, after
#> World War II and into our decade,
#> 
Our decade?

#> that Lovecraft began to receive the publicity that he deserved
#> as a literary figure. Lovecraft is now noted as the logical
#> successor to Poe, and served as the inspiration for many
#> modern horror authors, including Steven [sic] King.
#> 
#> (1) Most information from Willis Conover's biography of
#> Lovecraft entitled Lovecraft at Last. Published by
#> Carrollton-Clark in 1975 in Arlington, Virginia. ISBN
#> 0-915490-02-1. Conover was a publisher who corresponded with
#> Lovecraft during the height of his writing and during his
#> years of illness before he died. KKC
#> 
#> What made Lovecraft's works different from other pulp fiction
#> was his method of "legitimizing" the stories he told. Devoid
#> of gratuitous splatter violence or adolescent foolishness,
#> Lovecraft mixed ancient mythology and occult literature by
#> real authors with books and theologies of his own devising. He
#> did this so well that in many short stories, one cannot tell
#> the difference between the two without a lifetime's knowledge
#> of the subject. Take the story "The Rats in the Walls", where
#> Lovecraft creates a fictional family history from the Magna
#> Mater cult, or in "The Dunwich Horror", where Lovecraft freely
#> intermingles books like the Malleus Maleficarum with fictional
#> titles like the Book of Eibon or the Vermiis Mysteriis [sic:
#> De Vermis Mysteriis].
#> 
#> (2) This opinion is expounded upon by Robert Bloch in the
#> introduction to the Lovecraft anthology entitled Bloodcurdling
#> Tales of Horror and the Macabre. New edition published by
#> Ballantine Books, ISBN 0-345-35080-4. KKC
#> 
This essay also appears as the introduction to The Dunwich Horror
and Others, which contains the corrected texts of the stories and
hence is preferable to the corrupt mass-market editions.

#> One of the titles that Lovecraft freely threw around was
#> Necronomicon. Lovecraft denied that the book existed, and
#> wrote as a joke a paper titled "A History of the
#> Necronomicon", giving a chronology of the book, names, and
#> places. Supposedly, the book was written around A.D. 700 by an
#> Arab by the name of Abdul Al-Hazred,
#> 
That should be Abdul Alhazred. The form "Al-Hazred" only appears
in Lovecraft once, where an eighteenth century figure refers to
"Abdool Al-Hazred".

#> and the original title was Al Azif, which is Arabic for the
#> sound made by nocturnal insects.
#> 
This, however, is spurious. See my Page on the name.

#> Al-Hazred was supposedly better known as "the mad Arab, and
#> the name of the book is supposedly bastardized Greek and
#> Latin,
#> 
According to who? Lovecraft believed it was simply Greek.

#> which roughly translates into "The Book of Dead Names" (i.e.
#> ikon=book, necro=die or dead, and nom=name).
#> 
This is false. See my Page on the name.

#> (2a) The nomenclature of the Necronomicon is one of those
#> wonderful topics that can be argued forever, much like the
#> debate over whether Elvis Presley is still alive.
#> 
Well, this analogy is certainly apt.

#> Whatever the true linguistic origins of the name,
#> "Necronomicon" is meant to evoke images of horror and
#> suspicious [sic], and so it does. KKC
#> 
This much I certainly agree with. Much more important than the
exact meaning of the name is its value in creating atmosphere.

#> Lovecraft told his colleagues that he stole the name Al Azif
#> from another author as a joke,
#> 
He stated that he derived it from the notes to Beckford's Vathek.
See my Page on the name.

#> and that the name Al-Hazred was a pun on his mother's maiden
#> name, Hazard.
#> 
Lovecraft's mother's maiden name was not Hazard, but Phillips.
Lovecraft claimed that his
great-great-great-great-great-grandfather was Robert Hazard
(1635-1710), one of a well-known family in Rhode Island history.
There appears to be no evidence to support this contention.

#> (The history is reproduced in the Appendix, in part 3 of the
#> FAQ. The archivist is receiving no monetary gain from the
#> publication of the material in this public format.)
#> 
The corrected text version of "History of the Necronomicon" is
included on another Page, along with the annotations from this
version. I am not receiving any monetary gain either. Feel free
to correct this oversight.

#> (3) Again, from Conover's Lovecraft at Last. KKC
#> 
#> From this, we can assume the following: In fiction or in fact,
#> the Necronomicon is a magickal grimoire, or a collection of
#> spells and experiences from the pen of one person, presumably
#> the man called Al-Hazred.
#> 
Fair enough.

#> Apparently there are those who believe that Lovecraft lied.
#> 
Apparently so.

#> Several books are currently in print bearing the title
#> Necronomicon. But whether or not Lovecraft invented the
#> concept of the Necronomicon, it was he who gave it publicity
#> and notoriety.
#> ____________________________________________________________

#> (2) What are the Necronomicons like? What is in these books?
#> 
#> Well, it depends on what you happen to find.
#> 
#> Of the books which are titled Necronomicon:
#> 
#> 1) The Necronomicon, by Abdul Al-Hazred
#> Edited by Simon
#> ISBN 0-380-75192-5
#> Copyright 1977 by Magickal Childe Publications, New York
#> 1980 by Avon Books, third printing
#> 218 pages, illustrations by Khem Set Rising
#> Standard mass media (paperback) format
#> $5.99 in the U.S.
#> 
#> Published by the same people who produced Anton Lavey's
#> Satanic Bible, this book has little or nothing to do with
#> Lovecraft, but a great deal to do with Sumerian and Assyrian
#> mythology. One-fourth of the book is a large introduction
#> written by Simon that supposedly relates the history and the
#> times of the Necronomicon and of Abdul Al-Hazred.
#> 
This exaggerates the size of the introductory material, which
occupies less than one-fifth of the book.

#> The book seems to be a collection of genuine translations of
#> cuneiform tablets found in Iraq by archaeologists, with the
#> occasional indecipherable line deciphered by Simon, invariably
#> with some reference to Cthulhu or another reference to
#> something vaguely Lovecraftian.
#> 
#> Simon claims that the book was originally written in Greek,
#> and that this volume is not a complete translation, as parts
#> were "purposely left out" for the "safety of the reader".
#> 
I haven't been able to find any statement indicating that the
text was originally written in Greek. Simon does, however, claim
that the manuscript which he has translated is a Greek copy.

#> This book is interesting because of its subtlety in some
#> places, and outright bluntness in others. While Simon attempts
#> in his preface to form a tenuous link between Lovecraft and
#> Aleister Crowley (who never met each other, as far as anyone
#> knows),
#> 
They certainly did not meet.

#> he dedicates the book in part to a demon named Perdurabo,
#> without telling us who he is. Frater Perdurabo is a name that
#> Crowley adopted for himself, and is a mystical motto of sorts.
#> 
Frater Perdurabo ("I shall endure") was the motto Crowley adopted
when he joined the Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn, and often
used by him later as well.

#> Also, Simon warns against allowing the text to be used by
#> "novices" in the mystical arts, and the author also states
#> repeatedly something to the effect of "show these words not to
#> the uninitiated". However, neither give any definition of what
#> an expert or an initiate might be. The system of rituals also
#> seems extremely simplistic, compared to, say, the
#> high-complexity of the Golden Dawn system.
#> 
#> On the up side, the book does contain some "real" information,
#> most notably the fifty names of Marduk as archetypes, and an
#> abridged version of the Sumerian creation epic, where Marduk
#> kills Tiamat and creates the earth from her corpse. Also, the
#> symbols and sigils are complex and interesting to look at, and
#> form the basis of a "gate walking" ritual that supposedly
#> takes a full year, and is supposed to raise the user's
#> conciousness to a higher state. This sort of ritual is common
#> to many magickal texts. The text also bears a suspicious
#> resemblance to The History of Babylon by Berossus, which is
#> considerably more credible to historical authorities.
#> 
#> This book was also made available in hardback leatherbound,
#> with silver inlay on the cover. The archivist believes that
#> the print run was about 600, and it was made available in an
#> advertisement in Omni magazine in 1989.
#> 
The number is usually given as 666 copies. There was also another
leatherbound edition of 3,333 copies.

#> 1a) The Necronomicon Spellbook, by Simon
#> ISBN 0-939708-11-6
#> Copyright 1987 by Magickal Childe Publications
#> 170 pages, paperback
#> $6.95 in the U.S.
#> 
#> The Gates of the Necronomicon, by Simon
#> ISBN 0-939708-08-6
#> $14.95 in the U.S
#> 
#> These two books, essentially repeating the material in the
#> "original" Simon Necronomicon, are Simon's efforts towards
#> fleshing out the vague material he originally put forth in
#> 1977.
#> 
#> The Necronomicon Spellbook, originally entitled The
#> Necronomicon Report, is a "simplified" guide towards usage of
#> the fifty names of Marduk in divination and prayer, and
#> contains some interesting insight into the meanings of the
#> names. It is interesting to note that many systems of Magick
#> seem to have some diety [sic] upon whom many names are
#> conferred; Egyptian and Greek pantheons come to mind.
#> 
#> The Gates of the Necronomicon is a purported "introduction to
#> the system," which supposedly takes one step by step through
#> each part of the gate walking initiation which is described in
#> the Necronomicon. Supposedly, the ambiguities and
#> unavailability of certain materials which are needed in the
#> rituals are explained away by Simon. The book is currently
#> unavailable from Magickal Childe; although they claim to have
#> published a first edition in June of 1992, it was never made
#> available. It was supposed to be released for the first time
#> in December of 1993, as a sort of "sequel" to the first. No
#> evidence of the Gates book has yet manifested.
#> 
This is still the case.

#> (4) Short of travelling directly to New York and visiting the
#> Magickal Childe shop, you will find these two very difficult
#> to obtain (and if you don't, please do tell us all how you got
#> them). KKC
#> 
Since even the Spellbook, which actually did appear, is long out
of print, this will hardly work now. A rare book dealer might be
able to get the Spellbook, however.
#> ____________________________________________________________

#> 2) The Necronomicon, by Colin Wilson et al.
#> ISBN 1 - 871438 - 16 - 0
#> Edited by George Hay
#> Copyright 1978 Neville Spearman, London
#> 184 pages, illustrated by Stamp and Turner
#> $9.95 in the U.S.
#> 
#> With about 150 pages of introduction and essay, and about 40
#> pages of Necronomicon,
#> 
By my count (in the Skoob edition), about 130 of introduction and
essay, and about 35 of Necronomicon.

#> famed skeptic Colin Wilson
#> 
Wilson is pretty much laughed at in skeptic circles for his
credulity regarding occult matters.

#> gives us the most exhaustive piece of research on how H.P.
#> Lovecraft must have seen the Necronomicon, and evidence for
#> and against the existence of such a book. Wilson calls on the
#> research by Robert Turner and David Langford to form a
#> Necronomicon that they admit freely was fabricated from the
#> works of Lovecraft alone, and seemingly without any real
#> historical base. Notably, Wilson presents a "complete" text on
#> the summoning of Yog-Sothoth and the passage through the
#> gates, the Ibn Ghazi powder, the "adjuration" of Cthulhu, and
#> references to Kadath, Leng, and other names found only in
#> Lovecraft's stories. There is also a poem containing the
#> famous "not dead which eternal lie" couplet.
#> 
Unfortunately, they've garbled the couplet as follows:

#> That which is not dead which can eternal lie,
#> And with strange aeons even death may die.
#> 
But, to return to our FAQ:

#> Wilson claims to have taken the contents of an obscure volume
#> owned by John Dee called the Liber Logaeth, which supposedly
#> contains several tables of enochian-like characters in 49x49
#> grids. From this, Hay and Wilson claim to have taken the
#> contents of the book that they published.
#> 
Yep.

#> It can be said with a fair amount of certainty that the Hay
#> book is a fake. In addition to various references to the
#> fictional Miskatonic University as if it were real, there are
#> also plates and photographs which are cunningly faked as if to
#> convince the reader that all the material is genuine. Look
#> closely if you have a copy; what they portray is not
#> necessarily what has been "translated."
#> 
Interesting argument. The photographs presented in this edition
are of a different manuscript, not of the Liber Logaeth which is
purportedly deciphered.

#> In toto, the book contains:
#> 
This listing omits the first four chapters:

#> Of Ye Old Ones and Their Spawn.
#> Of Ye Times and Ye Seasons to be Observed.
#> To Raise up Ye Stones.
#> Of Diverse Signs.
#> 
The following items do refer, however, to illustrations of these
chapters.

#> A table of working.
#> 
I'm not sure what's being referred to here.

#> The configuration of planetary and astrological stones to form
#> a circle.
#> 
Yup.

#> Four hand signs.
#> 
Yup: Ye Sign of Voor, Ye Sign of Koth, Ye Great Sign of Koth, and
Ye Elder Sign.

#> Ye Elder Sign.
#> 
This illustration is the infamour eye-in-the pentacle.

#> Ye Sigil of Koth.
#> 
The following is all accurately taken from the Table of Contents:

#> To Compound Ye Incense of Zkauba.
#> To Make Ye Powder of Ibn Ghazi.
#> Ye Unction of Khephnes Ye Egyptian.
#> To Fashion the Scimitar of Barzai.
#> Ye Alphabet of Nug-Soth.
#> Ye Voice of Hastur.
#> Concerning Nyarlathotep.
#> Of Leng in Ye Cold Waste.
#> Of Kadath Ye Unknown.
#> To Call Forth Yog-Sothoth.
#> To Conjure of Ye Globes.
#> Ye Adjuration of Great Cthulhu.
#> To Summon Shub-Niggurath Ye Black.
#> The Talisman of Yhe.
#> Ye Formula of Dho-Hna.
#> 
#> This book is probably most useful to players of the role
#> playing game Call of Cthulhu, as it is most faithful to the
#> works of Lovecraft.
#> 
#> At the moment, the book is not available on American shelves,
#> so far as the archivist has been able to discern. Every occult
#> shop and speciality bookstore has either been out of stock for
#> years or participate in some elaborate conspiracy to keep it
#> out of American hands (most likely the former, but don't
#> discount the possibility :) To obtain the book, you need to
#> mail order it for $9.95 from the Abyss, a New England occult
#> wholesaler whose address is given in part I of the FAQ.
#> 
#> The Hay Necronomicon was also begetting a sequel in December,
#> called The R'lyeh Text, which supposedly is a translation of
#> the second half of the book (the Necronomicon part is only the
#> first half, so claims Wilson). This book does not seem to be
#> in existence yet either.
#> 
This is now available.

#> (5) This information owes a great deal to Ashton from the net,
#> who seems to have no last name, but found and bothered to read
#> the book. I have also read the book by this writing. KKC
#> ____________________________________________________________

#> 3) Al Azif: The Necronomicon, by Abdul Al-Hazred
#> Copyright 1973 by Owlswick Press
#> 196 pages
#> Hardback
#> 
#> This is an interesting book, if for purely aesthetic reasons.
#> It consists of eight pages of simulated Syrian script,
#> repeated over and over 24 times, in a spiffy hardback cover.
#> No notes, no value, makes a great conversation piece.
#> 
While the middle portion of the text is simply repeated, the
edges are varied to give it a less monotonous appearance. It does
include an introduction by L. Sprague de Camp.

#> It is interesting to note that Wilson says in his introduction
#> to the Hay Necronomicon that it was this book which inspired
#> DeCamp to collaborate on the publication of the Hay
#> Necronomicon. The connection is unclear, as this book is very,
#> very unavailable to the general public.
#> 
#> A few copies are available in the rare and uncirculating
#> portions of some university libraries. The University of South
#> Florida, somewhere in Tampa, has one under tight lock and key,
#> according to one anonymous source.
#> 
Copies pop up from time to time on rare book dealers' lists.
Those interested (and able to afford a fairly expensive volume)
should check with rare book dealers to see if one is available.
#> ____________________________________________________________

#> An entry which once deserved a place among these Necronomicons
#> has been proven to be a hoax. Apparently a man by the name of
#> Wollheim sent to the Branford Review (a Massachusetts
#> Newspaper) a fake review of a book called Necronomicon in
#> 1934, supposedly edited by a W.T. Faraday. Interestingly, it
#> was this fake book review which spurred Lovecraft to write his
#> own History of the Necronomicon, according to Willis Conover.
#> Although Lovecraft had invented most of the history prior to
#> this time, it was small scale hoaxes like the Wollheim
#> incident which actually inspired Lovecraft to set the record
#> firmly crooked on one or two relevant points.
#> 
Donald A. Wollheim was a correspondent of Lovecraft's. He later
became a publisher, and DAW Books is named for his initials.

#> A copy of the history is found at the end of this FAQ.
#> 
I've included the annotated version of the history on my Page
dedicated to the history.
#> ____________________________________________________________

#> There are also many other books that bear the same title.
#> Modern artist H.R. Giger, of Alien fame, has produced two
#> books of horror art title Necronomicon. There is also a gaming
#> newsletter in the northeast called Necronomicon. There are
#> also many entries in catalogs, library systems, and
#> cross-references to books with the title Necronomicon, most of
#> which are pranks or inside jokes. If anyone does find a
#> significant book titled Necronomicon not in the above list,
#> please e-mail the archivist.
#> 
Please e-mail me, too: clore@columbia-center.org.
#> ____________________________________________________________

#> (3) Who is/was Abdul Al-Hazred? Does he exist?
#> 
#> Two theories:
#> 
#> 1) Lovecraft?
#> 
#> As stated above, Lovecraft created the name as a family joke.
#> His mother's maiden name was Hazard,
#> 
Lovecraft's maiden name was not Hazard, but Phillips (as in
Howard Phillips Lovecraft). See the information above on the name
Hazard.

#> and taking a common name "Abdul", Lovecraft created the Mad
#> Arab with his scanty knowledge of Arabic nomenclature.
#> Lovecraft had such inside jokes with many of his fictional
#> authors. Comte d'Erlette, author of the fictional Cultes de
#> Goules, was a derivative of the name of Lovecraft's biggest
#> fan, August Derleth.
#> 
This is the historically accurate source of the name Derleth.

#> Robert Blake, the writer who was possessed and destroyed by
#> Nylarlathothep in "The Haunter of the Dark," was based on his
#> student Robert Bloch, the author of Psycho.
#> 
There is also "the Atlantean high priest Klarkash-Ton", derived
from Lovecraft's friend Clark Ashton Smith.

#> 2) For Real?
#> 
#> Supposedly, there was a wandering Arab who ended up in
#> Damascus after witnessing horrible magical rituals since
#> leaving his home on the bank of the Euphrates river sometime
#> in the mid 1200s. He took the name Abdul Al-Azred, which
#> supposedly but erroneously means Servant of God, He Who Knows
#> the Forbidden (or something to that effect). After writing
#> down an incomplete synopsis of everything he learned and saw,
#> he mysteriously vanished, leaving only a thick, 800 page Greek
#> text.
#> 
On the name Abdul Alhazred see the entry in my Glossary. If
anyone has any information on the above supposed story, please
inform me: clore@columbia-center.org.

#> Originally, this wandering Arab was thought by the archivist
#> to be the famous Ibn Khallikan, the biographer and historian
#> from whose works we know many great middle eastern writers and
#> philosophers. Without Khallikan's work, many of these men and
#> women would be forgotten. An exhaustive search of Khallikan's
#> biographies reveals no one with a name even remotely similar
#> to Al-Hazred. Khallikan himself should not be confused with
#> Al-Hazred either.
#> 
There is an entry for Ibn Khallikan in my Glossary.

#> There is evidence against and for both theories, all of which
#> is too lengthy to include in this already humongous FAQ. But
#> suffice it to say that the above two theories are the
#> prevalent ones, with other minor ones floating around.
#> 
This is a damn shame. It would be fascinating to learn what
evidence there is for the second theory.

#> (6) Jason and Laurie Brandt from the University of Oregon are
#> the main contributors to the extremely abridged text above.
#> KKC
#> ____________________________________________________________

#> (4) Who or what is Cthulhu?
#> 
#> Cthulhu is the main character of Lovecraft's masterpiece, "The
#> Call of Cthulhu". Supposedly, in the early days of life on
#> earth, an alien being came to earth and established rule over
#> whatever sentient life was inhabiting earth. However, the
#> lives of Cthulhu and his race are reportedly cyclical, and so
#> at present they are in a hibernation of sorts.
#> 
#> Cthulhu is chief among these entities. Cthulhoid beings
#> resemble a humanoid several hundred feet tall, with a head
#> resembling a squid, claws, and prodigious telepathic
#> capabilities. Supposedly, the cycle is about to end as the
#> 20th century comes to a close, and Cthulhu has maintained a
#> cult of humans to help him return and re-establish his
#> previous rule.
#> 
These "prodigious telepathic capabilities" are, (un)fortunately,
blocked by water. Hence the Big C is currently out of touch with
his followers.

The time that R'lyeh (Cthulhu's sunken continent) shall re-arise
is currently undetermined.

#> In the Simon Necronomicon, Cthulhu is seen as the great and
#> all-powerful evil that will invade the world with the rest of
#> his "evil" brethren if certain gates are left open or
#> carelessly used. Cthulhu is head of the Ancient Ones, the old
#> gods who were defeated originally by the Elder Gods, who are
#> supposedly the "good guys".
#> 
This Christian tale was invented by August Derleth. It never
appears in Lovecraft's work.

#> An interesting side note: Kutu is the name of a city in the
#> Sumerian underworld, according to the mythology. Lu is a word
#> in Sumerian which reads as "man", as evidenced by all the
#> Mesopotamian kings whose names were LuGalxxxxx, meaning "Great
#> Man of xxxxx". So KutuLu means man of the underworld. Or so
#> claims Simon, the editor of the Magickal Childe rendering of
#> the Necronomicon.
#> 
Unfortunately, the element Lu would need to be the prefix, and
the term -- which means "man" -- was not used of deities. This
helps clarify why the form "Kutulu" never appeared before Simon
coined it.

#> Those interested should read the netnews.alt.horror.cthulhu
#> FAQ for more information.
#> 
#> Please see part three.
#> ____________________________________________________________

#> The Necronomicon -- FAQ Version 2.0
#> 19 May 1994 -- Kendrick Kerwin Chua
#> kchua@unf6.cis.unf.edu -- University of North Florida, USA
#> 
#> (C) 1994 by Kendrick Kerwin Chua (kchua@unf6.cis.unf.edu)
#> Permission is hereby granted to all users of electronic mail
#> to post and distribute this document in an unaltered and
#> complete state, for non-profit and educational purposes. One
#> part may not be disseminated without the other three. For
#> CD-Rom and other commercial rights, please contact the
#> archivist.
#> ____________________________________________________________

#> Kendrick Kerwin Chua -- kchua@unf6.cis.unf.edu - "Which ones
#> friends?" Necronomicon FAQ author, OS/2 consultant,
#> Transformers collector, amateur Sumerologist, miniature
#> painter, student journalist, and cartomancer extraordinaire.
#> -- "Ones with this face, I think."
#> 
#> Frequently Asked Questions Part 3
#> The Necronomicon - FAQ Version 2.0
#> 
#> 20 May 1994 Written and compiled by Kendrick Kerwin Chua
#> (kchua@unf6.cis.unf.edu)
#> University of North Florida, United States of America
#> ____________________________________________________________

#>                         FAQ - Part 3
#> ____________________________________________________________

#> (5) What is a *Necromicon*? Shouldn't it be Necronomicon?
#> 
#> Probably the most frequently asked, see this post from Joshua
#> Geller:
#> 
#> ~From: joshua@coombs.anu.edu.au (Joshua Geller)
#> ~Subject: Re: Necronomicon FAQ
#> ~Date: 23 Oct 92 10:11:39 GMT
#> 
#> oh shit.
#> 
#> due to the fact that I'm at home at 1200 baud and my editor
#> sometimes skips characters under these conditions, this group
#> was created as 'alt.necromicon' rather than
#> 'alt.necronomicon'.
#> 
#> I am now going to rmgroup it and newgroup the new one.
#> 
#> sorry for any inconvenience.
#> 
#> josh
#> 
#> This is the reason for the misspelling. No one has created a
#> new group with the correct spelling as of yet, due to the low
#> volume of messages on netnews.alt.necromicon.
#> 
By this point, not only has alt.necronomicon been created, it has
wholly supplanted the older newsgroup.
#> ____________________________________________________________

#> (6) Does the Necronomicon really exist?
#> 
#> Reference this question to seven years of e-mail and dozens of
#> flamewars. I respectfully submit instead this post from Thyagi
#> Nagashiva (and withdraw any official opinion)....
#> 
#> Please note that my stance on the Necronomicon in this context
#> is not in conflict with the fact that I have said the Hay
#> Necronomicon is a fake. Just because something is not what it
#> claims does not mean it cannot be useful. The Hay Necronomicon
#> does claim to be the ancient word of Abdul Al-Hazred, but in
#> fact was the product of many men's imaginations and hard work.
#> Does this reduce its value or its utility?
#> 
#> Please feel free to work it out for yourself.
#> 
#> Just as a side note: The first line of this answer once read
#> "Reference this question to _five_ years," not seven. I have
#> been at this for far too long...
#> ____________________________________________________________

#> 9210.16 e.v.
#> ____________________________________________________________

I've presented Frater Nigris' Liber Grimoiris on its own Page,
and so omit it here.

#> (7) Many thanks for the opinions and the information that
#> Thyagi has provided. KKC
#> 
Uh, yeah, thanks Thyagi, nice doing business with you.
#> ____________________________________________________________

#> (7) What is the Voynich Manuscript?
#> 
#> The Voynich was first connected to the Necronomicon in Colin
#> Wilson's short story, "Return of the Lloigor", written in the
#> style of Lovecraft. In short, the Voynich is an encoded text
#> accompanied by botanical illustrations and pictures of nudes,
#> all scribbled in some unknown alphabet by an unknown author,
#> perhaps the unseen Abdul Al-Hazred. It could be either a
#> magickal grimiore or a gardening guide, because no one has
#> come up with a definitive crack of the cipher, if it even is a
#> cipher and not just random scrawling. Those who have access to
#> internet should check out internet.voynich for more
#> information.
#> 
There is an entry for the Voynich Manuscript in my Glossary.

#> (8) Thanks to Karl Kluge from CMU. KKC
#> 
#> (8) Where can I find more information?
#> 
#> Well, there's this nifty bibliography that Laurie Brandt
#> posted several times:
#> 
#> ~From: JBrandt@AAA.Uoregon.edu (Laurie E. W. Brandt (Pegasus))
#> ~Subject: Bib necro
#> ~Date: 3 Nov 1992 06:07:53 GMT
#> 
#> Selected Bibliography
#> 
#> * Albright, W. F. "The Anatolian Goddess Kubaba" Archive fur
#>   Orientforschung, V(1929).
#> * Berosus. History of Babylon. ca 280 B. C. E.
#> * Calder, W. M. "Notes on Anatolian Religion" Journal of the
#>   Manchester Egyptian and Oriental Society, XI(1924).
#> * Cameron, George. G. Ancient Persia in The Idea of History in
#>   the Ancient Near East. p. 77-97.
#> * Cassuto, U. The Goddess Anath. Jerisalem, The Magnes Press,
#>   The Hebrew University, 1971.
#> * Crem, C. W. The Secret of the Hittites: The Discovery of an
#>   Ancient Empire. New York, NY: Alfred A. Knopf, 1955.
#> * Cumont, F. Oriental Religions in Roman Paganism. New York,
#>   NY: Dover, 1956.
#> * Denton, Robert C. ed. The Idea of History in the Ancient Near
#>   East. New Haven, CT: Yale University Press, 1955.
#> * Engnell, Ivan. Studies in Divine Kingship in the Ancient Near
#>   East. Uppsala, 1945.
#> * Farnell, Lewis R. Greece and Babylon: A Comparative Sketch of
#>   Mesopotamian, Anatolian and Hellenic Religions. Edinburgh:
#>   T&T Clark, 1911.
#> * Frankfort, Henri. Cylinder Seals: A Documentary Essay on the
#>   Art & Religion on the Ancient Near East. London, Gregg
#>   International, 1939.
#> * --- ed. The Intellectual Adventure of Ancient Man: an Essay
#>   on Speculative Thought in the Ancient Near East. Chicago, IL:
#>   University of Chicago Press, 1946.
#> * ---.Kingship and the Gods: A Study of Near Eastern Religion
#>   as the Intergration of Society and Nature. Chicago, IL:
#>   University of Chicago Press, 1948.
#> * Furlani, G. "The Basic Aspect of Hittite Religion" Harvard
#>   Theological Review XXXI (1938).
#> * Gadd, C. J. Ideas of Divine rule in the Ancient Near East.
#>   London, British Academy 1948. (Schweich Lectures on Biblical
#>   Archaeology Series, 1945).
#> * Garstang, John "The Sun Goddess of Arinna" Annals of
#>   Archaeology and Anthropology VI (1914).
#> * Gotze, Albrecht.The Hittite Ritual of Tunnawi. New Haven CT:
#>   American Oriental Society, 1938.
#> * Gurney, O. R. "Hittite Prayers of Mursilis II" Annals of
#>   Archaeology and Anthropology XXVII (1940).
#> * Guterbock, H. G. "The Hittite version of the Kumarbi Myths,
#>   Oriental Forerunners of Hesiod" American Journal of
#>   Archaeology LII(1948).
#> * ---. "The Song of Ullikummi" Journal of Cuneiform Studies
#>   5(1951), 6(1952).
#> * Harpper, R. F.The Code of Hammurabi. Chicago 1904.
#> * Hook, Samuel Henery. Myth and Ritual. Oxford, 1933.
#> * ---. The Origins of Early Semitic Ritual. London, British
#>   Academy 1938. (Schweich Lectures on Biblical Archaeology
#>   Series, 1935).
#> * ---. ed. Myth, Ritual and Kingship. Oxford, 1958.
#> * ---. Babylonian and Assyrian Religion. Oxford, 1962.
#> * Jastrow, M. Babylonian -Assyrian Birth Omens. Giessen, 1914.
#> * King, L. W. Babylonian Magic and Sorcery. London, 1896
#> * ---. Chronicles concerning Early Babylonian Kings. London,
#>   1907
#> * ---. A History of Babylon. London, 1915.
#> * ---. A History of Sumer and Akkad. London, 1910.
#> * ---. Legends of Babylon and Egypt in Relation to Hebrew
#>   Tradition. London, British Academy 1918. (Schweich Lectures
#>   on Biblical Archaeology Series, 1916).
#> * Kramer, Samuel Noah ed. Mythologies of the Ancient World. New
#>   York,NY: Doubleday 1961.
#> * ---. History Begins at Sumer, Thirty Nine "Firsts" Man's
#>   Recorded History. University of Pennsylvania Press, 1959.
#> * --- . Sumerian Mythology: A Study of Spirtual and Literary
#>   Achievement in the Third Millennium B. C. Philadelphia, 1944.
#> * Langdon, Stephen Hurbert. Babylonian Menologies and the
#>   Semitic Calendars. London, 1935. (Schweich Lectures, 1933).
#> * ---. The Legend of Etana and the Eagle. Paris 1932. .Semitic.
#>   Volume V of Mythology of All Races. Archaeological Institute
#>   of America Boston, Marshall Jones and Co. 1916-1932.
#> * Loftus, William Kennett .Travels and Researches in Chaldea
#>   and Susiana; with an account of excavations at Warka, the
#>   "Erech" of Nimrod, and Shus, "Shushan the Place" of Esher, in
#>   1849-52. New York, NY: Robert Carter and Brothers, 1857.
#> * L'Orange, H. P. Studies on The Iconography of Cosmic Kingship
#>   in the Ancient World. Oslo: Institutte for Sammenlignende
#>   Kulturforskning, 1953.
#> * Pallis, Svend. A. The Babylonian Akitu Festival: Ancient
#>   Mesopotamian Texts and Studies, Copenhagen, 1926.
#> * Pfeiffer, R. H. State Letters of Assyria. New Haven, CT:
#>   1935.
#> * Pritchard, James B. Ed. Ancient Near Eastern Texts Relating
#>   to the Old Testament. Princeton, New Jersy: Princeton, 1950.
#> * Ransome, Hilda M. Sacred Bee in Ancient times and Folklore.
#>   London, Gordon Press 1937.
#> * Smith, Sidney. The Early History of Assyria. London 1928.
#> * Thompson, Reginald Campbell trans. The Devils and Evil
#>   Spirits of Babylonia. London, Luzac's Semitic Text &
#>   Translation Ser Nos 14-15, 1903-1904.
#> * ---. Semitic Magic Its Origins & Development. London 1908.
#> * ---. The Reports of the Magicians and Astrologers of Niveveh
#>   and Babylon. London, Luzac's Semitic Text & Translation Ser
#>   Nos 6-7, 1900.
#> * Speiser, E.A. Ancient Mesopotamia; in .The Idea of History in
#>   the Ancient Near East. p.34-76
#> * Spretnak, Charlene. Lost Goddesses of Early Greece: A
#>   Collection of Pre-Hellenic Myths. Boston: Beacon Press, 1978.
#> * Wells C. Bradford, E.A. The Hellenistic Orient; in .The Idea
#>   of History in the Ancient Near East. p.135-167.
#> * Wilson, J. V. K. The Rebel Lands: An Investigation into the
#>   Origins of Early Mesoptamian Mythology. New York, NY:
#>   Cambridge University Press, 1979.
#> * Wolkstine, Diana and S. N. Kramer. Inanna Queen of Heaven and
#>   Earth: Her Stories and Hymns from Sumer. New York: Harper and
#>   Row, 1983.
#> * Wooley, C. Leonard "Hittite Burial Customs" Annals of
#>   Archaeology and Anthropology VI (1914).
#>   
I'm not vouching for any of this list. (I've found a few items at
Amazon.com -- buy them all.)
#> ____________________________________________________________

#> In the near future (probably Fall of 1994), Llewellyn books
#> may be publishing a book, tentatively titled "The Practical
#> Guide to the Necronomicon". If you have any ideas or opinions
#> on this possibility, please e-mail me so that I can pass those
#> words on to the author and the publisher.
#> 
If this was ever published, I am unaware of it. Anyone with
information please contact me: clore@columbia-center.org.
#> ____________________________________________________________

#> Also, there are FAQ's on several newsgroups that mention the
#> Necronomicon and give additional information, including:
#> 
#> netnews.alt.horror
#> netnews.alt.horror.cthulhu
#> netnews.alt.magick
#> netnews.alt.satanism
#> internet.voynich
#> 
#> Also, various authors and magazine articles have been
#> published on the subject, too numerous to list here. This FAQ
#> along with the rest, should give you a fairly complete base of
#> information on which to form an opinion, if any.
#> 
#> Please see part four.
#> ____________________________________________________________

#> The Necronomicon -- FAQ Version 2.0
#> 19 May 1994 -- Kendrick Kerwin Chua
#> kchua@unf6.cis.unf.edu -- University of North Florida, USA
#> 
#> (C) 1994 by Kendrick Kerwin Chua (kchua@unf6.cis.unf.edu)
#> Permission is hereby granted to all users of electronic mail
#> to post and distribute this document in an unaltered and
#> complete state, for non-profit and educational purposes. One
#> part may not be disseminated without the other three. For
#> CD-Rom and other commercial rights, please contact the
#> archivist.
#> ____________________________________________________________

#> Kendrick Kerwin Chua -- kchua@unf6.cis.unf.edu - "Which ones
#> friends?" Necronomicon FAQ author, OS/2 consultant,
#> Transformers collector, amateur Sumerologist, miniature
#> painter, student journalist, and cartomancer extraordinaire.
#> -- "Ones with this face, I think."
#> 
#> Frequently Asked Questions Part 4
#> The Necronomicon - FAQ Version 2.0
#> 
#> 20 May 1994 Written and compiled by Kendrick Kerwin Chua
#> (kchua@unf6.cis.unf.edu)
#> University of North Florida, United States of America
#> ____________________________________________________________

(Note: Kendrick Erwin Chua's presentation and annotation of
Lovecraft's "History of the Necronomicon" here appears on my Page
devoted to that essay.
#> ____________________________________________________________

#> (2) An abridged pantheon of the mythos
#> 
#> The format of this section is as follows: LOVECRAFTIAN NAME,
#> Simon name: Brief description in prose.
#> 
#> CTHULHU, Kutulu: The ancient entity which is currently
#> hibernating on the ocean floor in the sunken city of R'lyeh
#> (or Urillia). Cthulhu has supposedly maintained a cult of
#> human beings which will assist him when he awakens from
#> slumber, in order to reclaim the earth and establish whatever
#> civilisation existed when Cthulhu first arrived on the earth
#> aeons ago. In the Simon Necronomicon, Kutulu is mentioned in
#> the creation epic, where other translators have failed.
#> 
#> According to the Hay/Wilson Necronomicon, Cthulhu's Sumerian
#> name is Gipartu, a name I have failed to find in many many old
#> texts. They also equate Cthulhu with the Scorpion man, a
#> monster created by Tiamat in the creation epic to combat the
#> younger Igigi gods (and which, incidentally, Al-Hazred
#> supposedly instructs one to turn to for "emergency" guidance
#> at the end of the Simon Necronomicon.) More information on
#> Cthulhu will be available in the next edition of the FAQ. For
#> the meantime, please see the alt.horror.cthulhu FAQ for a more
#> complete description.
#> 
#> YOG-SOTHOTH, Iak-Sakkak: A whirling mass of gelatinous
#> spheres, Yog-Sothoth is the entity who is "keeper of the gate
#> and the key". In simple terms, evoking his powers allows one
#> to travel great distnaces in spirit and body. Some believe
#> that his name is derivative of Set or Seth.
#> 
Precisely who believes that his name is derivative of Set or
Seth?

#> AZATHOTH, Azag-Thoth: The blind mad god, Azathoth is
#> supposedly a very old deity who is essentially nothing but an
#> energy repository. In Lovecraft's stories, when Azathoth was
#> summoned he grew exponentially in size and volume until he was
#> sent back to wherever he came from. Simon claims that his name
#> is derivative of the Egyptian Thoth, and is a lord of
#> magicians.
#> 
#> It is interesting to note that this deity seems to be a
#> parallel of the Gnostic Yaldaboath, who is also a chaos deity
#> represented in a similar manner. Interested parties should
#> check out the Nag Hammadi Codices for more info.
#> 
#> NYARLATHOTHEP: An Egyptian god who is supposedly a messenger
#> and an executioner. Nyarlathothep was supposedly responsible
#> for many of the demon and devil sightings during the Middle
#> Ages and during the Salem witch trials. He has no counterpart
#> in the Simon Necronomicon.
#> 
#> Marduk: Head of the Igigi, or "good guy" gods, Marduk was the
#> son of Enki, and was responsible for defeating the evil
#> ancient gods and creating the earth and mankind. The story
#> rendered by Simon is consistent with most translations of the
#> cuneiform tablets by other authorities. He has no counterpart
#> in Lovecraft.
#> 
#> Tiamat: The Mother goddess, Tiamat was the origin of all the
#> other gods. She fashioned a copious number of monsters to
#> fight Marduk before she was dismembered and recycled into what
#> we now call the earth, according to the Sumerian mythology.
#> She has no counterpart in Lovecraft.
#> 
#> This is all I could think of for right now. If anyone thinks
#> that any other deity belongs in this short list, please e-mail
#> the archivist.
#> 
Yeah, go ahead and e-mail 'im.
#> ____________________________________________________________

#> (3) Miscellaneous useful information.
#> 
#> Magickal Childe Incorporated
#> 35 West 19th Street
#> New York, NY 10011
#> 
#> Carrollton - Clark Publishers
#> 9122 Rosslyn
#> Arlington, VA 22209
#> 
#> Skoob Books Publishing LTD.
#> Skoob Esoterica Series
#> 11a - 17 Sicilian Avenue
#> Southampton Row
#> London WC1A 2QH
#> 
#> Avon Books, a division of the Hearst Company
#> 105 Madison Avenue
#> New York, NY 10016
#> 
I'm not vouching for any of these.
#> ____________________________________________________________

#> Here ends the Frequently Asked Questions for the Necronomicon
#> 
Whew! -- Made it through this....
#> ____________________________________________________________

#> The Necronomicon -- FAQ Version 2.0
#> 19 May 1994 -- Kendrick Kerwin Chua
#> kchua@unf6.cis.unf.edu -- University of North Florida, USA
#> 
#> (C) 1994 by Kendrick Kerwin Chua (kchua@unf6.cis.unf.edu)
#> Permission is hereby granted to all users of electronic mail
#> to post and distribute this document in an unaltered and
#> complete state, for non-profit and educational purposes. One
#> part may not be disseminated without the other three. For
#> CD-Rom and other commercial rights, please contact the
#> archivist.
#> 
I hope my own non-commercial use here qualifies under this
statement.

#> Kendrick Kerwin Chua -- kchua@unf6.cis.unf.edu -- "Which ones
#> friends?" Necronomicon FAQ author, OS/2 consultant,
#> Transformers collector, amateur Sumerologist, miniature
#> painter, student journalist, and cartomancer extraordinaire. -
#> "Ones with this face, I think."
#> ____________________________________________________________

#> This document is Copyright (C) 1995, authors cited.
#> 
#> All rights reserved. Permission to distribute the collection
#> is hereby granted providing that distribution is electronic,
#> no money is involved, reasonable attempts are made to use the
#> latest version and all credits and this copyright notice are
#> maintained.
#> 
Well, no problem then.

#> Other requests for distribution should be directed to the
#> individual authors of the particular articles.
#> 
#> nagasiva, tyagi
#> tyagi@houseofkaos.Abyss.coM (I@AM)
#> ____________________________________________________________