Arioch


Arioch appears in the Book of Genesis as the name of the "King of Ellasar", who participated in the Battle of the Vale of Siddim. The battle is described in Genesis as consisting of four kings, led by Chedorlaomer of Elam, engaging in a punitive expedition against five kings of Canaan who rebelled against Chedorlaomer. The same story is also mentioned in the Book of Jubilees, where Arioch is called "king of Sellasar". As in the case of other stories from the Book of Genesis, the consensus of modern scholarship is that these stories do not constitute reliable history.

Arioch and Eleasar

Some historians have placed the area where Arioch ruled in Asia Minor, but theories as to its specific locations differ, with some claiming it was in Pontus while others cite Cappadocia and Antioch. There are also sources which associated Ellasar with the kingdom of Larsa and suggested that Arioch could be one of its kings called Eri-Aku, an Akkadian translation for the name Rim-Sin, where rim meant servant and Sin is the Semitic name of the moon god.
By the 20th century, this theory became popular so that it was common to identify Arioch with Eriaku — through the alternative reading of either Rim-Sin or his brother Warad-Sin, who were both believed to be contemporary with Hammurabi.

Adaptations by later writers

Arioch was a name for a fictional demon, and also appears as the name of a demon in many grimoires. Arioch is also named in John Milton's Paradise Lost as one of the fallen angels under Satan's command.
Arioch is one of the principal lords of Chaos in several of Michael Moorcock's fantasy series. For more information, see Deities in the Elric series.
Arioch is also the name of an escape artist and magician who rose to fame in the 1990s after performing on MTV.
Arioch is also the name of a secondary playable character in Drakengard for the PS2.