Lix Tetrax

   FALLEN ANGEL and DEMON of the wind. In the Testament of Solomon, Lix Tetrax is summoned to the presence of King SOLOMON by BEELZEBUB, at the king’s orders. The demon appears with his face high in the air and his body crawling like a small snail. He raises up clouds of dust and wind and hurls them at Solomon, who watches, unharmed and in amazement at this display. At last, the king spits on the ground and seals the demon with his magical ring.

   Lix Tetrax claims he is “the direct offspring of the Great One,” perhaps a reference to Beelzebub, the Prince of Demons. He lives in the constellation near the tip of the horn of the Moon when it is in the south. He says he divides men, creates whirlwinds, starts fires, sets fields on fire, and renders households nonfunctional. He is especially busy during the summertime. He slithers into houses at the corners night and day (see incantation bowls).

   He has the power to heal the “day-and-a-half fever” if invoked to do so with the three names of Baltala, Thallal, and Melchal. He is thwarted by the angel Azael. Solomon sentences Lix Tetrax to throw stones up to the workmen at the heights of the Temple of Jerusalem, under construction.

   FURTHER READING:

   - The Old Testament Pseudepigrapha. Vols. 1 & 2. Edited by James H. Charlesworth. 1983. Reprint, New York: Doubleday, 1985.