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Legion (demon)

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See Legion (disambiguation) for other concepts with this name.

Legion, also known as the Gadarene demon, or translated as Lots, is a demon found in the Christian Bible in Mark 5:9 and Luke 8:30. A parallel version of the story can be found in Matthew 8:28-34, but this version does not contain the name "Legion" and tells of two men, not just one, possessed by a multitude of demons. In the story, Jesus traveled to "the country of the Gadarenes" (Luke 8:37), "the country of the Gergesenes" (Matthew 8:28), or "the region of the Gerasenes" (Mark 5:1) and met a man possessed by an evil spirit, which spoke to Jesus in a conversation. The most commonly quoted version is found in Mark 5:9:

And he asked him, What is thy name? And he answered, saying, Our name is Legion: for we are many. (KJV) [it is argued that the phrasing is, "we are legion, for we are many"]

Another version of the quotation is in Luke 8:30:

And Jesus asked him, saying, What is thy name? And he said, Legion: because many devils were entered into him. (KJV)

In some versions of the Bible, the quotation is different: We are mob, for there are so many of us

The demons that composed Legion were aware of the tremendous power of Jesus, and begged to be spared from being tossed back into the bottomless pit of Hell (none of the words translated Hell in the Bible are used, those being sheol, Gehenna, Haides, tartaros; rather, in Mark 5:10, the Greek word choras is used, translated "country" but more accurately meaning an empty expanse, and in Luke 8:31, the word abyssos is used, meaning a bottomless depth). Jesus instead cast the demons out of the man and, granting their request, allowed them to dwell in a herd of pigs. The pigs then drowned themselves in the Sea of Galilee.

Location

John Dominic Crossan believes the story may be considered a parable of anti-Roman resistance. This would explain why the Gospels variously situate the story in Gadara, Gerasa and Gergesa: All three would be disguises for Caesarea, the location he postulates for the actual events behind the story.

Other authors give the ruins of Umm Qais as the location of Gadara. Based upon the Gospel accounts, the location of the miracle had to have a nearby port, tombs for the men to live in, an area for pigs to graze, a nearby city to which the men could flee, and most importantly, a steep bank for the herd to rush down. The problem that has yet to be dealt with however is the site’s topography. Origen initially rejected Gadara for its lack of high ridges and steep slopes down which the pigs “ran violently down into the sea” (Matthew 8:32). Above the port there are multiple hills which could potentially match up with the biblical account. The most likely site is found at the end of a chain of hills that has a bank descending into the sea. The bank is the modern site of Tell es S’alib located near the New Testament Gadaran suburb of es-Samrah. A visual representation of the location of this tell can be seen in Mendel Nun’s work The Land of the Gadarenes. Although this tell may not have had as steep a slope as that found at Kursi, it does have a hill that runs into the sea and could accommodate a “large herd of swine numbering about 2,000” (Mark 5:11). In addition to the slope, other features of the site make it match up well with the biblical account of the miracle. In excavations by B. De Vries completed in 1973, a Roman tomb from the time of Jesus was found in a valley nearby es-Samrah. This could account for the tombs in which the demoniacs lived. Also, there is needed a nearby site where the swine would have grazed and “the groves of oak trees on the plateau above would have provided the acorns they favored” (Walking in their Sandals: 2). Thus, the site of Gadara can align both textually and geographically with the biblical account of the demoniacs and the herd of swine.

Joseph Atwill in his book Caesar's Messiah, believes that the story is a representation of Titus Vespasianus, as the messiah (see also Josephus' Jewish Wars 65.4), and the invading Roman Legions in dealing with the Zealots and their insurrection in Caesarea. The pigs may also be an allusion to Legio X Fretensis, which occupied Jerusalem after AD 70, and had the boar as one of its symbols.

The Bartimaeus connection

As noted above, Matthew has two demon-possessed men instead of one, and does not mention the name "Legion." Similarly, in his version of the Blind Man of Jericho, Matthew has two blind men instead of one and omits the name Bartimaeus, both men remaining anonymous. Duplication and anonymity are characteristics of the Matthean versions of both stories.

In popular culture

Some works of fiction had taken "Legion" as the proper name of a demon. For example, William Peter Blatty's sequel to The Exorcist (the basis for the 1990 The Exorcist III, which he also directed) is called Legion. The collective aspect can be emphasized such as in Gamera 2: Attack of Legion, the second film in the heisei Gamera series, that uses the first biblical quote to introduce the space insects Legion.

In the Film The Exorcism of Emily Rose, the six demons, including Belial and Lucifer, that dwelled inside the title character claimed to have been with Legion.

In the indie Canadian horror flick 5ive Girls, Legion is the demon running loose in an all-girls catholic school.

Legion is a recurring boss in the Castlevania series.

Legion is also the title of the second episode of the sixth series of the the BBC comedy Red Dwarf.

In the television mini-series of Stephen King's "Storm of the Century", the character played by Colm Feore is named "Andre Linoge" and the town constable, Mike Anderson, makes the connection to Legion, by deciphering that "LINOGE" is an anagram for "LEGION" and thus suggesting that Linoge is a demon but this is a thread in the movie/story that it is never followed up on.

Legion also shows up in many other Stephen King works. "The Dark Tower Saga", "Black House", "Desperation", "The Regulators" and "IT".

In Mythic's Dark Age Of Camelot, Legion is a demon at the end of a dungeon called Darkness Falls.

In the Shadow Man video game, the main antagonist's name is Legion. The phrase "For we are many" is said almost by each "Boss" of the game. His plan throughout the game is to bring apocalypse to earth.

In DC's Green Lantern: Emerald Dawn series, a race quarantined by the Guardians becomes the yellow-clad Legion, killer of Green Lanterns.

In Marvel X-Men comic books, Legion is a character with multiple personalities, each with its own distinct superpower.

In "Ghost Rider (film)" Blackheart calls himself Legion when he has taken the thousand souls of San Venganza

In the Shin Megami Tensei video game series Legion is a reoccurring Demon in several of the games.

In a video message released on January 28, 2008, by the group Anonymous as part of Project Chanology, the group declared "We are legion, for we are many." This is a common phrase used by the group, as well as "Anonymous is Legion. We do not forgive. We do not forget."

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Last updated on Wednesday March 05, 2008 at 12:32:30 PST (GMT -0800)
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