1. History of the Necronomicon, by H.P. Lovecraft, written in 1937 with footnotes and references by Kendrick Kerwin Chua, 1993
Original title Al-Azif -- azif being the word used by the Arabs to
designate that nocturnal sound (made by insects) supposed to be the
howling of daemons.
Composed by Abdul Al-Hazred, a mad poet of Sanaa, in Yemen, who is
said to have flourished during the period of the Ommiade caliphs, circa
700 A.D. He visited the ruins of Babylon and the subterranean secrets of
Memphis and spent ten years alone in the great southern desert of Arabia
- the Roba al Khaliyeh, or "Empty Space" of the ancients and "Dahma" or
"Crimson" desert of the modern Arabs, which is held to be inhabited by
protective evil spirits and monsters of death. Of this desert many
strange and unbelievable marvels are told by those who pretend to have
penetrated it. In his last years, Al-Hazred dwelt in Damascus, where the
Necronomicon (Al Azif) was written, and of his final death or
disappearnce (738 A.D.) many terrible and conflicting things are told.
He is said by Ebn Khallikan (12th century biographer) to have been
seized by an invisible monster in broad daylight and devoured horribly
before a large number of fright-frozen witnesses. Of his madness many
things are told. He claimed to have seen the fabulous Irem, or City of
Pillars, and to have found beneath the ruins of a certain nameless
desert town the shocking annals and secrets of a race older than
mankind. He was only an indifferent Moslem, worshipping unknown deities
whom he called Yog-Sothoth and Cthulhu.
[(9) Note already how Lovecraft skirts the fine line between campy parody and seriousness. In Lovecraft at Last, Conover writes that Lovecraft wrote the history in order to allow people with any understanding of Arab studies to see through the mock scholarship. Note also the inconsistencies here with the description of Al-Hazred in the Simon Necronomicon. Al-Hazred there supposedly witnessed the horrible rituals at Masshu, a mythical island at the mouth of the Euphrates upon which Utnapishtim, the Babylonian Noah, supposedly still resides today. Whereas Lovecraft describes the Crimson Desert as the place where Al-Hazred witnessed much of what he wrote down. Note also that in the Simon version, Al-Hazred warns against worshipping "Iak-Sakkak" and "Kutulu", whereas Lovecrafts claims he did just that. Note also the improper use of the A.D. prefix until the next paragraph. KKC ]
In A.D. 950 the Azif, which had gained a considerable though surreptitious circulation amongst the philosphers of the age, was secretly translated into Greek by Theodorus Philetas of Constantinople under the title Necronomicon.
[(10) Another inconsistency. Simon claims that Al-Hazred rendered the Necronomicon in Greek first, rather than Arabic. KKC]
For a century it impelled certain experimenters to terrible attempts, when it was suppressed and burnt by the partiarch Michael. After this it is only heard of furtively, but (1228) Olaus Wormius made a Latin translation later in the Middle Ages, and the Latin text was printed twice - once in the 15th century in blackletter (evidently in German) and once in the 17th (probably Spanish); both editions being without identifying marks, and located as to time and place by internal typographic evidence only.
[(11) Interesting to note that Lovecraft does not say outright that someone in our time had apparently found and identified these renditions of the book. KKC]
The work, both Latin and Greek, was banned by Pope Gregory IX in 1232, shortly after its Latin translation, which called attention to it.
[(12) The archivist has thusfar been unable to find Al Azif, Necronomicon, or anything even remotely similar on any of the forbidden book lists of the era. But do consider that paper records from the 13th century are incomplete and unpreserved, to say the least. KKC]
The Arabic original was lost as early as Wormius' time, as indicated by his prefatory note (there is, however, a vague account of a secret copy appearing in San Francisco during the present century but later perishing by fire); and no sight of the Greek copy - which was printed in Italy between 1500 and 1550 - has been reported since the burning of a certain Salem man's library in 1692.
[(13) Again, Simon claims to have translated a Greek edition. KKC]
An English translation made by Dr. [John] Dee was never printed, and exists only in fragments recovered from the original MS.
[(14) An internal Lovecraft inconsistency. In his short story The Dunwich Horror, the old wizard called Whately utilizes a Dee translation of the Necronomicon in order to produce children for Yog-Sothoth. A complete listing of John Dee's books reveals none titled Necronomicon. KKC]
Of the Latin texts now existing one (15th century) is known to be in the British Museum under lock and key, which another (17th century) is in the Bilbiotheque Nationale at Paris. A 17th century edition is in the Widener Library at Harvard, and in the Library of Miskatonic University at Arkham; also in the library of the University of Buenos Aires.
[(15) Other than the Harvard copy, which the archivist knows for sure does not exist, and the fact that Miskatonic University is totally fictional, I cannot say with absolute certainty that the other locations Lovecraft lists do not have some copy of a book they may call the Necronomicon. Interested parties may contact the archivist to confirm or deny posession of the book, if they wish. KKC]
Numerous other copies probably exist in secret, and a 15th century one is persistently rumoured to form part of the collection of a celebrated American millionaire. A still vaguer rumor credits the preservation of a 16th century Greek text in the Salem family of Pickman; but if it was so preserved, it vanished with the artist R.U. Pickman , who disappeared early in 1926. The book is rigidly suppressed by the authorities of most countries, and by all branches of ornaised ecclesiasticism. Reading leads to terrible consequences. It was from rumours of this book (of which relatively few of the general public know) that R.W. Chambers is said to have derived the idea of his early novel "The King in Yellow".
[(16) Much of the latter part of this paragraph is in fact derived from Lovecraft's own short stories, most notably The Picture in the House, which featured the sadistic Robert Pickman character. Also, Lovecraft repeatedly cites Chambers' book as his main inspiration, although he created the Necronomicon before he first read Chambers. KKC]
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 civilization existed when Cthulhu first arrived on the earth eons 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 distances in spirit and body. Some believe 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 diety 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.
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
Here ends the Frequently Asked Questions for the Necronomicon
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