A devil is the personification of evil as it is conceived in various cultures and religious traditions.It is seen as the objectification of a hostile and destructive force.] Jeffrey Burton Russell states that the different conceptions of the devil can be summed up as 1) a principle of evil independent from God, 2) an aspect of God, 3) a created being turning evil (a fallen angel), and 4) a symbol of human evil.]: 23 
It is difficult to specify a particular definition of any complexity that will cover all of the traditions, beyond that it is a manifestation of evil. It is meaningful to consider the devil through the lens of each of the cultures and religions that have the devil as part of their mythos.[
The history of this concept intertwines with theology, mythology, psychiatry, art and literature, maintaining a validity, and developing independently within each of the traditions. It occurs historically in many contexts and cultures, and is given many different names——and attributes: it is portrayed as blue, black, or red; it is portrayed as having horns on its head, and without horns, and so on.While depictions of the devil are usually taken seriously, there are times when it is treated less seriously; when, for example, devil figures are used in advertising and on candy wrappers
: Devil in Christianity
See also: Satan § Christianity, and War in Heaven
In Christianity, evil is incarnate in the devil or Satan, a fallen angel who is the primary opponent of God.[17][18] Some Christians also considered the Roman and Greek deities as devils.[6][7]
Christianity describes Satan as a fallen angel who terrorizes the world through evil,[17] is the antithesis of truth,[19] and shall be condemned, together with the fallen angels who follow him, to eternal fire at the Last Judgment.[17]
In mainstream Christianity, the devil is usually referred to as Satan. This is because Christian beliefs in Satan are inspired directly by the dominant view of Second Temple Judaism (recorded in the Enochian books), as expressed/practiced by Jesus, and with some minor variations. Some modern Christians[who?] consider the devil to be an angel who, along with one-third of the angelic host (the demons), rebelled against God and has consequently been condemned to the Lake of Fire. He is described[attribution needed] as hating all humanity (or more accurately creation), opposing God, spreading lies and wreaking havoc on their souls.
Horns of a goat and a ram, goat's fur and ears, nose and canines of a pig; a typical depiction of the devil in Christian art. The goat, ram and pig are consistently associated with the devil.[20] Detail of a 16th-century painting by Jacob de Backer in the National Museum in Warsaw.
Satan is traditionally identified as the serpent who convinced Eve to eat the forbidden fruit; thus, Satan has often been depicted as a serpent.
In the Bible, the devil is identified with "the dragon" and "the old serpent" seen in the Book of Revelation,[21] as has "the prince of this world" in the Gospel of John;[22] and "the spirit that now worketh in the children of disobedience" in the Epistle to the Ephesians;[23] and "the god of this world" in 2 Corinthians 4:4.[24] He is also identified as the dragon in the Book of Revelation[25] and the tempter of the Gospels.[26]
The devil is sometimes called Lucifer, particularly when describing him as an angel before his fall, although the use of Lucifer (Latin lúcifer, "bringer of light"), the "son of the dawn", in Isaiah 14:12 is a reference to a Babylonian king.[27]
