From Gabriel to Lucifer : a cultural history of angels
(Book)

Includes bibliographical references (pages 251-253) and index.

For skeptics, angels may be no more than metaphors: poetic devices to convey, at least for those with a religious sensibility, an active divine interest in creation. But for others, angels are absolutely real creatures: manifestations of cosmic power with the capacity either to enlighten or annihilate those whose awestruck paths they cross. In this book, Valery Rees offers the first comprehensive history of these beautiful, enigmatic and sometimes dangerous beings, whose existence and actions have been charted across the eons of time and civilizations. From the ancient Sumerian and Akkadian winged figures to Persian spirits, Egyptian representations of Ma'at, Arab jinn, biblical cherubim, the daemons of Hermes Trismegistus, Milton's defiant fallen angels and the more benign idea of the ever-watchful guardian angel, From Gabriel to Lucifer reveals a trajectory of angelic belief.--Adapted from back cover.