Ephippas

Overview

The Testament of Solomon recounts a letter from Adares, king of the Arabians, asking for relief from a deadly wind that blows from dawn to the third hour. A servant captures the spirit in a leather flask using Solomon’s seal. The flask is brought to the temple and then walks, bows and stands upright; the contained spirit identifies itself as Ephippas.

Ephippas claims power to kindle fires, move mountains, disrupt royal oaths and wither trees. The text also gives an explicitly Christian declaration concerning the power that defeats it. These assertions belong to the pseudepigraphic narrative and are not historical meteorological observations. Solomon places the flask beneath the enormous corner stone, and the spirit lifts and carries the stone to its assigned position.

Ephippas subsequently brings a Red Sea demon with a great column. The two hold the column in the air and swear to support it until the world ends. The companion identifies itself as Abezithibod and supplies its own single-winged form and Exodus story. That wing belongs to the companion, not automatically to Ephippas. The selected translation leaves Ephippas’s external body vague, so the image interprets wind and animated flask rather than inventing a cultural portrait.

Origins & earliest records

Selected Conybeare1898 translation; no universal composition date, biblical historicity or earliest oral origin asserted.

Records & interpretation

Complete §§117–127 plus Beelzeboul’s anticipatory mention in§28; actual column companion and wing distinction checked.

Selected bibliography

Documented works and useful reading. This is not a list of every appearance.

1. 01

   The Testament of Solomon, translated text

   F.C. Conybeare · 1898

   Conybeare translation in The Jewish Quarterly Review; selected complete narrative sections and relevant translator notes inspected; source tool evidence cached.

Family & connections

A source-supported family tree or inspiration record has not yet been compiled for this profile. Related reading below indicates a connection in subject matter, not a proven lineage or creative influence.

References

Sources supporting this profile. Linked pages have their own scope and editorial standards.

1. Primary text or custodial scholarly editionThe Testament of Solomon, translated textResearch access: 2026-10-10

Image credits

Ephippas - AI-generated imagined folklore illustration.

AI-generated imagined Ephippas as the animated leather flask lifting the corner stone in the Testament of Solomon. Visible wind and generic temple architecture are invented; the companion’s single wing is not assigned to Ephippas.