TL;DR
- Comparative-myth people often file Lucifer/Satan next to Loki, Prometheus, Agni, etc. in a “bound rebel brings fire/knowledge” pattern.
- A century-plus paper trail—from Shelley to Pagels—explicitly makes that connection.
- Two quick tables below map the mytheme and the bibliography.
- Point: this isn’t fringe; it’s well-attested scholarly chatter.
Lucifer in the Indo‑European “Bound Rebel” Grid#
| Figure | Crime | Torture Agent |
|---|---|---|
| Lucifer/Satan (Judeo-Christian) | Rebels, offers illicit knowledge/light | Chains + abyss; dragon bound 1 000 yrs (Rev 20) |
| Loki (Norse) | Kills Baldr, blocks return | Snake-venom drip |
| Prometheus (Greek) | Steals fire for men | Eagle eats liver |
| Agni (Vedic) | Hides fire from gods | Burning tongues |
| Syrdon (Nart) | Spoils the gods’ feast | Hot-iron plate |
| Zahhāk (Iran) | Serpent-shouldered tyrant | Snakes devour brains |
| Amirani (Georgian) | Steals fire, defies deity | Eagle eats liver |
Same skeleton everywhere: transgression → cosmic fetters → recurring agony until some end-time parole.
Writers Who Say Lucifer Is a Remix of Older Rebels#
| Author | Era | Key reference |
|---|---|---|
| Percy Bysshe Shelley | 1819 | Preface to Prometheus Unbound (“Satan is the only imaginary being resembling… Prometheus”). |
| Sophus Bugge | 1889 | Studier over de nordiske Gude- og Heltesagn – equates Loki & Lucifer. |
| Sir James G. Frazer | 1890–1915 | The Golden Bough – Devil as recycled fertility/rebel god. |
| Georges Dumézil | 1924 ff. | Papers on a Proto-IE “fire-trickster” (Loki/Prometheus/Satan). |
| Mircea Eliade | 1958 | Patterns in Comparative Religion – fallen shaman/fire-bearer reading. |
| Carl G. Jung | 1952 | Answer to Job – Satan as archetypal shadow paralleling rebel-light-bringers. |
| Frank Moore Cross | 1973 | Canaanite Myth and Hebrew Epic – Helel/Lucifer traced to a Canaanite dawn-god. |
| Mark S. Smith | 2001 | Origins of Biblical Monotheism – Ugaritic rebel motif feeding Isaiah/Satan. |
| Elaine Pagels | 1995 | The Origin of Satan – New-Testament Satan in Near-Eastern context. |
| Jeffrey Burton Russell | 1981–92 | Four-volume Devil series – Devil cannibalises older rebel myths. |
| William Hansen | 2007 | “The Myth of the Fettered God and His Kin” – packs Satan with Prometheus & Loki. |
FAQ#
Q1. Is the Lucifer–Prometheus parallel fringe? A. No. Romantic poets flagged it early, and mainstream comparative‑religion scholars (Frazer, Dumézil, Eliade) keep citing it.
Q2. Does the Bible literally chain Satan? A. Revelation 20:1‑3 flat‑out says an angel “bound the dragon… the Devil” for a thousand years—classic fetter motif.
Sources#
- Shelley, P. B. Prometheus Unbound, 1819.
- Bugge, S. Studier over de nordiske Gude- og Heltesagn, 1889.
- Frazer, J. G. The Golden Bough, 3rd ed., 1915.
- Dumézil, G. “Loki et Satan,” Revue de l’histoire des religions 89 (1924).
- Eliade, M. Patterns in Comparative Religion, 1958.
- Jung, C. G. Answer to Job, 1952.
- Cross, F. M. Canaanite Myth and Hebrew Epic, 1973.
- Smith, M. S. Origins of Biblical Monotheism, 2001.
- Pagels, E. The Origin of Satan, 1995.
- Russell, J. B. The Devil: Perceptions of Evil from Antiquity to Primitive Christianity, 1981.
- Hansen, W. “The Myth of the Fettered God and His Kin,” in Myths & Legends of the World, 2007.