Moloch in popular culture

see also Moloch (disambiguation)

The Canaanite god Moloch was the recipient of child sacrifice according to the account of the Hebrew Bible as well as Greco-Roman historiography on the god of Carthage. Moloch is depicted in John Milton's Paradise Lost as one of the greatest warriors of the rebel angels, vengeful and militant.

In the 19th century, "Moloch" came to be used allegorically, of any idol or cause requiring excessive sacrifice.[1] Bertrand Russell in 1903 used Moloch to describe oppressive religion, and Winston Churchill in his 1948 history The Gathering Storm used Moloch as a metaphor for Adolf Hitler's cult of personality .

Historical fiction

Gustave Flaubert's Salammbô (1862), a semi-historical novel about Carthage depicts the practice of child sacrifice to Moloch.

In Giovanni Pastrone's silent epic film Cabiria (1913), substantially based on Flaubert, the heroine is saved from being sacrificed to the idol Molech.[2]

Allegorical

In Allen Ginsberg's 1955 poem Howl, Moloch is used as a metaphor for the American city, thus aligning McCarthy-era America with the demon. The word is repeated many times throughout Part II of the poem, and begins (as an exclamation of "Moloch!") in all but the first and last five stanzas of the section.

Moloch (Молох) is a 1999 Russian biographical drama film directed by Alexander Sokurov. It portrays Adolf Hitler as a humanized figure, living life in an unassuming manner during an abrupt journey to the Bavarian Alps.

Eponymy

Books

Comics and anime

Film and TV

Video games

Music

Bands

Songs & lyrics

See also

Moloch horridus is the scientific name of a kind of horned lizard also known as a Thorny Devil

References

  1. Lives of Victorian political figures: Volume 2 Christine Kinealy, Michael De Nie, Carla King - 2007 "370, L 5: Moloch: in popular mythology, an idol who devours his followers' children, "
  2. Architecture for the Screen: A Critical Study of Set Design - Page 115 Juan Antonio Ramírez - 2004 "The "Temple of Moloch," as recreated for Cabiria (1913), an influential Italian "super" production of the period. The horrific portal to the temple, a gigantic mouth with shark-like fangs, clearly establishes the voracious character of a merciless, pre-Christian god requiring endless human sacrifice."
  3. http://www.girlgeniusonline.com/comic.php?date=20120817
  4. http://libcom.org/files/Anarchy-Comics-1.pdf
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