From Collin de Plancy's Dictionnaire Infernal
Nybbas is a demon or spirit that manages visions & dreams in Collin de Plancy's Dictionnaire Infernal.
Rank[]
Nybbas is of the inferior order, obeying to Vapula. Sometimes dubbed 'Prince of the Media', he is assisted by human slaves which he seeks in dreams and visions but discards when their favor is no longer required.
Appearance[]
Nybbas is regarded as a buffoon and a charlatan, his grinning face is depicted as sickening and terrifying and beneath his otherways friendly exterior, he is disdainful and manipulative. His eyes are always hidden behind a veil or some obstruction (in the 18th century it was seen as a large hat). No one has ever seen his eyes to suggest his nature as a liar.
Powers[]
Nybbas charge is to dehumanise and desensitise humanity, making selfishness and cruelty appear moral, and generosity and gentleness childish. Modern stories tells that he was the demon behind the inventors of TV and the World Wide Web and some ultra right sects in modern day would blame him for manipulation of magazines, newspapers, radio, and the World Wide Web.
Similarity with Nebahaz and Nabu[]
The name Nybbas has remarkable resemblance with "Nebahaz", one of several deities protecting the individual cities of Samaria who are mentioned specifically by name in the Bible, in 2 Kings 17:31. In his "Encyclopédie Théologique", or "Dictionnaire ... de la Bible", Augustin Calmet asserts that Nebahaz and Nebachas are one and the same and associates them with Nebo, another name for the god Nabu.
Nabu, god of literacy, the rational arts, scribes and wisdom
Nabu, also known as Nebo, was the Mesopotamian and Babylonian god of literacy, the rational arts, scribes, knowledge and wisdom, who was the son of Marduk, the chief of the pantheon and patron deity of Babylon. He was notably worshipped in the city of Borsippa and his statue would be taken every year to Babylon to meet the statue of his father (as the Babylonians believed their gods dwelled within statues).
He was considered the patron god of the scribes, literacy, and wisdom, and was seen as the inventor of writing. He, alongside Ninurta, also inscribed the fates of men and he rode the a winger beast called a Mušḫuššu, similar to his father. He became identified with several other pagan gods, such as Apollo, Hermes, Mercury and Thoth.
Within the Bible Nabu is mentioned in the following:
- Bel bows down, Nebo stoops low; their idols are borne by beasts of burden. The images that are carried about are burdensome, a burden for the weary. They stoop and bow down together; unable to rescue the burden, they themselves go off into captivity. - Isaiah 46:1-2