| Legion | |
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Real Name |
Legion |
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First Appearance |
Gospel of Mark |
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Created by |
Unknown |
Origin[]
In the New Testament, Legion is a group of demons, particularly those in two of three versions of the exorcism of the Gerasene demoniac, an account in the synoptic Gospels of an incident in which Jesus of Nazareth performs an exorcism. Legion is a large collection of demons that share a single mind and will.
The earliest version of this story exists in the Gospel of Mark, described as taking place in "the country of the Gerasenes". Jesus encounters a possessed man and calls on the demon to emerge, demanding to know its name – an important element of traditional exorcism practice. He finds the man is possessed by a multitude of demons who give the collective name of "Legion". Fearing that Jesus will drive them out of the world and into the abyss, they beg him instead to cast them into a herd of pigs on a nearby hill, which he does. The pigs then rush into the sea and are drowned (Mark 5:1–5:13).
This story is also in the other two Synoptic Gospels. The Gospel of Luke shortens the story but retains most of the details including the name (Luke 8:26–8:33). The Gospel of Matthew shortens it more dramatically, changes the possessed man to two men (a particular stylistic device of this writer) and changes the location to "the country of the Gadarenes". This is probably because the author was aware that Gerasa is actually around 50 km (31 mi) away from the Sea of Galilee—although Gadara is still 10 km (6.2 mi) away. In this version, the demons are unnamed (Matthew 8:28–8:32).
Public Domain Appearances[]
All published appearances of Legion from before January 1, 1931 are public domain in the US.
Some notable appearances are listed below:
Public Domain Literary Appearances[]
- The Bible - New Testament
- Gospel of Mark , Gospel of Luke, and Gospel of Matthew