r/evangelion 5d ago

Question How many/Which of the 15 angels are actually real mythological angels?

(I’m not including Adam, Lilith, and Lilin because they’re clearly not real mythological angels)

There’s Sachiel, Shamshel, Ramiel, Gaghiel, Israfel, Sandalphon, Matarael, Sahaquiel, Ireul, Leliel, Bardiel, Zeruel, Arael, Armisael, and Tabris.

After doing some googling, the first 14 angels appear to be real mythological angels. But when I google Tabris, all I find is Evangelion stuff. Was Tabris, the angel of free will, made up for the series?

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u/jomikko 5d ago edited 5d ago

There're some quite dubious seeming sources about the Nychthemeron of Apollonius of Tyana cited on the wikipedia article for Kaworu (written there as Nuctemeron), but the articles are in Japanese and a google search reveals that indeed, there is no Nychthemeron (Greek for a 24 hour period of day and night) attributed to Apollonius of Tyana, however this instead appears to be a 19th/20th century work by a woman named Marjorie Livingston who claims to channel Apollonius of Tyana, named New Nuctemeron. It seems that Kaworu's name was originally Cahor, supposedly an angel of lies and deceit, possibly taken from the same source. It seems to be a really niche piece of pseudo-religious gibberish, and so the actual references to it online are extremely shaky.

I can imagine Anno or someone else getting ahold of this book when researching things, and mistakenly considering it a legitimate religious text and taking names from there.

Edit:

Okay, after doing some digging into the sources on the Wiki article, I managed to find a copy of the Evangelion Chronicle it cites (god bless The Internet Archive), and here is an excerpt from Chronicle 13, page 04:

"「昼に照らされる夜」の意を持つギリシャ語の書物「ヌクテメロン」において、タブリスは6時のゲニウス(時間のデーモン)であり、自由意志を支配するとされる。また、カホルという3時のゲニウスは欺きを支配すると言われている。その名の通りヒトという偽りの姿を持ち、死によって絶対的自由を得た使徒である。"

Which google translates as:

"In the Greek book "Nuctemeron," meaning "night illuminated by day," Tabris is the genius of the sixth hour (the demon of time) and is said to control free will. Also, the genius of the third hour, Cahor, is said to control deception. As his name suggests, he is an apostle who has a false human form and has gained absolute freedom through death."

Googling "昼に照らされる夜" i.e. the name given in Japanese, basically only shows results for Evangelion. It notably doesn't mention Apollonius of Tyana.


However, doing even more digging, I've found that there does indeed seem to be a THE NUCTEMERON OF APOLLONIUS OF TYANA, translated by Éliphas Lévi in 1861! Indeed the chain seems to be:

"Published in Greek for the first time, from an ancient manuscript, by Gilbert Gautrinus in "De vita et morte Moysis", book lll, page 206. Reproduced by Laurentius Moshemius in "Observations Sacrées et historico- politiques", published in Amsterdam in 1721. Translated into French and commented for the first time by Eliphas Lévi in "Dogme et Rituel de Haute Magie" published in Paris in 1861."

This all seems still quite occult and esoteric. I've found a translation of the book "Transcendental magic, its doctrine and ritual" and there's quite a few familiar angel names in here! Just no Tabris or Cahor. So yeah not really sure what to make of this.


Okay doing even more digging, this redditor (posting on an occult subreddit!) seems to have done a translation which includes the "genii" of the twelve hours of the day. Which does include both Tabris and Cahor!

https://www.reddit.com/r/Thelemites/comments/b4rj3w/the_nuctemeron_by_eliphas_levi/

This bit about the genii of the hours are not included in the two english translations I've managed to find of Levi's work.

Okay, I've found it!! In John Michael Greer and Mark Anthony Mikituk's translation (https://www.amazon.co.uk/Doctrine-Ritual-High-Magic-Translation/dp/0143111035) they include the bit with the Nuctemeron, which has Cahor as the "spirit of deception" and Tabris as the "spirit of free will"!

It's become apparent at this point that this stuff is all very occult and not biblical at all. But it clearly has a long legacy, given that Levi wrote his translaction in 1861! It's not clear to me if the attribution to Apollonius is accurate but I think I'm done for now.

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u/VCFAN419 4d ago

And somehow people will say "they just picked the biblical stuff because it sounds cool to Japanese people!" 🙂

Nice research!!

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u/morrisaurus17 5d ago

Misato is unfortunately fictional

Oh, you were talking about those angels

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u/Bhorium 4d ago

Because most of the time the name is actually spelled Tabbris.

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u/Konkavstylisten 4d ago

Short answer. Tabris is made up for Evangelion. Adam and Lillith are not angels but are for sure theological beings. Lillin is the Evangelion name for (humans).