First published in 1899, The History of the Devil and the Idea of Evil: From the Earliest Times to the Present Day is Paul Carus’s wide-ranging study of the ways different cultures and religious traditions have understood evil and given it supernatural form. Combining comparative religion, mythology, demonology, history and philosophy, Carus follows the idea of evil across centuries of religious belief and cultural change.

The book begins with early religious ideas of good and evil before turning to ancient Egypt, Mesopotamia and Persia. Carus examines gods, demons and hostile supernatural beings, including the dualistic opposition of good and evil in Persian religion. He then considers traditions from ancient Israel, Brahmanism, Hinduism and Buddhism, placing the later Christian conception of Satan within a much broader history of religious attempts to explain suffering, temptation and destructive forces.

From there, Carus turns to early Christianity and the development of Christian demonology. He examines changing representations of the Devil alongside traditions of salvation in Greece and Italy and the demonology of Northern Europe. These sections show how earlier religious figures and symbols were transformed as Christianity spread and developed its own understanding of Satan and demonic powers.

The later chapters move into medieval and early modern Europe, addressing the Inquisition, witchcraft accusations and prosecutions, and the religious conflicts of the Reformation. Carus follows these developments through the eventual decline of organised witch persecution, examining how changing intellectual and religious attitudes altered European beliefs about supernatural evil.

Carus also considers the Devil beyond theology. His discussion extends into folklore, poetry and literature, including the traditions surrounding Faust and Mephistopheles, before concluding with a philosophical examination of good and evil. The original work was extensively illustrated, drawing upon historical manuscripts, religious art and other visual sources to document how demons and the Devil were represented across different periods. Contemporary Open Court advertising described the volume as containing hundreds of illustrations.

Written at the end of the nineteenth century, the book reflects Carus’s own period and comparative approach to religion, and some of its interpretations should not be treated as current historical or religious scholarship. Its continuing interest lies in the breadth of material Carus assembled and his attempt to trace how the personification of evil changed across religion, mythology, art and literature.