ColossiansOne

Demonic · Goetic Spirit · c. 1577 CE

Dantalion

Wears the faces of every man and woman at once and carries a book. The Goetia gives him the broadest claim of the seventy-two — he knows the thoughts of everyone alive, and can change them.

Historical depiction of Dantalion — S.L. MacGregor Mathers and Aleister Crowley — http://www.hermetics.org/pdf/grimoire/ac_goetia.pdf Archived 2018-07-04 at the Wayback Machine
CC BY-SA 4.0 · S.L. MacGregor Mathers and Aleister Crowley · Wikimedia Commons file page
12attested

Single lineage

Form. A man with many countenances of all men and women, holding a book in his right hand.

Offices. Teaches all arts and sciences; declares the secret counsel of any person, for he knows the thoughts of all and can change them; causes love and shows the likeness of any person wherever they are.

Identity

Where does the name come from?

Where it was actually worshipped

None. The Ars Goetia is a conjuring manual and not a liturgy: its spirits are constrained, put to work and dismissed, never housed or offered to. Not one of the seventy-two has a temple, a shrine, a festival or a place-name anywhere.

A figure with temples and a figure that only ever existed on a page are different kinds of thing, and the difference is easy to lose once both are entries in a list.

At a glance

Vitals

Vitals

Rank
Duke
Order
Goetic Spirit
Base of operations
None. The Ars Goetia is a conjuring manual and not a liturgy: its spirits are constrained, put to work and dismissed, never housed or offered to. Not one of the seventy-two has a temple, a shrine, a festival or a place-name anywhere.
Era
c. 1577 CE
Traditions
Solomonic, Folk & Demonological

Traits

Traditional form
A man with many countenances of all men and women, holding a book in his right hand.
Goetic rank
Duke

Stats

Source base12/100
Legions commanded36
Position in the Goetia71 of 72
Texts naming it1
Powers attributed5

5 attributed

What is it said to do?

Where these powers cluster

The 5 offices attributed to Dantalion, grouped by kind. Segment width is the share of powers falling in each category.

A bar dominated by one colour means a specialist; an even spread means a figure the sources credit with almost anything.

  • knowledge1
  • divination1
  • social1
  • martial1
  • transformation1

1 mark

Which marks is it attached to?

A mark a figure carries and a mark used against a figure are opposite claims, so each link says which it is.

1 texts

Which texts say so?

DantalionNot named in this text

Absent from Weyer. One of four spirits the Ars Goetia adds — the others are Vassago, Seere, Dantalion and Andromalius — against the one Weyer carries that the Goetia drops, Pruflas.

DantalionThe Duke#71

Teaches all arts and sciences; declares the secret counsel of any person, for he knows the thoughts of all and can change them; causes love and shows the likeness of any person wherever they are.

The Seventy-first Spirit is Dantalion. He is a Duke Great and Mighty, appearing in the Form of a Man with many Countenances, all Men's and Women's Faces; and he hath a Book in his right hand.

Connections

What is it connected to?

Nothing, and that is what the source says. The Ars Goetia gives Dantalion a rank, a number of legions, a list of offices and a seal, and no relationship to any other spirit in the book — no lineage, no faction, no quarrel. Sixty-seven of the seventy-two are in the same position. A catalogue of self-contained entries is what that text is, and the emptiness here is the shape of it rather than work outstanding.

Placement

Where does it sit in the hierarchies?

Answered from the sources

Common questions

Which texts mention Dantalion?

ColossiansOne records 2 texts naming Dantalion: Pseudomonarchia Daemonum and The Lesser Key of Solomon, Book I: Ars Goetia. The earliest is Pseudomonarchia Daemonum (1577), which gives the name as Dantalion.

What rank is Dantalion?

The texts do not agree. Dantalion is given as Absent and The Duke depending on which source is consulted, which is normal for figures that pass through several traditions — each one assigns a rank from its own system rather than inheriting one.

What is Dantalion said to do?

The sources credit Dantalion with 5 distinct powers or offices, including Teaches the Liberal Sciences, Discovers Hidden Things, Procures Love, Commands Legions and Changes Shape. Each is attributed on the profile to the text that claims it. ColossiansOne describes what the texts say; it does not endorse the claims or reproduce them as instruction.

How old is Dantalion?

The earliest attestation in this corpus dates to c. 1577 CE. That is when the name first appears in a surviving text, which is a lower bound rather than an origin — a figure known from three tablets was probably named in many more that did not survive. Dantalion is classified as infernal in ColossiansOne.

Nearest in the corpus

If Dantalion is what you came for, these are next

Chosen by proximity rather than by popularity: the same pantheon first, then the same rank, then the same kind of figure.

Historical depiction of Astaroth, Duke demonic

Astaroth

Duke · Goetic Spirit

100

The Canaanite goddess Astarte, three thousand years on, made a male duke of hell with her name intact. The Goetia has him discourse willingly on the fall of the spirits, and warns the operator to hold a ring to his face against the stench of his breath.

Infernalc. 1300 BCE40 legions
6 sources5 powers
Historical depiction of Agares, Duke demonic

Agares

Duke · Goetic Spirit

24

An old man riding a crocodile with a goshawk on his fist, credited with teaching every language and with hauling back anyone who has fled. The same entry has him causing earthquakes and stripping men of office, temporal and spiritual alike.

Infernalc. 1577 CE31 legions
2 sources4 powers

Aim

Duke · Goetic Spirit

24

The book's arsonist: cities, castles and great houses set alight, by a three-headed spirit carrying a firebrand and riding a viper. The same entry has him making men clever and answering truly on private matters.

Infernalc. 1577 CE26 legions
2 sources4 powers
Historical depiction of Allocer, Duke demonic

Allocer

Duke · Goetic Spirit

24

Speaks loudly and hoarsely from a great horse, red-faced and flaming-eyed like a lion — an alarming delivery for a spirit whose subjects are astronomy and the liberal sciences.

Infernalc. 1577 CE36 legions
2 sources4 powers

Amdusias

Duke · Goetic Spirit

24

Preceded by trumpets and every kind of instrument playing with nobody visible to play them — one of the more theatrical entrances in the Ars Goetia. He makes music heard where he goes, bends trees to the operator's will, and gives excellent familiars.

Infernalc. 1577 CE29 legions
2 sources3 powers

Barbatos

Duke · Goetic Spirit

24

Comes only while the Sun stands in Sagittarius, and comes with four kings and their companies behind him. What he gives is comprehension: the song of birds, the voices of other creatures, and treasure hidden by enchantment rather than by hand.

Infernalc. 1577 CE30 legions
2 sources5 powers

The books behind Dantalion

Every claim on this profile is attributed to one of these. They are public domain, listed oldest first, and each links to a full text where one is freely available.

Corpus last revised 29 August 2026. A reference site’s credibility rests on being maintained, so this is the date the sourced records last changed — not the date the page was rebuilt.