Angelic · Archangels / Chief Princes · c. 400 BCE

Michael

Also called Mikha'el, Mika'il, Michael the Archangel, St Michael · also recorded as Mikael, St. Michael, Saint Michael the Archangel, St Michael the Archangel, The Archangel Michael, Saint Michael, St. Michael the Archangel, Archangel Michael, the Right Hand of God, Right Hand of God (per Wikidata)

One of the chief princesPrince of the hostThe archangelDefender of the Church

The warring archangel: prince of Israel in Daniel, captain of the host in Revelation, and the only angel the New Testament calls an archangel outright.

Public domain · Guido Reni · Wikimedia Commons file page

100attested

Deep source base

CelestialArchangelChristian Jewish Islamic Enochian

Michael's rank rises steadily the further you get from the earliest texts. Daniel calls him 'one of the chief princes' and the guardian of a nation, a peer among several. Revelation puts him at the head of the army that casts out the dragon. By the medieval period he is commander of the entire celestial host and the psychopomp who weighs souls — offices no early text gives him. His name is a rhetorical question, 'Who is like God?', which later writers read as the battle cry answering Lucifer's pride.

Identity

Where does the name come from?

What the name means

Hebrew *mi-ka-el*, 'Who is like God?' — a question rather than a statement. BDB (1906) sets it beside the Assyrian personal names Mannu-ki-Ramman, 'Who is like Ramman?', and Mannu-ki-ilu-rabu, 'Who is like the great God?', which makes it a standard Semitic way of building a name rather than a unique theological claim. It is also somebody's ordinary name long before it is an archangel's: BDB enumerates ten men called Michael, in Numbers, Chronicles and Ezra, and only then the prince who stands for Israel in Daniel. Later writers hear the question as a battle cry answering Lucifer's pride, which is a reading of the name and not its sense.

Where it was actually worshipped

Chonae in Phrygia, Monte Sant'Angelo in Apulia, Mont-Saint-Michel — all hilltop sites, following a pattern of high places.

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

Also known as

Mikha'elMika'ilMichael the ArchangelSt MichaelMikaelSt. MichaelSaint Michael the ArchangelSt Michael the ArchangelThe Archangel MichaelSaint MichaelSt. Michael the ArchangelArchangel Michaelthe Right Hand of GodRight Hand of GodOne of the chief princesPrince of the hostThe archangelDefender of the Church

First attested: Hebrew Bible & Deuterocanon · c. 900–100 BCE
Rank: Archangel
Order: Archangels / Chief Princes
Base of operations: Chonae in Phrygia, Monte Sant'Angelo in Apulia, Mont-Saint-Michel — all hilltop sites, following a pattern of high places.
Era: c. 400 BCE
Traditions: Christian, Jewish, Islamic, Enochian
Placed in: The Great Archangels The Offices of the Mala'ika

Traits

Direction: South
Domain: War, judgment, protection of Israel and of the Church
Element: Fire
Traditional form: Armoured warrior with sword or spear, treading a dragon
Metal of its planet (Agrippa, 1533): Gold — “Amongst Metals, Gold by reason of its splendor, and its receiving that from the Sun which makes it cordiall.” (I.23)
Planet: Sun

Stats

Source base100/100

AuthorityCommander of the heavenly host

Texts naming it6

Powers attributed6

Known connections

Chain of command

The Seven Who Stand Sariel Raguel Remiel

Identified with

Ahura Mazda Sraosha Mithra

6 attributed

What is it said to do?

Where these powers cluster

The 6 offices attributed to Michael, 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.

martial4
social1
transformation1

martial

social

Intercedes 1 Enoch (The Book of Enoch)

transformation

Conducts Souls New Testament
Later tradition; Jude has him disputing over Moses' body.

2 marks

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.

The Seal of Solomon

Carried as an emblem

Delivers the ring to Solomon — the seal's authority is angelic, not royal.

The Testament of Solomon

The Triangle of Art

Carried as an emblem

One of the three names written along the triangle's borders.

The Lesser Key of Solomon, Book I: Ars Goetia

6 texts

Which texts say so, and where do they disagree?

When these texts were written

Each dot is one of the 6 texts that names Michael, placed at that text's approximate date.

A wide spread means the figure was carried across many centuries and traditions; a tight cluster means a single period produced the whole record.

6 texts spanning roughly 2,313 years

Where the texts differ

Name: given as Michael, Mika'il, St. Michael the Archangel
Rank: given as One of the chief princes; One of the holy angels; Archangel; Angel

Hebrew Bible & Deuterocanonc. 900–100 BCE

MichaelOne of the chief princes

Guardian prince of Israel; contends with the princes of Persia and Greece.

“Michael, one of the chief princes, came to help me.”

1 Enoch (The Book of Enoch)c. 300–100 BCE

MichaelOne of the holy angels

Set over the best part of mankind; commanded to bind Semjaza and his associates.

“Michael, one of the holy angels, to wit, he that is set over the best part of mankind ⌈⌈and⌉⌉ over chaos.”

New Testamentc. 50–110 CE

MichaelArchangel

Leads his angels in war against the dragon; disputes with the devil over the body of Moses.

Qur'an & Hadith7th c. CE onward

Mika'ilAngel

Named alongside Jibril as an angel whose enemies are God's enemies; associated with provision and rain.

Paradise Lost1667

MichaelArchangel

Leads the loyal host on the first day of battle and later expels Adam and Eve from Eden.

The Catholic Encyclopedia (1913)1913

St. Michael the Archangel

“St. Michael is one of the principal angels; his name was the war-cry of the good angels in the battle fought in heaven against the enemy and his followers.”

Connections

What is it connected to?

Historical depiction of Satan, Adversary

Thwarts Satan

Revelation 12: Michael and his angels fight the dragon. Jude has him dispute with the devil over the body of Moses without daring a railing accusation.

Historical depiction of Semjaza, Leader of the Watchers

Thwarts Semjaza

1 Enoch 10: Michael is sent to bind Semjaza and his associates for seventy generations.

Historical depiction of Samael, Prince of Accusers

Thwarts Samael

Later Jewish tradition sets Michael as Israel's advocate against Samael as its accuser — a courtroom pairing rather than a battlefield one.

Historical depiction of Ahura Mazda, Persian The Wise Lord

Identified with Ahura Mazda

Not a derivation — but the Amesha Spentas supply the model of ranked spirits under one lord.

Serves The Seven Who Stand

Named among the seven holy angels at 1 Enoch 20.

Historical depiction of Sraosha, Persian Yazata of Obedience

Identified with Sraosha

Guardian of souls and adversary of a named demon.

Historical depiction of Mithra, Persian Lord of Covenant

Identified with Mithra

Enforcers of covenant with a thousand eyes; Mithra's contract-keeping is Michael's guardianship of a people.

Served by Sariel

Among the seven archangels of 1 Enoch.

Served by Raguel

Served by Remiel

Placement

Where does it sit in the hierarchies?

The Great Archangels

Approved at Rome, 745 → Michael

Captain of the host.

alongside Gabriel, Raphael

The Offices of the Mala'ika

The great archangels → Mika'il

Provision and rain.

alongside Gabriel, Israfil, Azrael

Afterwards

What did later readers make of it?

Patron of soldiers, police and paratroopers; weigher of souls in medieval doom paintings, an office no early text gives him. The Leonine prayer to St Michael, composed in 1886, was said after Low Mass across the Catholic world until 1964 and has been widely revived since.

Kept in its own section on purpose. Everything above is what the cited texts say; this is what was built on top of them afterwards, and blending the two is how most popular demonology goes wrong.

Answered from the sources

Common questions

Which texts mention Michael?

ColossiansOne records 6 texts naming Michael: Hebrew Bible & Deuterocanon, 1 Enoch (The Book of Enoch), New Testament and Qur'an & Hadith, and 2 more. The earliest is Hebrew Bible & Deuterocanon (c. 900–100 BCE), which gives the name as Michael.

Is Michael the same as Ahura Mazda?

ColossiansOne records the link as "identified with" rather than as simple identity. Not a derivation — but the Amesha Spentas supply the model of ranked spirits under one lord. Where texts disagree about whether two names denote one figure, the disagreement is shown rather than resolved.

What rank is Michael?

The texts do not agree. Michael is given as One of the chief princes, One of the holy angels, Archangel and Angel 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.

How else is Michael spelled?

The name appears as Mika'il, St. Michael the Archangel, Mikha'el, Michael the Archangel, St Michael and Mikael, among others. Variation on this scale is the norm: these names cross Ugaritic, Hebrew, Greek, Latin and vernacular transmission, and each step reshapes the spelling. Every profile records the name as each text gives it.

What is Michael said to do?

The sources credit Michael with 6 distinct powers or offices, including Grants Victory in War, Guards & Wards, Binds Spirits, Executes Judgment and Intercedes. 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 Michael?

The earliest attestation in this corpus dates to c. 400 BCE. 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. Michael is classified as celestial in ColossiansOne.

Nearest in the corpus

If Michael 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.