The Book Of The Dead.
Kitab Al'Azif.
The Necronomicon.
One of H.P. Lovecraft's most famous creations,
and inarguably the most famous tome within the Cthulhu mythos,
The Necronomicon is a legendary book
with a fascinating history in both the mythos
and in reality.
The first mention of the Necronomicon was in Lovecraft's short story "The Hound" in 1924.
Referring to an amulet, the narrator mentions how it is a thing hinted at in the forbidden Necronomicon,
which would be alien to all sane and balanced readers.
The author of the Necronomicon, the "Mad Arab" Abdul Alhazred,
was mentioned a year earlier in the story "The Nameless City".
Abdul Alhazred was a fictional name with no real meaning,
but some speculate that the name was a mistranslation of sorts.
One possible correct translation is "Abd-al-Hazred" or "Worshipper of the Great Devourer".
Whatever the case, according to Lovecraft's history of the Necronomicon,
the Mad Arab was supposedly a court poet, serving under a nobleman in Yemen,
when he suddenly decided to depart from the civilized world and began to wander the region.
He visited the ruins of Babylon and Memphis,
and wandered the Arabian desert for ten years alone.
Finally, he settled in Damascus,
and is here where he wrote "Al Azif",
later titled "The Necronomicon".
"Al Azif" supposedly translates to
"that nocturnal sound made by insects supposed to be the howling of demons"
According to Lovecraft, shortly after writing the original Necronomicon,
Alhazred was torn apart and devoured in broad daylight
by an invisible beast in front of many frightened witnesses.
Alhazred supposedly heard voices in his head,
and was a worshipper of Yog-Sothoth and Cthulhu,
so it's quite possible that Yog-Sothoth directly gave him the knowledge in order to pen the dreaded book.
The Necronomicon does contain a ritual that can be used to summon Yog-Sothoth,
so this theory is not completely unfounded.
Among many other things,
the tome also contains a ritual used to raise the dead,
instructions to make the Powder of Ibn-Ghazi,
information on the antarctic Elder Things,
and info about other Great Old Ones and species.
Without question, this information is extremely dangerous,
both mentally as well as potentially physically,
as most readers of the Necronomicon meet grisly ends.
The Necronomicon has been translated and copied many times throughout history,
first in 950 by Theodorus Philetas, a scholar of Constantinople.
In translating it to Greek, he also was the first to name the book "The Necronomicon"
a title which supposedly translates to
"Book considering the Dead".
In 1050, Patriarch Michael burned 171 copies of the Necronomicon,
including all of the Arabic editions.
In 1228, Olaus Wormius translated the esoteric tome into Latin,
and shortly after, the book was banned by Pope Gregory IX.
In 1586, the cultist John Dee translated the work into English,
but the translation is rough in many places
and this version only exists in fragments now.
The Necronomicon has been featured in many other works,
both directly and indirectly.
The "Evil Dead" series is one heavily based on the Cthulhu Mythos,
and the Necronomicon is a prominent part of it.
That version is called the "Necronomicon Ex Mortis",
and is responsible for creating the Deadites.
Video games, movies, TV series and many other books
feature the Necronomicon or a book heavily based on it.
Multiple publishers have put out books claiming them to be "the real" Necronomicon,
most notably one in 1977 known as "The Simon Necronomicon".
H.P. Lovecraft himself was asked numerous times if the Necronomicon was a real book,
and where could people find it.
He insisted over and over that the book was an invention of his,
purely fictional,
and that real-world books on the occult don't amount to much.
Then again...
isn't that exactly what he would say?