The Book of Solomon

The Sealed Vessel and Babylon

The people of Babylon opened a brass vessel expecting treasure. Inside were the seventy-two spirits and their legions, bound there by Solomon. [1]

Goetia · the paragraph after entry 72 and the vessel diagrams

Three men lift a metal vessel’s lid beside water while pale, smoke-like faces rise before the city’s towers. — **Artistic interpretation** Treasure-seekers open Solomon’s vessel in Babylon.

The opening of the vessel

Solomon bound seventy-two mighty kings and princes in a vessel of brass, together with the legions under their command. Belial, Bileth, Asmoday and Gaap were their chiefs. The Goetia gives pride as the reason for their imprisonment.

[1]

He sealed the vessel and, by divine power, sent it into a deep lake or hole in Babylon. The people of Babylon marvelled at the sight. Expecting a great store of treasure, they went into the lake to break the vessel open. [1]

The chief spirits flew out immediately, their legions following them. All returned to their former places except Belial. He entered an image and answered those who offered sacrifices to him and worshipped the image as their god. [1]

The vessel and its covering seal

The 1904 edition illustrates two vessel forms, figures 158 and 159. The first has curled handles and a broad, flared base; the second has a rounded, handleless body above a narrow stem. The accompanying note records different forms in the manuscripts. Its colour prescription is bronze, with black letters on a red band. [4]

Figure 160 is identified as the brass cover’s Secret Seal. Figure 161 prints an alternative beside it. Both enclose a stylised upright figure within a band of characters; the lower outline has a straight base in figure 160 and a curved base in figure 161. The seal’s notice credits it with commanding the spirits into the vessel, winning affection and victory, and preserving Solomon from weapons, fire and water. [4][3]

The concluding account calls one of the chiefs Bileth. In the numbered catalogue, the king’s name is Beleth. Belial, Asmoday and Gaap also have their own notices; the vessel passage brings these separately described spirits into a collective captivity. [1][5]

A fisherman and an ivory casket

The edition’s editorial note compares the vessel with The Fisherman and the Jinni in the Arabian Nights. There, a fisherman opens a vessel of yellow brass closed by a leaden seal, releasing a single jinni named Sakhr or Sacar. The Goetia gives the discovery to the people of Babylon, and its vessel holds the company of spirits and their legions. [4][1]

Babylonian discoverers also appear in the Greater Key’s introduction from Additional MS 10862. Philosophers repairing Solomon’s tomb find an ivory casket containing a book. Its obscure words require an angel’s interpretation before Iohé Grevis can understand it; he then returns the Key to its casket. The philosophers recover concealed teaching, while the Goetia’s treasure-seekers release confined spirits. [2][1]

Sources and editions

Goetia — binding and release of the seventy-two
S. L. MacGregor Mathers, translated; Aleister Crowley, edited, The Book of the Goetia of Solomon the King (1904), first-edition facsimile. Paragraph immediately following entry 72; printed page 31, facsimile PDF page 28. Pride, four chiefs, Babylon, release and Belial’s image.
Greater Key — Introduction from Additional MS 10862
S. L. MacGregor Mathers, The Key of Solomon the King (1889), manuscript introductions attributed to British Library Additional MS 10862 and Lansdowne MS 1203. Printed pages 2–4; facsimile PDF pages 9–11. Revelation, address to Roboam, burial and rediscovery of the ivory casket.
Goetia — The Secret Seal of Solomon
S. L. MacGregor Mathers, translated; Aleister Crowley, edited, The Book of the Goetia of Solomon the King (1904), first-edition facsimile. The Secret Seal of Solomon, printed pp. 36–37, facsimile PDF pp. 33–34; Plate III, figures 160–161, facsimile PDF p. 3. The brass cover, binding of the spirits, and the powers attributed to Solomon’s seal.
Goetia — The Vessel of Brass
S. L. MacGregor Mathers, translated; Aleister Crowley, edited, The Book of the Goetia of Solomon the King (1904), first-edition facsimile. The Vessel of Brass, printed p. 36, facsimile PDF p. 33; Plate III, figures 158–159, facsimile PDF p. 3. Manuscript form variants, bronze and black lettering on a red band; editorial comparison with Sakhr/Sacar’s yellow-brass vessel and leaden seal.
Goetia — Beleth and the four chiefs
S. L. MacGregor Mathers, translated; Aleister Crowley, edited, The Book of the Goetia of Solomon the King (1904), first-edition facsimile. Numbered notices 13 (Beleth), 32 (Asmoday), 33 (Gaap) and 68 (Belial); compare the collective vessel passage on printed p. 31.

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