I’m curious. Where do you guys think the image of demons with “horns” came from? Is it just a way to frighten little kids with monstrous images?
Giving the Judeo-Christian mythos the benefit of the doubt - they were all angels at one point including Lucifer (an arch-angel and favorite of God). Again, ASSUMING the JD story is mostly correct and there was a great act of defiance on Lucifer’s part that caused he and his support staff to be cast out of Heaven - where does it say their appearance went from, what we assume (especially in Lucifer’s case) was incredibly beautiful, to monstrous and hideous? Where is it written that Lucifer - alleged to be the most beautiful of all angels - developed the head and feet of a hairy-ass mountain goat complete with horns? Why do we ASSUME they changed their appearance at all?
Some tribal shamans will wear animal bones and skins. Horned skulls is one. This may be where the vikings got the idea of a horned helmet. Then the idea was then probably passed on from Vikings.
Basically, artistic interpretation.The Bible never gives clear descriptions of Lucifer. Actually, the Bible doesn’t mention him at all, but that’s another point entirely. Paradise Lost depicts Lucifer being beautiful at the start and getting more malformed over time, which probably lead to the idea.
Pagan gods were said to be devils by the Christians. Obviously, some of those gods were half man-half animal nature gods complete with horns. This got used in alot of medieval and renaissance art whenever the devil or demons were depicted. It represents holy creatures being corrupted and taking on the carnal, bestial aspects of nature.