What is the Necronomicon?
The Necronomicon is a fictional grimoire created in the works of the American horror writer Howard Phillips Lovecraft (1890–1937). It first appeared in a short story in the 1920s and afterward appeared often in the works of Lovecraft and his fellow writers.
Its in-story background
In the stories, the Necronomicon is a later Greek translation of a book called Al Azif, written in Damascus around the 8th century by the “mad Arab” Abdul Alhazred. It records the terrible “Great Old Ones” who ruled the ancient Earth and the ways to summon them, and those who read it are said to lose their sanity. Lovecraft even worked out fine details, such as copies being kept under strict guard in several university libraries around the world.
The Cthulhu Mythos and the “it’s real” theory
The world of Lovecraft and his circle later came to be called the “Cthulhu Mythos” and was carried on by many writers. The Necronomicon became its symbolic item, and it was depicted so realistically that some readers are said to have asked libraries and bookstores for it.
From the 1970s on, several books claiming to be “the real Necronomicon” were published, but all were made by combining Lovecraft’s ideas, ancient myths and real grimoires. Lovecraft himself clearly stated in his letters that it was a fictional book.
Popularity today
The Necronomicon keeps appearing in horror films, games, manga and anime as a byword for a “forbidden grimoire.” Along with the real grimoire the Lemegeton, it can be called one of the most famous books of magic.
