Samyaza

Samyaza (Aramaic: ‫ ;שמיחזה‬Greek: Σεμιαζά; Arabic: ‫ﺳﺎﻣﻴﺎرس‬, Samiarush[1][2]), also Sahjaza,

Semihazah, Shemihazah, Shemyazaz, Shemyaza, Shemhazai, Sêmîazâz, Semjâzâ, Samjâzâ, and
Semyaza, is a fallen angel or Sethite of apocryphal Abrahamic traditions that ranked in the heavenly
hierarchy as one of the Watchers. The name "Shemyaza(z)" means "the (or my) name has seen," "he sees the
name," or "I have seen."

Contents
Book of Enoch
Manichaeism
Samyaza in popular culture
Video games
Fiction
Film
References

Book of Enoch
In the Book of Enoch, one of the apocryphal writings, Samyaza is portrayed as the leader of a band of
rebellious 'holy ones' or renegade 'sons of God' called the Watchers, or grigori, who, because they became
consumed with lust for mortal women and entered into machinations against heaven in order to consummate
their sinful desires, fell. In the Qumran Book of Giants, Samyaza, through this forbidden prostitution, fathers
two half-breed "giant" sons, Ohyah and Hahyah.

When the rebel angels first meet upon Mount Hermon to organize their secret society of 200 members,
Samyaza, as their recognized chieftain (under Azazel, who had rebelled against God and the heavenly host),
initially doubts the initiates' resolve to forswear heaven. This they had planned to achieve through dark
combinations and clandestine oaths under penalty of death, thereby binding themselves to that treachery in
which they would use their heaven-acquired knowledge to create a counterfeit religion on earth to satisfy
their lusts and carnal desires:

And Semjâzâ, who was their leader, said unto them: "I fear ye will not indeed agree to do this
deed, and I alone shall have to pay the penalty of a great sin." And they all answered him and
said: "Let us all swear an oath, and all bind ourselves by mutual imprecations not to abandon
this plan but to do this thing." Then sware they all together and bound themselves by mutual
imprecations upon it. (1 En 6:3-5)

Thus having convinced the other Watchers to join him in fornicating with women, Samyaza continues to
collude and to plot with these other sinful grigori to seduce females from the human tribes. The resultant
offspring from this unnatural prostitution and breeding are called "giants" (referred to as Nephilim in the
Book of Genesis). Together, they dominate, murder, and exploit the inferior races of men — beginning in
the days of the righteous Sethite patriarch Jared, the father of the prophet Enoch — their debauchery
thereafter rising to new heights: "And there was great impiety and much fornication, and they went astray
and all their ways became corrupt" (1 En 8:1-2). Enoch, in his sleep-vision that has been called the 'Animal
Apocalypse' (of 1 Enoch's Book of Dreams), "saw heaven above, and behold:

... a star fell from heaven [Azazel], and it arose and ate and pastured amongst those oxen [the
righteous Sethites, descendants of Adam's son Seth]. And after this I saw the large and the
black oxen [the wicked Cainites, descendants of Adam's son Cain], and behold, all of them
changed their pens and their pastures and their heifers [women], and began to moan [breed],
one after another. And again I saw in the vision and looked to heaven, and behold, I saw many
stars [Shemihazah and the rebellious Watchers], how they came down and were thrown down
from heaven to that first star [Azazel, whom they worshipped and who taught them Heaven's
secrets], and amongst those heifers and bulls [humankind]; they were with them, pasturing
amongst them. And I looked at them [the Watchers] and saw, and behold, all of them let out
their private parts like horses and began to mount the cows of the bulls [the 'daughters of men'],
and they all became pregnant and bore elephants and camels and asses [the "giants" —
creatures, physically unlike either of their parents, at once of great stature and/or pridefully
stubborn, repulsive]. And all the oxen [humankind] feared them and were affrighted at them,
and [they] began to bite with their teeth and to devour, and to gore with their horns. And they
[the Watchers and their giant-sons] began, moreover, to devour those oxen [the righteous and
wicked alike]; and behold all the children of the earth began to tremble and quake before them
and to flee from them ... (1 En 86:1-6)

But perhaps the Watchers' most grievous sin was to teach and instruct humankind, blasphemously, in various
forbidden arts, sciences, and celestial "secrets" or "mysteries" of the true heavenly gnosis or knowledge —
especially that Wisdom possessed by Azazel (Satan), who taught them also the secrets of war (from magic,
metallurgy, and weaponry to seductive ornamentation, jewelry, and cosmetics) — all of which ultimately,
though not surprisingly, brings down the wrath of Heaven.

God commanded the angel Gabriel to cause the Watchers and giants to wage civil war:

And to Gabriel said the Lord: "Proceed against the biters and the reprobates, and against the
children of fornication: and destroy [the children of fornication and] the children of the
Watchers from amongst men [and cause them to go forth]: send them one against the other that
they may destroy each other in battle: for length of days shall they not have[.] (1 En 10:9)

Finally, the judgement of the Watcher-associates of Samyaza is described.

And the Lord said unto Michael: "Go, bind Semjâzâ and his associates who have united
themselves with women so as to have defiled themselves with them in all their uncleanness.
And when their sons have slain one another, and they have seen the destruction of their beloved
ones, bind them fast for seventy generations in the valleys of the earth, till the day of their
judgement and of their consummation, till the judgement that is for ever and ever is
consummated. In those days they shall be led off to the abyss of fire:〈and〉to the torment and
the prison in which they shall be confined for ever. And whosoever shall be condemned and
destroyed will from thenceforth be bound together with them to the end of all generations[.] (1
En 10:11-14)
Once the archangels and the host of the righteous had rained war and destruction upon the Watchers and
giants, God caused, after several generations, the Great Flood of Noah to wipe out the corrupt remnant of
the earthly races. For when the "eternal covenant" and eternal law had been broken, in the fallen angels'
revelation to the profane creatures of the earth of heaven's sacred knowledge, lawlessness ensued, which
corrupted and destroyed. But after the diluvial judgment, God removed the lawlessness that came from the
perverted knowledge and restored again His covenant with Noah and his sons, returning fertility and
harmony back to the creation.

Manichaeism
In the Manichaean Book of Giants, Shemyaza (or Šahmīzād) begets two sons, who together battle the
Leviathan. However, they are not portrayed as heroic, but as boasting about their own victory; a symbol of
royal failure to keep one's power in this world, as after the defeat of the Leviathan, Shemyaza and his
offspring are slain by the four punishing angels.[3]

Samyaza in popular culture

Video games
Samyaza appears in the role-playing video game Final Fantasy XII as the Esper Shemhazai.
Shemhazai is a female horse-like being who controls the souls of the dead, created in
opposition to Igeyorhm the Martyr. Though she once served the gods as a guardian, she plays
a role similar to that of Samyaza in revealing to the rebellious Esper Ultima the weaknesses of
the gods before attacking the people.
"Semyaza" and five other Grigori may be summoned from imprisonment to fight for the player
in Dominions 3: The Awakening, and Dominions 4: Thrones of Ascension
"Semyaza" also appears as the seven fallen angels in El Shaddai: Ascension of the Metatron.
"Shemyaza" appears in Shin Megami Tensei: Devil Summoner: Soul Hackers as a demon the
player's party has to face. He also appears in many other games in the Megami Tensei series,
sometimes as a boss or antagonist, sometimes as a random demon the player runs into or can
summon. In Soul Hackers, he is working for another fallen angel, Azazel, who also appears in
many of the games in the series.
"Shimbatha," a mistranslation of "Shemyatha," appears in the 1991 game XZR 2, released in
the West as Exile for the NEC Turbo Duo, translated by the now defunct Working Designs.
Shemyatha is the main antagonist which the hero, Sadler, must face. In the Sega Genesis port
of this game, when localised to the USA, this name was dropped in favor of the epithet "Holy
Emperor." According to the Japanese story context in the game, Shemyatha possessed Hiram
Abiff in the 6th millennium BC, during construction of Solomon's Temple, but was shortly
murdered afterward. In the game's setting of 11th century CE, Shemyatha again takes over the
body of a man, this time Yuug D'Payne, based on the historical founder and first Grand Master
of the Knights Templar, Hugues de Payens.

Fiction
Samyaza or "Shemyaza" also appears in Storm Constantine's Grigori trilogy, as the primary
villain who finds redemption. He first appears as a Grigori pariah who terrorizes the
underground Grigori society by leaving a trail of highly public murders in his wake. He
eventually redeems himself and consequently regains the memory of his previous
incarnations. He goes on to fight an epic battle with the serpent Tiamat.
Samyaza also appeared as a prime antagonist in the book series Dragons In Our Midst
 Sam the Imperator is revealed to be Samyaza in Children of the Serpent by Mark Ellis, the
thirty-eighth book in the Outlanders novel series.
Semjaza appears as an imprisoned being in Hell in Wayne Barlowe's novel God's Demon.
Shemhazai is the name of one of the fallen angels who follow the god Elua in Jacqueline
Carey's Kushiel's Legacy series. He was the patron angel of knowledge, learning, science, and
literacy.
Samyaza or 'Samjeeza' appears in Cynthia Hand's Unearthly trilogy as the former leader of the
Watchers and a minor villain.
Semyaza appears as a supporting character in The Book of Creation, the first novel in The
Watchers Chronicle, by Evan Braun and Clint Byars.
Sam Yaza appears as a renegade hippie angel in modern day New Orleans in Woolf's Bane,
by Alan Lance Andersen and Dane Rasmussen.
Samyaza appears in R.D. Brady's Belial series as a Fallen Angel antagonist.
Shemihaza appears as a member of the Grigori in Kato Kazue's manga series Blue Exorcist.
Shemhazai also appears as one of the leaders of the Grigori in the anime and manga series
High School DxD

Film
Samyaza is voiced by Nick Nolte in the film Noah. He and the other Watchers are depicted as
fallen angels punished by encasement in stone for defying the Creator's will to help mankind
develop.

References
1. "(‫( "ﻃﺒﻘﺎت ﻧﺎﺻﺮي )ﺗﺎرﻳﺦ اﻳﺮان و اﺳﻼم‬http://ar.lib.eshia.ir/10516/1/132).
2. "Al-Juzjani, Tabaqat-i-Nasiri 1 (c. 1259-1260 CE))" (http://www.jasoncolavito.com/book-of-thou
sands.html).
3. Michel Tardieu Manichaeism University of Illinois Press, 2008 ISBN 9780252032783 p. 46-48

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