- That is not dead which can eternal lie,
- And with strange aeons even death may die.
- That is not dead which can eternal lie,
The most infamous of all Lovecraftian tomes, the Necronomicon is only supplanted in popular culture's knowledge of the Mythos by Cthulhu himself.
Origins
The original Arabic book was originally called "Kitab Al-Azif" by its maddened author, Abdul Al-Hazrad sometime before that author's death in 738 AD. Variously banned, burned, lost, and found throughout the ages, it has continued to worm its way into humanity and spread its corruption even with the dilution that comes with translation and copying.
As stated earlier, the book was originally called Kitab Al-Azif, and this title translates as "book of the howlings of the desert demons or jinn", but may more poetically be translated as "book of the Approacher".
Editions
While the Arabic edition is nearly unknown, the circa 950 AD translation into Greek by Theodorus Philetas is the first known Western version of this manuscript. The Greek translation of the title, Necronomicon, meaning "The Laws of the Dead", survives to this day.
In 1228 AD, Olaus Wormius the Elder (not to be confused with the 16th century scholar) translated Philetas' Greek into Latin, and is the earliest version known to have survived to present day.
Latter versions derived from Wormius' edition