Hellmouth
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This article is about an artifact common to medieval theatre. For the supernatural concept established in Buffy the Vampire Slayer, see Hellmouth (Buffyverse).
In medieval theatre, a hellmouth was a prop or mechanical device which was used to attempt to scare the audience by vividly dramatizing an entrance to Hell[1]. In Roman church history, the concept of Leviathan (translated from Hebrew, Job 41:1, "wreathed animal") has been equated with this description, although there is no etymological basis for this equation.
The only known archetype for either the medieval or the modern concept of "hellmouth" which is older than the above, is in the book of Numbers, chapter 16, verses 28 through 33. The words there describe a momentary act of God, and not a permanent state of an area of landscape or artifact:
- And Moses said, "Hereby you shall know that the LORD has sent me to do all these works, and that it has not been of my own accord. If these men die as all men die, or if they are visited by the fate of all mankind, then the LORD has not sent me. But if the LORD creates something new, and the ground opens its mouth and swallows them up with all that belongs to them, and they go down alive into Sheol, then you shall know that these men have despised the LORD." And as soon as he had finished speaking all these words, the ground under them split apart. And the earth opened its mouth and swallowed them up, with their households and all the people who belonged to Korah and all their goods. So they and all that belonged to them went down alive into Sheol, and the earth closed over them, and they perished from the midst of the assembly.
(verses from English Standard Version)
