GILGAMEL the demon - one who appears as an angel of light, as some of the more dangerous ones do - had his debut tonight in the second episode of the new ITV/STV series Demons. Gilgamel clearly gets his name from the Sumerian King Gilgamesh, known mainly from the Epic of Gilgamesh, but with the ending -"-el" tacked onto the end of his truncated name. This is a time honored-method of creating angel names and sometimes demonic names as well. As for Gilgamesh, there's ancient precedent in the Book of Giants for him be recast in the role of a malevolent supernatural being. I had a couple of relevant Web lectures posted, but they seem to have accidentally been deleted in the recent upgrade of the University website. I'll try to get them restored on Monday.

Demons is silly, but it keeps its tongue sufficiently in cheek to make it kind of fun.