From the three-headed man-eater of Dante’s Inferno to the Mephistopheles of German folklore, clad and caped in red in a Goethe-penned stage production, depictions of Satan have mutated into a fearsome multitude of pitchfork-wielding, fire-summoning and otherwise malevolent creatures. But unlike any of these literary devils, the Satan of the Bible was a relatively minor character and But how did a somewhat minor character from the Old Testament evolve into a versatile shorthand for all manner of human evil?

Most people still believe that the devil exists.