Abd-al-hazard, commonly known as Abdul Alhazred,
wrote the Necronomicon in his final years,
sometime between the AD 730 and 738.
It contains such things as histories, spells,
incantations, charms, star charts, formularies,
and even poetry that is worshipful of the
gods Cthulhu and Yog-Sothoth.
It is often called the most evil book ever
written and has been banned by almost all
organized religions and even actively suppressed
by many secular authorities.
Alhazred wrote the original text in formal
Arabic calligraphy with a mixture of ink and
his own blood.
Traditionally, this skull-like mark is worked
into the leather cover of copies of the Necronomicon.
It recalls the relic of the Mad Poet that
Al-Nahaas created when he took Abdul Alhazred’s
body from Damascus, stripped it of flesh,
and used preservation rituals to maintain
Alhazred’s mind in his skull.
In the years immediately following Alhazred’s
death, the relic assisted Al-Nahaas in his
laboratory on the coast of the Sea of Galilee,
but its current whereabouts are unknown.
Theodorus Philetas of Constantinople used
this mark in AD 950 when he translated Alhazred’s
original Arabic into Greek.
He also used it as a secret indicator to those
who would become students of Alhazred’s
lore.
The mark surfaced again in the 17th century.
The revival of its use coincided with a greater
interest in strict adherence to, and the preservation
of, the magical tradition that Alhazred is
thought to have brought to the world.
Some practitioners of the arcane arts are
very dogmatic regarding who is permitted to
display the mark, claiming that only those
who can trace their hermetic lineage in an
unbroken line from student to teacher all
the way to Al-Nahaas and then Alhazred are
rightful claimants to the Mark.
However, in practice, the Mark of the Necronomicon
is used more widely than those sorcerers would
like.
It is often displayed as a symbol of rebellion
against organized ecclesiasticism and orthodoxy
by those with little or no magical aptitude
or ritualistic pedigree, but who believe themselves
to have some privileged understanding of the
Elder Gods of aeons past and faith in their
return.
The Widener Library at Harvard, Miskatonic
University’s library at Arkham, and the
library of the University of Buenos Aires
all hold copies of the seventieth century
editions of the Necronomicon that bear this
mark.
The Mark of The Necronomicon
An excerpt from the Encyclopedia Magicka
Written By: Jasper M. Griggs Professor of
Anthropology at Miskatonic University
