Satan known as the Devil, is an entity in the Abrahamic religions that seduces humans into sin or falsehood. In Christianity and Islam, he is seen as either a fallen angel or a genie, who used to possess great piety and beauty, but rebelled against God, who allows him temporary power over the fallen world and a host of demons. In Judaism, Satan is regarded as a metaphor for the yetzer hara, or "evil inclination", or as an agent subservient to God. A figure known as "the satan" first appears in the Tanakh as a heavenly prosecutor, a member of the sons of God subordinate to Yahweh, who prosecutes the nation of Judah in the heavenly court and tests the loyalty of Yahweh's followers by forcing them to suffer. During the intertestamental period due to influence from the Zoroastrian figure of Angra Mainyu, the satan developed into a malevolent entity with abhorrent qualities in dualistic opposition to God. In the apocryphal Book of Jubilees, Yahweh grants the satan authority over a group of fallen angels, or their offspring, to tempt humans to sin and punish them.

In the Synoptic Gospels, Satan tempts Jesus in the desert and is identified as the cause of illness and temptation. In the Book of Revelation, Satan appears as a Great Red Dragon, defeated by Michael the Archangel and cast down from Heaven, he is bound for one thousand years, but is set free before being defeated and cast into the Lake of Fire. In Christianity, Satan is known as the Devil and, although the Book of Genesis does not mention him, he is identified as the serpent in the Garden of Eden. In the Middle Ages, Satan played a minimal role in Christian theology and was used as a comic relief figure in mystery plays. During the early modern period, Satan's significance increased as beliefs such as demonic possession and witchcraft became more prevalent. During the Age of Enlightenment, belief in the existence of Satan became harshly criticized. Nonetheless, belief in Satan has persisted in the Americas. In the Quran, Shaitan known as Iblis, is an entity made of fire, cast out of Heaven because he refused to bow before the newly-created Adam and incites humans to sin by infecting their minds with waswās.

Although Satan is viewed as evil, some groups have different beliefs. In Theistic Satanism, Satan is considered a deity, either worshipped or revered. In LaVeyan Satanism, Satan is a symbol of virtuous characteristics and liberty. Satan's appearance is never described in the Bible, since the ninth century, he has been shown in Christian art with horns, cloven hooves, unusually hairy legs, a tail naked and holding a pitchfork; these are an amalgam of traits derived from various pagan deities, including Pan and Bes. Satan appears in Christian literature, most notably in Dante Alighieri's Inferno, variants of the Faust legend, John Milton's Paradise Lost and Paradise Regained, the poems of William Blake, he continues to appear in film and music. The original Hebrew term sâtan is a generic noun meaning "accuser" or "adversary", used throughout the Hebrew Bible to refer to ordinary human adversaries, as well as a specific supernatural entity; the word is derived from a verb meaning "to obstruct, oppose".

When it is used without the definite article, the word can refer to any accuser, but when it is used with the definite article, it refers to the heavenly accuser: the satan. Ha-Satan with the definite article occurs 13 times in the Masoretic Text, in two books of the Hebrew Bible: Job ch. 1–2 and Zechariah 3:1–2. Satan without the definite article is used in 10 instances, of which two are translated diabolos in the Septuagint and "Satan" in the King James Version: 1 Chronicles 21:1, "Satan stood up against Israel" or "And there standeth up an adversary against Israel" Psalm 109:6b "and let Satan stand at his right hand" or "let an accuser stand at his right hand." The word "satan" does not occur in the Book of Genesis, which mentions only a talking serpent and does not identify the serpent with any supernatural entity. The first occurrence of the word "satan" in the Hebrew Bible in reference to a supernatural figure comes from Numbers 22:22, which describes the Angel of Yahweh confronting Balaam on his donkey: "Balaam's departure aroused the wrath of Elohim, the Angel of Yahweh stood in the road as a satan against him."

In 2 Samuel 24, Yahweh sends the "Angel of Yahweh" to inflict a plague against Israel for three days, killing 70,000 people as punishment for David having taken a census without his approval. 1 Chronicles 21:1 repeats this story, but replaces the "Angel of Yahweh" with an entity referred to as "a satan". Some passages refer to the satan, without using the word itself. 1 Samuel 2:12 describes the sons of Eli as "sons of Belial". In 1 Samuel 16:14–23 Yahweh sends a "troubling spirit" to torment King Saul as a mechanism to ingratiate David with the king. In 1 Kings 22:19–25, the prophet Micaiah describes to King Ahab a vision of Yahweh sitting on his throne surrounded by the Host of Heaven. Yahweh asks the Host. A "spirit", whose name is not specified, but, analogous to the satan, volunteers to be "a Lying Spirit in the mouth of all his Prophets"; the satan appears in the Book of Job, a poetic dialogue set within a prose framework, which may have been written around the time of the Babylonian captivity.

In the text, Job is a righteous man favored by Yahweh. Job 1:6–8 describes the "sons of God" (bənê hāʼ

Alicia Bruce is an Edinburgh-based photographer and freelance educator. Bruce was born in Aberdeen in 1979, she studied Photography and Imaging at Edinburgh Napier University, graduating in 2006. Bruce's work focuses on the collaboration between sitter in portrait photography, her most recent projects have involved communities, such as ‘Menie: A portrait of a North East community in conflict’. Alongside her work as a practicing photographer, Bruce is a lecturer in photography at Stevenson College and a freelance educator at the National Galleries of Scotland, she has worked on several commissions and campaigns, including those from: Edinburgh World Heritage, NewsDirect, National Galleries of Scotland, Royal Scottish Academy, University of St Andrews, The European Parliament, NHS, V&A Dundee. She won the Royal Scottish Academy Morton Award in 2014. 2018 ‘Violence Unseen’ Stills, Edinburgh, UK 2016 ‘Menie: TRUMPED’ St Andrews Photography Festival, UK2015 ‘The Sim Project’, The Royal Scottish Academy, Edinburgh, UK2015 ‘Digging for Diamonds’, EU Buildings, Belgium 2013 ‘Encore’ Royal Welsh College of Music & Drama, Part of Diffusion Festival 2013 ‘Menie’ The Scottish Parliament, Edinburgh, UK2008 ‘Alicia Bruce: Artist in Residence’, Aberdeen Art Centre, Aberdeen, UK Bruce's work is held at: University of St Andrews Photography Collection, National Galleries of Scotland, Robert Mapplethorpe Photography Collection, Royal Scottish Academy, Edinburgh Napier University Photography Collection, Dovecot Studios, Zero Tolerance, various private collections

The year 1855 in architecture involved some significant architectural events and new buildings. October 15 – The second of the Prussia Columns is inaugurated, on the 60th birthday of their instigator, King Frederick William IV of Prussia; the Palais de l'Industrie for the Exposition Universelle in Paris, France designed by the architect Jean-Marie-Victor Viel and the engineer Alexis Barrault. Église Saint-Eugène-Sainte-Cécile in Paris, designed by Louis-Auguste Boileau, is completed. Church of St John the Evangelist, Lancashire, designed by E. H. Shellard, is completed; the Old Stone Church in the United States, designed by Simeon Porter. Church of Saint Bartholomew, Brugherio in Italy, rebuilt to the design of Giacomo Moraglia, is completed. St Mary's Cathedral, Ireland, to the design of Augustus Pugin following his death; the Victoria Tower of the Palace of Westminster in London, England, as The King's Tower, designed by Charles Barry and Augustus Pugin. Neues Museum, Prussia, designed by Friedrich August Stüler.

The original Smithsonian Institution Building in Washington, D. C. to the 1846 design of James Renwick, Jr. Fremantle Prison in Western Australia, opened. Royal Gold Medal – Jacques Ignace Hittorff. Grand Prix de Rome, architecture – Honoré Daumet. May 12 – Alfred Gelder, English architect and politician active in Kingston upon Hull November 24 – Thomas Sully, self-trained American architect January 5 – Mihály Pollack, Austrian-born Neoclassical architect working in Pest, Hungary March 3 – Robert Mills, American architect, designer of the Washington Monument March 11 – James Gillespie Graham, Scottish architect March 27 – Richard Cromwell Carpenter, English ecclesiastical architect September 12 – John McCurdy, Irish architect, official architect to Trinity College, Dublin December 20 – Thomas Cubitt, English master builder