ColossiansOne

Side by side, from the sources

Eshu vs Satan

These two are set against one another in the texts, which is itself a claim worth attributing. Recorded here to mark a false equation: missionaries identified Eshu with the devil, and the identification is a colonial imposition rather than a Yoruba claim.

Deity · Yoruba · c. 1900 CE

Eshu

also called Eleggua, Exu, Elegba, Èṣù, Echú, Exú

Messenger between humanity and the orisha, addressed first in any rite. Missionaries met a trickster at a crossroads and called him Satan, and the mistake has proved very hard to undo.

Alignment
Disputed
Rank
Divine Messenger
First attested
The Yoruba-Speaking Peoples of the Slave Coast of West Africa · 1894
Named there as
Elegba
Texts naming it
5
Powers attributed
5
60attestedYoruba & Diaspora

Demonic · Infernal Court · c. 400 BCE

Satan

also called ha-Satan, The Adversary, Shaitan, The Devil, Satanas, Shaytan, Sam Hill, Lord of This World

Not originally a name but an office — 'the accuser'. In Job he is a member of the divine court doing his job; only later does he become the enemy.

Alignment
Fallen
Rank
Adversary
First attested
Hebrew Bible & Deuterocanon · c. 900–100 BCE
Named there as
ha-Satan
Texts naming it
5
Powers attributed
5
97attestedChristianJewishIslamic

Where do they actually overlap?

Texts naming both

None. The two never appear in the same text in this corpus, which is worth knowing before accepting any confident claim that they are one figure.

Powers credited to both

Deceives & Tempts

Common questions

Are Eshu and Satan the same figure?

These two are set against one another in the texts, which is itself a claim worth attributing. Recorded here to mark a false equation: missionaries identified Eshu with the devil, and the identification is a colonial imposition rather than a Yoruba claim. ColossiansOne records the link rather than asserting the identity: where texts disagree about whether two names denote one figure, the disagreement is what gets shown.

Which is older, Eshu or Satan?

Satan is the older name: first attested around c. 400 BCE, against c. 1900 CE for Eshu. Where the two dates are far apart, that gap is the whole reason the pair is worth comparing.

Do any texts name both Eshu and Satan?

No text in this corpus names both. That is not proof they were considered the same figure, but it is why the identification has to be traced through the scholarship rather than read off a page.
Open in the compare toolSee the full chain