The Book of Hastur is believed to have been written by one Lucian Hagophilus in the Egyptian city of Alexandria in 323 BC. It is said to have consisted of three parts, a description of the Outer Gods and their domains, a series of stories of sorcerers who conjured the Great Old Ones, and a short Grimoire. Although containing extremely ancient narrative strands the text seems to have been couched in terms of an Alexandrian worldview, in that it orientates itself in relation to Greek and Egyptian cosmogenies, with some marginal Hellenic philosophical commentaries appended at a slightly later date. One strange feature of the book was that it was written in an entirely unknown language akin in some ways to Sumerian, which has been used as a partial key in its translations. Why this should have been is unknown, but one popular explanation is that the book was the secret text of some forgotten sect, which had preserved an archaic language for its liturgies.

In 280BC Ptolomy II Soter, founder of the Royal Library of Alexandria, ordered all copies of the book to be siezed and held in a secret room in the Library. It is said that Ptolomy used this room in an attempt to invoke Nyarlahotep, and that it was a result of this rite that led him to create the Cult of Serapis. Sometime later the Great Library was badly damaged by a fire and all copies of the book were believed lost. But in 40 BC a single surviving copy is said to have been given as a gift to Mark Antony by Cleopatra, though its said that even then the book was incomplete, parts of it having been lost in the flames. The book then seems to have passed into the hands of his daughter Cleopatra Selene. After this it dissappears, though one legend states that it fell into the hands of the Christian rabble of the old city in around 400 AD who tore it to shreads.

Since then fragments of the book have continued to turn up over the centuries and have been sought by collector and cultist alike. Occasionally whole scrolls have been found, though apparently these are later compilations of found fragments. The situation is complicated by the fact that some unscrupulous dealers of arcane texts have long been suspected of faking fragments for sale, and alas most of these scrolls appear to be composites of both fake and authentic fragments. Thus most scholars now attempt to divide these scrolls into their original components. The fragments we now have are very diverse and it is hard to tell the fake fragments from the authentic. Most fragments have now been speculatively translated. Where known Greco-Egyptian deities or concepts are named, and Sumerian used as a reference a set of clear sentences have been obtained that serve as a key to most of the fragments. Not all of these were originally translated into English but most now have been. An exception being those where a translation appears consistent with other successful translations but produces a totally meaningless text. Some of these are available in English but many have been retained in the language of their primary translation to avoid further confusion. Why this should be so is uncertain, some may be explained as deriving from a meaningless fake fragments though this does not always appear to be the case. Other fragments contain segments that have proved untranslatable and sometimes whole fragments cannot be translated. In addition some very clear sounding English translations contradict each other in content, either indicting that one of the fragments is a late fake or that there were more than one surviving copy of a book that had different versions.

The Hastur Project attempts to reconstruct the The Secret Book of Hastur from existing and future fragments. In addition it sends out teams to locate these fragments and encourages those that have fragments in their position to either provide them to the Project or to send transcripts of them to dionysian_underground@yahoo.co.uk.

What follows below is an example lexicon of the language used in the book an outline of some of the themes found in it and a continually growing reconstruction of the book itself, often with commentaries. We believe from legend that each page of the book consisted of around 33 average sized fragments (about three sentences) and that the book was around 28 pages long.


Sample Lexicon

a-bal: drawing of water (a, 'water', + bal, 'turn, duty').

a-da-al-aa: from now on ('now' + 'from').

a-da-am : now ('now' + 'to be').

a-da...taš: to live near the water ('water' + 'near' + 'to dwell (singular)').

a-dal-túku: a fish ('water' + 'to slice' + 'to smash').

a...di: to pour out water; to irrigate; to flood ('water' + 'to pour').

a...dab: to hold or block water ('water' + 'to hold').

a-dar...aka: to play; to mock ('water' + 'to cut, break' + 'to do, act').

a...tùm: to flow with water ('water' + 'to bring, carry').

a úz-a: to dam up water ('water' + 'piling up an earthen dam').

a-za-ga: rising waters ('water' + 'to rise up' + nominative).

azi-gi-na: shadow ('fire' + 'night' + 'spine').

azi-lá: torch ('fire' + 'to raise up').

azi...sìg: to set on fire ('fire' + 'to knock down, demolish').

azi...šhub: to hurl fire ('fire' + 'to throw out').

azi...te: fire approaches ('fire' + 'to approach').

áš...gi: to answer with a curse ('curse' + 'to answer').

áš...mú: to curse ('curse' + 'to blow, speak').

ba-al: to dig (a canal); to channel ('to divide' + 'digging stick').

bi-az: drop (of water); dripping, melting (cf., baz, 'to pour').

bí-la: mixed, mingled (bir,'to scatter, mix' + nominative).

bí-za-za: frog (za,'a repeated, monotonous noise').

é...baa : to break into a house (reduplication class) ('house' + 'to break into').

en-na-ba-ša: until now; until the time ('time' + 'this one' + 'towards').

en-na...: to watch; to guard against.

en-na(-an)(-á): watch, guardian; watch (as a division of night time); imprisonment; prison.

en-na-an/ùa...: to watch; to guard against.

e-ri-sì-ki-in: servant .

e-ri-iš: queen, lady.

é-u-saka: new moon ('house' + 'day' + 'to begin').

é-u 7: first crescent moon ('house' + 'day 7').

é-u -15: full moon ('house' + 'day 15').

gaba-diri-ga: enormous strength ('rival' + 'to go over, exceed' + nominative).

gaba-ga: opponent; opposition ('rival' + 'to besiege').

gaba-áz : strength ('chest' + 'to be available').

gi-an-nat: at night ('black' + 'heaven' + locative).

ka-kúku: dark place ('place' + 'dark').

ki-ba-rá: distant places ('places' + 'to be at a distance' + nominative).

ki-bala: rebellious country, rebel land ('place' + 'to revolt').

ki...daa: to break the ground ('ground' + 'to split').

ki...du: to bury ('ground' + 'to bring; to continue').

lú-KA×LI-KA×LI: incantation priest (cf., tu6, mu7, zug4, uš7, and sig14).

lú-ka-ra: refugee ('person' + 'to escape' + nominative).

lú-kú-ra: stranger; enemy ('man' + 'mountains, foreign country' + genitive).

má-da-ri-a; ma-da-rá-a: offering ('goat kid' + 'driven [animal]').

má-i: night-time vision, dream; omen ('goat/extispicy' + 'black/night').

má...šhub: describes an animal dropping or birthing its young ('goat' + 'to drop').

má-ùz-da(-k): breeding he-goat ('he-goat' + 'she-goat' + genitive).

níg-á-aa: violence ('thing' + 'arm, strength' + 'to set').

níg-á-sì-ga: well-established ('thing' + 'strength' + 'to set in place' + nominative).

níg-ak-ak: deed; activity ('thing' + reduplicated 'to do').

nu-gi: temple prostitute, hierodule ('not' + 'sick, painful').

pú-lá: deep well ('well, cistern' + 'to be high; to hang, stretch, reach').

pú-ní-ìr(-/ak/): pitfall ('well, cistern' + 'thing' + 'path' + genitive).

ru-gú: to withstand; to oppose; to move in a direction opposite to; to face (cf., lú-ru-gú-da).

Shub : to throw, drop or fall (also project)

si-mú: to have horns; horned ('horns' + 'to sprout, appear').

si-mùš: shining horns; light rays ('horns; rays' + 'to glisten, shine').

si-si-ig: whirlwind (reduplicated sìg, 'to demolish, flatten').

si-šuš-nu: a sea creature ('antennae' + 'to go down' + 'do not').

tumu-ma: north, northwind ('wind' + 'anger').

ur-ur: to devastate, lay bare (reduplicated 'to harvest').

zú...ra-ah: to devour ('teeth' + 'to strike repetitively, shake').

Note : In this language, and closely related Sumerian, Shub Niggurath means variously 'the bloated thing that drops or dropped', 'the big fallen thing' or the 'projection of the swollen thing'. The term bloated is associated with pregnancy. Azathoth means 'the rising water of Thoth'. Yog Sothoth might be Ig Suthoth, meaning 'the eyes and hands of Thoth'





Themes of Fragments

A common idea in the fragments is that the Elder Gods and Great Old Ones are kindred and the offspring of Darkness and that Hastur intermediates between Nodens and Shub Niggurath.

Other themes include the importance of the offpring of Hastur, the eternal war between Nodens and Shub Niggurath, and descriptions of the domains of the Outer Gods.

The fragments also contain unique evocations and incantations.

Other fragments are just mysterious.

No original order is possible, but a rational compilation is generally attempted.

Transcription is a work in progress.

Chapter One of the Book of Hastur

'All praise to the Black Goat, and to the one who rides ahead'

'...and Hastur was known in the seven cities, but his name was not spoken freely there, for he stood between the Goat and the Bull, and where he went they were not far behind, and where they went he had been before'.

'Great is the emnity between the Goat and the Bull, the Sea floods the Land, but the Wood holds firm. The Wood clogs the River but the Waters break through. The Wood does not fear the Sea. The Sea does not fear the Wood. But between them lies the Swamp. All fear the Swamp'.

'Mu pa Generix - mu pa Abu - mu pa Hasturi'

'Night is first and Night will be last. The Old Ones are Old and the Elder Ones are Ancient, but Night is Eternal. Even in the midst of the Day'.

'When the Moon falls the Hound shall sing a song of lament, but the Moon will not laugh'.


'Ia Shub Niggurath, Queen of Leng, your sons call on you to devour us, that we may be reborn'

'Olo olo pa ta pa ta, faaa ng zaal, ooo shibumat pazu'bb'