Bethor is the Jupiter-associated Olympic governor named in the Arbatel. The 1575 Basel print and Turner’s later English version preserve different forms of his account.
- Planetary category
- Jupiter ♃
- 1575 province line
- 32 in the 1575 print; 42 by editorial correction
- Source passage
- Aphorisms 16–17
Place in the seven-name list
Bethor is second in the Arbatel’s order and governs what Aphorism 17 ascribes to Jupiter. The source connects this figure with dignities, treasure, aerial spirits said to answer, transported valuables, unusual medicines, familiars, and long life conditional on God’s will. Those are descriptions of claimed offices in the book. They should not be converted into a claim that a Jupiter planet or named spirit has produced such results. A profile that calls Bethor one of the Ars Goetia demons has crossed two distinct catalogues.
What the book attributes
Bethor’s province number is the most important textual detail in the group. The photographed Basel page prints XXXII, which is 32, but prints a total of 196 for all seven governors. The surrounding series is 49, 35, 28, 21, 14, 7. Put 42 in the second position and the figures descend by seven and total 196; retain 32 and the sum is 186. Peterson’s parallel edition marks 42 as a correction. The printed 32 and corrected 42 must be distinguished; the 1575 leaf does not read 42.
The printed record
The English reception adds another layer of possible confusion. A line in Turner or a modern edition may spell the name differently or regularize a numeral. Basel printed page 24 preserves the early province list, while Aphorism 17 gives the Jupiter offices. The character associated with Bethor is a printed or copied mark in a specific edition, and the text itself discusses characters as given or confirmed. Modern “official Bethor seal” images can redraw the historical mark and hide its printed variations.
