There are many legends about lamias, strange creatures of darkness. But did they ever exist or was it just a figment of the imagination of people who were afraid of the night? The first mentions of Lamia appeared in Greek mythology.
According to legend, she was once the queen of Libya, a beautiful woman who had children from Zeus. But when Hera, the wife of the Thunderer, found out about this, she ordered the queen to devour the babies. Lamia had to obey, because it is difficult to argue with the gods. In addition, Hera, out of jealousy, deprived the queen of sleep.
As a result, she, hiding in a gloomy dungeon, turned into a real monster that feeds on people. Unable to sleep, she wandered around at night and sucked blood from those she met, and her victims most often became young men.
Before sucking the blood, she tore them open with claw-like nails. To sleep, Lamia took out her eyes, becoming at this time the most vulnerable.
Half female and half snake, the queen gave birth to an eerie offspring called the lamias. The creatures have polymorphic abilities, can act in various guises, usually as beast-human hybrids. However, more often they are likened to beautiful girls, since it is easier to captivate frivolous men this way. The lamias sucked blood from their victims, attacked unarmed and sleeping people, depriving them of their vitality.
According to another legend, the name Lamia was originally borne by a mythical queen known for her beauty and cruelty. It was for her wildness that the gods turned her into a monster with the body of a snake and a woman's head.
The name has become a household name, therefore, among the ancient writers we already see an appeal to the lamias exclusively in the plural - they have become an ancient Greek allegory of envy. These are creatures similar to sirens, living with dragons in caves and deserts. Their attribute is a golden comb, with which they comb their lush hair.
There is another legend. The English clergyman, writer and scientist of the 17th century Robert Burton quoted the story of the ancient Greek sophist Philostratus from his book "On the Life of Apollonius": "A certain Menippe Lycia, a young man, on the way between Kanchrei and Corinth, met such a ghostly creature in the guise of a beautiful young woman.
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Taking his hand, she led the young man to her house on the outskirts of Corinth. There she said that she was a Phoenician by birth, and if Menippe lived with her, she would hear her sing and play, treat her with sweet wine, and most importantly, she would serve him faithfully and faithfully until the end of her life. Generally speaking, Lycias was a philosopher, he lived sedate, modest and knew how to restrain his passions. However, he could not resist the passion of love.
The young man lived with this woman for a long time to great pleasure and finally married her.
Among other guests, Apollo himself appeared at the wedding, who discovered that this woman was a snake, a lamia, and that all her property and wealth was illusory.
When the woman saw that she had been exposed, she burst into tears and asked Apollo to be silent, but this did not touch him in the least. At the same moment she, the silver dishes, the house and everything that was in it disappeared."
The name "lamia" is etymologically derived from the word used in Assyria and Babylon to call demons killing infants. According to the ancient authors, lamias are creatures similar to sirens and living in the deserts of Africa. Above the waist they have the shape of a beautiful woman, while the lower half is serpentine. Some called them witches, others - evil monsters that lure travelers in the desert and devour them.
Initially, lamias lived in Africa, but over time they settled around the world. They settled in caves, forests, ravines, if you're lucky, in old abandoned castles; they went out for a walk, like any self-respecting evil spirits, at night.
The image of the lamia can be viewed as a symbol of vicious passion and the illusion of material wealth. But, according to some legends, the lamia is easy to expose: it is enough to force her to voice. Since the lamias have a forked language, they are deprived of the ability to speak, they can only whistle melodiously.
In Eastern Europe, lamia was associated with the nightmare of the mara - a spirit in the guise of a tall woman or, on the contrary, a hunched over old woman, but almost always with long flowing hair. Among the southern Slavs, lamia is a monster with the body of a snake and a dog's head: it descends in a dark cloud onto fields and gardens, devouring the fruits of agricultural labor.
However, no matter how strong the belief in these monsters was, over the centuries people lost their fear of the lamia. Already in ancient times, she served simply as a means of intimidation by parents of disobedient children. Nevertheless, the echoes of these beliefs are still alive: if a child suddenly dies, they say that he was strangled by a lamia.
Today, lamias are not widespread, since the Inquisition and activists - vampire hunters - at one time exterminated them everywhere: silver bullets, holy water, and aspen stakes were used. For some time they disappeared altogether, but in the 18th century these creatures reappeared in England, France, Greece, Italy and Spain.
The magicians of that time could not stop their reproduction in time, and as a result, today, as mystics say, we have more than one thousand lamias around the world.
In 1577 Johann Vieer's treatise "The Life of the Lamias" appeared. It notes that the main and undoubted attribute of these vampires is a golden crest.
Lamia has the ability to change her appearance, turning from a half-snake into a woman of incomparable beauty.
True, this transformation is not complete. The tongue remains forked like a serpentine, and the voice is hissing and sibilant. That is why lamias never speak in full voice, preferring dramatic whispers. In addition, they do not have a permanent look, they change age, shape, skin and hair color. That is why it is very difficult to recognize a lamia once seen afterwards.
Vampires are also called Lamias, who, according to the popular idea of the late Greeks, under the guise of beautiful virgins, attract young men and suck their blood.
The word "lamia" was used in the Latin translation of the Holy Scriptures as a designation for the Hebrew name Lilith. The word has numerous associations in folklore and legends. In the writings of demonologists, the lamia symbolized a nightmare. Lamias were also called creatures like sirens or nereids.
A close relative of the lamia is the empusa. In Greek myth-making, this is a demonic creature with donkey legs, a monster that sucks blood from a sleeping person at night.
Empusa was considered a night spirit and belonged to the so-called Mormolics - creatures from the retinue of the goddess of witchcraft and magic, Hecate. The goddess sent empusu, who took on various images, to frighten people, mainly women and children.
The demoness could look like a dog, a cow, a donkey, a terrible ghost with a flaming face, or like a beautiful maiden. In addition, she loved to make travelers fearful. True, she herself could be easily frightened off with a swear word, hearing which, the empusa, screeching, turned to flight.
According to existing beliefs, she often carried away small children, and because of her belonging to Mormolics, creatures who did not know the pleasures of love, she sucked the blood from young men, appearing to them in the form of a lovely woman. The empusa were related to the Erinians and the Eumenids, who received not only widespread distribution, but also a very persistent cult.
Empusa is mentioned in the comedies of Aristophanes, but in a slightly different way. According to the great comedian, this is a monster in Hades, representing a dog with one copper leg and the other made of dung.
Thus, we can conclude that the empusa is an inhabitant of the underworld, who knows how to change her appearance, but has well-established attributes - a bronze leg and a flaming face. If in the episode from "Frogs" by Aristophanes the empusa appears as a monster, one of the inhabitants of Hades, then in the second episode we see her already as a beautiful seductress.
In both cases, she is a terrifying creature and certainly dangerous. The very mention of her in dramatic works testifies to the widespread occurrence of legends about her, since theatrical performances were designed for the broad masses and, accordingly, their realities were supposed to appeal to the traditional, widespread, "shared by the society knowledge."
This is evidenced by the mention of empousa by Demosthenes in his "Speeches", which were also pronounced with a large crowd of people.
A variety of protective amulets, precious stones, which were believed to have various miraculous properties, were widely used against such malicious creatures.
The author of the 2nd century, Dionysius, mentions that jasper is terrible for the empus: "The sea represents many miraculous things for people, and also produces a crystal and dark jasper, terrible for the empus and other ghosts."
Another mention of it belongs to the author of the 3rd century, Flavius Philostratus, and his story has a clearly folklore character. This story was later used by Jan Potocki in The Manuscript Found in Zaragoza.
Philostratus wrote:
“Pay attention to what I have said! This affectionate bride is one of the empus, whom many consider to be ghouls and werewolves. They fall in love and are committed to lust, and they love human flesh even more - that is why they lure into the lustful nets those they wish to devour."
Here the image of the empusa expands, due to which its connection with the lamia becomes clear.
The often-cited relationship of the empusa with Hecate is rooted not in antiquity, but in a 10th century Byzantine dictionary called Svida. There, this creature is a demonic ghost, sent by Hecate to people, or she herself.
"Svida" mentions two more names of the empusa, the first is Oinopol, since she emerges from the darkness and is endowed with the ability to change her appearance. Another name is Onoskelis ("with donkey legs"). The latter creature is often considered an independent demon, found in the Testament of Solomon, a Jewish monument written in Greek.
There Onoskelis is described as an attractive woman with donkey legs, that is, outwardly it is nothing more than a female satyr.
