Takin' It Back to the Old Skool....

Hope everyone had a wonderful labor day weekend!

Ok so next up on our vampire history trip; I'm taking ya'll back to the days of Socrates and Plato...Ancient Greece...one of my favorite studies!!



"In part, art completes what nature cannot elaborate; and in part it imitates nature."--Aristotle



Ancient Greece::

The "tragic" ((because it wouldn't be Greek mythology with out a little tragedy)) story goes something like this...

Lamia the daughter of King Belus ((King of Egypt; son of Posiden and Lybia)) had a love affair with the god Zeus...of course we all know about Zeus's sordid love affairs...and Hera ((the jealous wife that she was)) found out and got pissed and cursed Lamia and turned her into a monster, killed her offspring, and made it to where she could never close her eyes and be plagued of all the images of her dead offspring...remind me never to have a love affair with a, already taken, Greek god. Like all good Greek stories Lamia sought vengeance and preyed upon sleeping children in there beds by sucking there blood ((gross)). It goes on to explain why children...saying Lamia was envious of other mothers and therefore got back by going after their children. Mothers would hang amulets from their children's necks to protect them ((Yay! Finally something about the protection and warding off of vampires!)) It was also said that Lamia also feasted on blood by transforming into a beautiful young woman who seduced young men into sleeping with her before she sucked their blood.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vampire_folklore_by_region

There was also another tale from the Greeks of a women named Empusa. Empusa the demi-goddess was a product of the union of the goddess Hectate and the spirit Mormo. It was said that she could also turn into a beautiful maiden and seduce young men....and then of course devour their blood.

Empusa stayed with Greek mythology a little longer...we find out that she was reduced to the role of a speices of Hectatean demon called empuse. The empuse's were charged, by Hectate, to guard the roads and devour travelers. Now they are simply reffered as shape shifting hobgoblins sent to pester the Greek sheperds.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vampire_folklore_by_region
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Empusa

So if we take a look back at the last post we see that both of these creatures Lilith and Lamia ((both L's)) prey upon the innocent children/babies. In my opinion I think that these myths were made up maybe to explain some disease or plague that killed children. Once again...just my opinion...would like to hear from any other vampire experts!!!

Well stay tuned for the next blog....where will look into the myths of vampires in India....should be a good one!

over and out,

Leah

Vampires...

Ok so for a while I'm going to turn the blog towards my new obsession....vampires!

By now you've all read or watch Twilight and True Blood...but there is so much more to vampires than these fictitious creatures we all swoon over. There is so much history on them...vampires ((until proven otherwise)) are a mythical creature, a creature of Satan, a undead creature....Right we all know this but we don't know is the folklore passed down from century to century. ((Just a warning...this is not a book...I will be using pictures and quotes from other people and if I do not get your name right or down at all in the tags for these post I apologize now)) So now we start our historical trip around the world with vampires!


Persia ((modern day Iran))

The Persians were one of the first civilizations thought to have tales of blood-drinking demons: creatures attempting to drink blood from men were depicted on excavated pottery shards.^[5] Ancient Babylonia had tales of the mythical Lilitu,^[7] synonymous with and giving rise to Lilith (Hebrew לילית) and her daughters the Lilu from Hebrew demonology. Lilitu was considered a demon and was often depicted as subsisting on the blood of babies. However, the Jewish counterparts were said to feast on both men and women, as well as newborns.^[7] The legend of Lilith was originally included in some traditional Jewish texts: according to the medieval folk traditions, she was considered to be Adam's first wife before Eve.^[8][9] In these texts, Lilith left Adam to become the queen of the demons (she actually refused to be Adam's subordinate and thus was banished from eden by God himself) and, much like the Greek striges, would prey on young babies and their mothers at night, as well as males. Because Hebrew law absolutely forbade the eating of human flesh or the drinking of any type of blood, Lilith's blood drinking was described as exceptionally evil. To ward off attacks from Lilith, parents used to hang amulets from their child's cradle.^[9]



((http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vampire_folklore_by_region))


So basically this "Lilith" drank babies blood and ate the flesh afterward....which of course is against Hebrew Law and they considered that exceptionally evil. So In my opinion the myth of Lilith was made up to make people more religious....in a sense that if they would not adhere to the religious views of their time that they would turn into or be attacked by this creature. I want to hear what all you vampire experts have to say so comment back.

Next week I will explore vampires in Ancient Greece....hopefully it will be a little longer that this one was...but I ran out of time!!

**Friends don't let friends drink friends**


over and out,
--Leah