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For other uses, see Lamia (disambiguation).
Lamia
The Lamia (painting by Herbert James Draper, 1909)
Creature
Name: Lamia
Classification
Grouping: Legendary Creature
Sub grouping: Daimon
Similar creatures: Empousa, Mormo
Data
Mythology: Greek
Country: Libya

In Greek mythology, Lamia was a Queen of Libya who became a child-murdering daemon. Herbert James Draper (1863 &ndash 1920 was an English painter in the Victorian era. A legendary creature is a mythological or folkloric creature (often known as "fabulous creatures" in historical literature The words daemon, dæmon, are Latinized spellings of the Greek δαίμων ( daimôn) used purposely today to distinguish the daemons Empusa (Έμπουσα Empousā, of unknown meaning is a Demigoddess of Greek mythology. In Greek mythology, Mormo or Mormon (Μορμώ Μορμών Mormō, Mormōn) was a Spirit who bit bad children said to have been Greek mythology is the body of stories belonging to the ancient Greeks concerning their gods and Heroes the nature of the world and the origins and significance Libya is the name given to both a region of North Africa ( Ancient Libya) and a daughter of Epaphus, King of Egypt in both Greek and Roman Greek mythology is the body of stories belonging to the ancient Greeks concerning their gods and Heroes the nature of the world and the origins and significance Libya is the name given to both a region of North Africa ( Ancient Libya) and a daughter of Epaphus, King of Egypt in both Greek and Roman The words daemon, dæmon, are Latinized spellings of the Greek δαίμων ( daimôn) used purposely today to distinguish the daemons In later writings she is pluralized into many lamiai. [1] Similar in type to other female monsters from Greco-Roman myth, such as the empousai and the mormolykei, she is distinguished from them by her description as half-woman and half-serpent. Empusa (Έμπουσα Empousā, of unknown meaning is a Demigoddess of Greek mythology. In Greek mythology, Mormo or Mormon (Μορμώ Μορμών Mormō, Mormōn) was a Spirit who bit bad children said to have been [2] Her name comes from the "gullet" (Greek: Laimos), thus she devoured human children. Greek (el ελληνική γλώσσα or simply el ελληνικά — "Hellenic" is an Indo-European language, spoken today by 15-22 million people mainly [3]

Contents

Mythology

Lamia was the daughter of Poseidon and Lybie[4], a personification of the country of Libya. In Greek mythology, Poseidon ( Greek:; Latin: Neptūnus) was the god of the Sea and as "Earth-Shaker" In Greek mythology, Lybie (Λυβιη Lubiē; often written Lybië) was the mother of Lamia by Poseidon and a personification of Libya is the name given to both a region of North Africa ( Ancient Libya) and a daughter of Epaphus, King of Egypt in both Greek and Roman Lamia was a queen of Libya herself, whom Zeus loved. Zeus (zjuːs in Greek: nominative: Zeús /zdeús/ genitive: Diós; Modern Greek /'zefs/ in Greek mythology [5] Hera discovered the affair and stole away Lamia's children, where upon Lamia in her grief became a monster and took to murdering children herself. In the Olympian pantheon of classical Greek Mythology, Hera (ˈhɪərə or /ˈhɛrə/ Greek) or Here ( in Ionic and Homer Zeus granted her the power of prophecy as an attempt at appeasement, as well as the related ability to temporarily remove her eyes. Divination (from Latin divinare "to be inspired by a god" related to Divine, Diva and Deus) is the attempt of ascertaining [6] Either Hera turned her into a monster; The grief from Hera killing all her children, save Scylla, made her monstrous; or she was already one of Hecate's brood[7]. In the Olympian pantheon of classical Greek Mythology, Hera (ˈhɪərə or /ˈhɛrə/ Greek) or Here ( in Ionic and Homer Hecate ( Greek: Ἑκάτη, "far-shooting") Hekate ( Hekátê Plutarch[8] heard that Lamia had the gift to be able to take her eyes out and then put them back in. Lucius Mestrius Plutarchus ( Greek: Μέστριος Πλούταρχος c A later embroidery on this archaic mytheme is that this gift was the gift of Zeus, and by a further explanatory improvisation, that Lamia was "cursed" with the inability to close her eyes so that she would always obsess over the image of her dead children. In the study of Mythology, a mytheme is the essential kernel of a myth an irreducible unchanging element similar to a cultural Meme, one that is always found shared

Horace, in Ars Poetica (l. Quintus Horatius Flaccus, ( Venosa, December 8, 65 BC - Rome, November 27, 8 BC known in the English-speaking world as Horace Ars Poetica is a term meaning "The Art of Poetry" or "On the Nature of Poetry" 340) imagined the impossibility of retrieving the living children she had engulfed:

Neu pranse Lamiae vivum puerum extrabat alvo.

Alexander Pope translates the line

Shall Lamia in our sight her sons devour,
and give them back alive the self-same hour?

Apuleius, in The Golden Ass, describes the witch Meroe and her sister as Lamiae:[9] "The three major enchantresses of the novel—Meroe, Panthia and Pamphylia—also reveal many vampiric qualities generally associated with Lamiae," David Walter Leinweber has noticed. Alexander Pope (21 May 1688 – 30 May 1744 is generally regarded as the greatest English Poet of the eighteenth century best known for his Satirical Apuleius should not be confused with Lucius Appuleius Saturninus, a Roman demagogue or with Pseudo-Apuleius, an author The Metamorphoses of Lucius Apuleius, which according to St Augustine was referred to as The Golden Ass ( Asinus aureus [10].

Stesichorus identifies Lamia as the mother of Scylla[11], by Triton. Stesichorus ( Ancient Greek:, English translation: "he who sets up the chorus" was a Greek lyric poet from Himera in Scylla (ˈsɪlə Σκύλλα Skulla) also known as Scylle (ˈsɪli Σκύλλη Skullē) was one Triton (Τρίτων gen Τρίτωνος is a mythological Greek god, the messenger of the deep Further passing references to Lamia were made by Strabo (i. Strabo ( Greek: Στράβων 63/64 BC – ca AD 24 was a Greek historian, geographer and philosopher. II. 8) and Aristotle (Ethics vii. Aristotle (Greek Aristotélēs) (384 BC – 322 BC was a Greek philosopher a student of Plato and teacher of Alexander the Great. 5).

In the Vulgate Jerome translated Lilith, the spirit in Isaiah 34:14 who conceived by Adam a brood of monsters, as lamia, thus sealing Lamia's image as a seductress in the Christian imagination. Jerome (c 347 – September 30, 420) ( Latin: Eusebius Sophronius Hieronymus; Εὐσέβιος Σωφρόνιος Ἱερώνυμος Lilith (Hebrew he לילית is a mythological female Mesopotamian Storm Demon associated with Wind and was thought to be a bearer

Interpretations

Lamia by John William Waterhouse (1909); note the snakeskin about her waist.
Lamia by John William Waterhouse (1909); note the snakeskin about her waist. John William Waterhouse ( April 6, 1849 &ndash February 10, 1917) was an English Pre-Raphaelite painter most

Mothers used to threaten their children with the story of Lamia. [12] Leinweber states, "She became a kind of fairy-tale figure, used by mothers and nannies to induce good behavior among children"[13]

Many lurid details were conjured up by later writers, assembled in the Suda, expanded upon in Renaissance poetry and collected in Bulfinch and in Brewer's Dictionary of Phrase and Fable: Lamia was envious of other mothers and ate their children. The Suda or Souda ( also, Suidas) is a massive 10th century Byzantine Greek historical encyclopedia of the ancient Mediterranean Thomas Bulfinch ( July 15 1796 - May 27, 1867) was an American writer born in Newton Massachusetts. Brewer's Dictionary of Phrase and Fable, sometimes referred to simply as Brewer's — is a Reference work containing definitions and explanations of many She was usually female, but Aristophanes suggests her hermaphroditic phallus, perhaps simply for monstrosity's sake[14]. Leinweber notes[15], adding "By the time of Apuleius, not only were Lamia characteristics liberally mixed into popular notions of sorcery, but at some level the very names were interchangeable. " Nicolas K. Kiessling compared the lamia with the medieval succubus and Grendel in Beowulf. A succubus (plural succubi) is a Demon who takes the form of a beautiful woman to seduce men especially monks in Dreams to have Sexual intercourse Grendel is one of three Antagonists along with Grendel's mother and the Dragon, in the Anglo-Saxon epic poem Beowulf Beowulf is an Old English Heroic epic poem of anonymous authorship dating as recorded in the Nowell Codex manuscript from between [16]

One interpretation posits that the Lamia may have been a seductress, as in Philostratus' Life of Apollonius of Tyana, where the philosopher Apollonius reveals to the young bridegroom, Menippus, that his hastily-married wife is really a lamia, planning to devour him. Philostratus, was the name of four Greek Sophists of the Roman imperial period: (c [17] Some harlots were named "Lamia". [18] The connection between Demetrius Poliorcetes and the courtesan Lamia was notorious. Demetrius I (337-283 BC Greek: Δημήτριος) called Poliorcetes (Greek Πολιορκητής) ("The Besieger" son of [19][20] [21] In the painting by Herbert James Draper (1909, illustration above), the Lamia who moodily watches the serpent on her forearm appears to represent a hetaira. Herbert James Draper (1863 &ndash 1920 was an English painter in the Victorian era. For the elite Ancient Macedonian cavalry ( hetairoi, "companions" see Companion cavalry. Though the lower body of Draper's Lamia is human, he alludes to her serpentine history by draping a shed snake skin about her waist.

In Renaissance emblems, Lamia has the body of a serpent and breasts and head of a woman, like the image of hypocrisy. An emblem is a pictorial Image, abstract or representational that epitomizes a Concept — e Hypocrisy (or the state of being a hypocrite) is the act of preaching a certain belief religion or way of life but not in fact holding these same virtues oneself

John Keats described the Lamia in Lamia and Other Poems, presenting a description of the various colors of Lamia that was based on Burton's, in The Anatomy of Melancholy. " Lamia " is a Narrative poem written by English poet John Keats. The Anatomy of Melancholy (Full title The Anatomy of Melancholy What it is With all the Kinds Causes Symptomes Prognostickes and Several Cures of it [22]



Modern folk traditions

In the modern Greek folk tradition, the Lamia has survived and retained many of her traditional attributes. Greece (Ελλάδα transliterated: Elláda, historically, Ellás,) officially the Hellenic Republic (Ελληνική Δημοκρατία [23] John Cuthbert Lawson comments, ". . . . the chief characteristics of the Lamiae, apart from their thirst for blood, are their uncleanliness, their gluttony, and their stupidity". [24] The contemporary Greek proverb, "της Λάμιας τα σαρώματα" ("the Lamia's sweeping"), epitomises slovenliness; and the common expression, "τό παιδί τό 'πνιξε η Λάμια" ("the child has been strangled by the Lamia"), explains the sudden death of young children (ibid). As in Bulgarian folklore and Basque legends, the Lamia in Greece is often associated with caves and damp places.

In modern Greek folk tales, Lamia is an ogress similar to Baba-Yaga. Baba Yaga (Ба́ба-Яга́ Баба Рога Баба Яга Баба Рога Polish, Czech, Baba Jaga Baba Roga is in Slavic folklore, a witch-like She lives in a remote house or tower. She eats human flesh and has magical abilities, keeps magical objects or knows information crucial to the hero of the tale's quest. The hero must avoid her, trick her or gain her favour in order to obtain one of those. In some tales, the lamia has a daughter who is also a magician and helps the hero, eventually falling in love with him

A Creature with particularities slightly 'Lamian' appears in the movie, 'Pan's Labyrinth' complete with a hunger for children and eyes that are not in its sockets.

Notes

  1. ^ The Roman equestrian gens of the Lamiae, allied with the Aeliae )Horace, Odes 3. In Ancient Rome, a gens (pl gentes) was a Clan, Caste, or group of Families, that shared a common name (the Quintus Horatius Flaccus, ( Venosa, December 8, 65 BC - Rome, November 27, 8 BC known in the English-speaking world as Horace 17, addressed to Aelius Lamia) and linked with Formiae bore no connection with the mythic Greek bogey. The French World War II agent Philippe Thyraud de Vosjoli, on whose exploits the 1969 film Topaz was based, used "Lamia" as his code name (P. Topaz, director Alfred Hitchcock 's 51st movie, filmed between 1968 and 1969, was adapted from the book Topaz L. Thyraud de Vosjoli, Lamia [Boston: Little, Brown] 1970).
  2. ^ Theoi Project: "Lamia"
  3. ^ Aristophanes, The Wasps, 1177. Aristophanes (Ἀριστοφάνης ˌærɪˈstɒfəniːz in English ca The Wasps ( Greek: / Sphēkes) is a comedy by Aristophanes. (422BC Plot The play revolves around Philocleon
  4. ^ Diodorus Siculus, Library of History xx. 41.
  5. ^ Aristophanes, Peace.
  6. ^ Bell, Women of Classical Mythology, drawing upon Diodorus Siculus 22. 41; Suidas 'Lamia'; Plutarch 'On Being a Busy-Body' 2; Scholiast on Aristophanes' Peace 757; Eustathius on Odyssey 1714) (Mythology dictionary C20th)
  7. ^ Odyssey12. The Odyssey ( Greek: Ὀδύσσεια or Odússeia) is one of two major ancient Greek epic poems attributed to Homer. 124 and scholia, noted by Karl Kerenyi, Gods of the Greeks 1951:38 note 71. A scholium, plural scholia (σχόλιον "comment" "lecture" is a grammatical, critical or explanatory comment either original or extracted One of the founders of modern studies in Greek mythology, Károly (Carl Karl Kerényi ( January 19, 1897 &ndash April 14 1973
  8. ^ Plutarch, De curiositate, 2.
  9. ^ The Elizabethan translator William Adlington rendered lamiae as "hags", obscuring the reference for generations of readers. William Adlington (fl 1566 was one among the host of translators that made the Elizabethan era the "golden age of translations". ([Apuleius], Metamorphoses [Harvard University Press] 1989 (Metamorphoses is more familiar to English-languaqge readers as The Golden ass. ).
  10. ^ Leinweber, "Witchcraft and Lamiae in 'The Golden Ass'" Folklore 105 (1994:77-82)
  11. ^ Stesichorus Frag 220, Eustathius on Homer's Odyssey 1714
  12. ^ Tertullian, Against Valentinius (ch. Quintus Septimius Florens Tertullianus, Anglicised as Tertullian, (ca Valentinus (also spelled Valentius) ( c 100 - c160 CE) was the best known and for a time most successful Early Christian gnostic iii)
  13. ^ Leinweber 1994:77.
  14. ^ Aristophanes, Peace, l. Peace ( Greek: / Eirēnē) is an Athenian Old Comedy written and produced by the Greek playwright Aristophanes. . 758
  15. ^ Leinweber 1994:78
  16. ^ See Nicolas K. Kiessling, "Grendel: A New Aspect" Modern Philology 65. 3 (February 1968:191-201.
  17. ^ Leinweber 1994:77f
  18. ^ Kerényi 1951 p 40
  19. ^ See Plutarch, Life of Demetrius xxv. 9
  20. ^ See Aelian, Varia Historia XII. Aelian or Aelianus may refer to Aelianus Tacticus, Greek military writer of the 2nd century who lived in Rome Casperius Aelianus xvii. 1
  21. ^ See Athenaeus, Deipnosophistae III. Athenaeus ( Ancient Greek - Athếnaios Naukratios Latin Athenaeus Naucratita of Naucratis in Egypt Greek rhetorician and grammarian flourished The Deipnosophistae ( deipnon, "dinner" and sophistai, "professors" original Greek title, Deipnosophistai, English lix. 29.
  22. ^ Keats made a note to this effect at the end of the first page in the fair copy he made: see William E. Harrold, "Keats's 'Lamia' and Peacock's 'Rhododaphne'" The Modern Language Review 61. 4 (October 1966:579-584) p 579 and note with bibliography on this point.
  23. ^ Lamia receives a section in Georgios Megas and Helen Colaclides, Folktales of Greece (Folktales of the World) (University of Chicago Prtes) 1970.
  24. ^ Lawson, Modern Greek Folklore and Ancient Greek Religion: A Study in Survivals {Cambridge University Press)) 1910:175ff.

References

See also

External links

Lilith (Hebrew he לילית is a mythological female Mesopotamian Storm Demon associated with Wind and was thought to be a bearer Nāga ( नाग, IAST: nāgá, Indonesian: naga, Javanese: nogo, Khmer: neak) is La Llorona (la ʝoˈɾona or approximately "lah yoh-ROH-nah" Spanish for "the crying woman" sometimes called the Woman in White or the
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