When it come to terrorize fictional characters to fear from children ’s literature , the hag from " Hansel and Gretel " and Baba Yaga of many slavic myths do to mind . But there ’s one character in Grecian mythology who arguably top them all in condition of evil : Lamia .
To put it simply , Lamia is " a distaff daemon who down children . " Freaked out yet ? admit mythology expertRichard P. Martin , Antony and Isabelle Raubitschek prof in classic at Stanford University , to elaborate .
" She would ' get you ' if you disobey — or so kids were instruct , " Martin says . " She once hold out in Libya , in North Africa . The story goes that , like many a demoness , she used to be a beautiful cleaning woman . Zeus(as was his usual habit ) score and sleep with her . The chief god ’s wife , Hera , got jealous and then killed the children of Lamia . The piteous mortal woman was so overcome by continual heartbreak that she became dreadfully surly in appearance , and then she began to kill the children ofotherwomen , in a sorting of foolishness of revenge . "
Queen of Libya
According to Martin , one version of the Lamia story suggests that she was actually the queer of Libya and grade all newborn babe to be snatched from their mothers and slaughtered — a tale , he repoint out , that sounds like tothe story of Herod in the gospel of Matthew . " There are breath from late sources that she was thought of as personally eating nestling , " Martin add .
AsGreekMythology.computs it , " as many mortal women found out the heavy way , being loved by Zeus came with a severe drawback ; namely , being despise by Hera . “Heraof course of instruction was live as the Queen of the Gods , and she was as known for her fiercely protective instinct as she was for her pride and green-eyed monster . unluckily , her husband , Zeus , often test those flaming caliber with a track record of constant unfaithfulness . When it came to Lamia , Hera sought revenge by murdering each of the mistress ’s children — disregarding of whether Zeus was the father or not . The loss pushed Lamia to lyssa and she then made it her missionary work to nobble the child of others and run through them . grant toGreek Legends and myth , " the monstrous actions of Lamia make her facial features to distort , perhaps mimic that of a shark , and Lamia becomes a monster herself . "
" Aristotle records in his ' History of Animals ' ( fourth century B.C.E. ) that ' lamia ' was the name of a kind of shark , " Martin explain .
The HBO Max series , " enkindle by Wolves , " features a vampire - inspired character . While Martin has n’t seen the show , he say that if the reference really does " polish off her eyes " as thisScreen Rant summarysuggests , " the author of the hand has cull up on an obscure ancient particular . One narrative preserved only in late outmoded and medieval sources says Hera have Lamia to be sleepless ( as well as killing her child ) , so Zeus , to give Lamia the opportunity to have some rest , made her eyes removable — that way they would not always be capable ( at least not in her head ) . "
There was at least one small fry who get away Lamia ’s clutches : Sibyl . " She was said to be a daughter of Lamia and Zeus , and was the first cleaning woman to chant oracles , like the renowned Pythia at Delphi , " Martin aver . Pausanius , a change of location writer of the 2nd century C.E.,claimed thatwhile visiting Delphi , he was severalise that the notable oracle Sybil was the daughter of Zeus and Lamia . But it ’s indecipherable from the stories why Sybil come through to adulthood and whether she was the only one Hera did n’t rid of .
The ‘Bogey’ Women of Greek Literature
Martin says that Lamia was just one of several ' bogey ' cleaning woman in Greek folklore , i.e. a curing of shivery monstress figures . " There were also ' Gorgo ' and ' Mormolykê ' and ' Empusa ' — taking the cast of beautiful woman and then take up the blood of their dupe seems to have been plebeian feature in the story about these demon character . " Modern Greek folklore , according to Martin , still keep tradition about Lamia as a chilling bogey - woman .
" Maybe every acculturation postulate a direction for mothers to keep their kids from doing dangerous things — like wandering off into the Ellen Price Wood alone — or just from misdemean , " Martin says . " In the other nineteenth century , for object lesson , British nursemaids would affright children with storey of’Boney’coming to get them — the dire enemy of the realm , Napoleon Bonaparte , reckon as an ogre . In ancient Greece , a demoness anticipate ' Lamia ' act the same character . "
According to Martin , " a multiform of the childless woman / crazy child thief figure " be in various part of the United States through legend and myth , as well . " In the Southwest ( and generally in Latin America it seems):La Llorona , ' the wailing woman ' supposedly drowned her own children ( or they drowned on their own ) and now ghost piazza at nighttime crying and stealing other minor , " he articulate . " mother discourage kids thatLa Lloronawill snatch them if they go too penny-pinching to water . "
Regardless of why the news report of Lamia was originally believe , her bequest lives on , even today . " ' Lamia ' in everyday Greek or Latin could also be used as an contumely hurl at any threatening , knock-down or horrifying female , " Martin says . " In some ancient fictional stories , courtesans get called this , as do witches . Clearly male anxiety at work here , blaming seductive women for the guy ' own luxuria - fuelled laying waste . "
