Other origins

## Lamia

LAMIA was a child-devouring sea-monster or night-haunting daemon. She was a daughter of Poseidon and mother of the monsters Skylla (Scylla) and Akheilos (Acheilus, the Shark).

Lamia was originally a Libyan queen loved by Zeus. When his jealous wife Hera learned of their affair she stole away Lamia's children and the woman, driven mad with grief, tore out her own eyes. Zeus then transformed her into a monster allowing her to exact revenge by devouring the children of others.

Lamia was often described as a bogeyman--a night-haunting daemon which preyed on children. She was sometimes pluralised into host of ghostly, vampiric Lamiai (Lamiae).

Lamia was no doubt first envisaged, however, as a sea-monster for she was a daughter of Poseidon and her name is simply the ancient Greek word for a large, dangerous lone-shark. She was probably identified with the sea-goddess Keto (Ceto) for both are described as the mother of the monstrous Skylla. Her other child, Akheilos "the lipless one", was transformed into a small shark by Aphrodite.

**Lamia** (/ˈleɪmiə/; Greek: Λάμια), in ancient Greek mythology, was a woman who became a child-eating monster after her children were destroyed by Hera, who learned of her husband Zeus' trysts with her. Hera also afflicted Lamia with sleeplessness so she would anguish constantly, but Zeus gave her the ability to remove her own eyes.

"Lamia" was also used as a bogey word to frighten and discipline children.

In later traditions and storytelling, the *lamiai* became a type of phantom, synonymous with the empusai which seduced youths to satisfy their sexual appetite and fed on their flesh afterward. A fabulous biography of Apollonius of Tyanadefeating a lamia seductress has inspired the poem *Lamia* by Keats.

The lamia has been ascribed serpentine qualities, which some commentators believe can be firmly traced to mythology from antiquity, and they have found analogues in ancient texts that could be designated as *lamiai* (or *lamiae*) which are part-serpent beings. These include the half-woman, half-snake beasts of the "Libyan myth" told by Dio Chrysostom, and the monster sent to Argos by Apollo to avenge Psamathe (Crotopus).

## Classical mythology[edit]

In the myth, the Lamia was originally a beautiful woman beloved of Zeus, but after Zeus' jealous wife Hera destroyed all her children, or caused Lamia herself to kill her own offspring, she became disfigured from the torment, transforming into a terrifying being who hunted and killed the children of others.

Diodorus Siculus (fl. 1st century BC) gave a de-mythologized account of Lamia as a queen of Libya who ordered her soldiers to snatch children from their mothers and kill them, and whose beauty gave way to bestial appearance due to her savageness. The queen, as related by Diodorus, was born in a cave. Heraclitus Paradoxographus (2nd century) also gave a rationalizing account.

Aristotle's *Nicomachean Ethics* (vii.5) refers to the lore of some beastly lifeform in the shape of a woman, which tears the bellies of pregnant mothers and devours their fetuses. An anonymous commentator on the passage states this is a reference to the Lamia, but muddlingly combines this with Aristotle's subsequent comments and describes her as a Scythian of the Pontus (Black Sea) area.

### Lamia's eyes[edit]

According to one myth, Hera deprived Lamia of the ability to sleep, making her constantly grieve over the loss of her children, and Zeus provided relief by endowing her with removable eyes. He also gifted her with a shapeshifting ability in the process.

Diodorus' rationalization was that the Libyan queen in her drunken state was as if she could not see, allowing her citizens free rein for any conduct without supervision, giving rise to the folk myth that she places her eyes in a vessel. Heraclitus's euhemerized account explains that Hera, consort of King Zeus, gouged the eyes out of the beautiful Lamia.

### PARENTS

[1.1] POSEIDON *(Stesichorus Frag 220, Pausanias 10.12.2)*

[2.1] BELOS *(Other references)*

### OFFSPRING

[1.1] SKYLLA *(Stesichorus Frag 220, Eustathius on Homer's Odyssey 1714)*

[2.1] AKHEILOS (by Zeus) *(Ptolemy Hephaestion Bk6)*

[3.1] SIBYLLA HEROPHILE (by Poseidon) *(Pausanias 10.12.2)*

[3.2] SIBYLLA (by Apollon) *(Suidas 'Sibylla)*

# Ideas

### As a seductress[edit]

In later classical periods, around the 1st century A. D., the conception of this Lamia shifted to that of a sultry seductress who enticed young men and devoured them.

#### Apollonius of Tyana[edit]

A representative example is Philostratus's novelistic biography *Life of Apollonius of Tyana*.

It purports to give a full account of the capture of "Lamia of Corinth" by Apollonius, as the general populace referred to the legend. An appartition (*phasma* φάσμα) which in the assumed guise of a woman seduced one of Apollnius' young pupils.

Here, Lamia is the common vulgar term and *empousa* the proper term. For Apollonius in speech declares that the seductress is "one of the *empousai*, which most other people would call *lamiai* and *mormolykeia*". The use of the term *lamia* in this sense is however considered atypical by one commentator.

Regarding the seductress, Apollonius further warned, "you are warming a snake (*ophis*) on your bosom, and it is a snake that warms you". It has been suggested from this discourse that the creature was therefore "literally a snake". The *empousa* admits in the end to fattening up her victim (Menippus of Lycia) to be consumed, as she was in the habit of targeting young men for food "because their blood was fresh and pure". The last statement has led to the surmise that this lamia/empusa was a sort of blood-sucking vampiress.

Another aspect of her powers is that this empusa/lamia is able to create an illusion of a sumptuous mansion, with all the accoutrements and even servants. But once Apollonius reveals her false identity at the wedding, the illusion fails her and vanishes.

#### Lamia the courtesan[edit]

A longstanding joke makes a word play between Lamia the monster and Lamia of Athens, the notorious *hetaira* courtesan who captivated Demetrius Poliorcetes (d. 283 BC). The double-entendre sarcasm was uttered by Demetrius' father, among others. The same joke was used in theatrical Greek comedy, and generally. The word play is also seen as being employed in Horace's *Odes*, to banter Lucius Aelius Lamia the praetor.

#### Golden Ass[edit]

In Apuleius's *The Golden Ass* there appear the Thessalian "witches" Meroe and her sister Panthia, who are called *lamiae*in one instance.

Meroe has seduced a man named Socrates, but when he plots to escape, the two witches raid his bed, thrust a knife in the neck to tap the blood into a skin bag, eviscerate his heart, and stuff the hole back with sponge.

Some commentators, despite the absence of actual blood-sucking, find these witches to share "vampiric" qualities of the *lamiae* (*lamiai*) in Philostratus' narrative, thus offering it up for comparison.

THE OKEANIDES (Oceanids) were three thousand goddess-nymphs who presided over the sources of earth's fresh-water--from rain-clouds to subterranean springs and fountains. Their numbers included the Nephelai (Cloud-Nymphs), Aurai(Breeze-Nymphs), Naiades (Spring and Fountain Nymphs), Leimonides (Pasture Nymphs), and Anthousai (Flower Nymphs). They were all daughters of the great, earth-encircling, fresh-water stream Okeanos (Oceanus) and his wife Tethys.

The eldest among them were numbered among the Titanides (female Titans)--Styx, Dione, Neda, Metis, Klymene, Eurynome, Doris, Elektra, and Pleione. These were most likely heavenly goddesses of the clouds.

Some of the Okeanides personified divine blessings such as Metis (Wisdom), Klymene (Fame), Plouto (Wealth), Tykhe (Good Fortune), Telesto (Success), and Peitho (Persuasion). The goddess Nemesis was sometimes also included in their number as one who provided balance by punishing undeserved good fortune as might arise from her sister's gifts.

These Good Spirits (*Daimones Agathoi*) were ephemeral in nature much like the dark children of Nyx (Night), the Spirits of Harm (*Daimones Kakoi*).

Another group of Okeanides were handmaidens of the Olympian goddesses, the most prominent of these were the sixty Okeanis companions of Artemis, Peitho the handmaiden of Aphrodite, and Klymene the handmaiden of Hera.

The Naias-Okeanides (Naiads) were primarily nymphs of springs, wells and fountains. They were often portrayed as the wives of the Potamoi (River-Gods) and mothers of younger Naiades.

The Okeanides were occasionally described as sea-nymphs. In the late classical era the mythical, earth-encircling, fresh-water river Okeanos was increasily equated with the briny Atlantic and Indian Oceans, and his nymph-daughters reimagined as marine deities.

# THE OCEANIDS IN GREEK MYTHOLOGY

## THE OCEANID WATER NYMPHS

In Ancient Greece, people would associate every element of the world with a deity; and so the sun might be considered to be Helios, the Moon might be Selene, and the winds would be the four Anemoi.

The most essential of all elements though was water, and as a result water would have a whole plethora of deities associated with it. Major sources would have a powerful god linked with it, with the likes of Poseidon and Oceanus, whilst minor sources would have minor gods and goddesses. Oceanids were some of these minor deities, and would therefore be associated many sources of freshwater.

## THE ORIGIN OF THE OCEANIDS

The Oceanids were the 3,000 daughters of Oceanus, the Titan god of the earth encircling river, and his wife, the Titanide Tethys. This parentage made the Oceanids sisters to the 3,000 **Potamoi**, the river gods of Greek mythology.

Les Oceanides Les Naiades de la mer - Gustave Doré (1832–1883) - PD-art-100

## TYPES OF OCEANIDS

In the ancient sources the Oceanids would be split into five different groups; the Nephelai were cloud nymphs; the Naiades were the Oceanids associated with fountains springs and wells; the Leimonides were nymphs of the pasture; the Aurai were nymphs of the water found in breezes; and the Anthousai were the Oceanid nymphs of flowers.

The Naiades were commonly thought of as being the wives of the Potamoi.

Although writers in antiquity would talk of 3,000 Oceanids, the figure was purely nominal, and from the ancient texts, about 100 distinct Oceanids can be identified; and even of these 100 Oceanids some are far more famous than others.

## THE TITANIDE OCEANIDS

These second generation Titans being Metis, Styx, Dione, Doris, Clymene, Eurynome, Elektra, Pleione and Neda.

**Metis** – Metis was the first Goddess of Wisdom, and would counsel Zeus during the Titanomachy. After the war, **Metis** would become Zeus’ first wife, but when a prophecy was made about the son of Metis being more powerful than the father, Zeus swallowed his wife. Athena would eventually be born to Zeus from Metis, and Metis would continue to counsel Zeus from her internal prison.

**Styx – Styx** was the first deity to join the forces of Zeus during the Titanomachy, and so was honoured by Zeus by being made the goddess of the River Styx which flowed through the underworld. Swearing on the Styx would be a binding oath for the gods thereafter.

**Dione –** Dione was another important Oceanid, for she was also known as Dodona, and associated with a spring. Dione though was also the goddess of the Oracle of Dodona, one of the most important and sacred sites in Ancient Greece.

**Doris –** The Oceanid Doris would marry the sea god Nereus, and with her husband would become parent to the 50 Nereids, the saltwater sea nymphs.

**Clymene ­ -** Clymene would become the wife of the Titan Iapetus, as well as becoming the personification of fame. Clymene would famously become mother to four Titan sons; Atlas, Menoitius, Prometheus and Epimetheus.

**Eurynome –** The Oceanid Eurynome would be one of Zeus’ lovers, and from their relationship the three Charities (Graces) were born. It was also Eurynome who helped nurse Hephaestus when he was thrown from Mount Olympus.

**Electra – Electra** would marry the sea god Thaumas, and would become mother to the Harpies and to the messenger goddess Iris.

**Pleione –** The Oceanid Pleione would become wife of the Titan Atlas, and would provide the Titan with seven beautiful daughters, the Pleiades. Pleione’s sister, Hesione, would marry Atlas’ brother, Prometheus.

**Neda** – In one version of the infancy of Zeus, Neda, along with her sisters Theisoa and Hagno, was a nursemaid of the god.