Vampires | |||||||||||||||||
| where'd the legend start? | |||||||||||||||||
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Exactly where and when did the vampyre mythos actually begin? Examples go back to the beginning of time and can be found in one form or another throughout history in almost every culture. It is believed by some that Lilith was the first vampire, though others consider her a demoness or succubus. It is said that Lilith searched for men who were sleeping alone and then seduced them and sucked their blood. She was also considered a great danger to children as well, especially boys under the age of eight or girls less than twenty days old. According to one of the creation theories, Lilith was believed to be Adam's first wife. Alas, the couple did not get along... Lilith considered herself Adam's equal and objected to lying under Adam while making love. When Adam insisted, she left him and was next found by the Red Sea carrying on with a horde of lewd demons. Lilith refused to return to Adam, but she did promise that if she saw the angel messengers' names written anywhere near a newborn, she would spare the baby's life. Lilith had an equally ancient counterpart known as Lamia, a cave dwelling vampire who made her first appearance in Greek mythology. Lamia was the Queen of Lybia and a beautiful woman by whom Zeus had fathered children. When Hera, the wife of Zeus, found out, she forced the queen to devour her own children. Though she dare not refuse the empress of the gods, from that moment forward she haunted the nights, robbing other mothers of their children. She would rake them with her claw like nails before draining their bodies of blood. Once a beautiful queen, Lamia had become a hideous beast with the ability to change shape at will. Over time, her name came to refer to witches and female demons who stole children and seduced men and drained them of their blood after their passion had been spent. Though legends of vampires can be found world wide, much of the lore of the vampire, as we now know it, is of eastern European descent. Bram Stoker, who wrote Dracula, borrowed parts of his story and background from the tales of Vlad Tepes of Transylvania, the original Count Drakul. Vlad the Impaler, as he became known, came to power by way of the brutal assassination of his father and brother. He ensured the obedience of his subjects through sheer terror. Anyone that dared to provoke the Count's wrath was impaled on a long sharp pole. It is believed that over 100,000 people were impaled during Vlad's reign. Another example is Countess Bathory, who is infamous for her bloodthirsty and sadistic deeds. The Countess is reputed to have tortured and murdered close to 700 young girls and women in the belief that their blood would keep her young. From these gruesome accounts, the vampire legend, as we know it, began and grew. | ||||||||||||||||
| myths and such! | |||||||||||||||||
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Vampire Folklore and Mythology The myths and legend of the Vampire have been present throughout history of man. Every civilization had their own version of the folklore vampire, and I would like to take a few moments to share some of these things with you. I am intentionally not including all of the popular depictions of the vampire, because we know quite enough of all that, and it is information easily found on at least a million other websites. My goal is to share some of the more obscure manifestations of the vampire throughout history. Some of this information might not be perfectly accurate, as sources vary widely, and resources do not seem to agree on many of these. We are currently working to modify and correct all errors here. Beside that one small flaw, Please Enjoy. From Greece we hear tale of the Vrykolakas, which were quite different from the | ||||||||||||||||
| Vlad Tepes: the real dracula | |||||||||||||||||
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