Lamia

{{Short description|Figure in Greek mythology}} {{Other uses}} [[File:The knight and the mermaid.jpg|thumb|''The Kiss of the Enchantress'' (Isobel Lilian Gloag, {{circa|1890}}), inspired by Keats's "Lamia", depicts Lamia as half-serpent, half-woman]]

'''Lamia''' ({{IPAc-en|ˈ|l|eɪ|m|i|ə|audio=LL-Q1860 (eng)-Naomi Persephone Amethyst (NaomiAmethyst)-lamia.wav}}; {{langx|grc|Λάμια|Lámia}}), in ancient Greek mythology, was a child-eating monster and, in later tradition, was regarded as a type of night-haunting spirit or "daimon".

In the earliest myths, Lamia was a beautiful queen of ancient Libya who had an affair with Zeus and gave birth to his children. Upon learning of this, Zeus's wife Hera robbed Lamia of her children, either by kidnapping them and hiding them away, killing them outright, or forcing Lamia to kill them.<ref name="diodorus" /> The loss of her children drove Lamia insane, and she began hunting and devouring others' children.<ref>Duris of Samos (d. 280 B. C.), ''Libyca'', quoted by {{harvp|Ogden|2013b|p=98}}</ref> Either because of her anguish or her cannibalism, Lamia was transformed into a horrific creature. Zeus gifted Lamia the power of prophecy and the ability to take out and reinsert her eyes, possibly because Hera cursed her with insomnia or the inability to close her eyes.<ref>Bell, Robert E., ''Women of Classical Mythology: A Biographical Dictionary'' (New York: Oxford UP, 1991), s.v. "Lamia" (drawing upon Diodorus Siculus 22.41; Suidas "Lamia"; Plutarch "On Being a Busy-Body" 2; Scholiast on Aristophanes' ''Peace'' 757; Eustathius on ''Odyssey'' 1714).</ref>

The '''''lamiai''''' ({{langx|grc|λάμιαι|lámiai}}) also became a type of phantom, synonymous with the empusai who seduced young men to satisfy their sexual appetite and fed on their flesh afterward. An account of Apollonius of Tyana's defeat of a lamia-seductress inspired the poem "Lamia" by John Keats.

Lamia has been ascribed serpentine qualities, which some commentators believe can be firmly traced to mythology from antiquity; they have found analogues in ancient texts that could be designated as ''lamiai'', which are part-snake beings.<ref> {{cite book |last1 = Morgan |first1 = Diane |date = 30 September 2008 |chapter = The Natural and Unnatural History of the Snake |title = Snakes in Myth, Magic, and History: The Story of a Human Obsession |url = https://books.google.com/books?id=tOfEEAAAQBAJ |publication-place = Westport, Connecticut |publisher = Praeger Publishers |page = 19 |isbn = 9780313352935 |access-date = 14 May 2026 |quote = The traditional image of a lamia is of a serpent with a woman's head and breasts, although representations vary. The original Lamia was the serpent goddess of Libya, probably related to the Greek Medusa and Egyptian Neith. }} </ref> 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, daughter of King Crotopos. Snake-like traits also appear in other ancient mythological figures such as the Medusa and the Chimera.<ref> {{cite book |last1 = Ogden |first1 = Daniel |date = 28 February 2013 |chapter = ''Drakōn'' Fights: ''Drakontes'' Composite |title = Drakōn: Dragon Myth and Serpent Cult in the Greek and Roman Worlds |url = https://books.google.com/books?id=FQ2pAK9luwkC |publication-place = Oxford |publisher = Oxford University Press |page = 68 |isbn = 9780199557325 |access-date = 14 May 2026 |quote = We begin by considering the anguipede {{lang | grc | drakontes}}, those basically made up of a humanoid upper body and a serpent-shaped lower body, Typhon, Echidna, the Giants, Campe, and Lamia. The myths of Lamia (or the {{lang | grc | lamiai}}) have much in common with those of snake-locked Medusa, ... and she in turn has much in common with the snake-tailed Chimaera, ... the latter two seemingly merging into the Gorgon-Aegis creature. }} </ref>

In previous centuries, Lamia was used in Greece as a bogeyman to frighten children into obedience, similar to the way parents in Spain, Portugal and Latin America used the Coco.

==Etymology== A scholiast to Aristophanes claimed that Lamia's name derived from her having a large throat or gullet ({{lang|grc|λαιμός}}; ''laimós'').{{Refn|Scholiast on ''Wasps'', 1035.<ref>{{citation|last=West |first=David R. |title=Some cults of Greek goddesses and female daemons of Oriental origin |publisher=Butzon & Bercker |year=1995 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=sZ9tAAAAMAAJ&q=%22Lamia's%22 |page=293|isbn=9783766698438 }}</ref>}} Modern scholarship reconstructs a Proto-Indo-European stem {{lang|ine-x-proto|lem-}}, "nocturnal spirit", whence also comes ''lemures''.<ref name="eiec">{{Cite encyclopedia |first1=Edgar C. |last1=Polomé |first2=Douglas Q. |last2=Adams |editor-first1=J. P. |editor-last1=Mallory |editor-first2=Douglas Q. |editor-last2=Adams |encyclopedia=Encyclopedia of Indo-European Culture |title=Spirit |publisher=Taylor & Francis |year=1997 |page=538}}</ref>

==Classical mythology== 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.{{Refn|Aristotle, ''[http://data.perseus.org/citations/urn:cts:greekLit:tlg0086.tlg010.perseus-eng1:1148b Nicomachean Ethics]'' 1148b.}}<ref name="fisher" />

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.<ref name=scholium>Scholium from the Byzantine-Hellenistic period to Aristophanes, ''Peace'' 758, quoted by {{harvp|Ogden|2013b|p=98}}</ref><ref>Bell, Robert E. (1993), ''Women of Classical Mythology'', drawing upon Diodorus Siculus XX.41; Suidas 'Lamia'; Plutarch 'On Being a Busy-Body' 2; Scholiast on Aristophanes's ''Peace'' 757; Eustathius on ''Odyssey'' 1714) </ref>

===De-mythologized=== 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.<ref name=diodorus>Diodorus Siculus ({{fl.|1st century BC}}), ''Library of History'' XX.41, quoted by {{harvp|Ogden|2013b|p=98}}</ref><ref name=diodorus-gk>Bekker, Immanuel, ed., Diodorus Siculus, {{URL|1=http://data.perseus.org/citations/urn:cts:greekLit:tlg0060.tlg001.perseus-grc2:20.41 |2=Bibliotheca Historica}} XX.41</ref> Heraclitus Paradoxographus (2nd century) also gave a rationalizing account.{{sfnp|Ogden|2013b|p=99}}

Diodorus's 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.<ref name=diodorus/> Heraclitus's euhemerized account explains that Hera, consort of Zeus, gouged the eyes out of the beautiful Lamia.<ref name=heraclitus>Heraclitus Paradoxographus (2nd century) ''De Incredibilibus'' 34, quoted by {{harvp|Ogden|2013b|p=98}}</ref>

===Genealogy=== Lamia was the daughter born between King Belus of Egypt and Lybie, according to one source.{{Efn|Making her the granddaughter of Poseidon. Lybie is a personification of Libya.}}<ref name=scholium/><ref>Diodorus Siculus, 20.41.3-6, Scholia to Aristophanes, ''Wasps'' 1035; Commentary 37 to Heraclitus the Allegorist</ref>

According to the same source, Lamia was taken by Zeus to Italy, and that Lamos, the city of the man-eating Laestrygonians, was named after her.<ref name=scholium/> A different authority remarks that Lamia was once queen of the Laestrygonians.{{Refn|name=scholios-theocritus|Scholium to Theocritus ''Idylls'' 15.40.{{sfnp|Ogden|2013b|p=98}}<ref name=johnston/>}}{{Refn|group="lower-alpha"|The same scholium states that Mormo and Gello are equivalent to Lamia, therefore by transference Mormo is queen of the Laestrygonians, hence: {{harvp|Stannish|Doran|2013|p=118}}.}}{{Refn|group="lower-alpha"|Horace makes a related joke, referring to the aforementioned Lucius Aelius Lamia the praetor as "Lamus", in this instance regarded as the founding figure of the city of the Laestrygonians.<ref>{{citation|last=Mulroy |first=D. |title=Horace's Odes and Epodes |publisher=University of Michigan Press |year=1994 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=DotEVjzbSHcC&pg=PA86 |page=86|isbn=978-0472105311 }}</ref>}}

===Aristophanes=== Aristophanes wrote in two plays an identically worded list of foul-smelling objects which included the "Lamia's testicles", thus making Lamia's gender ambiguous.<ref>Aristophanes, ''The Wasps'', 1035; ''Peace'' 758, cited by {{harvp|Ogden|2013a}}, p. 91, note 117.</ref>{{Efn|This prompted Henderson (1998) to "humorlessly infer" that the Lamia must have been a hermaphrodite. {{harvp|Ogden|2013a}}, p. 91, note 117.}} This was later incorporated into Edward Topsell's 17th-century envisioning of the lamia.<ref name="topsell"/>

It is somewhat uncertain if this refers to the one Lamia{{Refn|''viz.'' Scholia to the passages whose annotations refer to her,<ref name=scholium/>}} or to "a Lamia" among many, as given in some translations of the two plays;<ref>"a Lamia's groin" (Benjamin Bickley Rogers, 1874), "a foul Lamia's testicles" (Athenian Society, 1912), "sweaty Crotch of a Lamia" (Paul Roche, 2005).</ref> a generic {{not a typo|lamia}} is also supported by the definition as some sort of a "wild beast" in the ''Suda''.<ref>"{{URL|1=http://www.stoa.org/sol-entries/lambda/85|2=Lamia}}", ''Suda On Line'', tr. David Whitehead. 27 May 2008</ref>

==Hellenistic folklore== ===As children's bogey=== The "Lamia" was a bogeyman or bugbear term, invoked by a mother or a nanny to frighten children into good behavior.{{sfnp|Ogden|2013b|p=98}}<ref name=leinweber-p77>{{harvp|Leinweber|1994}}, "Witchcraft and Lamiae in 'The Golden Ass'" ''Folklore'' '''105''', p. 77.</ref> Such practices are recorded by the 1st century Diodorus,<ref name=diodorus/> and other sources in antiquity.<ref name=scholium/><ref>Tertullian, ''Against Valentinius'' (ch. iii)</ref>

Numerous sources attest to the Lamia being a "child-devourer", one of them being Horace.<ref>{{harvp|Ogden|2013a|pp=90–91}}, note 114.</ref> Horace in ''Ars Poetica'' cautions against the overly fantastical: "[nor should a story] draw a live boy out of a Lamia's belly".{{Efn|''Neu pransae Lamiae vivum puerum extrahat alvo'' (v. 340). Alexander Pope translates the line: Shall Lamia in our sight her sons devour, /and give them back alive the self-same hour?}}<ref>{{cite book|last1=Kilpatrick |first1=Ross Stuart |title=The Poetry of Criticism: Horace, Epistles II and Ars Poetica |publisher=University of Alberta |year=1990|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=R_cVPfDRx3QC&pg=PA80 |page=80|isbn=9780888641465 }}</ref> Lamia was in some versions thus seen as swallowing children alive, and there may have existed some nurse's tale that told of a boy extracted alive out of a Lamia.<ref>{{cite book|author=Member of the university |title=A literal Translation of Horace's Art of Poetry. With explanatory notes |place=Cambridge |publisher=J. Hall |year=1894|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=SD9WAAAAcAAJ&pg=PA22 |page=22}}</ref>

The Byzantine lexicon ''Suda'' (10th century) gave an entry for ''lamía'', with definitions and sources much as already described.<ref>"{{URL|1=http://www.stoa.org/sol-entries/lambda/84|2=Lamia}}", ''Suda On Line'', tr. David Whitehead. 1 April 2008</ref> The lexicon also has an entry under ''mormo'' ({{lang|grc|Μορμώ}}), stating that Mormo and the equivalent {{lang|grc|μορμολυκεῖον}} (''mormolykeion'') are called lamía, and that all these refer to frightful beings.<ref>{{citation|author=Suidas |editor-last=Gaisford |editor-first=Thomas |title=Lexicon: post Ludolphum Kusterum ad codices manuscriptos. K - Psi |volume=2 |publisher=Typographeo Academico |year=1834 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=XupCAAAAcAAJ&pg=PA2523 |page=2523}}: "Μορμώ: λέγεται καὶ Μορμώ, Μορμοῦς, ὡς Σαπφώ. καὶ Μορμών, Μορμόνος. Ἀριστοφάνης: ἀντιβολῶ σ', ἀπένεγκέ μου τὴν Μορμόνα. ἄπο τὰ φοβερά: φοβερὰ γὰρ ὑπῆρχεν ἡ Μορμώ. καὶ αὖθις Ἀριστοφάνης: Μορμὼ τοῦ θράσους. μορμολύκειον, ἣν λέγουσι Λαμίαν: ἔλεγον δὲ οὕτω καὶ τὰ φοβερά. λείπει δὲ τὸ ὡς, ὡς Μορμώ, ἢ ἐπιρρηματικῶς ἐξενήνεκται, ὡς εἰ ἔλεγε, φεῦ τοῦ θράσους".</ref><ref>{{harvp|Ogden|2013a}}, p. 91, note 114</ref><ref>"{{URL|1=http://www.stoa.org/sol-entries/mu/1212|2=Mormo}}", ''Suda On Line'', tr. Richard Rodriguez. 11 June 2009.</ref>

"Lamia" has as synonyms "Mormo" and "Gello" according to the scholia to Theocritus.{{Refn|name=scholios-theocritus}}

Other bogeys have been listed in conjunction with "Lamia", for instance, the Gorgo ({{lang|grc|ἡ Γοργώ}}), the eyeless giant Ephialtes, and a Mormolyce ({{lang|grc|μορμολύκη}}) named by Strabo.{{Refn|Hamilton, H.C.; Falconer, W. edd., Strabo, ''[http://data.perseus.org/citations/urn:cts:greekLit:tlg0099.tlg001.perseus-eng2:1.2 Geography]'' I.2.8}}

===As a seductress=== In later classical periods, around the 1st century A.D.,<ref name=skene/> the conception of this Lamia shifted to that of a sultry seductress who enticed young men and devoured them.<ref name=dict-grbm>{{citation|last=Schmitz |first=Leonhard |author-link=Leonhard Schmitz |editor-last=Smith |editor-first=William |title=La'mia |work=A Dictionary of Greek and Roman biography and mythology |place=London |publisher=John Murray |volume=2 |year=1873 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=nVkoAAAAYAAJ&pg=PA713 |pages=713–714}} Perseus Project "{{URL|1=https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.04.0104%3Aentry%3Dlamia-bio-2|2=La'mia}}".</ref><ref name=skene/>

====Apollonius of Tyana==== A representative example is Philostratus's novelistic biography ''Life of Apollonius of Tyana''.<ref name=dict-grbm/>

It purports to give a full account of the capture of "Lamia of Corinth" by Apollonius, as the general populace referred to the legend.{{Refn|This is given in the concluding paragraph of the chapter, ''Vit. Apollon.'' 4.25. Phillimore tr., p. 26.<ref name=philostratus-tr-phillimore/>}} An apparition (''phasma'' {{lang|el|φάσμα}}<ref name=philostratus/>{{Refn|group="lower-alpha"|This ''phasma'' is a more "generic term for creatures".{{sfnp|Felton|2013|loc=p. 232, n15}}}}) which in the assumed guise of a woman seduced one of Apollonius's 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''".{{Refn|In Greek: "μία τῶν ἐμπουσῶν ἐστιν, ἃς λαμίας τε καὶ μορμολυκίας οἱ πολλοὶ ἡγοῦνται", ''Vit. Apollon.'' 4.25. Where Felton gives "mormolyces",{{sfnp|Felton|2013|loc=p. 232, n15}} Ogden "renders as "bogey".<ref name=philostratus/>}}<ref name=philostratus-tr-phillimore/> The use of the term ''lamia'' in this sense is however considered atypical by one commentator.<ref name=stoneman-p178/>

Regarding the seductress, Apollonius further warned, "you are warming a snake (''ophis'') on your bosom, and it is a snake that warms you".{{sfnp|Ogden|2013a|p=90}}<ref name=philostratus/> It has been suggested from this discourse that the creature was therefore "literally a snake".{{sfnp|Ogden|2013b|p=107}}{{Efn|Keats's reworking makes this Lamia have serpent form for certain, which she wants to lose.}} 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".<ref name=philostratus-tr-phillimore/> The last statement has led to the surmise that this lamia/empusa was a sort of blood-sucking vampiress.<ref name=dict-grbm-empusa>{{citation|last=Schmitz |first=Leonhard |author-link= |editor-last=Smith |editor-first=William |title=Lamia |work=A Dictionary of Greek and Roman biography and mythology |place=London |publisher=John Murray |volume=2 |year=1849 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=nVkoAAAAYAAJ&pg=PA713 |pages=713–714}} Perseus Project "{{URL|1=https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.04.0104%3Aentry%3Dlamia-bio-2|2=La'mia (2)}}".</ref>

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.<ref name=philostratus/>

====Lamia the courtesan==== A longstanding joke makes a word play between Lamia the monster and Lamia of Athens, the notorious ''hetaira'' courtesan who captivated Demetrius Poliorcetes (died 283 BC). The double-entendre sarcasm was uttered by Demetrius's father, among others.{{Efn|Demetrius's father Antigonus and Demochares of Soli.}}<ref>{{citation|last=Kapparis |first=Konstantinos |title=Prostitution in the Ancient Greek World |publisher=Walter de Gruyter GmbH & Co KG |year=2017 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=RsM7DwAAQBAJ&pg=PA118 |page=118|isbn=9783110557954 }}</ref><ref>Plutarch, ''{{URL|1=http://data.perseus.org/citations/urn:cts:greekLit:tlg0007.tlg057.perseus-eng1:19 |2=Demetrius}}'' 19, Perrin, Bernadotte, ed.</ref> The same joke was used in theatrical Greek comedy,<ref>{{harvp|Kapparis|2017|p=118}}, citing Lamia O'Sullivan, Lara (2009), pp. 53–79, esp. p. 69</ref> and generally.<ref name=stannish-doran-p117-pejorative-label>{{harvp|Stannish|Doran|2013|p=117}}:"This is a pejorative expression, not a formal classification, but it is still meaningful"; "..labeling of a dangerous woman as a ''lamia'' was not uncommon.. Aelian records.. a notorious prostitute.. (''Miscellany'' 12.17, 13.8)".</ref> The word play is also seen as being employed in Horace's ''Odes'', to banter Lucius Aelius Lamia the praetor.{{Efn|Grandfather of his namesake, the consul Lucius Aelius Lamia (d. 33 CE).}}<ref>{{citation|last=Griffiths |first=Alan |title=The Odes: Just where do you draw the line? |work=Traditions and Contexts in the Poetry of Horace |publisher=Cambridge University Press |year=2002 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=ZfDxfG0O9VUC&pg=PA72 |page=72|isbn=9781139439312 }}</ref>

====Golden Ass==== In Apuleius's ''The Golden Ass''{{Efn|Or ''Metamorphoses'', thus abbreviated "Apu. Met."}} appear two Thessalian "witches",{{Refn|group="lower-alpha"|They are not strictly speaking "witches", but they are referred to as such by convention.<ref name=frangoulidis>{{cite book|last=Frangoulidis|first=Stavros|title=Witches, Isis and Narrative: Approaches to Magic in Apuleius' "Metamorphoses"|publisher=Walter de Gruyter|year=2008|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=oHtjrI9KMGkC&pg=PA116|page=116|isbn=9783110210033}}</ref> In the Latin text, Meroe is referred to as a {{lang|la|saga}}, a wise woman or soothsayer.<ref>{{URL|1=http://data.perseus.org/citations/urn:cts:latinLit:phi1212.phi002.perseus-lat1:1.8 |2=Apul. Met.1.8}}</ref>}} Meroe and her sister Panthia, who are called ''lamiae'' in one instance.<ref>Apul. Met. 1.17. {{harvp|Leinweber|1994|p=78}}: "Admittedly, Apuleius' use of the term "Lamiae" is an isolated occurrence. Elsewhere, Meroe and her sister are referred to as witches or sorcerer".</ref>{{sfnp|Leinweber|1994|pp=77, 79–81}}{{Refn|group="lower-alpha"|It has been cautioned that there may not be great import in the label "lamiae" here beyond derogatory insult,<ref name=stannish-doran-p117-pejorative-label/> and Apuleius uses the label rather indescriminately elsewhere.<ref>Cupid refers to Psyche's sisters as Lamiae, Apul. Met. 5. 11({{harvp|Stannish|Doran|2013}}, p. 117, note 26)</ref>}}{{Refn|group="lower-alpha"|The Elizabethan translator William Adlington rendered ''lamiae'' as "hags".<ref>[Apuleius] (1989), ''Metamorphoses'', Harvard University Press</ref>}}

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.<ref>{{URL|1=http://data.perseus.org/citations/urn:cts:latinLit:phi1212.phi002.perseus-lat1:1.12 |2=Apul. Met. 1.12}}–17 {{in lang|la}}</ref>

Some commentators, despite the absence of actual blood-sucking, find these witches to share "vampiric" qualities of the ''lamiae'' (''lamiai'') in Philostratus's narrative, thus offering it up for comparison.{{sfnp|Stannish|Doran|2013|pp=115–118}}

==Kindreds== Lamia's possible kindred kind appear in Classical works, but may be known by other names except for isolated instance which calls it a ''lamia''. Or they may be simply unnamed or differently named. And those analogues that exhibit a serpentine form or nature have been especially noted.

===Poine of Argos=== One such possible lamia is the avenging monster sent by Apollo against the city of Argos and killed by Coroebus. It is referred to as Poine or Ker<ref>''Greek Anthology'' 7.154, cited by {{harvp|Pache|2004|pp=72–73}}</ref> in classical sources, but later in the Medieval period, one source does call it a lamia (First Vatican Mythographer, {{c.|9th to 11th}} century).{{sfnp|Pache|2004|p=70}}{{sfnp|Ogden|2013a|p=87}}

The story surrounds the tragedy of the daughter of King Crotopus of Argos named Psamathe, whose child by Apollo dies and she is executed for suspected promiscuity. Apollo as punishment then sends the child-devouring monster to Argos.

In Statius' version, the monster had a woman's face and breasts, and a hissing snake protruding from the cleft of her rusty-colored forehead, and it would slide into children's bedrooms to snatch them.<ref name=statius>Statius, ''Thebaid'', I. 562–669, quoted by {{harvp|Ogden|2013b|pp=100–102}}; Latin text: {{URL|1=https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus%3atext%3a2008.01.0498 |2=Thebais}} I; Bailey, D. R. Shackleton tr. (2003) {{URL|1=https://books.google.com/books?id=_3ExP-WzkJYC&pg=PA83|2=Thebaid}}, Book I.</ref> According to a scholiast to Ovid, it had a serpent's body carrying a human face.{{sfnp|Fontenrose|1959|p=104}}

In Pausanias's version, the monster is called ''Poinē'' ({{lang|el|ποινή}}), meaning "punishment" or "vengeance", but there is nothing about a snake on her forehead.{{sfnp|Ogden|2013a|p=102}}<ref name=pausanias>Pausanias, translated by Jones, W.H.S.; Ormerod, H.A., ''{{URL|1=http://data.perseus.org/citations/urn:cts:greekLit:tlg0525.tlg001.perseus-eng1:1.43 |2=Description of Greece}}'', 1. 43. 7 - 8</ref>

One evidence this may be a double of the Lamia comes from Plutarch, who equates the word ''empousa'' with ''poinē''.<ref>Plutarch, ''Moralia'' 1101c, cited by {{harvp|Ogden|2013b|p=107}}.</ref>

===Libyan myth=== A second example is a colony of man-eating monsters in Libya, described by Dio Chrysostom. These monsters had a woman's torso and beastly hands, and "all the lower part was snake, ending in the snake's baleful head".<ref>Dio Chrysostom, ''Orations'', 5.1, 5–27, quoted by {{harvp|Ogden|2013b|pp=103–104}}</ref><ref name=dio-05>Cohoon, J. W. tr., ed. {{URL|1=https://penelope.uchicago.edu/Thayer/E/Roman/Texts/Dio_Chrysostom/Discourses/5*.html|2=Orations}} 5 (Loeb Classics).</ref>{{Refn|group="lower-alpha"|Incidentally, Dio in Oration 37 quotes a Sibyl's song in which the Sibyl (Libyan Sibyl) identifies her mother as Lamia (daughter of Poseidon).<ref name=dio-37>Crosby, Henry Lamar ed., tr., {{URL|1=https://penelope.uchicago.edu/Thayer/E/Roman/Texts/Dio_Chrysostom/Discourses/37*.html|2=Orations}} 37.13 (Loeb Classics).</ref>}} The idea that these creatures were ''lamiai'' seems to originate with Alex Scobie (1977),<ref>{{citation|last=Scobie |first=Alex |title=Some Folktales in Graeco-Roman and Far Eastern Sources |journal=Philologus |volume=121 |year=1977 |pages=1–23|doi=10.1524/phil.1977.121.1.1 |s2cid=201808604 }}, cited by {{harvp|Resnick|Kitchell|2007|p=82}}</ref> and to be accepted by other commentators.{{sfnp|Felton|2013|pp=231–232}}

==Middle Ages== By the Early Middle Ages, ''lamia'' (pl. ''lamiai'' or ''lamiae'') was being glossed as a general term referring to a class of beings. Hesychius of Alexandria's lexicon ({{circa|500 A.D.}}) glossed ''lamiai'' as apparitions, or even fish.{{Refn|group="lower-alpha"|Aristotle says there is a shark called "lamia".{{harvp|Resnick|Kitchell|2007|p=83}}}}{{sfnp|Ogden|2013b|p=99}} Isidore of Seville defined them as beings that snatched babies and ripped them apart.{{sfnp|Ogden|2013b|p=99}}

The Vulgate used "lamia" in Isaiah 34:14 to translate "Lilith" of the Hebrew Bible.<ref name=lea/> Pope Gregory I (d. 604)'s exegesis on the Book of Job explains that the lamia represented either heresy or hypocrisy.<ref name=lea>{{citation|last=Lea|first=Henry Charles |author-link=Henry Charles Lea |title=Materials toward a History of Witchcraft |volume=1 |publisher=AMS Press |year=1986 |orig-year=1939 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Ael9AAAAMAAJ&q=%22Gregory%22 |page=110|isbn=9780404184209 }}</ref>

Christian writers also warned against the seductive potential of ''lamiae''. In his 9th-century treatise on divorce, Hincmar, archbishop of Reims, listed ''lamiae'' among the supernatural dangers that threatened marriages, and identified them with ''geniciales feminae'',<ref>Hincmar, ''De divortio Lotharii'' ("On Lothar's divorce"), XV Interrogatio, ''MGH Concilia 4 Supplementum'', 205, as cited by Bernadotte Filotas, ''Pagan Survivals, Superstitions and Popular Cultures in Early Medieval Pastoral Literature'' (Pontifical Institute of Mediaeval Studies, 2005, p. 305.</ref> female reproductive spirits.<ref>In his 1628 ''Glossarium mediae et infimae latinitatis'', Du Cange made note of the ''geniciales feminae'', and associated them with words pertaining to generation and genitalia; entry [http://ducange.enc.sorbonne.fr/GENICIALES online.] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110721021950/http://ducange.enc.sorbonne.fr/GENICIALES |date=2011-07-21 }}</ref>

==Interpretations== [[File:Lamia and the Soldier.jpg|upright|thumb|''Lamia'' (first version) by John William Waterhouse (1905).{{Efn|Note the snakeskin wrapped around her arm and waist.}}]] [[File:Lamia Waterhouse.jpg|upright|thumb|''Lamia'' (second version), with snakeskin on her lap, John William Waterhouse (1909)]]

This Lamia of Libya has her double in Lamia-Sybaris of the legend around Delphi, both indirectly associated with serpents. Strong parallel with the Medusa has also been noted. These, and other considerations have prompted modern commentators to suggest she is a dragoness.{{sfnp|Ogden|2013b|p=105}}<ref>{{harvp|Fontenrose|1959|p=44}}, as the female counterpart of the Python, also of Delphi; and passim.</ref>

Another double of the Libyan Lamia may be Lamia, daughter of Poseidon. Lamia by Zeus gave birth to a Sibyl according to Pausanias, and this would have to be the Libyan Lamia, yet there is a tradition that Lamia the daughter of Poseidon was the mother of a Sibyl.{{sfnp|Fontenrose|1959|p=107}} Either one could be Lamia the mother of Scylla mentioned in the Stesichorus (d. 555 BC) fragment, and other sources.{{Refn|{{citation|editor-last=Campbell |editor-first=David A. |translator-last=Campbell |translator-first=David A. |title=Stesichorus, Frag 220 |year=1991 |publisher=Harvard University Press |isbn=9780674995253 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=iZRfAAAAMAAJ&q=Lamia+Poseidon}}, p. 133, and note 2. This fragment <nowiki>=</nowiki> Scholios on Apollonius Rhodius 4.828.<ref name=cook/>}}{{Refn|name=odyssey-12-124|While ''Odyssey'' 12.124 itself says Scylla's mother was Crataeis, its scholiast mentions the non-Homeric tradition that Lamia was her mother.<ref name=cook/>}} Scylla is a creature depicted variously as anguipedal or serpent-bodied.

===Identification as a serpent-woman=== Diodorus Siculus ({{fl.|1st century BC}}), for instance, describes Lamia of Libya as having nothing more than a beastly appearance.<ref name=diodorus/> Diodorus, Duris of Samos and other sources which comprise the sources for building an "archetypal" picture of Lamia do not designate her as a dragoness, or give her explicit serpentine descriptions.<ref>{{harvp|Ogden|2013b|pp=98, 99, 105}}: "Nothing here explicitly declares.. a serpentine element" (Duris and Scholium), {{p.|98}}; "nothing here, again, speaks directly of a serpentin nature" (Diodorus and Heraclitus Paradoxographus), {{p.|98}}.</ref>

In the 1st-century ''Life of Apollonius of Tyana'' the female ''empousa-lamia'' is also called "a snake",<ref name=philostratus/> which may seem to the modern reader to be just a metaphorical expression, but which Daniel Ogden insists is a literal snake.{{sfnp|Ogden|2013b|p=107}} Philostratus's tale was reworked by Keats in his poem ''Lamia'',<ref>{{harvp|Stoneman|1991|pp=178–179}} "Vampire"</ref> where it is made clear she bears the guise of a snake, which she wants to relinquish in return for human appearance.

Modern commentators have also tried to establish that she may have originally been a dragoness, by inference.<ref>{{harvp|Ogden|2013b|p=102}}: "This is not to say that the notion of an archetypal Lamia preceded the notion of ''lamiai'' as a category of monster".</ref>{{sfnp|Fontenrose|1959}} Daniel Ogden argues that one of her possible reincarnations, the monster of Argos killed by Coroebus had a "scaly gait", indicating she must have had an anguipedal form in an early version of the story,{{sfnp|Ogden|2013b|pp=97, 102}} although the Latin text in Statius merely reads ''inlabi'' (declension of ''labor'') meaning "slides".<ref name=statius/>

One of the doubles of Lamia of Libya is the Lamia-Sybaris, which is described only as a giant beast by Antoninus Liberalis (2nd century).<ref>Antoninus Liberalis (2nd century), ''Metamorphoses'' 8, paraphrasing Nicander, 2nd century B.C., quoted by {{harvp|Ogden|2013b|p=105}}</ref>{{sfnp|Fontenrose|1959|pp=44–45}} It is noted that this character terrorized Delphi, just as the dragon Python had.{{sfnp|Fontenrose|1959|pp=44–45}}

Close comparison is also made with the serpentine Medusa. Not only is Medusa identified with Libya, she also had dealings with the three Graeae who had the removable eye shared between them. In some versions, the removable eye belonged to the three Gorgons, Medusa and her sisters.{{sfnp|Fontenrose|1959|pp=284–287}}

===Hecate=== Some commentators have also equated Lamia with Hecate. The basis of this identification is the variant maternities of Scylla, sometimes ascribed to Lamia (as already mentioned), and sometimes to Hecate.<ref>''Odyssey'' 12.124 and scholia, noted by Karl Kerenyi, ''Gods of the Greeks'' 1951:38 note 71.</ref>{{Refn|name=odyssey-12-124}} The identification has also been built (using transitive logic) since each name is identified with empousa in different sources.{{sfnp|Ogden|2013b|p=107}}{{Refn|Philostratus's biography identified empousa with lamia, as already given. Empusa is equated with Hecate in a fragment of Aristophanes's lost play, ''Tagenistae''.<ref name=aristoph-ranae-schol-393/>}}

===Stench of a lamia=== A foul odor has been pointed out as a possible common motif or attribute of the lamiai. The examples are Aristophanes's reference to the "lamia's testicles", the scent of the monsters in the Libyan myth which allowed the humans to track down their lair, and the terrible stench of their urine that lingered in the clothing of Aristomenes, which they showered upon him after carving out his friend Sophocles's heart.{{sfnp|Ogden|2013a|page=91}}

===Mesopotamian connection=== Lamia may originate from the Mesopotamian demoness Lamashtu.{{sfnp|Ogden|2013b|p=97}}

==Modern age== [[File:Other Worlds - November 1949 (first issue).jpg|thumb|A lamia-like creature on the cover of ''Other Worlds'', November 1949.]]

Renaissance writer Angelo Poliziano wrote ''Lamia'' (1492), a philosophical work whose title is a disparaging reference to his opponents who dabble in philosophy without competence. It alludes to Plutarch's use of the term in ''De curiositate'', where the Greek writer suggests that the term ''Lamia'' is emblematic of meddlesome busybodies in society.<ref>{{citation|last=Candido |first=Igor |title=The Role of the Philosopher in Late Quattrocento Florence: Poliziano's Lamia and the Legacy of the Pico-Barbaro Epistolary Controversy |editor-last=Celenza |editor-first=Christopher S. |work=Angelo Poliziano's Lamia: Text, Translation, and Introductory Studies |publisher=BRILL |year=2010 |page=106}}</ref> Worded another way, Lamia was emblematic of the hypocrisy of such scholars.<ref>{{citation|last=Fernández-Armesto |first=Felipe |author-link=Felipe Fernández-Armesto |title=1492: The Year Our World Began |year=2011 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Duo_AQAAQBAJ&pg=PA129 |page=129 |publisher=A&C Black |isbn=9781408809501 }}</ref>

From around the mid-15th century into the 16th century, the lamia came to be regarded exclusively as witches.<ref>{{cite book |last=Brauner |first=Sigrid |title=Fearless Wives and Frightened Shrews: The Construction of the Witch in Early Modern Germany |year=2001 |publisher=University of Massachusetts Press |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=bY7DIOa_YZEC&pg=PA123 |page=123|isbn=9781558492974 }}</ref>

===Bestiary=== [[File:Topsell-91.jpg|upright|thumb|A 17th-century depiction of Lamia from Edward Topsell's ''The History of Four-Footed Beasts'']]

In Edward Topsell's ''History of Four-footed Beasts'' (1607), the lamia is described as having the upper body (i.e., the face and breasts) of a woman, but with goatlike hind quarters with large and filthy "stones" (testicles) that smell like sea-calves, on authority of Aristophanes. It is covered with scales all over.<ref name="topsell">Topsell, Edward (1607),  "[https://quod.lib.umich.edu/e/eebo/A13820.0001.001/1:46?rgn=div1;view=fulltext Of the lamia], ''The historie of foure-footed beastes''.</ref>

===Adaptations=== John Keats's "Lamia" in his ''Lamia and Other Poems'' is a reworking of the tale in Apollonius's biography by Philostratus, described above. In Keats's version, the student Lycius replaces Menippus the Lycian. For the descriptions and nature of the Lamia, Keats drew from Burton's ''The Anatomy of Melancholy''.<ref>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' 'Lamia' and Peacock's 'Rhododaphne'". ''The Modern Language Review'' '''61'''.4 (October 1966:579–584). p. 579 and note with bibliography on this point.</ref> August Enna wrote an opera called ''Lamia''.<ref name=skene/>

A Lamia appears in the 1914 story "An Episode of Cathedral History" by M. R. James.

English composer Dorothy Howell composed a tone poem ''Lamia'' which was played repeatedly to great acclaim under its dedicatee Sir Henry Wood at the London Promenade concerts in the 1920s. It has been recorded more recently by Rumon Gamba conducting the BBC Philharmonic Orchestra for Chandos Records in a 2019 release of British tone poems.

The 1982 novel ''Lamia'' by Tristan Travis sees the mythological monster relocated to 1970s Chicago, where she takes bloody vengeance on sex offenders while the cops try to figure out the mystery.

Lamia, also known as Ramia, appears as a boss in the Nintendo DS action role-playing game ''Deep Labyrinth''.<ref>{{cite book |year=2002 |title=Deep Labyrinth Instruction Booklet |url=https://archive.org/details/NintendoDSManuals/DeepLabyrinthusa/page/n17/mode/2up |access-date=November 25, 2022 |publisher=Atlus |page=34}}</ref>

Lamia is the main antagonist in the 2009 horror film ''Drag Me to Hell''. In the film, Lamia is described as "the most feared of all demons" and having the head and hooves of a goat. A Romani curse associated with him has Lamia torment the victim for three days before having its minions drag them into Hell to burn in its fires for all eternity.

A Lamia appears in the BBC series ''Merlin'' in series 4. Described as having the blood of both woman and serpent, she draws the life out of men through a kiss in her seductress form before turning into a serpent-like creature. She is killed by Prince Arthur.

Lamia appears as an antagonist in Rick Riordan's ''The Demigod Diaries'', appearing in its fourth short story "The Son of Magic". She is depicted as the daughter of Hecate and as having glowing green eyes with serpentine slits, shriveled hands with lizard-like claws, and crocodile-like teeth.

In the manga and anime ''Monster Musume'', the character Miia is a lamia. The main character of ''Dropkick on My Devil!'', Jashin-chan, is also a lamia.

In Gerald Brom's ''Lost Gods'', Lamia serves as the primary antagonist, depicted as an ancient succubus who prolongs her life by drinking the blood of her children and grandchildren.

Lamias are featured in the progressive rock album ''The Lamb Lies Down on Broadway'' by Genesis on the track "The Lamia". They are depicted as female creatures with "snake-like" bodies and seduce the protagonist Rael in an attempt to devour him, but as soon as they "taste" Rael's body, the blood that enters the lamias' bodies causes their death.

Lamia is mentioned several times in the Iron Maiden song "Prodigal Son" from their 1981 album ''Killers''. The band often refer to mythology and mythical beasts in their compositions.

The American TV series ''Raised by Wolves'' features a character named Lamia, an android mother, who has removable eyes and the ability to shapeshift.<ref>{{Cite web |date=2020-09-03 |title=Raised by Wolves: Mother's Real Name Has TERRIFYING Implications |url=https://www.cbr.com/raised-by-wolves-mother-real-name-lamia-child-killer/ |access-date=2021-01-04 |website=CBR |language=en-US}}</ref>

The 2024 British fantasy TV series ''Domino Day'', set in modern-day Manchester, features Siena Kelly as the titular lead character, a witch who feeds on the energy of her dating-app hook-ups. She eventually realizes that she is actually a lamia.<ref>{{Cite web | date=2024-02-01 | title=Domino Day episode 2 recap: Domino meets the coven | url=https://www.whattowatch.com/features/domino-day-episode-2-recap-domino-meets-the-coven |access-date=2024-02-04 |website=WhatToWatch |language=en-UK}}</ref>

===Modern folk traditions=== {{See also|Empusa#Modern Greek folklore|Slavic dragon#lamia}}

In modern Greek folk tradition, the Lamia has survived and retained many of her traditional attributes.<ref>Lamia receives a section in Georgios Megas and Helen Colaclides, ''Folktales of Greece'' (Folktales of the World) (University of Chicago Prtes) 1970.</ref> John Cuthbert Lawson remarks "the chief characteristics of the Lamiae, apart from their thirst for blood, are their uncleanliness, their gluttony, and their stupidity".<ref name="ReferenceA">Lawson, ''Modern Greek Folklore and Ancient Greek Religion: A Study in Survivals'' (Cambridge University Press) 1910:175ff.</ref> The contemporary Greek proverb, "της Λάμιας τα σαρώματα" ("the Lamia's sweeping"), epitomises slovenliness;<ref name="ReferenceA"/> 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.<ref name="ReferenceA"/>

Later traditions referred to many ''lamiae''; these were folkloric monsters similar to vampires and succubi that seduced young men and then fed on their blood.<ref>{{Cite journal|url = https://www.researchgate.net/publication/283318599|title = Vampire Evolution|last = Jøn|first = A. Asbjørn|date = 2003|journal = METAphor|issue = August|pages = 19–23}}</ref>

===Fine arts=== [[File:Draper-Lamia.jpg|thumb|upright=0.5|''The Lamia'' (1909),{{Efn|Lamia has human legs and a snakeskin around her waist. There is also a small snake on her right forearm.}} a painting by Herbert James Draper]]

In a 1909 painting by Herbert James Draper, the Lamia who moodily watches the serpent on her forearm appears to represent a ''hetaera''. Although the lower body of Draper's Lamia is human, he alludes to her serpentine history by draping a shed snakeskin around her waist. In Renaissance emblems, Lamia has the body of a serpent and the breasts and head of a woman, like the image of hypocrisy.{{Citation needed|date=August 2007}}

== Explanatory notes== {{Notelist}}

==References== === Citations === {{Reflist|refs= <ref name=aristoph-ranae-schol-393>Scholia to Aristophanes, ''Frogs'' 393: {{citation|editor-last=Rutherford |editor-first=Willam G. |editor-link= |title=Scholia Aristophanica |place=London |publisher=Macmillan |volume=1 |year=1896 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=JDY_AQAAMAAJ&pg=PA312 |pages=312–313}} </ref>

<ref name=cook>{{citation|last=Cook |first=Erwin F. |title=The Odyssey in Athens: Myths of Cultural Origins |publisher=Cornell University Press |year=2006 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=NpIjr5U4kocC&pg=PA89 |page=89|isbn=0801473357 }}</ref>

<ref name=fisher>{{citation|last=Fisher |first=Elizabeth A.|title=Medieval Greek Commentaries on the ''Nicomachean Ethics'' |editor-last=Barber |editor-first=Charles E. |editor2-last=Jenkins |editor2-first=David Todd |chapter=The Anonymous Commentary on ''Nicomachean Ethics'' VII: Language, Style and Implications|publisher=Brill |year=2009 |chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=-_tEnTJrUY0C&pg=PA147 |pages=147–148|isbn=978-9004173934}}</ref>

<ref name=johnston>{{cite book|editor-last=Johnston |editor-first=Sarah Iles |title=Restless Dead: Encounters Between the Living and the Dead in Ancient Greece|publisher=Univ of California Press |year=2013|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=57MwDwAAQBAJ&pg=PA174 |page=174|isbn=9780520280182 }}</ref>

<ref name=philostratus>Philostratus, ''Life of Apollonius'' 4.25, quoted by {{harvp|Ogden|2013a|pp=106–107}}.</ref> <ref name=philostratus-tr-phillimore>{{cite book|author=Philostratus |translator-last=Phillimore |translator-first=J. S. |chapter=25 |title=In Honour of Apollonius of Tyana |volume=2 |publisher=Clarendon Press |year=1912 |chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=qTcIAQAAMAAJ&pg=PA26 |pages=24–26}}</ref>

<ref name=skene>{{cite encyclopedia|last=Skene |first=Bradley |entry=Lamia |encyclopedia=The Ashgate Encyclopedia of Literary and Cinematic Monsters |publisher=Routledge |year=2016 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=PHbeCwAAQBAJ&pg=PA369 |pages=369–370|isbn=9781317044260 }}</ref>

<ref name=stoneman-p178>{{cite encyclopedia|last=Stoneman |first=Richard |entry=Vampire |encyclopedia=Greek Mythology: An Encyclopedia of Myth and Legend |publisher=Aquarian Press |year=1991 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=v9woAAAAYAAJ&q=%22lamia%22 |pages=178–179|isbn=9780850309348 }}: "Lamia (not the usual application of this term)".</ref> }}

=== General and cited references === {{Refbegin}} *{{cite journal|last=Felton |first=D. |title=Apuleius' Cupid Considered as a Lamia (Metamorphoses 5.17–18) |journal=Illinois Classical Studies |year=2013 |volume=38 | issue= |jstor=10.5406/illiclasstud.38.0229 |pages=229–244|doi=10.5406/illiclasstud.38.0229 }} *{{cite book |last=Fontenrose|first=Joseph Eddy |author-link=Joseph Eddy Fontenrose |title=Python: A Study of Delphic Myth and Its Origins |publisher=University of California Press |year=1959 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=wqeVv09Y6hIC |isbn=9780520040915}} *Kerényi, Karl (1951), ''The Gods of the Greeks'' pp 38–40. Edition currently in print is Thames & Hudson reissue, February 1980, {{ISBN|0-500-27048-1}}. *{{cite journal|last=Leinweber|first=David Walter|author-link= |title=Witchcraft and Lamiae in 'The Golden Ass'|journal=Folklore |volume=105 |year=1994 |issue=1–2|pages=77–82|doi=10.1080/0015587X.1994.9715875|jstor=1260631}} *{{cite book |ref={{SfnRef|Ogden|2013a}}|last=Ogden |first=Daniel |author-link= |title=Drakon: Dragon Myth and Serpent Cult in the Greek and Roman Worlds |publisher=Oxford University Press |date=2013-02-28|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=FQ2pAK9luwkC&pg=PA86 |isbn=9780199557325 }} *{{cite book |ref={{SfnRef|Ogden|2013b}}|last=Ogden |first=Daniel |author-link= |title=Dragons, Serpents, and Slayers in the Classical and Early Christian Worlds: A Sourcebook |publisher=Oxford University Press |date=2013-05-30 |chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=bFwWDAAAQBAJ&pg=PA99 |pages=99– |chapter=10 Lamia, Slain by Eurybatus and Others|isbn=9780199925117 }} {{isbn|0199323747}} *{{cite book|editor-last=Pache |editor-first=Corinne Ondine |chapter=Linos and Demophone |title=Baby and Child Heroes in Ancient Greece |publisher=University of Illinois Press |year=2004 |chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=OR47FBpYDJAC&pg=PA66 |pages=66–77|isbn=9780252029295 }} *{{cite book |last1=Resnick |first1=Irven M. |last2=Kitchell |first2=Kenneth F. Jr. |year=2007 |chapter=The Sweepings of Lamia: Transformations of the Myths of Lilith and Lamia |title=Religion, Gender, and Culture in the Pre-Modern World |chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=6HaIDAAAQBAJ&pg=PA77 |pages=77–105 |publisher=Springer |isbn=9780230604292}} *{{Cite journal |last1=Stannish |first1=Steven M. |last2=Doran |first2=Christine M. |title=Magic and Vampirism in Philostratus' ''Life of Apollonius of Tyana'' and Bram Stoker's ''Dracula'' |journal=Preternature: Critical and Historical Studies on the Preternatural |volume=2 |number=2 |year=2013 |pages=113–138|doi=10.5325/preternature.2.2.0113 |isbn=9780520040915 |jstor=10.5325/preternature.2.2.0113|s2cid=191692706}} {{Refend}}

== External links == * {{Commons category inline|Lamia (mythology)}}

Category:Lamia Category:Bogeymen Category:Children of Poseidon Category:Classical oracles Category:Daimons Category:Deeds of Hera Category:European demons Category:Female demons Category:Greek legendary creatures Category:Legendary serpents Category:Libyan characters in Greek mythology Category:Metamorphoses into monsters in Greek mythology Category:Monsters in Greek mythology Category:Mortal women of Zeus Category:Mythological cannibals Category:Mythological blood-drinkers Category:Queens in Greek mythology Category:Succubi