In film, literature, history, and campfire tales, vampires have long been the mainstay and seemingly never get old to talk about. People from near and far are always interested in the stories told about these blood suckers. The older generations seem to use these horror tales to keep the younger generation that sits on their lap listening intently to be sure that they do not act in any way that would be considered unfitting of their namesake. This often guides the following generations away from the origins of the creature in question. When this tale is told, Dracula is often the main character. This leads the general public to believe that Professor Van Helsing’s arch nemesis is the origin of all vampires and the lore that is spurned further in the future. There is good reason to believe this, however. The way in which Stoker writes his novel, with a gentleman, Jonathan Harker, traveling to an area in eastern Europe and meeting with a man that he discovers is true evil, leaves no room to provoke a question pertaining to previous men or women of the same condition.
So how far back do these tales of vampires go? The answer is centuries. There are vampire-like creatures that exist within Greek mythology that describes “similar creatures, notably Lamia, a demoness with the head and torso of a woman and the lower body of a snake” (Harris). These creatures, much like the traditional vampire, would feast on the blood of men as well as small children, which is unlike that of vampires. But there were other creatures that resembled vampires, like the empusai. These were creatures that appeared to farmers, whom they seduced, as beautiful women at night, for this was the time that they would come up from the underworld, and consume the their flesh. But these fiendish creatures did not only appear in Greek legend but in Celtic folklore and Asian myths as well (Harris). The idea that vampires come from Transylvania is highly misguided and has been diluted from all the factors that make up the equation of the vampire. The cultures of the world all seem to put together certain aspects that they view as fearful and apply them to a single entity. For the Greeks, there was obviously a fear of their children dying, so the idea of the Lamia comes from that fear. These people put their fears into something physical that they could be afraid of so that they brought their problems to the surface and could find a way to cope or fix their problems.Also, by applying these fears to an otherworldly creature and telling stories about how they come and take children away and eat them, the Greeks could be referring to war with people that may have a cannibalistic attitude. This idea of the Lamia could speak of a fear that these people have of their children being killed and eaten by those that the Greeks are trying to defeat. Whatever the spark may be that brought to the minds of the Greeks that idea of the Lamia killing and eating children, there is a moral that has been passed down that has been adopted by the people of today. The only difference is that we have brought the vampire into a new light so that it may mean something that is relevant to what we fear and feel threatened by today. This creature shows the fears that the Greeks have of mothers going insane and killing their own children or the threats of foreign invaders, or whatever else may be going on at that time in Greek history. This creature is an example of how early civilization has taken their issues and created a being that embodies all of their fears. This has been done over and over and will continue for a very long time.
Harris, Tom. “Early Greek and Asian Vampires.” How Vampires Work. 19 April 2009. 30 Oct. 2008
