Origin of a Legend
This blog was posted in November of last year, but as our readership has grown since then, we have decided to go back through our older posts and share them again with our new readers.
For our first Blood Donors post, Mr. Saluki delved into the history of the vampire to bring us the Origin of a Legend. This is the first in a three part series.
Throughout the history of humanity, our fears have been recorded above all else. While we have also recorded our desires, our beliefs, our failures, and our accomplishments; it is our fears that hold sway in the hierarchy of our written history. Alas, our fears are also very much included in these other categories, especially when humanity has written about our beliefs. Perhaps it is this intertwining of our beliefs and our fears that have given rise to one of humanity’s oldest and most frequently recorded creatures – the vampire.
While it may not be widely known, the stories of the nosferatu and other blood-drinking creatures have been one of humanity’s oldest recorded fears. From ancient stone tablets carved in Sanskrit to our major motion pictures of today, the vampire has stolen our imagination like no other fictional creature. In fact, vampire-like myths have been with us for almost as long as recorded history. There is evidence from broken pottery shards found in southern Iran depicting flying creatures drinking a man’s blood that similar creatures have been used in religion, folklore, and legend as far back as 4,000 B.C.
Mesopotamia
Our first steps in tracking the history of the vampire would appear to be found in ancient Sumer circa 4,000 B.C. Sumer was an ancient civilization located in Mesopotamia (modern day Iraq and Iran), and what is also commonly referred to as “the cradle of civilization”. The Mesopotamian (Mesopotamia referring to Sumerian, Akkadian, Assyrian, and Babylonian civilizations) legend of “Lilitu” and her male counterpart “Lillu” is very similar to the vampire, at least in a sexual nature if not a violent one. The ancient Sumerians believed in storm demons and night demons, entities associated with darkness, destruction, disease and wind.
The demon Lilitu would appear to men in their erotic dreams, perhaps used as an explanation for male nocturnal emissions. The male Lillu would appear to women and interact as an incubus would, laying down with and impregnating women as they slept. Possibly this explanation was used as an excuse for infidelity. Both would prey on women and small children for sustenance.
The first recorded reference to Lilitu appeared in what is known as the Sumerian King List. Produced around 2600 B.C., the List is written in ancient Sumerian and also contains a poem know as “The Epic of Gilgamesh”. In the story, the father of Gilgamesh is referred to as a Lillu. Also, Lilitu was associated with the Anzu bird, the Lion the Owl, the Desert, disease, prostitution and most of all, serpents. It is possible that from this connection with the serpent over time led to the later Kabbalah depictions of Lilith as a serpent in the Garden of Eden. In The Epic of Gilgamesh, Gilgamesh is tasked with driving out Lilitu, an Anzu bird, and a serpent “that fears no spells” out of a tree in an ancient grove dedicated to the Goddess Ishtar. There is some argument, however, as to which image is actually the oldest. Some believe that Lilitu is not the oldest of these vampire-like demon creatures.
The other one of these original vampire-like demons was a female demigoddess referred to as Dimme, or Lamashtu. She was known as a demon that interfered with childbirth and kidnapped infants while they were breastfeeding. She was also believed to eat the bones and drink the blood of infants, seduce men, kill foliage, deliver nightmares, and spread disease. Unlike most of the other demons, Lamashtu was not driven by gods to malevolence, but did it of her own accord. The god Pazuzu was called upon by the people to counteract the danger of Lamashtu.
From these ancient tales of Mesopotamia came the rise of the ancient Hebrew demonology version of the Lilitu, known as Lilith, and her daughter Lilu. In original Hebrew texts and folklore, Lilith is referred to as Adam’s first wife before Eve. In these texts, Lilith refused to become Adam’s subordinate and was banished from the Garden of Eden and cast out by God. She would go on to become queen of the demons and feast on the flesh of men, women, and children. Lilith’s blood-drinking is heinous in Hebrew mythology and folklore because the eating of flesh and drinking of any type of blood is exceptionally evil. The next vampire legends are found in Ancient Greece, which will be featured in next week’s Blood Donor blog.
Tune in next weekend to learn about the vampire tales of Ancient Greece, India, Africa, Asia, and Europe.
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