From Demons to Dracula: The Creation of the Modern Vampire Myth by Matthew BeresfordMy rating: 5 of 5 stars
We are all familiar with the sexy suave vampires that dance across our tv and movie screens all across the world. Their image is based primarily on one that was created since the victorian times, where in the vampire is charming, seductive and aristocratic. Fo course some authors are having their vampires sparkle like diamond when they go intro the sun.
Once upon a time there was legend of vampire like creatures all across the world.Greece, Rome, Egypt and Mesopotamia had vampire like creatures. At first they were rather spiritual in nature and even some would drink enery as opposed to blood. Since prehistoric times there are have been burials conducted that would stop a vampire from rising to haunt people. Sometimes a rock would be placed in the mouth, or the heart would be staked and the head removed. Some rituals called for burning the body. Yup vampires seem to have been around back then. There were even dome covers to stop a vampire from coming out.
Vampires were not turned or made they were originally predestined from birth to become vampires. How did this come about? Well believe it or not people who were werewolves were destined to become vampires after they died. So were witches. Some names for vampires include the term varkolack which pertains to wolf and upir which means vampire but also has witch like connotations. After all witches traveled at night and eight small children. Those were born with a caul would also be detained to become vampires.alcoholics, violent deaths, suicides and unbaptized children would become vampires after dying.
Blood drinking was not so central to vampires in ancient lore. THey would often rise from the grave at night and eat people and drink their blood yes that is true but sometimes they ate other human foods and blood drinking was a side note. They would at first visit their family member and make them sick one by one and then they would die. Angry family relations. Heck vamps could even fornicate
Garlic has been a way to repel them. That is a constant. Vampires seem to have many constants going all the way back to Egypt in the book of the dead. There in is references to shapeshifting, eating in the after life, resurrecting and even staking. pharaohs used to bathe in the blood of children. They could even drink the blood of the vampire to cure vampire related illnesses.
Vampires started out in pagan times. There were vampires who served aphropdite, Hekate and Diana. Lamias were owl like female birds who sucked the blood of men or even their energy. In the Middle East you had the linin or female demons who drained the energy from men as they had relations with them. THe vampire stated out as a spiritual entity and then morphed into the living dead.
THe image of the vampire would under go even more changes. WIth John Polydori's story the Vampyre , our horror creature become a suave and dashing aristrocratic debonair Varney the Vampire would go back to the orginal concept of the vampire, while the story Carmilla would focus on Lesbian attractions .
Movies like Blade, Vampire Diaries turn the vampire into an action figure with not m,uch thought requirement. Now they are action figuires. THey are a part of our lives whether they live among us or whether they are non existent. Vampires play on our fear and yet they live for ever which is something wew all would like that to live forever.
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