Ancient Vampires: The Show Notes

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Welcome to the show notes, our favourite place to tell you a little more about the show.

This week we talked about a lot of vampires of the ancient world. Particularly Greco-Roman vampires, with some Sumerian and Germanic lore thrown in. While we were researching these myths we came across some creepy images, and as it’s Halloween, we wanted to share them with you.

Edimmu

This is the stuff of ancient Babylonian and Sumerian nightmares.

Uruku

Yep, we’re never going to sleep again.

Empusa

Flame hair. Leg of brass. Leg of an ass. Yes, this is definitely an empusa.

Lamia

Lamia, or land shark, with the body of a woman and the tail of a snake. Don’t let her sad face fool you; this ancient vampire is deadly.

Vrykolakas

Why, Slenderman, why? This ancient vampire is terrifying.

The Shades

Genn’s first education into vampires of the ancient world. Here is Odysessus feeding the shades some blood so they will tell him their stories. That’s a slippery slope, Odysseus, be careful.

Nachzehrers

The Shroud-eating vampires. This is a great big bag of nope for us.

Strix

Santorini

And because we can’t wait to one day visit Santorini, here is a photo of Santorini at sunset looking into the caldera. For you volcano nerds (like Genn) this is exactly what it sounds like, the sunken caldera of a supervolcano. Swoon. Just beware the Vrykolatios. They only knock once. Wait for the second knock . . .

 

If you want more spooky Halloween/vampire themed podcasts, we recommend:

Stuff to Blow Your Mind’s Vampire Clinic series: all about the correlation between diseases and vampires. Listen here.

We also really enjoyed Lore’s Out For Blood. Listen here.

This is that This American Life episode where Mike Birbiglia jumps out of his hotel room window in his sleep. Listen here.

And finally, because we found this episode fascinating, here is the link for Morbid Curiosity Podcast’s Death on Mount Everest.

 

Sources:

Ecclesiazusae 1094; Philostratus Life of Apollonius of Tyana 2.4 & 4.25; Suidas s.v. Empusa) 

https://www.ancient-origins.net/myths-legends/nachzehrers-shroud-eating-vampires-germanic-folklore-006010

Barbarian Rites: The Spiritual World of the Vikings and the Germanic Tribes, Hans-Peter Hasenfratz, Ph.D.

http://www.virtualsink.com/2013/09/ancient-greeks-thought-redheads-turned.html

http://www.thiswillblowmymind.com/did-you-know-that-the-ancient-greece-believed-that-redheads-would-turn-into/

https://vampireunderworld.com/greek-and-roman-vampires/strix/

https://www.ancient.eu/burial/

https://www.vampires.com/santorini-and-the-vrykolakas/

http://www.theoi.com/Phasma/Empousai.html

http://www.bbc.com/future/story/20161031-the-real-life-disease-that-spread-the-vampire-myth

https://www.history.com/topics/vampire-history

Encyclopedia of Spirits and Ghosts in World Mythology by Theresa Bane

https://vampiresaroundtheworld.weebly.com/mesopotamia.html

https://www.vampires.com/the-worlds-first-vampire/

http://vampireunderworld.com/middle-eastern-vampires/ekimmu/

http://vampireunderworld.com/middle-eastern-vampires/utukku/

http://www.ancientpages.com/2016/06/17/utukku-sumerian-spirit-from-the-underground-that-obeyed-the-will-of-god-anu/

https://authorlyngibson.wordpress.com/2014/09/24/ambrogio-a-greek-vampire-origination-thery/

https://esoterx.com/2015/04/01/the-santorini-vampire-quarantine-zone/

https://popular-archaeology.com/article/walking-dead-and-vengeful-spirits/

http://www.virtualsink.com/2013/09/ancient-greeks-thought-redheads-turned.html

http://www.thiswillblowmymind.com/did-you-know-that-the-ancient-greece-believed-that-redheads-would-turn-into/

http://www.gods-and-monsters.com/selene-the-moon-goddess.html

https://www.youtube.com/watch?reload=9&v=wEgGpFmL5gM