the.com/lamia
a queen turned child-eating serpent by grief, jealousy, and one furious goddess.
means In Greek mythology, a monster—often part woman, part serpent—who preys on children and young men, later used loosely for any seductive female demon or vampiric creature.
from From Greek 'Lamia,' the name of a beautiful queen of Libya whom Zeus loved; in the myth, a jealous Hera destroyed Lamia's children, and the maddened, grief-twisted queen became a devourer of others' children. The Greek word may be related to 'laimos,' meaning 'throat' or 'gullet'—fitting for a creature defined by swallowing. The name passed into Latin as 'lamia' (a witch or vampire) and from there into later European tales, where 'lamiae' multiplied into a whole class of child-stealing, blood-draining she-demons.
- origin
- once a beautiful Libyan queen loved by Zeus
- hera's curse
- forced to devour her own children
- removable eyes
- could pluck out her eyes to sleep
- snake below
- woman above the waist, serpent below
- keats wrote her
- his 1820 poem made her tragic and lovely
lamia in greek mythology — a demon queen who devoured children, featured in homer's iliad and later retellings
keats' lamia — 1819 narrative poem by john keats about a serpent woman who falls in love with a corinthian youth