Article
Published by The Vampire Network on the 17th of July 2017I, Vampire: Exploring Connections Between Vampires of Myth and Modern-Day Blood Vampires
"Inapt translation of Greek, Latin, Slavic, Romanian and Italian words resulted in amalgamation of many separate creatures into one – the classical vampire of myth and legend."
Some sanguivores (blood drinkers) today reject the term “vampire” as a descriptor based on the idea that they do not share any common characteristics with the creatures described as vampires in the myths, legends and folklore of the world. We suggest that this is in part due to: 1) our incomplete understanding of vampire physiology, which we will attempt to clarify in this article, 2) lack of understanding of the process of death and decomposition in centuries past, and 3) mistranslation of Greek, Latin, Slavic, Romanian and Italian words for a variety of non-human entities and lack of understanding of local folklore in areas of Serbia, Romania, Bulgaria and Greece by 18th century Western European writers and travelers, which, in concert, significantly contributed to misrepresentation of historical vampires and their characteristics and endowed them with supernatural features in myth and legend, and consequently literature. We will address these points in a series of articles.
Part 1: The Originals
Inapt translation of Greek, Latin, Slavic, Romanian and Italian words resulted in amalgamation of many separate creatures into one – the classical vampire of myth and legend. One such creature were the Slavic revenants (moroiu, mjertvojeci or mrtvaci, which translates literally as “the dead”). Revenants were resurrected corpses, which according to description, ruddy, bloated and oozing reddish/brown-colored liquid, in no way resembled vampires except for their reported insatiable hunger for human flesh. While the first three elements are accurate descriptions of decomposing human remains, the last is a product of human imagination fueled by fear of the resurrected dead, as old and widespread as humanity itself.
Another entirely distinct entity which was transmuted into the vampire were the vrykolakas (varkolakas, vukodlaki), i.e. the werewolves. Here Greek and Slavic words for werewolves were simply translated as “vampire”, and consequently, vampires gained the ability to shapeshift into wolves.
Yet another contributor to the vampire myth were Romanian strigoi. In original Romanian folklore, strigoi were invisible and incorporeal troubled spirits of the dead, believed to drain life energy while holding their victims paralyzed at night, and in that resembling legions of such spirits, most of them associated with dead witches, known all over the world (and most likely explained by hypnagogic hallucinations). The word strigoi, however, comes from the Greek and Latin strix and striga, which means “scream”, and described a vague Banshee-like concept of a harbinger of death, "that cries by night, without food or drink, with head below and tips of feet above, a harbinger of war and civil strife to men" (1). Thus, the original strigoi have nothing whatsoever to do with blood drinking vampires. It is also worth noting that strigat is the Romanian name for a type of owl, whose screams are thought to be the basis of the strigoi legend. However, the legend survived into the middle ages. Striga became witches in Italy (shtriga in Albania, strigon in Dalmacia), and in Romania, 18th century Western travelers equated them with blood drinking vampires.
Thus, from all of these non-vampire entities, mythical vampires inherited a wide array of non-vampire traits, which became the standard characteristics of vampires as described in myth, legend and folklore of the Western world. From revenants, they picked up powers of resurrection, and became “the undead”. From werewolves, they inherited the ability to shapeshift into wolves and the reputation of wild beasts who could not control their thirst for blood. And from the strigoi, they gained a variety of abilities: they learned to sleep in the shape of bats “with head below and tips of feet above”, and feed on the lifeforce of their victims while keeping them paralyzed in their beds at night.
Accordingly, such descriptions, which so obviously do not match the life experience of modern day Blood Vampires, just as they did not match the life experience of historical vamppires, led to outright rejection of any possibility of a link with vampires of myth and legend and their historical blood-drinking counterparts.
But there is another word which is used to describe vampires in myth and legend of the aforementioned regions of the world, upyr or upir (Transylvania, Romania), ubir (Ukraine), vampir (Balkans), derived from upari (Sanskrit), meaning “above” in the context of social dynamics. This is the word from which the English word “vampire” is derived. Among the inhabitants of Transylvania, the Balkans, and the Carpathian mountains, these words signified the Scythian ruling class of the feudal society. Scythians were an ancient race which migrated out of ancient Sumer into India, Egypt and over the Sahara to the Atlas mountains, and via today’s Turkey into the Balkans and then across Europe into Scandinavia, Ireland, Great Britain and parts of Ukraine and Russia. They were distinguished by their pale skin (coupled with high prevalence of red hair), which made them sensitive to the sun and noticeably nocturnal. And with them they carried the knowledge and practice of magic and “Royal Vampirism”, a ritual practice of blood drinking to maintain health and longevity (2).
These historical vampires also entered the folklore and myths of the region. Separated from attributes belonging to werewolves, revenants and spirits (of witches or otherwise), these vampires displayed a set of physical and mental characteristics and abilities which do closely resemble those of modern-day Blood Vampires: 1) blood drinking in order to maintain health and longevity, 2) extended life span/delayed aging process, 3) accelerated healing, 4) dental malformations most commonly characterized by elongated and sharp canine teeth, 5) pale skin cold to the touch which becomes flushed upon ingestion of blood, 6) super-human strength, speed and endurance, 7) sunlight intolerance, and 8) the ability to affect the mind of their victims (induce trance, visions, paralysis, read and control minds, modify memory).
Most of these traits have been addressed in detail in our other articles; and thus, in the next part of this series, we will briefly outline the similarities in these characteristics between vampires of myth and legend and modern day Blood Vampires, with references to relevant articles for detailed description of physiology.
References
- Oliphant, Samuel Grant (1913). "The Story of the Strix: Ancient". Transactions and Proceedings of the American Philological Association. The Johns Hopkins University Press. 44: 133–49.
- The Dragon Legacy; The Secret History of an Ancient Bloodline, Chapter 2 “The Origin of Vampirism”. Nicholas de Vere. The Book Tree, San Diego 2004.
Credits
This article is the property of
The Vampire Network (2017)
