The Greeks knew Lamia as the beautiful daughter of Belus, the king of Libya. She was loved by Zeus, who thanked her for her favours by giving her the power of plucking out and replacing eyes at will. She bore Zeus several children, but they were all killed by Hera, in a fit of jealous rage at her husband’s shamelessly public amorous adventures. Embittered, Lamia became a demoness who took her revenge by snatching and destroying the children of others, and she joined a group of demons known as the Empusae.
The Empusae were children of Hecate, the witch-goddess of the underworld, and were known for their incredibly filthy habits. Sometimes they were described as being ass-haunched and wearing brazen slippers, though usually they were represented as having one leg of brass while the other was an ass’s leg. The Empusae, whose name means the ‘forcers in,’ disguised themselves in the forms of bitches, cows, or beautiful maidens. In the latter shape these greedy demons would lie with men at night or at the time of midday sleep.
Lamia gave birth to a whole family of female demons, known as Lamiae, who were sorceresses with the face and breasts of a beautiful woman, and the body of a serpent. They enervated, seduced, and sucked the blood of youths.
In Canaan, Lamia was known as Alukah, which means horse-leech. The horseleech is a small fresh-water animal, with thirty teeth in its jaws. When a beast goes to drink, the leech swims into its mouth and fastens on the soft flesh at the back of the throat, sucking blood until it becomes completely distended. The same kind of relentless greed is attributed to Lamia.