Egyptian vampire

The the modern-day concept of vampires is actually inspired by an ancient Egyptian vampire like creature.

The quoted text below comes from the linked article.

www.kwintessential.co.uk...

Most of us are aware of the concept of vampires as introduced to us through the silver screen. The typical vampire is characterized as a blood sucking night creature with sharp fangs. However this is not a new age concept in reality because vampires have their ancient origins in Egyptian mythology.

The Egyptians were known to be polytheists and one of the gods, rather goddesses that they used to worship had a character quite similar to the modern-day vampire. Sekhmet was the name of the goddess that was known to drink blood. Historical records have shown that Sekhmet was considered to be a warrior goddess in Upper Egypt. The Egyptians would depict her as a lioness that had a reputation of being Egypt\’s most fearless hunter.

The Egyptians also believed that the desert had come into being because of her breath. She was considered to be a protector during times of war by the pharaohs and was also regarded as being the deliverer of guidance.

The same goddess was also known to be a soldier deity. She can actually be seen wearing a solar disk in many of her depictions. Consequently she was associated with attributes like justice and had the responsibility to keep order. Almost all her visual depictions show her dressed in the color red which symbolizes her connection with blood. The eye of Horus, Bast and Hathor were also other prominent deities that were associated with the blood drinking goddess.

Various other powers were attributed to this goddess. These included the ability to bring disease as well as its cure. In fact mention of Sekhmet can also be found in historical records made by ancient physicians. Priests of the time also associated the goddess with doctors.

So there you have it the origin of the vampire, a creature virtually indestructable at night, and driven by an insatiable need for blood.
If they really did exist then what happened to the vampires? Are they laying dormant ready to awake to feed again?

interesting
my take is that the modern myth is a description of bankers
the wooden stakes are tally sticks and the silver bullets are both real money
( which killed fiat banker paper)
the banking famillies and trusts ( some of which are as old as banking itself) just live forever

the masai (SP) tribes in Africa drink cows blood like vampire bats

the bankers drink blood like that- feeding from the flock or herd

vampires have to be let in like you must volentirely sign a contract
then you are a thrall...or debt slave

but the egyptian goddess vampire idea is so hot

Very inserting indeed. It seems now that this myth like of the werewolf has thousands of years of age. First accounts of werewolf's came from ancient greek, it's told that king Lycon after eating human flesh was punished by Zeus and turned into a wolf. But we know that the native Americans tell history of wolf-man way long before the greeks.

Now may be this all a coincidence or the way the ancient could describe and explain those creatures? Well, i don't know sufficient account of vampire encounters to tell they are indeed real.

reply to post by AthlonSavage


I have to disagree with the connection that simply because the myth has her drinking the 'excess of blood' that she created after she went on a ballistic rampage (not to drink blood, but to soothe the wrath of Ra as an arbiter of Divine Justice) that she is 'vampiric'.

Sekhmet did not drink blood to survive or as a food-source. In fact, she was the goddess of war, retribution, and drunken/drugged revelry (as she was made to drink until drunk to stop her initial slaughter that caused the land to be covered with blood).

Her breath was fire-air, hot and scorching, which they associated with the desert winds and thus the desert itself. Again, not a vampiric trait.

Lion, the king of beasts, regal, apex hunter: Those are the traits associated with her as having the head of a lioness. The apex hunter, the ultimate warrior of the gods, used for divine retribution, and sated at many yearly festivals where tens of thousands attended.

In 2006, Betsy Bryan, an archaeologist with Johns Hopkins University excavating at the temple of Mut presented her findings about the festival that included illustrations of the priestesses being served to excess and its adverse effects being ministered to by temple attendants.[2] Participation in the festival was great, including the priestesses and the population. Historical records of tens of thousands attending the festival exist.

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Her role was also that of a healer, should the mood strike her.

Sekhmet was represented by the searing heat of the mid-day sun (in this aspect she was sometimes called "Nesert", the flame) and was a terrifying goddess. However, for her friends she could avert plague and cure disease. She was the patron of Physicians, and Healers and her priests became known as skilled doctors. As a result, the fearsome deity sometimes called the "lady of terror" was also known as "lady of life". Sekhmet was mentioned a number of times in the spells of The Book of the Dead as both a creative and destructive force, but above all, she is the protector of Ma'at (balance or justice) named "The One Who Loves Ma'at and Who Detests Evil".

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So, while there may be the most tenuous connection between the blood she spilled and vampirism, that is literally as far as any connection would go. India, on the other hand, also has a rich and ancient history.. and a much more feasible correspondence to the origins [perhaps] of the vampire mythos.

India does indeed play a large part in vampire history. Some scholars believe that vampire mythology actually began in India and spread throughout Eastern Europe to Greece and back along the spice and silk trails. It's hard to know if this is true or not, but what we know for sure is that as European, Indian, and other Asian cultures began to interact more, their stories got shared between the cultures and began to influence one another.

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- Fim