Vampires of Greece

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Vampires of Greece

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By Renee Begley Copyright © 2009


Most tales of vampires portray them as revenants that rise from the dead to prey on their loved ones and others in the area from which they resided in the living form. Most of them are described as wearing a shroud and their faces were usually dark, bloated or ruddy in color. They are nothing like the Victorian vampire so many identify with in movies and fiction. The pale, aristocratic vampire wasn’t spoken of until the beginning of the 19th Century and the use of the word vampire wasn’t popularized until the 18th century. It was at this time that many tales of vampires spread into Western Europe from Eastern Europe and the Balkans. There were other names used believed to be vampires but this particular one was not popular earlier. This of course led to people becoming afraid and created hysteria culminating in many corpses being staked in their graves and some being accused of being vampires with dire consequences in some instances.

Yet in folklore there were stories of vampire-like creatures in many ancient cultures such as those in Mesopotamia, Greece, Rome and even in Hebrew lore. Some in that time period were thought of as demons or evil spirits that plagued man. Then of course there are writings translated by a priest in 1047 AD, referring to someone as Upir' Likhyi which has been stated to mean something similar to “wicked vampire” or “foul vampire”. Some say this is referring to the Priest and others to Novgorodian Prince Vladimir Yaroslavovich. The belief is that the premise for the name came from older Pagan traditions for taking on nicknames. It is not believed it meant he was literally a vampire as some more recently are trying to promote.

A newer theory on who is being referred to in regard to the controversial wording is as follows:

( the rest of this article can be found at http://www.thegraveyardpress.com/epitap ... greece.htm