Lamia art
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In lamia art , artists illustrate the creatures of ancient Greek mythology known as lamia.
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[edit] Origin
The word “lamia” is derived from the Greek word lamyros, meaning “gluttonous” and refers to this demonic creature’s appetite for the children whom it devoured.
According to the Greek myths, Jupiter loved Lamia, but, jealous of Jupiter’s love of her, Juno deformed Lamia into a serpent woman and stole her children. Driven mad, Lamia killed and ate every child she could [1]. Lamia is also known as Lilith, Adam’s first wife, and Empusa or Emipusa, described as half-women and ha;f-asses who could change “their appearance to be a beautiful woman or a cow. In Greek myth, Empusa is the daughter of the goddess Hecate. She has bronze feet, and pursues and eats travelers. She can be driven off by insulting her” [2].
As Lilith, the primeval snake-woman was a hermaphrodite, created by God as such: “Lilith is one of the most prevalent identities in human culture. She dates back as far as 2000 years B.C. as depicted in the Sumerian bas-relief below. In other depictions Lilith is represented as a beautiful woman from the waist up and as a snake from the waist down . . . . It is in Rabbinic Midrash that the full account of Lilith is reported. The rabbis began with the Biblical reference to man's first creation as a bisexual being--"male and female." Some of the rabbis found in this image something similar to what Aristophanes proposed in the Symposium: a dual bodied being later divided into two who must thereafter seek each other out. But others tried to take into account the later creation of Eve. If woman was created from Adam, after his initial creation, than what happened to the female created at first? The answer, according to the Midrash, was that she was Lilith; created with Adam.’ Lilith typically symbolizes rebellion, rage and an untamed sexual nature . . . . Adam and Lilith never found peace together. She refused to comply with Adam's demand that she submit herself to him, and in the end fled from him, basing her claim for equality on the fact that each had been created from earth. . . . Adam then complained to God about his loneliness, and the creation of Eve followed, together with the "Fall" and the Expulsion from Eden. . . . Eventually, Lilith came to dwell in a cave on the shores of the Red Sea. There she engaged in unbridled promiscuity, consorted with lascivious demons, and gave birth to hundreds of Lilim, or demonic babies, daily” [3].
[edit] Media
All manner of media, from Photoshop to pen to pencils, are used to render the illustrations, some of which appear in color and others of which are created in blacks, whites, and grays or pastel chalks.
[edit] Appearance
Most often, Lamia is drawn as a serpent woman, but she is also sometimes depicted as having only “the face and breast of a woman, and the rest of the body like a serpent” instead of having a woman’s entire torso and a snake’s body or as the hindquarters of a goat, the forelegs of a bear, a woman’s torso, and as being covered with a dragon’s scales [4]. Lamia could not speak, but its hissing was considered pleasant to hear [5]. She is also sometimes shown with bird’s feet and powerful, sharp talons.
Most of the artists who depict Lamia show her in her monstrous aspect, focusing on her serpent-like characteristics--scaly, coiled body; fangs; cannibalization of infants; cave dwelling; and piercing gaze. She is sometimes shown as being winged; occasionally, she is armed with a trident or some other sort of weapon.
