Before I even begin to boggle your minds with my brief history on vampire mythology, I'd like to say how excited I am right now to be the first to post for Rangdom Fangdom. The first post of many and I sincerely hope you will enjoy what we have to offer here as much as we like talking about it.
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A Brief History
Where did the ideas of Vampires originate?
When was the first myth cultivated?
These are the very questions that historians themselves have asked while studying the myths and legends of vampires. What these vampire historians have discovered though, is a bit of a bombshell....they have no idea! Historians have no clue as to what the exact date of origin is, they just have their theories (poor historians!). The evidence from their research; however, suggests that the vampire tale was born sometime in Mesopotamia during the age of Abraham. Now I know what you're thinking, I was a bit shocked as well when I discovered this; the idea of vampirism has been around for, well, forever basically! How ironic!
From Mesopotamia merchants, soldiers, and traders travelling on caravans spread the vampire tale and mythology from Asia and the Middle East to the western shores of England and Ireland. There weren't any evidence of vampires back then, just a story and a myth somebody had come up with and spread like wildfire through word of mouth. Here's something that's also interesting: according to evidence found by historians, vampire mythology originated back in the ancient days near the Tigris and Euphrates rivers. There are Assyrian writings on stone that suggest the possibility of the existence of a vampire woman called Lilith!
Story time!
Modern historians say that Lilith is mentioned in the book of Isaiah in the Hebrew Bible. According to tradition, Lilith was the wife of Adam before Eve was created, but she was demonized because she refused to obey Adam and demanded that she get equal rights like her husband. Her demands were considered evil and so, her thirst for revenge turned her into a vampire. It really makes one wonder what they thought of us American women over 100 years ago when we demanded equal rights. We are all vampires ladies! Hooray!
Now as I said before, the mythology and story of vampires was spreading through the other countries like a plague. Much later, during the Middle Ages, the vampire mythology was introduced to the Slavic Empires and the Western world. The story of vampires was developed differently in each land and they've remained that way ever since. Every empire created a series of physical attributes of vampires that were relevant to their religion, culture and history. They even used the legend of vampires to explain catastrophic events!
By the high Middle Ages, the vampire mythology had gained a strong hold in all of Western Europe. When the Bubonic Plague broke out in the fourteenth century, many people actually believed that vampires were the cause of it! Now of course, we know that fleas and rats from merchant ships carrying goods from the East spread the Bubonic Plague throughout Europe, but back then people didn't know that. People believed anything back then, those who thought that vampires were the cause also thought that their deceased loved ones would return as a vampire and prey on their next victim. To prevent this from happening, family members would actually dig up the graves of the suspected vampires and mutilate their bodies (sick!).
So there you have it, folks! A brief history on what historians assume is how the story and mythology of vampires came about and how it effected the entire world. Vampires definitely kept themselves busy back then *wink wink*
Next blog or so, I'll delve deeper into the vampire myths and talk more about what each country believed their vampires did and what they looked like (oooh exciting). Until then though, I hope all of you ladies out there who would've fought 100 years ago for equal rights if you could remember; you are a vampire!
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