CODEX Entry 4008: Ancient origins of the vampires
Early vampires were the Gods or their demi-God offspring who took babies and ‘drank’ blood. Notable in Egypt, was Sekmhet (meaning Mighty One, as Molech meant Mighty One in ancient greek) famous and feared for her appetite for blood. Lamashtu was famous in Mesopotamia for harassing pregnant women and stealing breastfeeding babies. Amongst the Greeks (Greek communities being scattered across the Mediterranean and not exclusively in modern Greece), Belus, the Libyan Zeus, had a daughter and demi-goddess lover Lamia who sought the blood of young men. Diodorus Siculus (1st century BC) said Lamia also ordered her soldiers to snatch children from their mothers, which she then killed. Aristotle’s Nicomachean Ethics refers to Lamia tearing open the bellies of pregnant mothers to devour their fetuses. Lilith was a famous Jewish Succubus, or vampire. Described as Adam’s first wife, she also resorted to acquiring blood from young men, babies, and fetuses.