Dream Mythology: Empusa

Hey everyone! Welcome Back!

Last week, looked at a dream mythology about creatures known as the Mare. Today, we're going to be continuing our jaunt through mythologies involving sleep and dreams by looking at something that, like the Mare, was also a myth that people thought was the cause behind sleep paralysis - Empusa. Though, unlike the Mare (who have different versions of themselves with similar names across several mythologies), Empusa comes from Greek mythology

So who, or what, is Empusa?

Empusa has, through various iterations, come across as a single individual, or a race of creatures. However, initially, Empusa was believed to be a demigoddess, the daughter of Hecate, a goddess associated with sorcery and crossroads, and a spirit named Mormo, who was known to be a companion of Hecate, and would bite children if they misbehaved. Empusa was said to be quite beautiful, and she would feast on the blood of young men she seduced as they slept (which would cause the sleep paralysis, before consuming their flesh. In a way, this, like the Mare, makes her similar to Succubi or incubi, who also seduce their prey.

However, in the myth, she made a fatal error by targeting a man that was sleeping on the road, not realising that this man just so happened to be the god Zeus in disguise. Zeus awoke during her attack and, in his wrath, killed her.

Empusa, as an individual, was described to have red hair and would wear brazen slippers. However, this isn't the only way she appears in mythology. Likely due to what was believed to be the meaning of her name (One-footed), she has also been thought to be a one legged hybrid, with the single leg either being that of a donkey, or it would be pictured as a brass prosthetic one.

It was likely these later forms of her appearance that gave way to the other way that Empusa is portrayed - as a group of creatures under Hecate's command, rather than as her daughter. In this version of the mythology, these creatures were called Empusae, Empuse or Empusa. As Hecate was the goddess of roadsides along with sorcery and crossroads, she would send out the Empusae to guard roads and devour travellers. Funnily enough, it was thought that they would run and hide if at the sound of insults. Certainly an interesting defeat tactic, though this doesn't seem to be something shared by the original demigoddess version. Though I've not seen specific examples of what quality of insults would cause them to run away.

Oddly, the individual version seems to have the most to do with dream mythology, rather than the group versions, as it's not said that the travellers the group versions devour had to be asleep or not.

Still, both versions have appeared in media before, with a whole list of them referenced on Wikipedia, though it wouldn't surprise me if Empusa, as an individual or as a singular, have appeared in many more.

Still, we've been covering some not so benevolent dream mythologies, but there are some mythologies that, like the concept of the sandman, also do have more pleasant connections. So, we're going to be having a look at some of them next time.

Until then!

Tara