Blood, flesh & myth

[Gaius Julius Camillus]

Greetings all

 

I have written my first book, and now I have begun to edit and add detail as needed. It is a historical horror novel, centered on the present day and ancient Rome.

 

What I need is supernatural myths that would relate to werewolves, vampires, etc. Blood cults, religious sects, secret societies, old prophecies, anything that could be worked into a supernatural aspect. Any information is helpful, but things related to Julius Caesar would be extra helpful.

 

I have alot of information, but I figured I would consult the experts, and see if I missed anything.

 

thanks guys

 

LJV

[ASCLEPIADES]

Salve, LJV

What I need is supernatural myths that would relate to werewolves, vampires, etc. Blood cults, religious sects, secret societies, old prophecies, anything that could be worked into a supernatural aspect. Any information is helpful, but things related to Julius Caesar would be extra helpful.

 

I have alot of information, but I figured I would consult the experts, and see if I missed anything.

Here come Publius Ovidius Naso, Fasti Liber V, ad VII Idus Mai / May 9: Lemuria

 

Hinc ubi protulerit formosa ter Hesperos ora, ter dederint Phoebo sidera victa locum,

ritus erit veteris, nocturna Lemuria, sacri: inferias tacitis manibus illa dabunt.

annus erat brevior, nec adhuc pia februa norant, nec tu dux mensum, Iane biformis, eras:

iam tamen exstincto cineri sua dona ferebant, compositique nepos busta piabat avi.

mensis erat Maius, maiorum nomine dictus, qui partem prisci nunc quoque moris habet.

nox ubi iam media est somnoque silentia praebet, et canis et variae conticuistis aves,

ille memor veteris ritus timidusque deorum surgit (habent gemini vincula nulla pedes),

signaque dat digitis medio cum pollice iunctis, occurrat tacito ne levis umbra sibi.

cumque manus puras fontana perluit unda, vertitur et nigras accipit ante fabas,

aversusque iacit; sed dum iacit, 'haec ego mitto, his' inquit 'redimo meque meosque fabis.'

hoc novies dicit nec respicit: umbra putatur colligere et nullo terga vidente sequi.

rursus aquam tangit, Temesaeaque concrepat aera, et rogat ut tectis exeat umbra suis.

cum dixit novies 'manes exite paterni' respicit, et pure sacra peracta putat.

dicta sit unde dies, quae nominis exstet origo me fugit: ex aliquo est invenienda deo.

Pliade nate, mone, virga venerande potenti: saepe tibi est Stygii regia visa Iovis.

venit adoratus Caducifer. accipe causam nominis: ex ipso est cognita causa deo.

 

When Hesperus, the Evening Star, has shown his lovely face

Three times, from that day, and the defeated stars fled Phoebus,

It will be the ancient sacred rites of the Lemuria,

When we make offerings to the voiceless spirits.

The year was once shorter, the pious rites of purification, februa,

Were unknown, nor were you, two-faced Janus, leader of the months:

Yet they still brought gifts owed to the ashes of the dead,

The grandson paid respects to his buried grandfather

Edited September 24, 2008 by ASCLEPIADES

[Gaius Julius Camillus]

Thank you Asclepiades. Very helpful indeed.

 

LJV

[Nephele]

LJV, here's an old thread (from 2006) that may interest you:

 

The Legend Of Vampires, ever existed in Roman history?

 

-- Nephele

[Gaius Julius Camillus]

Thank you very much! As always, your a huge help.

[Nephele]

Thank you very much! As always, your a huge help.

 

You're welcome -- and thank you! I'm interested in your Roman horror novel, too.

 

-- Nephele

[Ursus]

While the vampire seems to be mostly Slavic, the werewolf has solid Greco-Roman roots.

 

Lycaon, the impious king of Arcadia, is changed into a wolf by Zeus:

 

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lycaon_(mythology)

 

 

And then there is this famous passage in The Satyricon by Petronius (told by a pompous buffoon of the noveau rich):

 

When I was still a slave, we lived in a narrow street; the house is Gavilla's now. There, as the gods would have it, I fell in love with Terentius, the tavern-keeper's wife; you all knew Melissa from Tarentum, the prettiest of pretty wenches! Not that I courted her carnally or for venery, but more because she was such a good sort. Nothing I asked did she ever refuse; if she made a penny, I got a halfpenny; whatever I saved, I put in her purse, and she never choused me. Well! her husband died when they were at a country house. So I moved heaven and earth to get to her; true friends, you know, are proved in adversity.

 

"It so happened my master had gone to Capua, to attend to various trifles of business. So seizing the opportunity, I persuade our lodger to accompany me as far as the fifth milestone. He was a soldier, as bold as Hell. We got under way about first cockcrow, with the moon shining as bright as day. We arrive at the tombs; my man lingers behind among the gravestones, whilst I sit down singing, and start counting the gravestones. Presently I looked back for my comrade; he had stripped off all his clothes and laid them down by the wayside. My heart was in my mouth; and there I stood feeling like a dead man. Then he made water all round the clothes, and in an instant changed into a wolf. Don't imagine I'm joking; I would not tell a lie for the finest fortune ever man had.

 

"However, as I was telling you, directly he was turned into a wolf, he set up a howl, and away to the woods. At first I didn't know where I was, but presently I went forward to gather up his clothes; but lo and behold! they were turned into stone. If ever a man was like to die of terror, I was that man! Still I drew my sword and let out at every shadow on the road till I arrived at my sweetheart's house. I rushed in looking like a ghost, soul and body barely sticking together. The sweat was pouring down between my legs, my eyes were set, my wits gone almost past recovery. Melissa was astounded at my plight, wondering why ever I was abroad so late. 'Had you come a little sooner,' she said, 'you might have given us a hand; a wolf broke into the farm and has slaughtered all the cattle, just as if a butcher had bled them. Still he didn't altogether have the laugh on us, though he did escape; for one of the laborers ran him through the neck with a pike.'

 

"After hearing this, I could not close an eye, but directly it was broad daylight, I started off for our good Gaius's house, like a peddler whose pack's been stolen; and coming to the spot where the clothes had been turned into stone, I found nothing whatever but a pool of blood. When eventually I got home, there lay my soldier a-bed like a great ox, while a surgeon was dressing his neck. I saw at once he was a werewolf and I could never afterwards eat bread with him, no! not if you'd killed me. Other people may think what they please; but as for me, if I'm telling you a lie, may your guardian spirits confound me!"

 

http://www.sacred-texts.com/cla/petro/satyr/sat10.htm

 

 

 

As far as Julius Caesar, if I am to believe his detractors he sucked several types of bodily fluids, but most likely not blood.

[ASCLEPIADES]

While the vampire seems to be mostly Slavic, the werewolf has solid Greco-Roman roots.

Good point.

Here comes Caius Plinius Secundus Maior Naturalis Historia Liber VIII cp. XXXIV, on the origin of the story of the versipellis:

 

Homines in lupos verti rursusque restitui sibi falsum esse confidenter existimare debemus aut credere omnia quae fabulosa tot saeculis conperimus. unde tamen ista vulgo infixa sit fama in tantum, ut in maledictis versipelles habeat, indicabitur. euanthes, inter auctores graeciae non spretus, scribit arcadas tradere ex gente anthi cuiusdam sorte familiae lectum ad stagnum quoddam regionis eius duci vestituque in quercu suspenso tranare atque abire in deserta transfigurarique in lupum et cum ceteris eiusdem generis congregari per annos viiii. quo in tempore si homine se abstinuerit, reverti ad idem stagnum et, cum tranaverit, effigiem recipere, ad pristinum habitum addito novem annorum senio. id quoque adicit, eandem recipere vestem. mirum est quo procedat graeca credulitas! nullum tam inpudens mendacium est, ut teste careat.

 

Item apollas, qui olympionicas scripsit, narrat demaenetum parrhasium in sacrificio, quod arcades iovi lycaeo humana etiamtum hostia faciebant, immolati pueri exta degustasse et in lupum se convertisse, eundem x anno restitutum athleticae se exercuisse in pugilatu victoremque olympia reversum.

 

"That men have been turned into wolves, and again restored to their original form,we must confidently look upon as untrue, unless, indeed, we are ready to believe all the tales, which, for so many ages, have been found to be fabulous. But, as the belief of it has become so firmly fixed in the minds of the common people, as to have caused the term "Versipellis" to be used as a common form of imprecation, I will here point out its origin. Euanthes, a Grecian author of no mean reputation, informs us that the Arcadians assert that a member of the family of one Anthus is chosen by lot, and then taken to a certain lake in that district, where, after suspending his clothes on an oak, he swims across the water and goes away into the desert, where he is changed into a wolf and associates with other animals of the same species for a space of nine years. If he has kept himself from beholding a man during the whole of that time, he returns to the same lake, and, after swimming across it, resumes his original form, only with the addition of nine years in age to his former appearance. To this Fabius adds, that he takes his former clothes as well. It is really wonderful to what a length the credulity of the Greeks will go! There is no falsehood, if ever so barefaced, to which some of them cannot be found to bear testimony.

 

So too, Agriopas, who wrote the Olympionics, informs us that Dem

[caldrail]

According to Suetonius, Caesar owned a strange horse only he could ride, its hooves strangely like those of mans hand.

[Lanista]

The Romans had a festival of the restless dead (good name for a band) - the Lemures or the Lemur...something like that. Anyway, whilst these were ghosts, its not too much of a stretch to think of the "restless dead" (I remember the term cos I thought it was cool) as vampiric.

 

Also, I'm sure that the Ancient Greek version of the this was the Lamia - I can't remember if those guys drank blood or sucked your breath away, but the same thing applies - again not much of a stretch to make 'em vampires either.

 

Cheers

 

Russ

[Gaius Julius Camillus]

Toes was the horses name.

 

This has been a huge help. Some info I had, others I did not. But let me restate the question in a different manner. Do you know of any cults, sects, prophecies, ceremonies, etc that would be great to use for the existence of a vampire of werewolf? For example, the famous rite of Magna Mater, the taurobolium, could easily be reinterprated to be a vampiric rite of rebirth. Make more sense now? But this is a tremendous help indeed.

 

*Thanks Lanista. Thats exactly what I am talking about. I posted the above, before I read your contribution*

Edited September 26, 2008 by Lucius Julius Venustinius

[Lanista]

*Thanks Lanista. Thats exactly what I am talking about. I posted the above, before I read your contribution*

 

No worries, mate. I used to have a book that looked at Greek and Roman Magick which was in all probability a little dubious, but it detailed ritual...and I'm sure that's where I recall the restless dead and the Lamia from. Anyway, I googled both just now, and there's tonnes of info on wiki and so forth.

 

 

Cheers

 

Russ

[Ursus]

This has been a huge help. Some info I had, others I did not. But let me restate the question in a different manner. Do you know of any cults, sects, prophecies, ceremonies, etc that would be great to use for the existence of a vampire of werewolf? For example, the famous rite of Magna Mater, the taurobolium, could easily be reinterprated to be a vampiric rite of rebirth. Make more sense now? But this is a tremendous help indeed.

 

 

Well, there were lots of shadowy clubs in the Roman Empire dedicated to off-color deities.

 

I believe the archaic cults of Dionysus have already been mentioned, where women seized in divine frenzy supposedly uprooted trees with their bare hands and ate raw animal flesh. The associations with drinking wine, which was sometimes seen as the "blood" of the vine, and the interpretations of the perennial coming of the vine as resurrection and immortality, make it fertile ground for someone with imagination.

 

If we look to Germanic and Celtic societies, there are bands of sacred warriors that supposedly took on the spirits of animals (like bears and wolves), probably after ingesting certain drugs and working themselves into a frenzy through exotic religious rites.

 

In Egyptian mythology there is the tale of the warrior goddess Sekhmet. Sekhmet went out to destroy Ra the sun god's human enemies. She killed them and drank their pools of blood. But she didn't stop after the battle, and went out to destroy all of humanity. The world was saved only when the magician god Thoth tricked her into drinking a pool of red colored beer; thinking it was more blood she drank it, but got drunk and became pacified.

[Gaius Julius Camillus]

Thanks guys! truly.