Listed 8 sub titles with search on: Mythology for destination: "LIBYA Country NORTH AFRICA".
Daughter of Epaphus, the region of Libya named after her, mother of Agenor and Belus by Poseidon, statue of L. crowning Battus.(Paus., i.44.3; Apollod., ii.1.4, iii.1.1)
The Gorgon, daughter of Phorcus, reigned at Lake Tritonis in Libya, account of Medusa given by Procles, slain by Perseus, beheaded by Perseus, mother of Pegasus by Poseidon, sisters of Medusa pursue Perseus, head of Gorgon Medusa turns Iodama to stone, Medusa's hair guards Tegea against capture, threatened by Herakles in Hades, gilt head of Gorgon Medusa on wall, ivory head of Medusa on Athena's breast, stone head of Medusa, Gorgon Medusa wrought on shield.
Chrysaor (Chrusaor), a son of Poseidon and Medusa, and consequently a brother of Pegasus. When Perseus cut off the head of Medusa, Chrysaor and Pegasus sprang forth from it. Chrysaor became by Callirrhoe the father of the three-headed Geryones and Echidna. (Hesiod, Theog. 280, &c.; Hygin. Fab. Praef. and 151)
Lamiae (Lamiai). Fabulous monsters, the vampires of ancient legend, commonly
represented with the head and breast of a woman and the body of a serpent. According
to some, they changed their forms at pleasure, and, when about to ensnare their
prey, assumed such appearances as were most seductive and calculated to please.
The blood of young persons was believed to possess peculiar attractions for them,
and for the purpose of quaffing this they were wont to take the forms of beautiful
women, the better to allure young men. The Lamiae possessed also another means
of accomplishing their object. This was a species of hissing sound emitted by
them, so soothing and attractive in its nature that persons found themselves irresistibly
allured by it. When not in disguise and when they had sated their horrid appetites,
their form was hideous, their visages glowed like fire, their bodies were besmeared
with blood, and their feet appeared of iron or of lead. Sometimes they showed
themselves completely blind; at other times they had a single eye, either in the
forehead or on one side of the visage. The popular belief made them frequent Africa
and Thessaly, in both of which countries they watched along the main roads and
seized upon unwary travellers.
The fable of Queen Lamia has some analogy to this fiction,
and both, in all probability, owe their origin to one and the same source. Lamia,
according to Diodorus Siculus and other ancient authorities, was a queen of Africa,
remarkable for beauty, who, on account of her cruel disposition, was eventually
transformed into a wild beast. Having lost, it seems, her own children by the
act of Here, who was jealous of Lamia's intercourse with Zeus, she sought to console
her sorrow by seizing the children of her subjects from their mothers' arms, and
putting them to death. Hence the transformation inflicted upon her by the gods.
The Lamiae figured extensively in the nursery-legends of antiquity, and their
names and attributes were standing objects of terror to the young.
This text is from: Harry Thurston Peck, Harpers Dictionary of Classical Antiquities. Cited Oct 2002 from The Perseus Project URL below, which contains interesting hyperlinks
Lamia. A female phantom, by which children were frightened. According to tradition, she was originally a Libyan queen, of great beauty, and a daughter of Belus. She was beloved by Zeus, and Hera in her jealousy robbed her of her children. Lamia, from revenge and despair, robbed others of their children, and murdered them; and the savage cruelty in which she now indulged rendered her ugly, and her face became fearfully distorted. Zeus gave her the power of taking her eyes out of her head, and putting them in again. (Diod. xx. 41; Suidas, s. v.; Plut. de Curios. 2; Schol. ad Aristoph. Pac. 757; Strab. i.) Some ancients called her the mother of Scylla. (Eustath. ad Hom. p. 1714; Arist. de Mor. vii. 5.) In later times Lamiae were conceived as handsome ghostly women, who by voluptuous artifices attracted young men, in order to enjoy their fresh, youthful, and pure flesh and blood. They were thus in ancient times what the vampires are in modern legends. (Philostr. Vit. Apollon. iv. 25; Horat. de Art. Poet. 340; Isidor. Orig. viii. 11; Apulei. Met. i. p. 57; comp. Spanheim, ad Callim. Hymn. in Dian. 67)
This text is from: A dictionary of Greek and Roman biography and mythology, 1873 (ed. William Smith). Cited Oct 2006 from The Perseus Project URL below, which contains interesting hyperlinks
Empusa (Empousa), a monstrous spectre, which was believed to devour human beings. It could assume different forms, and was sent out by Hecate to frighten travellers. It was believed usually to appear with one leg of brass and the other of an ass. (Aristoph Ran. 294, Eccles. 1094.) Whenever a traveller addressed the monster with insulting words, it used to flee and utter a shrill sound. (Philostr Vit. Apoll. ii. 4.) The Lamiae and Mormolyceia, who assumed the form of handsome women for the purpose of attracting young men, and then sucked their blood like vampyrs and ate their flesh, were reckoned among the Empusae. (Philostr Vit. Apoll. iv. 25; Suid. s. v.)
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