Incubus (pronounced in-kyuh-buhs or ing-kyuh-buhs)
(1) In medieval folklore, a mythical demon or evil
spirit said to be a figure appearing in nightmares and (when in explicit male
form) known to descend upon sleeping women, engaging in sexual intercourse.
(2) Used loosely, sleep paralysis; night terrors, a
nightmare.
(3) Some thought weighing upon one, oppressing one like a
nightmare, especially if an obsession which prevents or interrupts sleep.
(4) By extension, a yoke, any oppressive thing or person;
a burden.
(5) In entomology, one of various parasitic insects,
especially the sub-family Aphidiinae.
1175–1225: From the Middle English incubus, from the Medieval Latin incubus (a nightmare induced by such a demon), a noun derivative of
the Latin incubāre (to lie upon; to incubate),
from the Latin incubō (nightmare, one
who lies down on the sleeper; to lie upon, to hatch), the construct being in- (used in the sense of “on”) + cubō (to lie
down). From the Latin the word was picked up also by Dutch (incubus), French (incube), German (Incubus),
Italian (incubo), Portuguese (íncubo), Romanian (incub), Russian (инку́б (inkúb))
and Spanish (íncubo). Incubus is a noun; the noun plural is incubuses
or incubi.
Succubus (pronounced suhk-yuh-buhs)
(1) In medieval folklore, a mythical demon in female
form, said to have sexual intercourse with men in their sleep.
(2) Any demon or evil spirit (historically, almost always
in female form).
(3) A woman of loose virtue; a strumpet; a whore, a prostitute
(archaic).
1350–1400: From the Middle English succubus, from the Medieval Latin succubus, a variant of the Latin succuba (a harlot), from the Latin succubāre
(to lie beneath), the construct being sub-
(used in the sense of “under”) + cubāre
(to lie). The alternative form was succuba. Succubus was coined
to describe a female form of a fiend on the model of incubus. The verb succubate (have carnal knowledge of
a man (as a succuba) came from the Latin past participle where succuba (a harlot) was use of a woman of
human flesh and blood with no suggestion of the supernatural. The transferred sense of succuba in the Classical Latin was “a supplanter; a rival”. Succubus & succuba are nouns, succubine is
an adjective and succubate is a verb; the noun plural is succubi.
The incubus
was a male demon said to engage in sexual activity with sleeping women,
depicted often in situations in which the victim was unable to resist and the
subtext was less one of the demon’s desire than a wish to drain energy or life
force. Historically, the visitation of incubi
was blamed for causing nightmares and in pre-modern medicine they were attributed
as the source of sleep paralysis. The succubus
was a female demon, aid to seduce men, visiting in their dreams and engaging in
sexual activity. In folklore, the notion
of unwillingness among the “victims” was not always present and often the
succubus depicted as a temptress who exploits human desires, one sub-text being
men were really not to blame for falling for her “irresistible” charms. Despite that, priests would use the succubus
to illustrate the dangers of masturbation, linking the demon’s nocturnal visits
with the practice. This association with
themes of temptation, sin and the dangers of uncontrolled lust was one of the
reasons “succubus” was by the mid-sixteenth century used to mean “a strumpet; a
woman of loose virtue, a prostitute”, echoing the earlier Latin succuba (a harlot); the English language
has proved endlessly productive in coining terms with which to denigrate women. The essential distinction was that succubi were
depicted as alluring and seductive, whereas incubi were portrayed as invasive
and terrifying, themes familiar for thousands of years. It’s notable that in many folk narratives, it
was monks who were said to be especially vulnerable to the ways of the succubi,
their sexual skills such that they would draw from the clerics so much energy
the unfortunate men could barely sustain themselves, some succumbing to exhaustion
and even death. In Antiquity, although
the specific terms incubus (a male demon which rapes sleeping women) and succubus
(a female demon which seduces men) were not used, similar ideas do appear in Greek
and Roman mythology and in the Christian tradition of the incubi & succubi the
ancient beliefs in spirits, demons and seduction were blended and infused with
Biblical influence.
The Greek demons
There was Empusa (Ερπουσα),
one of the creatures in Hecate's entourage who belonged to the Underworld and filled
the night with terrors. Empusa could
assume various shapes and appeared particularly to women and children; feeding
on human flesh, she would often assume the form of a young girl to attract her
victims. Lamia (leɪmiə) was a daughter of
Poseidon and mother of the Libyan Sibyl.
She was a most terrible monster who was said to steal children and was a
terror to nurses. In one account (in
mythology there are many strains), Lamia was the daughter of Belus and Libya
and enjoyed an affair with Zeus but on every occasion she gave birth to a
child, Hera would arrange for it to die.
All this affected Lamia and she became depressed, in her despair
secluding herself in a cave where she became a monster with an obsessive jealousy
of mothers more fortunate than herself; she would seize and devour their
children. To punish her more, Hera
denied her the ability to sleep so she appealed to Zeus who gave her the power
to take out her eyes, replacing them whenever she wished. The tale of Lamia influenced writers and some
other female spirits which attached themselves to children in order to suck
their blood were known as Lamiae.
Hecate (hɛkəti) was another demon where the details vary in
different tales. The poet Hesiod (active
740-650 BC) portrayed her as the offspring of Asteria & Perses and a and a direct descendant of the generation of Titans. She had
some virtues in that when she extended hr goodwill to mortals, variously she
could grant material prosperity, eloquence in political assemblies and victory
in battle & sporting events. She had
the power to fill the nets of fishermen, make the fields of farmer fecund and
fatten their cattle but her reputation suffered because, as a goddess of
witchcraft, ghosts, and magic (big things at the time), her retinue included ghostly
women or phantoms who preyed upon men in the manner of a succubus. The Sirens
(Σειρῆνες) were deadly creatures who used their lyrical
and earthly charms to lure sailors to their death. Attracted by their enchanting music and
voices, the seduced seafarers would sail their ships too close to the rocky
coast of the nymph's island and there be shipwrecked. Not untypically for the myths of antiquity,
the sirens are said to have had many homes.
The Romans said they lived on some small islands called Sirenum scopuli
while later authors place them variously on the islands of Anthemoessa, on Cape
Pelorum, on the islands of the Sirenuse, near Paestum, or in Capreae. All were places with rocky coasts and tall
cliffs. It was Odysseus who most
famously escaped the sirens. Longing to
hear their songs but having no wish to be shipwrecked, he had his sailors fill
their ears with beeswax, rendering them deaf.
Odysseus then ordered them to tie him to the mast. Sailing past, when he heard their lovely
voices, he ordered his men to release him but they tightened the knots, not
releasing him till the danger had passed.
Some writers claimed the Sirens were fated to die if a man heard their
singing and escaped them and that as Odysseus sailed away they flung themselves
into the water and drowned. The idea of
the sirens persists in idiomatic use:
The "siren sound" is used to refers to words or something
which exerts a particular compelling attraction but a "siren call"
can be used of something not directly audible such as the thoughts evoked by a
painting or even a concept, populism, fascism & communism all described
thus at times.
The Roman demons
The strīx
(στριγός) was a bird of ill omen, the product of metamorphosis, infamous for
feeding on human flesh and blood. That
behavior saw the name adopted for witches but again the tales vary. Some claimed the strīx did no harm to mortals
while other damn them as vampiric, owl-like creatures, man-eaters who were the terror of any
community upon which they would prey, a notion much pursued by later Medieval
writers, always happy to recount takes of bloodthirsty women, the strīx blamed
for much child-eating, sometimes with an undertone of seduction or spiritual
corruption. The witches were unconnected
with the word Styx. Styx (Στύξ) was a river
of the Underworld and as told by Hesiod,
Styx was the oldest of the children of Oceanus &
Tethys but the Roman writer Hyginus (Gaius Julius Hyginus (circa 64 BC–17 AD) aid
she was one of the children of Nyx & Erebus. Muddying the waters further, she featured amongst
Persephone's companions in the in the Homeric Hymn to Demeter, but there was
also a tradition according to which she was Persephone's mother. Styx was the name of a spring in Arcadia which
emerged from a rock above ground, then disappeared underground again. Its water was poisonous for humans and cattle
and could break iron, metal and pottery, though a horse's hoof was unharmed and
supposedly, it was waters from this spring which poisoned Alexander III of
Macedon (Alexander the Great, 356-323 BC).
The water of the Styx was in some stories said to possess magical powers
and it was into its flow that Thetis dipped Achilles (holding by the heel) in
order to confer invulnerability. The satyrs (σάτυρος) were demons of nature
which appeared in Dionysus' train, represented often with the lower part of the
body resembling that of a horse and the upper part that of a man (sometimes the
animal half was that of a goat). They had a long, thick tail
(like that of a horse) and a perpetually erect penis of truly heroic
dimensions. In many stories, they were depicted
as enjoying dancing & drinking with Dionysus and pursuing the Maenads &
Nymphs. Over time, the bestial almost vanished as their lower limbs became human with feet rather than hooves with only the full
tails remained as a reminder of the old form.
Although infamous for their lascivious behavior, they were not malevolent
in the same way as demons although they pursued women and nymphs with as great an
enthusiasm as any incubus.
