The Immortal Legend of Count Dracula

Count Dracula is a well known figure to the modern masses. All know him to be the original vampire, the master of his undead race. Historically, Dracula is known to be the fictional product of Irish novelist Bram Stoker, who was potentially inspired by the tales of the Romanian hero Vlad the Impaler. However, stories of vampirism predate Count Dracula by centuries. Tales of blood thirsty demons go as far back as 18th century B.C. in ancient Mesopotamia. Lamashtu, the first recorded vampiric figure,1 was a malevolent Mesopotamian goddess who preyed on pregnant women and their newborns. She would steal babies in order to gnaw on their bones and drain them of their blood. Tales of Lamashtu were incorporated in later civilizations as well: Lamashtu can be seen as Lilith of Hebrew mythology and the Lamia of Greek mythology. 2

 

 

However, the origins of the modern vampire began in the region of the Balkans in the 10th century A.D. The word vampir emerged out of the religious conflict between the pagan beliefs of the Balkan region and the advancing Byzantine Orthodoxy.3 Initially, the word vampir was the term that was used to label certain people--most likely the settled Slavs of the time--who continued to practice their pagan beliefs and traditions. These vampirs were heretics to the Holy Church. This association between the heretics and vampirs is most evident when looking at two words that came out of medieval Russia: "eretick" (heretic) and "upyr" (vampire)-- these two words were synonymous with each other at the time.4 As centuries passed and the religious conflicts quelled, the term vampir started its transformation from being a real world identity to the folkloric entity that is known today.