succubus

1. A female demon supposed to descend upon and have sexual intercourse with a man while he sleeps.
2. An evil spirit; a demon.

[Middle English, from Medieval Latin, alteration (influenced by Late Latin incubus, incubus) of Latin succuba, paramour, from succubāre, to lie under : sub-, sub- + cubāre, to lie down.]

A demon who takes the shape of a woman, stealing the vitality of men during sleep. Old rabbinical writings relate the legend of how Adam was visited over a period of 130 years by female demons and had intercourse with demons, spirits, specters, lemurs, and phantoms.

Another legend relates how under the reign of Roger, king of Sicily, a young man was bathing by moonlight and thought he saw someone drowning and hastened to the rescue. Having drawn from the water a beautiful woman, he became enamored of her, married her, and they had a child. Afterward she disappeared mysteriously with her child, which made everyone believe she was a succubus.

In the fifteenth century, the succubus and the male demon, the counterpart incubus (which takes the form of a man, to seduce women), were associated with witchcraft, and witches were assumed to have intercourse with demons. The historian Hector Boece (1465-1536), in his history of Scotland, related that a very handsome young man was pursued by a female demon, who would pass through his closed door and offer to marry him. He complained to his bishop, who enjoined him to fast, pray, and confess, and as a result the infernal visitor ceased to trouble him.

The witchcraft judge Pierre de Lancre (1553-1631) stated that in Egypt an honest blacksmith was occupied in forging during the night when a demon in the shape of a beautiful woman appeared to him. He threw a hot iron in the face of the demon, which at once took flight.

The succubus was generally believed to appear most frequently during sleep, especially in nightmares. Roman Catholic theologian Thomas Aquinas argued for the objective existence of the incubus/succubus and believed that such intercourse could lead to the pregnancy of a woman. Twentieth-century psychology tends to see such creatures as dream symbols of repressed sexual feelings.

Sources:

Jones, Ernest. On the Nightmare. New York: Liveright, 1951.

Melton, J. Gordon. The Vampire Book: The Encyclopedia of the Undead. 2nd edition. Detroit: Visible Ink Press, 1999.

Robbins, Rossell Hope. The Encyclopedia of Witchcraft and Demonology. New York: Crown Publishers, 1959.

For other uses, see Succubus (disambiguation).

A bracket carved as a winged succubus on the outside of an English inn, suggesting that a brothel could have been found inside.

In folklore that stems from medieval legend^{[clarification needed]}, a succubus (plural succubi) is a demon who takes the form of a woman to seduce men in dreams to have sexual intercourse. In modern times, a succubus may or may not appear in dreams and is often depicted as highly attractive, while in the past succubi were depicted as frightening and demonic.^[1] The male counterpart is the incubus.

From most points of view, succubi draw energy from men to sustain themselves, often until the victim becomes exhausted or dies.^{[citation needed]} In one such story,^[2] a man in the town of Koblenz is bewitched by a succubus, with whom he is forced to repeatedly fornicate in the presence of his wife. The story says that, "After an incredible number of such bouts, the poor man at last sinks to the floor utterly exhausted and disgusted beyond belief." From mythology and fantasy, Lilith and the Lilin (Jewish) and Lilitu (Sumerian) are in redactive Christian fables (folktales not part of official Christian theology), considered forms of succubi.

According to the Malleus Maleficarum, or "Witches' Hammer", written by Heinrich Kramer (Insitoris) in 1486, a succubus collects semen from the men she sleeps with, which incubi then use to impregnate women,^[3] thus explaining how demons could apparently sire children despite the traditional belief that they were incapable of reproduction. Children so begotten were supposed to be those that were born deformed, or more susceptible to supernatural influences.^[4]

Etymology

First attested 1387, derived from Late Latin succuba "strumpet", used to describe the supernatural being as well. From succubare "to lie under", from sub- "under" and cubare "to lie".^[5] They are also believed to be vampires in some cultures. Earlier stories of them were said to drink blood from their sleeping victims or take blood from the willing. The legend of this account was first established in 300 B.C. maybe earlier.

See also

Al Basti Cecaelia demonology Empusa Energy vampire Hisa-me Hone-onna

Huli jing Incubus kitsune Lamia Lidérc Lilith Mara

Melusine Naamah Qarînah Vandella

References

1. ^ Curran, Bob (2006), Encyclopedia of the Undead: A Field Guide to Creatures That Cannot Rest in Peace, p. 21, Career Press, ISBN 1564148416
2. ^ Kramer, Heinrich and Sprenger, James (1486), Summers, Montague (translator - 1928), The Malleus Maleficarum, Part2, Chapter 2, Question 1
3. ^ Kramer, Heinrich and Sprenger, James (1486), Summers, Montague (translator - 1928), The Malleus Maleficarum, Part2, Chapter VIII, "Certain Remedies prescribed against those Dark and Horrid Harms with which Devils may Afflict Men," at sacred-texts.com
4. ^ Lewis, James R., Oliver, Evelyn Dorothy, Sisung Kelle S. (Editor) (1996), Angels A to Z, Entry: Incubi and Succubi, pp. 218, 219, Visible Ink Press, ISBN 0-7876-0652-9
5. ^ succubus at "Online Etymology Dictionary". Daniel Harper, copyright 2001

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