Lamia in the ancient sources

Ancient Sources / Figures / Lamia

5 passages from 3 ancient authors that tell of Lamia, in the original with English translation, author by author in the order the Greeks read them. Lamia was a beautiful Libyan queen turned into a child-eating monster by Hera after catching the eye of Zeus. Read her full story and her revenge. For the story in one place, read our article on Lamia.

Pausanias (3)

Pausanias, Description of Greece 7.6.1–9Achaia: the twelve Achaean cities and Achaean warsAfter the Ionians left, the Achaeans divided the land among twelve cities, from Dyme to Pellene, under the sons of Tisamenus and other leaders, and Patrae was named after Patreus. Pausanias notes that the Achaeans are not recorded as joining the Greeks against Xerxes at Thermopylae, Salamis or Plataea. They fought at Chaeronea against Philip, and only the wrestler Chilon is said to have fought at Lamia. He also explains why the Peloponnesians did not march against the Gauls, and describes the weakened state of Sparta, Thebes and Athens afterwards.
Pausanias, Description of Greece 7.10.1–12Achaia: Callicrates and betrayal as the ruin of GreecePausanias opens with a list of Greek betrayals from the Ionian revolt to Alexander's successors, to show that treachery has always plagued Greece. He then tells how Callicrates completed the subjection of the Achaeans to Rome after the fall of Perseus of Macedon. A Roman commissioner, prompted by Callicrates, claimed that the Achaean generals had favoured Perseus, and over a thousand Achaeans were sent to Rome without trial. They were distributed among the cities of Etruria, and in the seventeenth year about three hundred survivors were released.
Pausanias, Description of Greece 10.3.1–4The end of the Sacred War: the cities of Phocis razed by PhilipPausanias dates Philip's end of the Sacred War to the ninth year after the seizure of Delphi. He lists the Phocian cities razed to the ground and the inhabitants dispersed into villages, with only Abae spared, and says the Phocians lost their place in the Delphic council and the Amphictyony. Their cities were later rebuilt, and the Phocians fought at Chaeronea, Lamia and Crannon and against the Gauls.

Antoninus Liberalis (1)

Antoninus Liberalis, Metamorphoses 6.1–8.7Periphas, Anthus and Lamia (Sybaris)Periphas, an early king of Attica worshipped as Zeus, is made an eagle and his wife a phene. Anthus is eaten by his father's mares and his family become birds named after them. Eurybatus takes the place of the boy Alcyoneus as an offering to the monster Lamia, or Sybaris, and hurls her from the cliffs; a spring rises where she falls.

Strabo (1)

Strabo, Geography 1.2.8–10Myth as education: Circe, Aea and the CimmeriansStrabo explains why myths teach children and the multitude, naming Lamia, Gorgo, the labours of Heracles (Hercules) and Theseus, and the thunderbolts, aegis and trident of the gods. He argues that Homer decorates real events with fiction, so that Aeolus, the Cyclopae, Scylla and Charybdis rest on real places. He also links Circe and Medea, the Argonautic voyage, the Symplegades and the Planctae, and the Cimmerians near Hades.