Editing Lamia (section)

==Classical mythology==
[[Aristotle]]'s ''[[Nicomachean Ethics]]'' (vii.5) refers to the lore of some beastly lifeform in the shape of a woman, which tears the bellies of pregnant mothers and devours their fetuses. An anonymous commentator on the passage states this is a reference to the Lamia, but muddlingly combines this with Aristotle's subsequent comments and describes her as a Scythian of the [[Pontus (region)|Pontus]] (Black Sea) area.{{Refn|Aristotle, ''[http://data.perseus.org/citations/urn:cts:greekLit:tlg0086.tlg010.perseus-eng1:1148b Nicomachean Ethics]'' 1148b.}}<ref name="fisher" />

According to one myth, Hera deprived Lamia of the ability to sleep, making her constantly grieve over the loss of her children, and Zeus provided relief by endowing her with removable eyes. He also gifted her with a [[shapeshifting]] ability in the process.<ref name=scholium>[[Scholium]] from the Byzantine-Hellenistic period to Aristophanes, ''Peace'' 758, quoted by {{harvp|Ogden|2013b|p=98}}</ref><ref>Bell, Robert E. (1993), ''Women of Classical Mythology'', drawing upon Diodorus Siculus XX.41; Suidas 'Lamia'; Plutarch 'On Being a Busy-Body' 2; Scholiast on Aristophanes's ''Peace'' 757; Eustathius on ''Odyssey'' 1714) <!--too garbled to identify:(Mythology dictionary C20th)--></ref>

===De-mythologized===
[[Diodorus Siculus]] ({{fl.|1st century BC}}) gave a de-mythologized account of Lamia as a queen of Libya who ordered her soldiers to snatch children from their mothers and kill them, and whose beauty gave way to bestial appearance due to her savageness. The queen, as related by Diodorus, was born in a cave.<ref name=diodorus>[[Diodorus Siculus]] ({{fl.|1st century BC}}), ''[[Bibliotheca historica|Library of History]]'' XX.41, quoted by {{harvp|Ogden|2013b|p=98}}</ref><ref name=diodorus-gk>Bekker, Immanuel, ed., Diodorus Siculus, {{URL|1=http://data.perseus.org/citations/urn:cts:greekLit:tlg0060.tlg001.perseus-grc2:20.41 |2=Bibliotheca Historica}} XX.41</ref> [[Heraclitus Paradoxographus]] (2nd century) also gave a rationalizing account.{{sfnp|Ogden|2013b|p=99}}

Diodorus's rationalization was that the Libyan queen in her [[Alcohol intoxication|drunken state]] was as if she could not see, allowing her citizens free rein for any conduct without supervision, giving rise to the folk myth that she places her eyes in a vessel.<ref name=diodorus/> [[Heraclitus Paradoxographus|Heraclitus]]'s [[euhemerized]] account explains that Hera, consort of Zeus, gouged the eyes out of the beautiful Lamia.<ref name=heraclitus>[[Heraclitus Paradoxographus]] (2nd century) ''De Incredibilibus'' 34, quoted by {{harvp|Ogden|2013b|p=98}}</ref>

===Genealogy===
Lamia was the daughter born between King [[Belus (Egyptian)|Belus]] of Egypt and [[Lybie]], according to one source.{{Efn|Making her the granddaughter of [[Poseidon]]. Lybie is a personification of Libya.<!--Preexisting comments-->}}<ref name=scholium/><ref>[[Diodorus Siculus]], 20.41.3-6, Scholia to Aristophanes, ''Wasps'' 1035; Commentary 37 to Heraclitus the Allegorist</ref>

According to the same source, Lamia was taken by Zeus to Italy, and that Lamos, the city of the man-eating [[Laestrygonians]], was named after her.<ref name=scholium/> A different authority remarks that Lamia was once queen of the Laestrygonians.{{Refn|name=scholios-theocritus|Scholium to Theocritus ''Idylls'' 15.40.{{sfnp|Ogden|2013b|p=98}}<ref name=johnston/>}}{{Refn|group="lower-alpha"|The same scholium states that Mormo and [[Gello]] are equivalent to Lamia, therefore by transference Mormo is queen of the Laestrygonians, hence: {{harvp|Stannish|Doran|2013|p=118}}.}}{{Refn|group="lower-alpha"|Horace makes a related joke, referring to the aforementioned Lucius Aelius Lamia the praetor as "Lamus", in this instance regarded as the founding figure of the city of the Laestrygonians.<ref>{{citation|last=Mulroy |first=D. |title=Horace's Odes and Epodes |publisher=University of Michigan Press |year=1994 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=DotEVjzbSHcC&pg=PA86 |page=86|isbn=978-0472105311 }}</ref>}}

===Aristophanes===
[[Aristophanes]] wrote in two plays an identically worded list of foul-smelling objects which included the "Lamia's testicles",<!--As an insult to a politician Cleon--> thus making Lamia's gender ambiguous.<ref>[[Aristophanes]], ''[[The Wasps]]'', 1035; ''[[Peace (play)|Peace]]'' 758, cited by {{harvp|Ogden|2013a}}, p. 91, note 117.</ref>{{Efn|This prompted Henderson (1998) to "humorlessly infer" that the Lamia must have been a [[hermaphrodite]]. {{harvp|Ogden|2013a}}, p. 91, note 117.}} This was later incorporated into [[Edward Topsell]]'s 17th-century envisioning of the lamia.<ref name="topsell"/>

It is somewhat uncertain if this refers to the one Lamia{{Refn|''[[viz.]]'' [[Scholia]] to the passages whose annotations refer to her,<ref name=scholium/>}} or to "a Lamia" among many, as given in some translations of the two plays;<ref>"a Lamia's groin" (Benjamin Bickley Rogers, 1874), "a foul Lamia's testicles" (Athenian Society, 1912), "sweaty Crotch of a Lamia" (Paul Roche, 2005).</ref> a generic {{not a typo|lamia}} is also supported by the definition as some sort of a "wild beast" in the ''[[Suda]]''.<ref>"{{URL|1=http://www.stoa.org/sol-entries/lambda/85|2=Lamia}}", ''Suda On Line'', tr. David Whitehead. 27 May 2008</ref>