There are two main sources from which vampires were inspired. The first one is Greek mythology, and the second one is Vlad the Empaler. My guess would be that the story of Vlad the Empaler is considerably more known by people than the one from Greek mythology! But still, both are interesting.
Greek Mythology:
This legend from the Greek people has been found in the “Scriptures of Delphi,” which are said to have been written by the Oracle of Delphi. Delphi is an ancient Greek city that has been inhabited since 1600 BC. It was considered by the Greeks to be the center of the world, due to Greek mythology and Zeus’ eagles, which he released in the wild, and which met at Delphi after encircling the world. The scriptures tell the story of Ambrogio, an Italian adventurer that was going in Greece to have his fortune told by the Oracle of Delphi. The words of the Oracle were the following: “The curse. The moon. The blood will run.” Preoccupied by the words of the Oracle, Ambrogio spent the night outside the temple thinking about their meaning. When daylight came, he saw a beautiful young woman: Selene. She was the Oracle’s sister and came to the temple everyday to take care of her sister (the Oracle). He fell deeply in love with the woman and asked her to marry him. Here is where the problems begin: Apollo, god of the Sun, was also coveting Selene, and to show his anger, he cursed Ambrogio by making his skin burn whenever he was exposed to sunlight, which forced him to hide in a dark cave, unable to warn Selene of what happened. Thus, to try to escape and communicate with Selene, he made a pact with Hades, the god of the underworld: Hades would give him a bow and arrows so he could offer his kill to Artemis, goddess of the hunt and sister of Apollo, to win her favor and eventually steal her silver bow. If he failed to do so, he would have to give his soul to Hades forever, and indeed, he did fail. From there, many things happened but at the end, Artemis proposed he become immortal, which he accepted. However, for Selene and himself to live the afterlife together, she had to be immortal too, and the way to achieve immortality was for him to drink her blood, which would kill her mortal body, but assure them they would be together in the afterlife. Therefore, he drank her blood, and she became goddess of moonlight, and every night, she would come down from the heavens and touch her beloved Ambrogio.
Vlad the Empaler:
Vlad the Empaler’s real name is actually Vlad Dracula. He was born in Transylvania, Romania, and ruled, on and off, the region of Wallachia in Romania between 1456-1462. He fought against the Ottaman Empire, an empire in which the leader, Sultan, had absolute political and religious power over his people. His nickname comes from the fact that his favorite way to kill his enemies was to impale them on a wooden stake. The legend says that Vlad enjoyed dipping his bread in his victims’ blood. However, no one knows whether this is real or not; one thing is certain, Romanian people do not consider him as a monster, but a hero.
Other sources of inspiration:
Of course, many other things may have influenced Bram Stoker to create Dracula’s character. Indeed, an Irish legend about a tyrant called Abhartach relates that this monster was killed and buried three times before asking for the help of the Christian saint to stop him forever. Moreover, it was said that the tyrant asked for sacrifices of blood from the wrists of his subjects.
It is also said that on February 1896, the New York Newspaper featured an article about vampires, and in this article, a section was written about vampire bats. Bram Stoker, who read this article, was thus inspired by science in the creation of the vampire Dracula.
Furthermore, Bram Stoker was well aware of Eastern European folklore as well as other stories talking about vampires that were written before he wrote his own.
Finally, Bram Stoker created a monster from various sources of information he found from different time periods. Even though Dracula has been invented, where do all these legends come from? Why were people so afraid of vampires for about three hundred years? Would it be possible that, even if some characteristics of the “classic” vampire are missing, a creature close to the definition of a vampire would exist somewhere?
DelphineC
R&D Gothic Discoveries 