Empousai

An empousa is, in Greek lore, a type of female demon closely related to the Lamiae and resembling the later concept of the Succubus. The plural form is empousai, and the name has been interpreted as meaning “forcers in.” In some English translations, empousa has even been rendered as “vampire,” reflecting the creature’s association with seduction, flesh-eating, and the drinking of human blood.

The empousai are said to be children or attendants of Hecate, the powerful goddess associated with the underworld, ghosts, witchcraft, and magic. They appear at her command, particularly at midday, when people make offerings and sacrifices to their dead relatives. Their natural appearance is grotesque and unclean. They are described as filthy, misshapen beings with the hindquarters of asses and strange metallic features. Some accounts say that an empousa has one leg of brass and another resembling the leg of an ass, while others describe her as wearing brazen slippers.

Yet the true danger of the empousa lies in her ability to disguise herself.

She may take the form of an animal, appearing as a cow or a bitch, but her most dangerous transformation is that of a beautiful young woman. In this guise she approaches men, arouses their desire, and draws them into her power. Once her victim has been seduced, the illusion gives way to something far more terrible. The empousa is said to enter or consume the human body, feeding upon its flesh and drinking its blood.

This connection between seduction and predation places the empousai among the earliest supernatural beings to resemble the later European Succubus and vampire.

The Empousa Bride

One of the most famous stories concerning an empousa appears in The Life of Apollonius of Tyana by Philostratus.

Apollonius was a philosopher and wonder-worker of the first century who became famous for extraordinary feats, magical knowledge, prophecy, and the supposed ability to summon or perceive spirits. Philostratus’ biography of him draws partly upon accounts attributed to Damis, one of Apollonius’ disciples, although the historical reliability of much of this material has long been questioned.

The tale concerns a young Lycian named Menippus, who was twenty-five years old, intelligent, handsome, and apparently highly desirable.

While travelling along the road to Cenchreae, Menippus encountered a beautiful woman who claimed to be Phoenician. In reality she was an empousa.

Menippus immediately fell under her spell.

He became infatuated with the mysterious woman and soon agreed to marry her, completely unaware of what she truly was. The illusion surrounding her was powerful enough to create not merely physical beauty, but an entire world of wealth and social standing.

When Apollonius learned of the proposed marriage, however, he became suspicious.

He attended the wedding and was introduced to the bride by Menippus. The house appeared magnificent. Gold and silver objects filled the rooms, servants moved throughout the household, and the bride proudly acknowledged that the wealth surrounding them belonged to her.

Apollonius was not deceived.

He confronted the woman and declared that Menippus was not marrying an ordinary human bride at all.

She was an empousa.

According to Apollonius, the riches surrounding them were illusions, as were the servants and much of the splendour of the house. The beautiful bride was not preparing for married life. She was preparing Menippus for something far darker.

She intended to eat him.

The woman became furious and ordered Apollonius to leave, but the spell had already begun to collapse. As he continued to expose the deception, the gold vanished. The silver disappeared. The servants ceased to exist.

The magnificent household dissolved into nothing.

Now exposed, the woman began to weep.

She begged Apollonius not to force her to reveal her true nature, but he refused to relent. Eventually she confessed that she had deliberately been fattening Menippus so that she could consume him. She admitted that she particularly enjoyed feeding upon young and beautiful men because she believed their blood to be pure and strong.

Menippus had not been chosen because she loved him.

He had been chosen because she intended to devour him.

Through the intervention of Apollonius, the young man escaped his intended fate.

The Dead Bride Philinnion

A similar story appears in the Mirabilia of Phlegon of Tralles, written around the second century, although in this account the supernatural woman resembles a revenant or sexually hungry ghost more than an explicitly demonic empousa.

The story concerns Philinnion, a young bride who dies but later returns from the grave.

After her death, she begins secretly visiting a young man named Machates.

The encounters between them are sexual, and Philinnion behaves not like a wandering shade but like a woman temporarily restored to physical life. She brings objects with her and leaves others behind, creating physical evidence that something extraordinary has occurred.

Jewellery and clothing become part of the strange exchange between the living man and the dead woman. Machates gives Philinnion a ring and a golden cup, apparently unaware at first of the full nature of his visitor.

Eventually the family discovers what has been happening.

They go to Philinnion’s tomb and find her bier empty.

The gifts that Machates had given her are found there, providing terrifying confirmation that the woman visiting him is indeed the same Philinnion whose body had been buried.

Meanwhile, Philinnion herself is discovered lying in the house where Machates is staying.

The supernatural reunion does not end happily.

A learned prophet declares that Philinnion’s corpse must be burned outside the limits of the city and that sacrifices must be offered to the chthonic deities. The prescribed rites are carried out, but Machates is overcome by despair.

He kills himself.

Empousai, Desire, and Death

The stories of the empousai reveal one of the oldest and most persistent themes in supernatural folklore: the beautiful stranger whose attraction conceals death.

The danger is not obvious.

That is precisely why it works.

The empousa does not approach her victim as a monster. She approaches him as desire itself. Beauty becomes camouflage, affection becomes entrapment, and sexual attraction becomes the doorway through which the supernatural predator gains access to the human body.

Behind the beautiful face waits hunger.

This combination of erotic temptation, shapeshifting, blood-drinking, death, and the female night spirit would survive for centuries in different forms. Later demonological traditions would give similar attributes to Lamiae, Succubi, vampires, seductive revenants, and other spirits that blur the boundary between sexuality and predation.

Yet the Greek empousa remains one of the oldest and strangest manifestations of the idea.

She may look beautiful.

She may speak gently.

She may promise love.

But if the old stories are believed, she has already decided how you will taste.

Enter the Occult World Mystery School

Reading about the empousai is only the beginning.

Behind these creatures lies an enormous world of Greek magic, chthonic gods, necromancy, revenants, daemons, Hecatean traditions, underworld mythology, Demonology, witchcraft, spirit invocation, and the ancient beliefs that eventually developed into the occult systems of later Europe.

Most people never go further than the story.

The Occult World Mystery School goes beneath it.

If you genuinely want to understand spirits such as the empousai, stop consuming watered-down summaries and recycled occult trivia. Study the traditions that created them. Study Hecate. Study the chthonic powers. Study Demonology, necromancy, ancient magic, grimoires, spirit work, and the darker currents that modern occultism repeatedly borrows from without understanding.

There are thousands of spirits, gods, demons, magical systems, grimoires and forgotten traditions waiting beyond it.

You can continue reading about monsters from a safe distance, or you can enter the Occult World Mystery School and begin studying the world from which those monsters came.

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