Strix (mythology)

Last updated
The appearance and calls of owls, such as the Eurasian scops owl, may have influenced Greek ideas of the blood-drinking strix. Otus scops ab cropped.png
The appearance and calls of owls, such as the Eurasian scops owl, may have influenced Greek ideas of the blood-drinking strix.
"Le Stryge" Chimera overlooks Paris from atop Notre-Dame de Paris. Notre Dame HDR.jpg
"Le Stryge" Chimera overlooks Paris from atop Notre-Dame de Paris.

The strix (plural striges or strixes), in the mythology of classical antiquity, was a bird of ill omen, the product of metamorphosis, that fed on human flesh and blood. It also referred to witches and related malevolent folkloric beings.

Contents

Description

Physical appearance

The strix is described as a large-headed bird with transfixed eyes, rapacious beak, greyish white wings, [lower-alpha 1] and hooked claws in Ovid's Fasti . [1] This is the only thorough description of the strix in Classical literature. [2] Elsewhere, it is described as being dark-colored. [3] [4] [2]

Behavior

The strīx (στρίξ, στριγός) [lower-alpha 2] was a nocturnally crying creature which positioned its feet upwards and head below, according to a pre-300 BC Greek origin myth. [lower-alpha 3] [5] It is probably meant to be (and translated as) an owl, [6] but is highly suggestive of a bat which hangs upside-down. [7]

The strix in later folklore was a bird which squirted milk upon the lips of (human) infants. Pliny in his Natural History dismissed this as nonsense [lower-alpha 4] [lower-alpha 5] and remarked it was impossible to establish what bird was meant by this. [lower-alpha 6] [8] [2] The same habit, where the strix lactates foul-smelling milk onto an infant's lips is mentioned by Titinius, who noted the placement of garlic on the infant was the prescribed amulet to ward against it. [4] [9] [8]

In the case of Ovid's striges, they threatened to do more harm than that. They were said to disembowel an infant and feed on its blood. Ovid allows the possibilities of the striges being birds of nature, or products of magic, or transformations by witches using magical incantations. [1]

Classical tales of bloodthirstiness

Greek origin myth

According to Antoninus Liberalis's Metamorphoses, the strīx (στρίξ) [lower-alpha 2] was a metamorphosis of Polyphonte; she and her bear-like sons Agrios and Oreios were transformed into birds as punishment for their cannibalism. [5] Here the strix is described as (a bird) "that cries by night, without food or drink, with head below and tips of feet above, a harbinger of war and civil strife to men". [11] [5]

The tale only survives in the form as recorded by Antonius who flourished 100–300 AD, but it preserved an older tale from the lost Ornithologia by Boios, dated to before the end of 4th century BC. [12]

In this Greek myth, the ill-omened strīx herself did not perpetrate harm on humans. But one paper suggests guilt by association with her sons, [13] and seeks to reconstruct an ancient Greek belief in the man-eating strīx dating back to this age (4th century BC). [14] In an opposing view, one study failed to find the ancient Greeks subscribing to the strīx as a "terror" to mankind, but noted a widespread belief in Italy that it was a "bloodthirsty monster in bird form." This study surmises that the Greeks later borrowed the concept of strix as witches, a concept articulated in Ovid, [15] and one scholar estimates the Greeks adopted the strix as "child-murdering horrors" by the "last centuries BC". [16] The modern Greek form στρίγλα may betray an influence of a Latin diminutive strigula. [15]

Early passing reference in Latin

The first Latin allusion is in Plautus' comedy Pseudolus dated to 191 BC, [17] in which an inferior cook's cuisine is metaphorized as the striges ("vampyre owls") devouring the diners' gastrointestinal organs while still alive, and shortening their lifespan. [18] [19] Commentators point to this as attestation that the striges were regarded as man-eating (anthropophagism). [20] [2] [lower-alpha 7]

Ovid's account of striges attack

In Ovid's Fasti (8 AD), the striges targeted legendary king Procas in his cradle. [lower-alpha 8] The assault was detected and interrupted but left the infant with scars on his cheeks and discoloration of his complexion. [21] A ritual to keep the striges away from the newborn prince was subsequently performed by the nymph Cranae (or goddess Carna), who owned a wand of whitethorn (spina), given to her by Janus, which could expel evil from all doors. [lower-alpha 9] [1] [22]

Satyricon

Petronius's novel Satyricon (late 1st century AD) includes a tale told by the character Trimalchio, describing the striges that snatched away the body of a boy who had already died, substituting a straw doll. The striges made their presence known by their scream, and a manservant attending to the intrusion discovered a woman and ran her through with a sword so that she groaned, but his whole body turned livid and would die a few days later. [23] [24]

Magical associations

Pliny's comment that "[strix]...employed in maledictions" [8] signified that its name invoked in "potent" magic curses according to one interpretation, [25] but it may have only been used as curse-word, reflecting its regard as an accursed creature. [26] [27]

There are several examples of the strix's plumage, etc., said to be used as an ingredient in magic. Horace in his Epodes , wrote that the strix's feathers are an ingredient in a love potion, [28] [18] as has his contemporary Propertius. [29] Medea's rejuvenating concoction which she boiled in a cauldron used a long list of ingredients, including the strix's wings. [30]

The striges also came to mean "witches". [17] One paper speculates that this meaning is as old as the 4th century BC, on the basis that in the origin myth of Boios, various names [lower-alpha 10] can be connected to the Macedonia-Thrace region well known for witches. [17] But more concrete examples occur in Ovid's Fasti (early 1st century AD) where the striges as transformations of hags is offered as one possible explanation, and Sextus Pompeius Festus (fl. late 2nd century) glossed as "women who practice witchcraft" "(maleficis mulieribus)" or "flying women" ("witches" by transference) [31] [32]

Underworld

There are striges, vultures, and bubo owls which cry in the marshes in Hades, by the edge of Tartarus [33] according to Seneca the Younger's tragedy Hercules Furens. [34] Also, according to the legend of Otus and Ephialtes, they were punished in Hades by being tied to a pillar with snakes, with a strix perched on that column. [35] [37]

Medieval

The legend of the strix survived into the Middle Ages, as recorded in Isidore's Etymologiae . [38] In the 7th–8th century John of Damascus equated the stiriges (Greek plural: Greek : στρίγγαι, Στρῦγγαι) [39] with the gelloudes (pl. of gello) in his entry Perī Stryggōn Greek : περί Στρυγγῶν). [40] He wrote that they sometimes had corporeal bodies and wore clothing, and sometimes appeared as spirits. [41]

Modern derived terms

The Latin term striga in both name and sense as defined by Medieval lexicographers was in use throughout central and eastern Europe.

Strega (obviously derived from Latin striga) is the Italian term for witch. This word itself gave a term sometimes also used in English, stregheria, a form of witchcraft. In Romanian, strigăt means 'scream', [42] strigoaică is the name of the Romanian feminine vampire, [43] and strigoi is the Romanian male vampire. [44] Both can scream loudly, especially when they become poltergeists—a trait they have in common with the banshees.[ citation needed ]Strigăt is also the Romanian name of the barn owl and of the death's-head hawkmoth.[ citation needed ] In Albanian folklore, we can find the shtriga, and in Slavic - the strzyga/stryha.

Linnaeus named the biological genus of earless owls Strix ; historically, this genus was (erroneously) thought to extend to barn owls.

See also

Explanatory notes

  1. ↑ Latin: canities
  2. 1 2 Greek strīx (στρίξ or ϛρίγξ), emended from styx (ϛύξ / στύξ). [10]
  3. ↑ The myth is Boios's Ornithologia, preserved by Antoninus Liberalis, described below.
  4. ↑ Since the bat was the only winged animal with mammary glands.
  5. ↑ In the ancient world the bat was commonly classified as a bird; only Aristotle differed, considering it halfway between bird and land animal. See Oliphant (1913), p. 134 n. 4.
  6. ↑ Their name was once used as a curse being the only other piece of information Pliny gives here.
  7. ↑ Although this is an example of figurative use.
  8. ↑ Procas was a legendary king of Latium before the Roman Empire.
  9. ↑ The ritual involved stroking the lintel and threshold with an arbutus branch, and placating the evil with chopped entrails of pigs, etc. This constitutes an explanation for the custom of eating beans and bacon on the Kalends of June as votive offerings to Carna.
  10. ↑ Strymon, Thraissa and Triballos

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Ares</span> God of war in ancient Greek religion

Ares is the Greek god of war and courage. He is one of the Twelve Olympians, and the son of Zeus and Hera. The Greeks were ambivalent towards him. He embodies the physical valor necessary for success in war but can also personify sheer brutality and bloodlust, in contrast to his sister Athena, whose martial functions include military strategy and generalship. An association with Ares endows places, objects, and other deities with a savage, dangerous, or militarized quality.

The Minyades were three Orchomenian (Arcadian) princesses in Greek mythology. These sisters were protagonists of a myth about the perils of neglecting the worship of Dionysus.

In Greek mythology, the name Toxeus or Toxius refers to the following individuals:

Cardea or Carda was the ancient Roman goddess of the hinge, Roman doors being hung on pivot hinges. The Augustan poet Ovid conflates her with another archaic goddess named Carna, whose festival was celebrated on the Kalends of June and for whom he gives the alternative name Cranê or Cranea, a nymph. Ovid's conflation of the goddesses is likely to have been his poetic invention, but it has also been conjectured that Carna was a contracted form of Cardina, and at minimum Ovid was observing that their traditions were congruent.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Antoninus Liberalis</span> Greek grammarian who lived between the 1st and 3rd centuries

Antoninus Liberalis was an Ancient Greek grammarian who probably flourished between the second and third centuries AD. He is known as the author of The Metamorphoses, a collection of tales that offers new variants of already familiar myths as well as stories that are not attested in other ancient sources.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Gerana</span> Pygmy Queen in Greek mythology

Gerana, sometimes also called Oenoe, is a queen of the Pygmy folk in Greek mythology, who incurred the wrath of the goddess Hera and was subsequently turned into a bird bearing her name, the crane. This aetiological tale explains the ancient rivalry between the Pygmies and the cranes, and also serves as a cautionary tale against the people who hubristically claimed to be better than even the gods themselves. Gerana's story bears some resemblance to that of Lamia, who was also a beautiful woman cursed by Hera and transformed into something unappealing.

In Greek mythology, Botres was a Theban son of Eumelus and grandson of Eugnotus.

Polyphonte is a character in Greek mythology, transformed into a strix.

In Greek mythology, Periphas was a legendary king of Attica, whom Zeus turned into an eagle. Aside from a passing reference in Ovid's Metamorphoses, the only known source for this story is the second century AD or later Metamorphoses of Antoninus Liberalis.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Pierides (mythology)</span> Group of sisters from Greek mythology

In Greek mythology, the Pierides or Emathides (Ἠμαθίδες) were the nine sisters who defied the Muses in a contest of song and, having been defeated, were turned into birds. The Muses themselves are sometimes called by this name.

In Greek mythology, Pierus was the king of Emathia in Macedonia. He was the eponym of Pieria and Mt. Pierus. Pierus was credited to be the first to write in the praise of the Muses.

In Greek mythology, Agrius or Agrios and Oreios, also Oreius, Orius or Oreus, were the twin sons of Polyphonte, daughter of Hipponous, and a bear as well as them being the great-grandsons of Ares.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Metamorphoses in Greek mythology</span> Myths centered around physical transformation in Greek mythology

In ancient Greece, the surviving Greek mythology features a wide collection of myths where the subjects are physically transformed, usually through either divine intervention or sorcery and spells. Similar themes of physical transformation are found in all types of mythologies, folklore, and visual arts around the world, including those of Mesopotamian, Roman, medieval, and ancient Chinese.

In Greek mythology, Lelante is a minor figure, a queen of the Molossians, who was transformed into a bird by the will of Zeus, the god of justice, in order to escape a fiery death.

In Greek mythology, Philaeus is a minor figure, a prince of the Molossians, who was transformed into a bird by the will of Zeus, the god of justice, in order to escape a fiery death.

In Greek mythology, Megaletor is a minor figure, a prince of the Molossians, who was transformed into a bird by the will of Zeus, the god of justice, in order to escape a fiery death.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Messapian shepherds</span> Shepherds in Greek mythology

In Greek and Roman mythology, the Messapian shepherds are the flock-tending inhabitants of Messapia, an ancient region in the Italian Peninsula. They feature in two similar myths, where they offend local nymphs and are punished by them for their impiousness.

In Greek mythology, Byssa is a Koan woman who refused to honour the deities Artemis, Athena and Hermes, and was turned into a bird for her impiety. Her tale survives in the works of Antoninus Liberalis.

In Greek mythology, Meropis is a Koan woman who refused to honour the deities Artemis, Athena and Hermes, and was turned into a bird for her impiety. Her tale survives in the works of Antoninus Liberalis.

In Greek mythology, Phene is the name of a legendary queen of Attica, and the wife of Periphas. They were a just and fair royal couple who were transformed into birds by Zeus.

References

Citations

  1. 1 2 3 Frazer, James George (1933) ed., Ovid, Fasti VI. 131–, Riley (1851) , p. 216, tr.
  2. 1 2 3 4 Arnott, W. Geoffrey (2007). Birds in the Ancient World from A to Z. Routledge. pp. 2032f. ISBN   9781134556250. ISBN   9781134556250
  3. ↑ The Latin atra ( ater ) is rather vague, and may not be indicative of color. Oliphant (1913), p. 136.
  4. 1 2 Titinius, in Ribbeck, Scaen. Rom. Poesis Fragg. II, 188, Latin passage quoted and discussed by Oliphant (1913) , p. 136. And p. 145, "[Pliny] found the Titinian strix".
  5. 1 2 3 Antoninus Liberalis, Μεταμορφώσεων Συναγωγή 21, translated in Celoria (1992) , pp. 77–78, summarized in Oliphant (1913) , pp. 133–134
  6. ↑ Celoria (1992), pp. 77–78.
  7. ↑ Oliphant (1913), pp. 134–135.
  8. 1 2 3 Bostock, John; Riley, H.T., ed., tr., Pliny, The Natural History, xi.95. Naturalis Historia', xi.232.
  9. ↑ Tate, Peter (2011). Flights of Fancy: Birds in Myth, Legend, and Superstition. Random House Publishing Group. ISBN   9780307783974. ISBN   9780307783974
  10. ↑ Verheyk (1774), p. 140
  11. ↑ Latin translation: "Polyphonte in Stygem [sic.] mutata est, avem noctu canentem, cibi potusque exsortem, caput deorsum, pedes imos habentem, belli et seditionis hominibus nuciam"
  12. ↑ Oliphant (1913), p. 134.
  13. ↑ Oliphant (1913) , p. 135: "As woman-bird, she is .. possessed of a craving for human flesh and blood. Boio transfers this quality to her offspring in human form, to Agrios alone in avian form [vulture]."
  14. ↑ Oliphant (1913) , p. 135. Accepting Theodor Bergk's postulation that Plautus's Latin comedy was a reworking of a hypothetical "Greek original belonging to the Middle comedy of the fourth century."
  15. 1 2 Lawson (1910), p. 180.
  16. ↑ Hutton (2017), p. 69.
  17. 1 2 3 Oliphant (1913), p. 135.
  18. 1 2 McDonough (1997), p. 319.
  19. ↑ Riley, Henry Thomas tr. (1912)Pseudolus, Act. 3, Scene 2. Morris, E. P., ed. (1895)T. Macci Plauti Pseudolus 820, p. 57 and note, p. 171
  20. ↑ Oliphant (1913), pp. 135–136.
  21. ↑ McDonough (1997), p. 315.
  22. ↑ McDonough (1997) , pp. 330–331 only refers to Carna obtaining her power as compensation for Janus raping her, but the earlier passage in Ovid states a white wand was given to her. Ovid, Fasti 6.110ff. Riley, Thomas H. (1851) tr., Fasti, p. 214ff.
  23. 1 2 Satyricon 63, quoted in Oliphant (1913) , p. 144
  24. ↑ The same work also notes the striges would feed on the marrow or sinews (nervus) of the living. [23]
  25. ↑ Oliphant (1913) , p. 137, and note 10
  26. ↑ mălĕdīco defined "II. In partic., a curse, imprecation" and "II B. transf., a cursed thing" in Lewis & Short.
  27. ↑ McDonough (1997), pp. 325–326.
  28. ↑ Made by "the witch Canidia": Oliphant (1913) , p. 137
  29. ↑ Propertius, iii, 6, 29. The woman Cynthia accuses her rival of using the love potion. Oliphant (1913) , p. 137.
  30. ↑ Ovid, Metamporphosis VII, 269. More, Brookes (1922), translation. Cited by Oliphant (1913) , p. 137
  31. ↑ Frazer, James George (1929) ed., Ovid, Fasti 4, p. 143, notes to VI. 131.
  32. ↑ Hutton (2017), pp. 69–70.
  33. ↑ The spot is by Cocytus, one of two rivers forming the moat of the residence of Dis, and the source of these rivers are the Tartaus.
  34. ↑ Hercules Furens , 686ff; Wilson, Emily (2010) tr. Six Tragedies , pp. 159–160. Seneca cited by Oliphant (1913) , p. 138: "Tartarean birds", etc.
  35. ↑ Hyginus, Fabulae 28, cited by Oliphant (1913) , p. 138.
  36. ↑ Oliphant (1913), p. 138, note 11
  37. ↑ Hyginus spells the bird styx, as in Antonius Libellus above. [36]
  38. ↑ Etymologiae book 12, ch. 7.42.
  39. ↑ Lawson (1910), pp. 178, 181.
  40. ↑ John of Damascus, I, p. 473 (Greek : περί Στρυγγῶν), in Migne, Patrologia Graeca, p. 1604. Cited by Lawson (1910) , p. 178
  41. ↑ John of Damascus, I, p. 473, in Migne, Patrologia Graeca, p. 1604. Cited by Lawson (1910) , p. 144
  42. ↑ DEX Online
  43. ↑ DEX Online
  44. ↑ DEX Online

General and cited references

Primary sources

Secondary sources

This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.