Apollonius and Lamia

A story about Lamia can be found in the book ‘Life of Apollonius of

Tyana’ and also in the poem ‘Lamia’ by Keats. In this version, Lamia is

shown as a seductress who lures young men to their death.

Apollonius is the hero of this tale who saves on of his students from a

horrible fate at the hands of the Lamia, however, we are getting ahead of

ourselves.

We start the story with a God, which is where so many of our tales

begin. In this case, it was the God Hermes, who had fallen in love with a

nymph whose voice he could hear but the nymph was invisible and

hidden from him. One day when he was pining for the invisible nymph,

he heard another voice in the woods. Hermes looked around for the

voice and he came across a serpent. It was the most beautiful snake

that Hermes had ever seen, and he asked the snake why it mourned.

The snake replied that she was a woman trapped inside the snake’s

body, and she wanted her real form back. She also told Hermes that she

knew what he was in love with the nymph and that, in exchange for

Hermes returning her to her human form, she would be able to make the

nymph visible to him.

Hermes was so deeply in love with the nymph that he did not hesitate,

and he agreed to the snakes offer. Hermes transformed the snake into

her human form, a beautiful woman and she, in turn, made the nymph

visible. All parties were happy.

The snake was the Lamia and now in her human form she was free to

continue her life, seducing and killing beautiful young men. Whilst she

had been trapped in her serpent form, Lamia was able to send out her

spirit and whilst she had been using her spirt to wander around, she had

seen a young man by the name of Lycius who lived in Corinth.

Lycius was everything that Lamia desired in a play thing. She knew that

Lycius would be travelling along a certain road and so she decided to

stand by the side of that road and wait for him to pass by. Time passes

and finally, Lycius passes by on the road and Lamia catches his

attention, asking him if he was really going to just walk past her and

leave her all alone and vulnerable by the side of the road. Lycius looks

towards Lamia and that is all it takes for him to fall completely head over

heels in love with her.

Lycius takes Lamia back to Corinth with him and she takes him to a

mansion that she had created with her powers where they live together

as though they are husband and wife. Lamia makes sure that she keeps

Lycius isolated from his friends and family, and she fears someone

seeing her for who she really is. She fears one person more than

anyone else and that is Apollonius, a scholar of great renown.

Time passes and Lycius decides that they should marry for real, but

Lamia tries to convince him that they do not need to marry to live happily

together. Lycius is a man of honour and so he keeps talking of his desire

to be married to Lamia and finally, Lamia gives in and agrees. However,

she says that she will only marry him if he agrees that he will not invite

Apollonius to their wedding feast. Lycius agrees, happy that Lamia has

finally agreed to be his wife.

In preparation for the wedding Lycius travels to the homes of his family

to invite them and whilst he is away, Lamia prepares for the wedding

feast. She is able to summon magical servants to do everything she

needs, and so the mansion is decorated with great splendour and every

type of food that can be imagined is prepared for the feast.

Lamia has already told Lycius that she will have no one at the feast as

she has no family close enough to attend. Lycius’ family arrive and they

are astonished by the mansion and how beautiful it is. They are in awe

of the amount of food that has been provided for them. However, Lamia

was in for an unwelcome surprised as, invited, Apollonius appeared at

the wedding feast.

Apollonius stayed in the background until the wedding feast was in full

swing. He moved to stare at Lamia, not speaking just staring at her.

Lamia became aware of his presence, and she became more and more

uncomfortable as time passed. Lycius saw Apollonius and he walked

over to ask him to stop staring at Lamia as it was making her

uncomfortable at her own wedding. All the music and celebrations

ceased as Apollonius looked at Lycius.

“Fool,” answers the philosopher contemptuously, “from every ill/ of life I

have perserv’d thee to this day/ And I shall see thee made a serpent’s

prey?”

Apollonius looked over at Lamia again and spoke two words directly at

her. “A serpent.”

Lamia had not wanted Apollonius at the wedding feast as he would be

able to see through her illusions. Knowing her true nature had been

revealed Lamia disappeared and at that exact moment, Lycius dropped

down dead! (From Keats)