Vampires in Ancient Civilizations

Many ancient civilizations have myths and stories about vampires. In ancient Sumerian and Babylonian texts, there are references to Lilith and the Ekimmu. The ancient Egyptians had Sekhmet, and Greece also had Vrykolakas in their mythology as well.

Most of these ancient cultures all had similiar beliefs about their vampires. They all believed the vampires would eat their babies, drink their blood, and kill them. There are really more similarities between different culture's vampires, than there are differences.

Vlad the Impaler

The term "Dracula" means "Dragon" or "Son of the Dragon" in the old Romainian Language. In Latin "Drac" also means Dragon. Vlad Dracula (A.K.A. Vlad the Impaler) was the ruler of Wallachia and was known to be a fierce adversary to his enemies. Vlad was known for impaling his enemies up on large wooden stakes that stood up high out of the ground.

Vlad was said to drink the blood of his enemeies and is said to be at least in part, some of Bram Stoker's inspiration for his version of Dracula. Vlad may have been anemic which could be the reason why he had a thirst for blood according to some speculations.

Horror - Pop Culture

The 19th and 20th century depictions of vampires has stayed pretty supernatural and sometimes pretty scary. The whole 20th century started to see a large shift of vampiric depictions to have many version get much scarier, and other versions start to look to them as heros.