Succubus

A succubus (pl.: succubi) is a female-looking demon or supernatural entity in folklores who

appears in dreams to seduce men, usually through sexual activity. According to religious
tradition, a succubus needs semen to survive; repeated sexual activity with a succubus will result
in a bond being formed between the succubus and the man; and a succubus will drain or harm
the man with whom she is having intercourse. In modern representations, a succubus is often
depicted as a beautiful seductress or enchantress, rather than as demonic or frightening.

The Succubus, an 1889 sculpture by

Auguste Rodin

The male counterpart to the succubus is the incubus.

Etymology

The term derives from Late Latin succuba "paramour" from succubare "to lie beneath" (sub-
"under" and cubare "to lie"),[1] used to describe this being's implied sexual position relative to the
sleeper's position. The English word "succubus" dates from the late 14th century. The succubus
is also known as the earth wanderer.[2][3]

In folklore

As depicted in the Jewish mystical treatise Zohar and the medieval Jewish satirical text Alphabet
of Ben Sira, Lilith was Adam's first wife, who later became a succubus.[4][5] She left Adam and
refused to return to the Garden of Eden after she mated with the archangel Samael.[5] In
Zoharistic Kabbalah, there were four succubi who mated with the archangel Samael. The four
original queens of the demons were Lilith, Eisheth Zenunim, Agrat bat Mahlat, and Naamah.[6] A
succubus may take a form of a beautiful woman, but closer inspection may reveal deformities of
her body, such as bird-like claws or serpentine tails.[7] Folklore also describes the act of
cunnilingus on their vulvas, which drip with urine and other fluids.[8] In later folklore, a succubus
took the form of a siren.

Throughout history, priests and rabbis, including Hanina ben Dosa and Abaye, tried to curb the
power of succubi over humans.[9] However, not all succubi were malevolent. According to Walter
Map in the satire De nugis curialium (Trifles of Courtiers), Pope Sylvester II (999–1003) was
allegedly involved with a succubus named Meridiana, who helped him achieve his high rank in
the Catholic Church. Before his death, he confessed of his sins and died repentant.[10]

Ability to reproduce

According to the Kabbalah and the school of Rashba, the original three queens of the demons,
Agrat bat Mahlat, Naamah, Eisheth Zenunim, and all their cohorts give birth to children, except
Lilith.[11] According to other legends, the children of Lilith are called Lilin.

According to the Malleus Maleficarum, or Witches' Hammer, written by Heinrich Kramer (Institoris)
in 1486, succubi collect semen from men they seduce. Incubi, or male demons, then use the
semen to impregnate human females,[12] thus explaining how demons could apparently sire
children, despite the traditional belief that they were incapable of reproduction. Children so
begotten—cambions—were supposed to be those that were born deformed, or more susceptible
to supernatural influences.[13]

King James in his dissertation titled Dæmonologie refutes the possibility for angelic entities to
reproduce and instead offered a suggestion that a devil would carry out two methods of
impregnating women - the first, to steal the sperm out of a dead man and deliver it into a woman.
If a demon could extract the semen quickly, the substance could not be instantly transported to a
female host, causing it to go cold. This explains his view that succubi and incubi were the same
demonic entity, only to be described differently based on the tormented sexes being conversed
with. The second method was the idea that a dead body could be possessed by a devil, causing
it to rise and have sexual relations with others. However, no mention has been found of a female
corpse being possessed to elicit sex from men.[14]

In non-Western literature

Buddhist canon

A Buddhist scripture regarding prayer to Avalokiteśvara, the Dharani Sutra of Amoghapāśa,

promises to those who pray that "you will not be attacked by demons who either suck your
energy or make love to you in your dreams."[15]
Arabian mythology

In Arabian mythology, the qarînah (‫ )قرينة‬is a spirit similar to the succubus, with origins possibly
in ancient Egyptian religion or in the animistic beliefs of pre-Islamic Arabia.[16] A qarînah "sleeps
with the person and has relations during sleep as is known by the dreams".[17] They are said to be
invisible, but a person with "second sight" can see them, often in the form of a cat, dog, or other
household pet.[16] "In Omdurman it is a spirit which possesses. ... Only certain people are
possessed and such people cannot marry or the qarina will harm them."[18]

In Upper Egyptian folk belief, the qarînah can be appeased by sacrificing an all black animal to
her. The animal is slaughtered without prayers, and it is cooked without salt. No one speaks
during the meal and it is buried in the house of those it has afflicted.[19]

See also

List of mythological creatures

List of succubi in fiction

References

1. "Succuba" (http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/succuba) . dictionary.com.

2. "succubus" (https://www.oed.com/search/dictionary/?q=succubus) . Oxford English Dictionary

(Online ed.). Oxford University Press. (Subscription or participating institution membership (https://www.o
ed.com/public/login/loggingin#withyourlibrary) required.)

3. Ha, Douglas. "Succubus" (http://www.etymonline.com/index.php?term=succubus) . Online Etymology

Dictionary. "late 14c., alteration (after incubus, giving a masc. form to a word generally felt as of female
meaning) of Late Latin succuba"

4. Patai, Raphael (1990) [1967]. "Lilith" (https://books.google.com/books?id=Z0iRAwAAQBAJ&pg=PA22

1) . The Hebrew Goddess. Raphael Patai Series in Jewish Folklore and Anthropology (3rd
Enlarged ed.). Detroit: Wayne State University Press. pp. 221–251. ISBN 978-0814322710.
OCLC 20692501 (https://www.worldcat.org/oclc/20692501) .

5. Mcdonald, Beth E. (2009). "In Possession Of The Night: Lilith As Goddess, Demon, Vampire" (https://bo
oks.google.com/books?id=-2tgt184wXkC&pg=PA173) . In Sabbath, Roberta Sternman (ed.). Sacred
Tropes: Tanakh, New Testament, and Qur'an As Literature and Culture. Leiden and Boston: Brill
Publishers. pp. 173–182. doi:10.1163/ej.9789004177529.i-536.42 (https://doi.org/10.1163%2Fej.9789
004177529.i-536.42) . ISBN 978-90-04-17752-9.

6. "Zohar: Chapter XXXII" (http://www.sacred-texts.com/jud/zdm/zdm041.htm) . Internet Sacred Text

Archive.
 7. Davidson, Jane P. (2012). Early modern supernatural : the dark side of European culture, 1400–1700.
Santa Barbara, Calif.: Praeger. p. 40. ISBN 978-0313393433.

8. Guiley, Rosemary Ellen (2008). The encyclopedia of witches, witchcraft and wicca (https://books.google.
com/books?id=nDdcVt9-jnMC&pg=PA95) (3rd ed.). New York: Facts On File. p. 95. ISBN 978-
1438126845.

9. Geoffrey W. Dennis, The encyclopedia of Jewish myth, magic and mysticism. p. 126

10. "History of the Succubus" (https://web.archive.org/web/20040717001332/http://www.cyodine.com/su

ccubus/History.htm) . cyodine.com. Archived from the original (http://www.cyodine.com/succubus/H
istory.htm) on 17 July 2004.

11. Humm, Alan. "Kabbala: Lilith, Queen of the Demons" (http://www.lilithgallery.com/library/lilith/Queen-o

f-the-Demons.html) . lilithgallery.com. Retrieved 21 September 2016.

12. Kramer, Heinrich and Sprenger, James (1486), Summers, Montague (translator – 1928), The Malleus
Maleficarum, Part2, chapter VIII (http://www.sacred-texts.com/pag/mm/mm02b08a.htm) , "Certain
Remedies prescribed against those Dark and Horrid Harms with which Devils may Afflict Men," at
sacred-texts.com (http://www.sacred-texts.com)

13. Lewis, James R., Oliver, Evelyn Dorothy, Sisung Kelle S. (Editor) (1996), Angels A to Z, Entry: Incubi and
Succubi, pp. 218, 219, Visible Ink Press, ISBN 0-7876-0652-9

14. Warren, Brett (2016). The Annotated Dæmonologie of King James. A Critical Edition. In Modern English.
CreateSpace Independent Publishing Platform. pp. 79–83. ISBN 978-1-5329-6891-4.

15. Yü, Chün-fang (2001). Kuan-yin: The Chinese Transformation of Avalokiteśvara (https://archive.org/detai
ls/kuanyinchinesetr0000ychn) . New York: Columbia University Press. p. 57. ISBN 023112029X.

16. Zwemer, Samuel M. (1939). "5". Studies in Popular Islam: Collection of Papers dealing with the
Superstitions and Beliefs of the Common People. London: Sheldon Press.

17. Tremearne, A. J. N. (1914). Ban of the Bori: Demons and Demon-Dancing in West and North Africa (http
s://archive.org/details/cu31924029887431) .

18. Trimingham, J. Spencer (1965). Islam in the Sudan. London: Frank Cass & Co. Ltd. p. 172.

19. Winkler, Hans. Ghost Riders of Upper Egypt.

Further reading

Grover, S.; Mehra, A.; Dua, D. (January–June 2018). "Unusual cases of succubus: A cultural
phenomenon manifesting as part of psychopathology" (https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/arti
cles/PMC6198602) . Ind Psychiatry J. 27 (1): 147–150. doi:10.4103/ipj.ipj_71_17 (https://doi.
org/10.4103%2Fipj.ipj_71_17) . PMC 6198602 (https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/P
MC6198602) . PMID 30416306 (https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/30416306) .
External links

The dictionary definition of succubus at Wiktionary

Media related to Succubus at Wikimedia Commons