Ghosts and Goblins and Witches… Oh My! Item Number: 100038 $0.00

DescriptionA quick look at things that go bump in the night – of the ancient world.

As we celebrate Halloween this week, it seems appropriate to take a look at all the wonderful spooks and monsters that one can find in ancient art. Each year it seems ghouls and monsters that appear in movies and on TV get a bit more ghoulish and, quite frankly, a bit more disgusting, but the modern era certainly does not hold the patent on grotesque images of the super-natural world (nor did we invent most of the specters we see during All Hallows Eve, or for that matter the remainder of the year). Here are just a few of the more “popular” creatures one can find in ancient art.

Ghosts
It’s actually rather amazing to think that ghosts have been around in literature (and art) for just about as long as man has been writing and creating. There are Mesopotamian texts written over 4000 years ago describing ghosts and ghostly hauntings. Greek Attic and South Italic pottery somewhat frequently depicted ghosts, usually dressed in white. A very famous vase in the British Museum, ORESTES AT DELPHOI, shows the ghost of Klytaimnestra, who drives the Erinyes against her son to avenge the crime of matricide – both murder and ghosts depicted on one pot!

Witches
Witches and witchcraft can also be traced back to ancient Mesopotamia and Egypt, again dating back over 4000 years. There are several great Greek witches. Medea is probably the most famous witch of antiquity. She is strong, possibly insane, and murderous – all traits of a truly fabulous witch. She also appeared on hundreds of Greek vases including The Flight of Medea in the Cleveland Art Museum where she is shown fleeing Korinth in a flying serpent-driven chariot. Maybe not quite as cool as a broom, but still a fabulous way to fly!

Werewolves
While werewolves seem to be an eastern European phenomenon dating to the Middle Ages, there are some spectacular stone examples of were-jaguars coming from the Olmec culture of southern Mexico, dating as early as 1000 BC. These supernatural creatures combine the ferocity and fangs of the jaguar with human bodies and were creatures you did not wish to meet in a dark alley (or behind a dark temple). Much like werewolves, the were-jaguar had the ability to transform from one creature to the other pretty much at will. And, unlike werewolves, there were no silver bullets to kill these hideous monsters!

Vampires
Around 100 B.C., a peculiar religious cult grew up among the Zapotec Indians of Oaxaca, Mexico. The cult venerated an anthropomorphic monster with the head of a bat, an animal associated with night, death, and sacrifice, and the body of a man. This monster soon found its way into the pantheon of the Quiché, a tribe of Maya who made their home in the jungles of what is now Guatemala. The Quiché identified the bat-deity with their god Zotzilaha Chamalcan, the god of fire. Sounds like Vlad the Impaler had nothing over this Bat Man!

A few of my other favorite ancient monsters

Ai Apec or Ai Apaec
Moche god of the underworld and one very nasty dude! Able to transform himself from crab to scorpion, to snake and jaguar, this guy loved blood (human was his favorite) and had an insatiable thirst for it. Moche rulers and shamans dressed up in his image and systematically hacked, flailed and drank the blood of countless captives. Now this was a civilization that knew how to throw a party!

Medusa
Who can resist a babe with snakes for hair with the ability to turn you to stone with just one look into her gorgeous red eyes? A Gorgon, one of many in Greek art, ancient Greek vase-painters and relief carvers imagined Medusa and her sisters as beings born of monstrous form, sculptors and vase-painters of the fifth century began to envisage her as being beautiful as well as terrifying. My kind of woman!

Cerberus
And, for all you animal lovers, how about a nice fluffy pooch to keep one warm during these upcoming three-dog nights. Heck, with its three heads, one dog can take the place of all three. But watch those fangs, this little canine had quite the temper. As guardian to the gates of Hades, this was perhaps the original junkyard dog!

Virtually every major culture, ancient and modern, has created demons and monsters as a way of explaining things none of us may ever understand. In the world today, just as it was 2000, 3000, or 4000 years ago, there is good and evil and life and death. Just like our ancient ancestors we celebrate all of these things in our art. I, for one, will be checking under my bed tonight, just in case...

Happy Halloween
from Artemis Gallery!