Lamia, in ancient Greek mythology, was a child-eating monster and, in later tradition, was regarded as a type of night-haunting spirit (daemon).

In the earliest stories, Lamia was a beautiful queen of Ancient Libya who had an affair with Zeus. Upon learning this, Zeus's wife Hera robbed Lamia of her children, the offspring of her affair with Zeus, either by kidnapping or by killing them. The loss of her children drove Lamia insane, and in vengeance and despair, Lamia snatched up any children she could find and devoured them. Because of her cruel acts, her physical appearance changed to become ugly and monstrous. Zeus gave Lamia the power of prophecy and the ability to take out and reinsert her eyes, possibly because she was cursed by Hera with insomnia or because she could no longer close her eyes, so that she was forced to always obsess over her lost children. He also gifted her with a shapeshifting ability in the process.

The lamiai also became a type of phantom, synonymous with the empusai who seduced young men to satisfy their sexual appetite and fed on their flesh afterward. An account of Apollonius of Tyana's defeat of a lamia-seductress inspired the poem "Lamia" by John Keats.

Lamia has been ascribed serpentine qualities, which some commentators believe can be firmly traced to mythology from antiquity; they have found analogues in ancient texts that could be designated as lamiai (or lamiae) which are part-snake beings. These include the half-woman, half-snake beasts of the "Libyan myth" told by Dio Chrysostom, and the monster sent to Argos by Apollo to avenge Psamathe.

In previous centuries, Lamia was used in Greece as a bogeyman to frighten children into obedience, similar to the way parents in Spain, Portugal and Latin America used the Coco.

Close comparison is also made with the serpentine Medusa. Not only is Medusa identified with Libya, she also had dealings with the three Graeae who had the removable eye shared between them. In some versions, the removable eye belonged to the three Gorgons, Medusa and her sisters.

*Nicomachean Ethics
*Ars Poetica
*Suda
*Life of Apollonius of Tyana
*The Golden Ass
*Lamia and Other Poems
*Lamia (1492)
*History of Four-footed Beasts (1607)
*The Anatomy of Melancholy (1621)

* Skeleton Hand #2 - Seta, also known as Goddess of All Serpents, transforms herself and her followers into Lamia until she is stopped by a photographer named Gene who drained her poison glands using chemicals from his photographic developing kit, causing her to lose her powers and disintegrate into dust. Her followers are all then restored to human form.

*The Vulgate used "lamia" in Isaiah xxxiv:14 to translate "Lilith" of the Hebrew Bible. Pope Gregory I (d. 604)'s exegesis on the Book of Job explains that the lamia represented either heresy or hypocrisy.

*[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lamia Wikipedia]
*[https://comicvine.gamespot.com/lamia/4005-21350/ ComicVine]
*[https://myths-in-media.fandom.com/wiki/Laima Myths in Media Wiki]
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