Empusa

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See also Empusa (disambiguation)

In ancient Greek mythology, the Empusa (Εμπουσα — Empousa) was a female supernatural monster or demoness. Hecate sent Empusa to harass travelers. It scared to death or ate anybody that travelled along the paths or roads it inhabited. The empusae are sometimes described as having donkey-like features. Empusa is best known for her appearance in Aristophanes's The Frogs, in which she scared Dionysus and Xanthias on their way to the underworld.

More recent Greek tales describe the creature as a merely frightening shapeshifter, but blame it for injuring sheep.

The Empusae are similar to the lilim, and the legend of the former may be derived from that of the latter. See also Lamia.

Empusa is the name of the two masted sail ship boarded by the vampire Count Orlok traveling from Galaz to Wisborg in the film Nosferatu (Nosferatu, eine Symphonie des Grauens)(1922). This is the very first version of Bram Stoker's classic.

[edit] Popular Culture

• Empusa appears as a type of monster from Dragon Quest V. It is a goblin-like monster wearing an hula skirt, a wig and lipstick, whose attacks are mostly dance-based.

• Empusa also appears in various games from the Megami Tensei series. It looks like a blue and white dog-like animal with the head of a blonde woman.

• Empusa again appears in the Disgaea video game series as the basic succubus monster. A bizarre cross between a bat and a woman, their signiture "hip attack" is "sexier than you think".