Incubus (demon)

:This article is about a type of demon; see Incubus for other meanings.

Related Topics:
Demon - Incubus

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In Western medieval legend, an incubus (plural incubi; from Latin incubare, "to lie upon") is a demon in male form supposed to lie upon sleepers, especially on women in order to have sexual intercourse with them. A female version was called a succubus. There are several possible explanations for the incubus legends:

Related Topics:
West - Medieval - Legend - Latin - Demon - Sexual intercourse - Succubus

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• They form part of the well-attested Medieval preoccupation with sin, especially sexual sins of women.
• Actual rapes of sleeping women were attributed to demons by rapists in order to escape punishment.
• The feeling of smothering while sleeping is known to physicians. The modern term for this common disorder is Sleep paralysis or sleep apnea.
• Because of the weight given to sexual sin in the Middle Ages, nocturnal arousal, orgasm or nocturnal emission were explained away by the legends of creatures causing an otherwise guilt-producing and self-conscious behavior. Thus people could say they were not to blame for it; it was obviously outside of their control: they were a victim.
• Young women/men being sexually assaulted in their sleep by a known attacker such as as friend or family member, although not common, has been reported and may explain some "nocturnal" attacks. The victims may find it easier to explain the attack as "supernatural" rather than confront the idea that the attack came from someone that is trusted in the family . See incest or situational molesters

During the witchhunts, alleged intercourse with demons or with Satan was one of the purported sins for which women were killed.

Related Topics:
Witchhunt - Intercourse - Demons - Satan - Sins

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Sometimes incubi were said to conceive children with the women whom they raped; the most famous legend of such a case includes that of Merlin, the famous wizard from Arthurian legend.

Related Topics:
Merlin - Arthurian legend

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In some legends, incubi and succubi were said not to be different genders of the same demonic "species," but the same demon able to change their sex; the idea being that a succubus would be able to sleep with a man and collect his semen, and then transform into an incubus and use that seed on women. Nevertheless their offspring were thought to be supernatural in many cases, even if the actual genetic material originally came from humans.

Related Topics:
Succubi - Semen

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Incubus (demon): See also ►