METAMORPHOSIS, MIXANTHROPY AND THE CHILD-KILLING DEMON IN THE HELLENISTIC AND BYZANTINE PERIODS

In Greco-Roman Antiquity and the Byzantine era, child-killing demons were depicted partly as animals and capable of metamorphosis. The uterus itself was thought to have an animal nature and to be able to wander on its own. When unable to conceive or carry a pregnancy to term, the uterus was considered to be untamed, animal-like, and similar to the demon who prevented conception or killed the child. Disease and the demon causing it were seen as the same, and animal qualities were assigned to both. When the uterus was calm, it was back to its fertile state, corresponding to the successful repelling of the demon. The demons were pollutants of the community that came from outside of it, and casting them out, whether through scapegoating or exorcism, relieved community members of the pressure of suspicion and guilt for miscarriage or death of a child.