This sex antagonism culminated in the witchcraft persecutions
which make so horrible a page of the world's history.
Among the pagans, witches had shared with prophetesses and priestesses a
degree of reverence and veneration. Medea had taught Jason to tame the
brazen-footed bulls and dragons which guarded the Golden Fleece. Hecate
was skilled in spells and incantations. Horace frequently mentions with
respect Canidia, who was a powerful enchantress. Gauls, Britons and
Germans had obeyed and venerated women who dealt in charms and
incantations. The doctrines of Christianity had changed the veneration
into hatred and detestation without eradicating the belief in the power
of the witch. It was with the hosts of evil that she was now believed to
have her dealings, however. When this notion of the alliance between
demons and women had become a commonplace, "the whole tradition was
directed against woman as the Devil's instrument, basely seductive,
passionate and licentious by nature."[24] Man's fear of woman found a
frantic and absurd expression in her supposed devil-worship. As a
result, the superstitions about witchcraft became for centuries not only
a craze, but a theory held by intelligent people.
Among the female demons who were especially feared were: Nahemah, the
princess of the Succubi; Lilith, queen of the Stryges; and the Lamiae or
Vampires, who fed on the living flesh of men.
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