| BELIEFS OF MODERN GREECE: A TRANSLATION OF LEO ALLATIUS’ DE GRAECORUM HODIE QUORUNDAM OPINATIONIBUS |
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| Title Page I II III IV V VI VII VIII XIX X XI XII XIII XIV XV XVI XVII XVIII XIX XX XXI XXII XXIII XXIV XXV XXVI XXVII XXVIII XXIX XXX XXXI Addenda |
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We see, here, that Psellus confuses these popular beliefs with certain illnesses which affect the body. What does Barychnas (or Babutzicarius, or also Ephialtes) have to do with the ‘Beautiful One of the Mountains’ (or the ‘Woods’)? Those [illnesses] occur when people are in bed; attacks such as those which we discussed above, by the Callicantzari, the Bourcolacas, and the Nereids, take place in the fields, at crossroads, or on roadways. The former occur when one is asleep; the latter when one is awake and engaged in other activities. The former can be observed anywhere and anyone who has been a witness can confirm that the symptoms disappear as soon as the affected person wakes up. The latter, if they are at all like popular tradition describes them, after they occur leave marks on a human body which one carries around and can show to those who wish to see. I have no doubt that occurrences of this kind can also sometimes have a natural explanation: for many people have died or fallen sick, on account of an evil glance or ghost which they claim to have seen. But how are such things relevant to the popular beliefs which have been discussed here thus far? Psellus himself did not know that the ‘Beautiful One of the Mountains’ is nothing other than the ‘Beautiful Ladies’ of popular lore, who are as far removed from Barychnas and Ephialtes as they can be. And yet, in his Dialogue on the Operation of Demons, he writes of them what follows, All those who live in watery places and require milder living conditions, turn themselves into birds and women. Hence Greeks [‘Greek children’ Psellus] call them Naiads, Nereids, and Dryads in the feminine. |
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