Are there vampires in the Bible? A test case of the rephaim

Abstract

In this article, I wish to challenge one of the basic assumptions permeating contemporary vampire studies concerning the exclusivity of the category of ‘vampire’ for the analysis of modern European lore. To do so, I deploy the concepts of the ‘vampire’ (a literary figure of a tragic, undead aristocrat feeding on blood) and ‘horror’ (a narrative evoking fear, repulsion and fascination) as heuristic devices to the study of biblical accounts. Specifically, I examine the Old Testament passages featuring the Hebrew term rephaim which denotes one of the Canaanite tribes (‘Rephaites’) and the inhabitants of the underworld (‘revenants’). The analyses of the Scriptural sources against their Ugaritic background prove the adequateness of these heuristic devices: the texts exhibit formal features prompting the experience of awe and terror and portray the rephaim as a semi-divinized undead aristocracy. The adoption of this theoretical and methodological framework permits the further exploration of biblical vampires, while in the overarching scope, the hereby proposed vampire complex can serve as a potent tool to be deployed in a variety of other non-European sources.