Talk:Lamia/@comment-28856683-20160405153117

Interestingly enough, the Lamia originated from Greek Mythology. In the myth, Zeus fell in love with a Libyan queen whose name was Lamia. They ended up having an affair which enraged Hera. As with most of the other affairs Zeus had with mortal women, Hera took out her anger on Lamia (the mortal) instead of confronting Zeus and forced Lamia to eat her own children. Stricken with grief, Lamia was driven to madness and began running around devouring children. She was turned into a monster as a result, where she was often (but not all the time) described as having her upper half remain human but her lower half be of a snake's tail.

I looked this up from various sources online. May or may not be 100% accurate, but that's how I understand the myth to be.