of transgressive or liminal soul or entity, finding the usual phrase "child-killing demon" to be misleading. From virgin to witch-hags It has been pointed out by modern commentators that even though the original Gello was a young woman who died a virgin, the gelloudes which became synonymous with stryggai or "witches" in the Christian era, were generally regarded as being old envious crones. Equating gelloudes with the striggai, which occurred by the 7th–8th century with John of Damascus as already noted, still continued in the times of the 17th century Leo Allatius who said that Striges (in the sense of "witches") was also called Gellones (Latinized form) according to popular belief. Allatius also recorded many variant forms, such as gelu, gello, gillo (in the singular). Leo Allatius wrote that the people who were his contemporaries in Greece were already entrenched in the belief that these witches were generally old crones who contracted with the devil. This, it has been argued, was a transplantation of the image of witch of Western Europe onto the Greek idea of gelloudes. Protections against Gello In the Byzantine period, mothers who had given birth customarily relied on amulets designed to protect their newborns from evil, including the Gello or Gyllou. The woman was a rare exception who would shun these charms and put her faith entirely in the power of the Cross. Leo Allatios in the 17th century would criticize such remnants of sorcery such as these charms, or the hanging of red coral or a head of garlic, and prescribed strictly Christian prophylactics, such as a cross or image of Christ placed by a child's bed to ward off Gello or demons in general, or burning lamps to illuminate sacred images. The practice of baptizing infants was thought to offer protection against demon-snatching, and specifically against the gello, according to Leo Allatios. Charm books The magico-medical compilation Cyranides from the Imperial period provided instructions on how to defend against the gelloudes. The eyeballs of a hyena in a purple pouch was said to be an effective amulet against "all nocturnal terrors, also Gello, who strangles infants and troubles women in childbed". Using an ass's skin as a bedsheet to sleep on was also prescribed as effective against the Gello. Stones The Lithica of the late Hellenistic to early Imperial Period listed magical stones as effective charms as well, although they do not explicitly mention