Lilith is a female demon from Babylonian tradition who is said to harm male children. She appears in various ancient Jewish texts as a demon and is sometimes identified as Adam’s first wife who left Eden due to her belief that Adam was inferior. Lilith has become a symbol of the feminist movement due to her defiance of male authority. The story of Lilith has been incorporated into Jewish tradition, with amulets and other practices used to protect infants from her. Despite being seen as a demon, Lilith is also viewed as powerful and free from original sin by some modern feminists.
Lilith is a nocturnal female demon originating in Babylonian tradition, said to injure male children. The name Lilith is mentioned in the Bible in Isaiah 34:14, where it is translated as “owl” in the King James Version. According to medieval Jewish tradition, Lilith was Adam’s first wife, who left Eden to be chosen by him because she considered Adam inferior. For this reason she has recently become a symbol of the feminist movement.
The earliest recorded reference to Lilith is in the prologue to the Babylonian epic Gilgamesh, dating from 2000 BC. Much later, around the 9th century BC, related demons are attested in Babylonian tradition, including the male Lilu and the female Lilitu and Ardat Lili. All three are vampire-like monsters that prey on infants and pregnant women at night.
Lilith appears in the ancient Jewish texts of the Talmud, Midrash and Kabbala, all of which are identified with demons. In the Kabbala, she is said to be the mate of Samael, one of the most well-known and most powerful demons. In the Talmud, she is described as having long hair and wings, and her behavior is similar to that of the succubus, a European female demon who visits men at night and drains them of sexual energy. Lilith is mentioned by name in one of the Dead Sea Scrolls, titled Song for a Sage, in which she appears in a list of demonic creatures. Another Dead Sea Scroll, called The Seductress, is sometimes assumed to refer to Lilith, even though she does not overtly do so.
The story of Lilith that has become the most famous is found in the Alphabet of Ben-Sira, an anonymous work in Hebrew and Aramaic written between the 8th and 11th centuries AD. It is The Alphabet of Ben-Sira which tells of Lilith as Adam’s first wife. According to that story, she refused to lie under her Adam during intercourse with her, and he in turn refused to lie under her. Lilith then called upon the name of God, she left Eden and settled on the coast of the Red Sea, where she joined Samael and other demons. Her children by Samael are known as the lilin.
Adam asked God to return Lilith to him and sent three angels for this task. They had to kill 100 of Lilith’s children for every day she didn’t come back. Instead of returning to Eden, Lilith responded to her threat with one of her own; she has sworn to torment the children of Adam and Eve for all eternity.
The story of the Ben-Sira alphabet has been incorporated into Jewish tradition. Since the text stated that mortal children could only be safe from Lilith by invoking the angels God had sent to slay the lilin, medieval Jews placed an amulet with the names of the angels – Senoy, Sansenoy and Semangelof – around the necks of the infants. males until their circumcision. Another tradition was to grow a boy’s hair out until he was three years old to trick Lilith into thinking she was a girl.
Although Lilith has long been thought of as a demon, some modern feminists have been inspired by the story Adam left behind when he tried to assert his dominion over her. Because she invokes God’s name, Lilith is seen as powerful, and because she left the Garden of Eden before Eve was created, she can be considered free from original sin. Lilith Fair, an all-female music festival that ran from 1997 to 1999, is the namesake of the legendary Lilith.
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