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To some, she has wandered the earth realm for thousands of years,
lurking under the cover of darkness and preying on infants for which to consume. To others,
she is a temptress - a wicked femme fatale who seduces the unsuspecting man in the nocturnal
hours. Some say she is a winged creature, perhaps part bird and part woman, one who possesses
a horrific screech and a pair of bloody talons to boot. Meanwhile, she is also frequently dubbed as
the very first woman, she who was Adam’s first wife before Eve… Adam’s Ex Wife, if you will.
Various audiences have described her as evil, innocent, immoral, brave, sickening, charming,
villainous… heroic. Indeed, the character Lilith evokes many polarising perspectives and it would
appear that throughout the generations of history, the meaning of Lilith has morphed to
suit her ever changing audiences. Despite being relatively unknown to the average follower of
mainstream Christianity, and even evading the scholars of formalised demonic classifications,
the ancients certainly took note of the dark powers of Lilith and this is evident given
her migration across the ancient cultures of Egypt, Greece, Israel and of course Babylonia.
Before we get started on today’s episode, a brief message from the sponsor of today’s video - Babbel
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And now back to Lilith. In the first of this series,
we’ll be focussing on the Lilith from Babylonia - a woman, or perhaps more so, a creature who
was vilified for her monstrous antics. Indeed as aforementioned, Lilith is a polarising character
who embodies traits of bravery, courage and a desire for emancipation - a misunderstood being
who was more of a victim than a troublemaker. But to the Babylonians, it was clear who Lilith was…
a fiend, a murderer and worse yet, a demon. The origins of Lilith can be traced back to
the Assyrians and the Babylonians where the name Lilith can be found in two different
forms - the lili and the līlītu. Both were believed to have meant ‘spirits’ and we see
these spirits in various ancient Mesopotamian stories where these spirits play a menacing role.
According to Assyriologists, the name, līlītu can also be translated to mean ‘female night demon’,
something which may mirror the understanding of an audience from the mediaeval period.
Cuneiform scripts from Mesopotamia meanwhile, those found on clay tablets,
are believed to have referred to the līlītu or the līlīt as an airborne spirit that carried diseases.
To the ancients of the Mesopotamian regions, Lilith - or the līlītu,
was an undeniably nefarious creature. It was believed to dwell in the desert and prowled
amongst the sandy wilderness, picking on those who were unfortunate enough to find themselves lost
and alone in the dark. More specifically, the līlītu’s ideal prey happened to be pregnant women
and children, arguably those who were the most vulnerable at the time. It would not
be uncommon for tales of the līlītu to have pinched infants from their families
and often enough, if a child had wandered off and gotten lost, the līlītu would be a prime suspect.
The spirit’s abduction of children would become a plausible theory as to what may have happened
to a lost child, whilst also serving as an image or tangible being for which to blame. Secondarily,
the līlītu could also be blamed for miscarriages and stillbirths. The līlītu, in a plural sense,
were also believed to be spiteful spirits because they had once been human themselves. They were
considered to be humans who had died young and so having been denied of their existence,
became envious of the humans who were still in the land of the living. With this notion, the līlītu
became hostile and entered the households of the living so as to occupy the space of husbands and
wives. There, they were able to experience what it was like to have intercourse, as well as
experience the associated sensations and feelings that came with it. This would lead onto the
continued vilification of these creatures and earn them the reputation of demonic sexual predators.
It is from Mesopotamian mythology that we find the earliest mention of Lilith’s name in the Sumerian
epic poem known as Gilgamesh and the Huluppu-Tree, where she appears as the aforementioned līlītu.
In this story, we are told of Gilgamesh, a mighty hero of the ages who with enhanced
strength and agility stands closer to the gods than any man ought to be able to.
In his quest for eternal life, Gilgamesh finds himself fulfilling a favour to the
goddess of love and war Inanna, who is pining over her Huluppu tree.
When Gilgamesh inquires as to why the goddess is so distressed, she explains to him that she
wished to carve a throne for herself in her tree. However, three insidious beings have infiltrated
the tree. A monstrous bird sat atop the branches, whilst a devilish snake burrowed beneath the
tree’s roots. In the centre though, lay the līlītu, she who had made the tree her home.
It is unclear why Inanna did not remove these dark essences from her tree, but some suggest
that the līlītu in particular possessed some power now that it inhabited what was to become
the throne of Inanna. Perhaps in some regard, this was the līlītu preventing a goddess such as Inanna
from ascending and from being recognised as a deity, or perhaps as a means for the līlītu to
demonstrate power over the goddess in that she could not be moved from her spot. On the other
hand, it might be said that this was just a test laid by Inanna for Gilgamesh - one he passes with
flying colours. The poem tells us that not only does Gilgamesh pull the snake up from the roots
and scare the bird away, but he also terrifies the līlītu until it flees back to the desert.
From this tale alone, we can gather that the Mesopotamian attitude towards Lilith
was not a favourable one. Lilith was an adversary to be overcome - an enemy of the gods, and a
monster to be driven away to the desolate places outside of civilization. Like Gilgamesh, man was
not meant to entertain Lilith nor was he meant to be afraid of her, for she could be triumphed over.
Secondarily, she was not to be admired nor yearned for, but instead banished from one’s
presence before she had a chance to tamper with man’s better judgement. Gilgamesh in this sense
became a portrait of how man should aspire to be, particularly in front of the gods,
and because Gilgamesh had not hesitated in his shunning of Lilith, man should not have either.
Yet, in a Babylonian account, we find that Lilutu was believed to be a prostitute of the goddess
Ishtar - Ishtar being the equivalent of Inanna. Lilutu in this sense would serve Ishtar and
spread the goddess’ power of sexuality throughout communities, encouraging perversion of the local
men and tempting them away from their marriages. This account is corroborated with older Sumerian
accounts, where Lilitu was known as ‘Inanna’s Handmaiden’, where she once again was tasked
with promoting promiscuity and sexual indulgence. This might be the basis as to why Lilith is often
framed as a ‘succubus,’ especially when you consider that she was a spirit of the night
who had a sexual appetite for men and leading them astray. A succubus functioned in exactly
the same way and whilst its primary objective was to obtain the semen of her victim,
you might say it sought secondary delight in both the physical satisfaction and the corrupting of
man. Furthermore, there is another Mesopotamian name recorded at the time in the form of ‘Lilu’,
which again sounds suspiciously similar to Lilith or the Lilutu itself.
This creature was believed to prey on men in their sleep and just like the succubus,
sought the man’s seed so as to impregnate itself. We do not get much of an idea as to what Lilith
looked like from these accounts alone. However, there does exist a terracotta plaque known as
the Burney Relief that is believed to have originated from around the year 2000 B.C.E,
the same period when the Epic Poem Inanna and the Huluppu tree was believed to have been written.
This terracotta plaque depicts what some scholars believe to be an early Babylonian depiction
of līlītu or Lilith, where we see her standing unashamedly naked. She is depicted with wings,
talons, horns and is accompanied by two lions and two owls, those who sit obediently beside her.
The plaque itself is kind of creepy, but it does denote a sense of liberty
in Lilith’s nakedness - if not, a total disregard of humanity and civility.
In this piece, Lilith is wild and untameable - she has no need of clothes for she is above mankind,
supernatural in nature and unsubscribing of the same virtues as us.
Her attendants are creatures of the wild too - the owls and the lions - those who like
the bird and the snake in the Huluppu tree, appear to coincide with her. Interestingly,
it is the owls that may mark a point of particular significance,
for as a bird of prey that hunts in the night, they are certainly well suited to a nocturnal,
airborne spirit that the Mesopotamians pegged as Lilith. With this in mind, it is important to note
that is believed by more recent scholars that Burney Relief does not actually depict Lilith,
but instead the goddess Inanna - a goddess who despite her status within the pantheon did
possess a similar sexual appetite and rogueness that is frequently attributed to Lilith.
According to the Mesopotamains, another demoness in the form of Lamashtu may have been eventually
conflated with Lilith and the līlītu. Much like Lilith would become to be known,
Lamashtu was said to threaten newborn babies and feasted on the flesh and blood of infants.
Lilith, līlītu and Lamashtu were not just fended off in ancient stories,
however. Talismans known as Arslan Tash, amulets that were found in northwest Syria at the ancient
site of Hadatu also give us an insight into how actual real-life precautions were taken
against night spirits. It is believed that such amulets, as well as full blown tablets,
could be displayed in houses that were occupied by pregnant women. Their function was simple; they’d
ward off Lilith who had come to hunt for new-born infants, or babies who were still in the womb.
In some cases, it was believed that Lilith actually lurked in the doorways of a house,
blocking the light from entering, much as she could be considered to block the baby
from seeing the light of day during labour.
In a time where the mortality of infants was a fragile thing, the concept of Lilith,
this nocturnal demoness, provided some closure in ascertaining why a child had perished.
In a bleak world where life quite literally hung in the balance for many families, the amulets
and talismans did more than just protect against Lilith, they provided security and peace of mind.
Incantation bowls were another way in which the Mesopotamians would attempt to either drive
demons away from their homes or to outright capture them. These small round bowls were
mostly found buried in the middle east and are written in Jewish Babylonian Aramaic.
As we can see, the bowls usually had text scrawled in a spiral, beginning from the
rim and moving toward the centre. These were then placed face down in the corners of homes or around
cemeteries with the hopes of trapping demons and preventing them from doing any more harm.
The text found inside the bowls were usually spiritual quotes or passages from rabbinical
texts, those which possessed a power to overcome a demon who had the misfortune of being caught
by one of these bowls. In the case of Lilith, there exists one bowl in particular that tells
us of a man named Quqai and his family, who had been plagued by demons. The text inside this
particular bowl details a request for Quqai and his family to be released from the holds of demons
and whilst Lilith is not specifically mentioned, some scholars believe that the illustration in the
centre of the ceramic is her. This is likely based on the raising of her arms to emulate
aggression or malice, which is congruent with other bowls that illustrate a female demon, but
this pose also matches up with the Burney Relief, which too depicts a woman with her arms raised.
As we can gather, Lilith was no doubt taken seriously by the Mesopotamians,
whether this be in the form of their myths or their actual day to day lives.
Lilith was a very real threat and precautions were taken to guard against such a malignant creature.
There do not appear to be any savoury traits in regards to this Lilith or līlītu thus far,
and all accounts appear to be unanimous in the way she is portrayed. She adopts some of the most
heinous of intentions as she commits to child abduction and the killing of infants and she is
relegated to being a most despicable being in her desire to harm the vulnerable. Yet, she was also
believed to be a seducer of men, robbing them of their virtues and righteousness by stirring
them from their sleep and fornicating with them. But whilst we can gather that the Mesopotamians
were not her biggest fans, in the next episode, we’ll be looking at what the bible says about her
and what sort of image is evoked by both traditional Catholicism and Christian apocrypha.
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