Lilith is
quite the popular gal in the Middle East.
Her name has echoed throughout the Mesopotamia area for over 4,000
years. Her origins lie in Babylonian
demonology, where amulets and incantations were used to counter her evil spirit
who preyed on pregnant women and children.
In Hebrew and Arabic she is known as Lilit and in Akkadian Lilitu. The pre Semetic wood
is L-Y-L which literally translates to a nocturnal female demon. The root word
is used when referring to any female night demon. The Sumerians first associated Lilith or Lilituas a
class of wind/storm demons or spirits. A
good reference is NIN.LIL or “lady air,” goddess of the South Wind or wife of
Enlil. In Jewish folklore, she is known as the night demon. Lilith had an encounter with the mighty
Gilgamesh. Their story is found in the
epic of Gilgamesh entitled Gilgamesh and the Huluppu
Tree. Basically, Lilith is one of the
creatures who haunts the Huluppu tree
which is in the holy garden of the gods.
At the foot of the tree lies a snake and at the top is a bird. Lilith and her compadres try to scare the
goddess Inanna who is unable to approach the tree. Gilgamesh, the mighty hero killed the snake
and scared the other creatures from out of the tree and garden for Inanna.
Lilith was also known as the first
wife of Adam. Even in the book of the
Generations of Adam, Chapter 4 makes a brief reference to Lilith as Adam’s wife
that produced or acquired Cain. Another reference of Lilith is also
found in the Testament of Solomon. She
is known as Obizuth who
is the demoness responsible for strangling unprotected children in
childbirth. The wise King Solomon
stripped away her powers and then had her hung in front of the Temple for all
to see.
Lilith is quite the popular gal in the Middle
East. Her name has echoed throughout the
No comments:
Post a Comment