These Pagan Portals are all current works in progress, serialised here on the Pagan Collective blog with each chapter being open for comment. In due course the entire script will be published as a Pagan Portal book.
Lilith in Ancient Mesopotamia
As stated in the introduction, Lilith was born in the lands and cultures belonging to ancient Mesopotamia, in countries now known as Iraq, Iran, Turkey, Syria, and Kuwait, comprising the cultures of Assyria, Akkad, Babylonia, and Sumer at different periods, each with their own distinct yet interrelated cultures. It is from these origins that stories of lilith-demons spread to the Levant, eventually leading to Lilith developing her own distinct identity. But how did she become the demonic seductress and tempting serpent in the Garden of Eden? Who were the lilith-demons from which Lilith came and who tormented people across Mesopotamia for millennia? Knowledge of and belief in lilith-demons is well-attested across the Mesopotamian world, mostly in the form of shorter texts and amuletic devices.
As explained in this book’s introduction, the etymology of Lilith’s name originates from a category of Sumerian demons of which Raphael Patai divides into four (amongst other things, a demon in this context is an entity who does not receive a cult, often owing to undesirable attributes):
‘The earliest mention of a she-demon whose name is similar to that of Lilith is found in the Sumerian king list which dates from around 2400 B.C. It states that the father of the great hero Gilgamesh was a Lillu-demon. The Lillu was one of four demons belonging to a vampire or incubi-succubae class. The other three were Lilitu (Lilith), a she-demon; Ardat Lili (or Lilith’s handmaid), who visited men by night and brought them ghostly children; and Irdu Lili, who must have been her male counterpart and who used to visit women and beget children by them.’
(Patai, 1964, p. 295)
Centrally, these were male and female demons who preyed upon humanity, molesting men and women when they slept, conceiving demonic offspring, bringing infertility, sickness, and death, with mothers and infants being the most vulnerable (Black & Green, 1992, p. 118).
With the origin of the Sumerian word ‘lil’ meaning ‘storm’, this group appear to have been initially regarded as weather demons associated with winds and storms; however, owing to its similarity with the Semitic word for ‘nightmare’ (also ‘lil’), lilith-demons came to be regarded as nocturnal demons who assaulted victims under the cover of night (Copeland, 1991, pp. 3-4; Kinrich, 2011, p. 6). It is interesting to consider how Lilith might have started her existence amongst weather demons, taking flight amid storm clouds, swirling sands, and flashing lightning. A parallel can be formed between the decreased visibility caused by various kinds of storms, whether darkness, heavy rainfall, or clouds of sand, and the lack of visibility caused by the darkness of night (especially at a time without electricity and light pollution). Perhaps such conditions provoked a level of anxiety where people wondered what creatures may exist in the unknown spaces beyond one’s ability to see or hear – as I’m sure many can empathise with today.
In addition to their winged, stormy, and nocturnal associations, Lilith-demons were also linked to sexual predation. In some sources, Lilitu (or Ardat Lili) and Lilu appear to have been the ghosts of people who died before they experience sexual fulfilment and so sought this in death with unknowing, unwilling living victims (Weggerman, 2000, p. 227). This predatory sexual nature, active at nighttime when victims are sleeping, resulted in their identification as incubi and succubae. From very early on – millennia before Lilith’s arrival in Jewish midrash – the lilith-demons were believed to be malefic creatures, active at nighttime in the pursuit of human lovers and/or victims. This sexualised aspect later became a particular concern amongst Jewish sources, which blamed the interference of Lilith for men’s nocturnal emissions as a seductress who led men astray (see Chapter Two).
One of the best-known textual appearances of a lilith-demon dates to c.2000 BCE, within a section of the Sumerian Epic of Gilgamesh, known as Gilgamesh and the Ḫuluppu-Tree, surviving from a Sumerian tablet from the city of Ur, modern-day Iraq (Kramer, 1938, p. 1). The story begins after the primordial separation of earth and sky, when the Gods Anu, Enlil, and Ereshkigal had taken their respective places, reigning over the heavenly, earthly, and chthonic realms, respectively. A ḫuluppu-tree (a willow tree) had been planted on the bank of the Euphrates River but was uprooted and carried away along the river, whereupon it was recovered by an unnamed Goddess and brought to the garden of Inanna in Uruk. The tree flourished and matured in Inanna’s sacred garden, tended to by the Goddess. She hoped that one day she would harvest the tree and craft from its wood a throne and a bed for herself. After ten years of tending the garden, Inanna’s peace was disturbed by the unwelcome nesting of three distinct creatures within her beloved tree: ‘… a dragon had set up its nest at the base of the tree, the Zu-bird had placed his young in its crown, and in its midst the demoness Lilith had built her house.’ The reconstructed translation of what took place next is given below (with uncertainties removed for ease of reading):
‘The lady tended the tree with her hand, she let it stand at her foot; [x2]
“When at last (shall I have) a holy throne that I may sit on it?” concerning it she said;
“When at last (shall I have) a holy bed that I may lie on it?” concerning it she said;
The tree grew large, (but) she could not cut off its bark;
At its base the snake who knows no charm [1] had set up for itself a nest;
In its crown [2] the Zu-bird had placed (his) young;
In its midst Lilith [3] had built for herself a house.’
(Gilgamesh and the Ḫuluppu-Tree 35-42; trans. by Kramer, 1938, pp. 4-5)
[1] Dragons and formidable snakes can be used interchangeably. The phrase ‘knows no charm’ may mean that the snake/dragon does not comprehend the commands of priests for it to leave the tree; in order words, it cannot be charmed away (Kramer, 1938, p. 53).
[2] The ‘crown’ refers to the top branches of the tree.
[3] Here named Lillake.
Following on from this discovery, the disturbed Inanna recounted the story of the tree’s arrival in her garden, and the recent occupancy by the three unwanted creatures, to Gilgamesh. The hero promptly rushes to the Goddess’s aid:
‘In the matter concerning which his sister had spoken to him,
In that matter her brother, the hero Gilgamesh, stood by her.
Armor (weighing) as much as fifty minas he fastened at his waist –
That which (weighed) as much as fifty minas he treated like thirty shekels.
His bronze ax, his (ax) of the road,
His (ax) of seven talents (and) seven minas, he seized in his hand.
At its base he smote the snake who knows no charm;
In its crown the Zu-bird took its young
(And) brought it to the mountain;
In its midst Lilith destroyed her house
(And) escapes to the desert places.’
(Gilgamesh and the Ḫuluppu-Tree 87-96; trans. by Kramer, 1938, pp. 8-9)
After conquering the serpent, Zu-bird, and Lilith, Gilgamesh and his companions cut down the tree, giving part to Inanna for her desired throne and bed, and using the remainder to create two items of magical quality.
There are several things to note as particularly interesting in this early attestation of Lilith. First, the episode centres on a special tree within the Goddess’s sacred garden, within which the lilith-demon, Lillake, occupies. Her residence upon or within the sacred tree’s trunk seems conspicuously similar to her much later appearance wrapped around the Tree of Knowledge in the Garden of Eden. It might also be a reference to her form as an owl – a nocturnal bird of prey – nesting within the hollow of the tree. Upon the trunk of the ḫuluppu-tree Lillake makes herself at home between a Zu-bird in the branches above and a serpent/dragon at the root. These are both creatures of which Lilith is later known to take the form. In the end, Lillake flees to the desert, the same place she flees from Eden to in later Jewish midrash. Already from this very early point, we can see parallels between the lilith-demons of antiquity and their later counterpart, Lilith.
Lilith-demons were not the only entities believed to threaten the vulnerable in Mesopotamian society. In one cuneiform inscription, Lilu are listed amongst several entities that haunt and injure men in their sleep:
‘The wicked Alû who covers (man) like a garment.
The wicked Etimmu, the wicked Gallû, who bind the body.
The Lamme (Lamashtu), the Lammea (Labasu), who cause disease in the body.
The Lilû who wanders in the plain.
They have come nigh unto a suffering man on the outside.
They have brought about a painful malady in his body.’
(Langdon, 1864, pp. 357-364, after Rawlinson, H. C.)
Similarly, a cuneiform tablet composed in the 7th century BCE from Aššur (northern Iraq) reads:
‘Whoever you are, Any Evil, an evil šēdu-demon,
an evil ghost (eṭemmu), an evil alȗ-demon, an evil utukku-demon,
an evil gallȗ-demon,
an evil god, an evil rābiṣu-demon, a stalking stalker,
an illness, headache, insomnia,
a male lilȗ-demon, a female lilȗ-demon, the lilu-girl (ardat-lilȗ),
or any evil that can seize a human,
that has been fastened to my sides and keeps
persecuting me day and night…’
(Ass. 13955 fm, A 392; trans. by D. Schwemer, 2020, p. 150)
Lilu and Lilitu also appear amongst other evil doers in a lengthy Babylonian exorcising prayer from the Utukkū Lemnūtu series of incantations (Tablet 11), dating to the 1st millennium BCE (Wee, 2016, p. 127):
‘Begone Evil, evil angel, evil demon, evil poltergeist, evil ghost,
evil devil, evil god, evil spirit, Lamaštu,
Labāṣu, Grabber
Lilû, Līlītu, young lady of Lilû,
Lugal-urra, offspring of Šulpa’e’a,
that which falls from heaven, the flash of a star, the fall of Bennu,
be you an image of Namtar, be you an image of the devil, be you any Evil that exists…’
(Ass. 13955fx, Marduk’s Address to the Demons 1-7; trans. by W. G. Lambert in Peterson, 2020)
This text mentions the Akkadian Lamashtȗ (𒀭𒈕𒈨) (the Sumerian Dimme), who was another being blamed for infant mortality (Black & Green, 1992, p. 116). Lamashtȗ was the daughter of the Sky god, Anu, and the sister of Inanna/Ishtar, and is depicted with a lioness’s head, often holding snakes in the company of dogs. Despite this divine lineage, however, Lamashtȗ was cast out into the realm of demons, owing to her desire to consume mortal infant flesh with the intention of disrupting cosmic order by removing future servants of the Gods (i.e. newly born humans). The Atra-Ḫasis myth recounts an alternative interpretation of her chaotic intentions where, following a divinely wrought flood that wiped out humankind, Lamashtȗ took on the role of Pāšittu, the ‘Exterminator’, and is sent by the Gods to ensure that humanity does not over-populate the earth, ‘snatch[ing] the baby from the lap of her who bore it’ (Wiggermann, 2000, p. 225). Either she is a force of destruction and chaos, seeking to subordinate divine rule, or she is an agent of the Gods sent to maintain equilibrium on earth. To a modern reader, both interpretations are equally disturbing to consider. Regardless of whether her actions are divinely mandated or not, Lamashtȗ became a demon and, as such, humanity attempted to evade and excise her fatal influence.
One of the primary ways that Lamashtȗ was believed to cause harm was through spreading fever. There exists a Diagnostic Handbook dedicated to diagnosing illnesses commonly found amongst infants and children, in which the symptoms of typhoid fever are diagnosed as being sick with Lamashtȗ. Indeed, an epithet of Lamashtȗ was ‘Fever, Daughter of Anu’ (Wiggermann, 2000, p. 237). To counteract her baneful influence, the God Pazuzu, ‘King of the evil wind (lilȗ) demons’, could be invoked to fight against her. With this authority over lilith-demons, Pazuzu can be invited into the home to prevent the ‘destructive storm’ from entering it (Borger, 1987, 24ff & p. 19, 31ff; from Wiggermann, 2000, p. 244). Here, Pazuzu’s power over wind/storm demons appears to extend over Lamashtȗ as well, suggesting that she too can be associated with storms.
As well as having a vulnerability to the King of the Lilith-demons and a penchant for causing sickness amongst human infants, both Lamashtȗ and lilith-demons were considered creatures of the night. In her guise of ‘Lamashtȗ of the night’, the demon-Goddess was equated with Ardat Lili, perhaps owing to the conflation of ‘lil-storm’ with ‘lil-night’ (Wiggermann, 2000, p. 227-8). Today Lilith herself is commonly known by the epithet, ‘Queen of Night’ and has been popularly regarded as the Being depicted on the Burney Relief, which is also known by this moniker (British Museum, no. 2003,0718.1). With her sensual form, taloned feet, and draping wings, scholars, feminists, and Pagans have speculated that this Sumerian relief dating to c.1950 BCE might be an early depiction of Lilith/a lilith-demon, or possibly Lamashtȗ (Hurtwitz, 2009, eBook). However, from this early date, it appears unlikely that such a relief would depict Lilith, who at the time had not been consolidated into an individual, and though the iconography contains many features that lilith-demons share (emphasised sexuality, avian talons, wings, and owl symbolism), it does not seem likely that such reviled demons would be depict in this such a flattering, empowering, and individualised way. Further, though associated with leonine iconography, Lamashtȗ was not known for having a beautiful appearance, and so identifying the demon-Goddess on the relief as her is also questionable. Instead, some scholars have posited that it is a depiction of the Goddess Ishtar/Inanna, though she is not depicted with avian features elsewhere. And so, the identity of the figure depicted on the Burney Relief remains elusive, but ever intriguing.
In 1933, an inscribed tablet was discovered in Arslan Tash, north Syria, dating to the 7th century BCE (now in the Aleppo Museum). This bears a text written in the Phoenician-Canaanite dialect and mentions entities known as ‘the stranglers’ (ḥnqt), which have been interpreted as associated with lilith-demons owing to a shared modus operandi (Hurwitz, 2009, eBook). To further solidify this shared identification, inscribed upon the image of a winged sphinx at the centre of the tablet is the command, ‘O, Flyer in a dark chamber, Go away at once, O Lili!’ (Patai, 1964, p. 296; from Albright, 1939, p. 9). Though the tablet’s translation has been a challenge amongst scholars, it is generally agreed that it was used as an amulet to protect women in childbirth, hung up using a hole through the top. The Arslan Tash tablet is yet another example from the Assyrian Empire and the new Babylonian Kingdom that demonstrates how lilith-demons possessed many elements that would transcend into later Jewish midrash, folklore, and Kabbalah. Though centuries earlier, it is very reminiscent of later incantation bowls that sought to likewise banish (or entrap) the lilith-demon and prevent her from harming mother or infant during the precarious time of childbirth and the period immediately afterwards (Chapter Two).
This chapter has outlined some of the historical references to Lilith-demons in possession of features that would later be transposed and consolidated within the individualised Lilith of Jewish midrash. This feminine power is therefore the descendant of ancient fears surrounding the lack of human control over the forces of nature and how they threatened our mortality.
For more details: https://www.collectiveinkbooks.com/moon-books/authors/olivia-church
Dr Olivia Church (she/her) is an ancient historian and Egyptologist, who has been on a polytheistic Pagan and Witchcraft path since she was 13 years old. These days she predominantly practices Inclusive Heathenry, though she also maintains strong relationships with deities from the ancient Mediterranean and Egypt, and this is reflected in her published books. A portion of royalties gained through the sale of her books are always donated to charitable causes in Egypt, giving back to the people whose culture has inspired her work and life. Olivia lives in the UK with her partner and their cat, and spends most of her free time writing, reading, watching horror movies, and listening to heavy metal.
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