Lilith

Overview of Lilith

From Hebrew Myths by Robert Graves and Raphael Patai (annotated by Christeos Pir)
An essay by Jeffrey Smith (from babylon-l, collected by Renee Rosen).
A good introduction to the late medieval traditions, esp. in the Zohar from the first issue of Lilith magazine.
Alt.Mythology A well informed discussion esp. on the Gilgamesh fragment.

Ancient Sources for Lilitu/Lilit

Exerpt from a Prologue to Gilgamesh (may be a Lilith ref.)
Apotropaic magic from Arslan Tash (Syria) 7th. c. BC
Appearances in the Bible
In the Dead Sea Scrolls
In Jewish/Christian Pseudepigrapha
In Incantation Bowls
Appearances in the Talmud

Her Role in Jewish Mysticism

Exerpt from Isaac b.Jacob ha-Kohen's Treatise on the Left Emanation: Kabbalistic demonology with a somewhat different take on Lilith
Origins from various Kabbalistic sources
The Seductress from various sources
In the pantheon of demons from various sources
And her husband, Samael from various sources
As God's consort
Her ultimate defeat from various sources

In Folklore and Traditional Literature

Adam's first wife. From the Alphabet of Ben Sira
Mirrors are windows into her world

In Modern Magic

"Of certain Jewish theories" from Aleister Crowley's De Arte Magica: As Succubus
The Invocation -- A Rite of Dark Sexuality by Joseph Max & Lilith Darkchilde
Michelle Bitton: "Déchiffrement d'une Amulette Juive du XXème Siècle". A translation (into French) and analysis of several apotropaic amulets, with photos.
A 18/19th c. apotropaic amulet. Text, translation, and photo.

In Modern Literature

George MacDonald's novel, Lilith (browsing/reading).
   Alternatively the full text in one file (for searching).
Various poems, mostly collected from the web
Discourse In George Bernard Shaw's Back to Methuselah
    The link that used to connect to Shaw's play has disappeared. If anyone knows where to find the play online, particularly with discussion, please e-mail me.

Pictures

Some collected pictures [Some may or may not be of our demoness] (please write me if you have some others)

The Many Faces of Lilith

Alejandro Arturo Gonzalez Terriza: Isis, Lilith, Gello: Three Ladies of Darkness. A nice scholarly analysis of the parallels between Lilith, Isis, and the ghost-demon Gello/Gylú.

Other Sources and Comments

Renee Rosen's "Lilith Shrine"
Barbara Fruschi's Lilith page [Italiano]
'Lilith' description in the Yoni collection of pages
Lilith, is a Jewish feminist magazine. The site has just a paragraph or so on our demoness, but the publication has had several articles over the years.

Bibliography
Index of Passages used in this Page

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Last Modified
Feb. 17, 2001

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©  Copyright 1995-2001 Alan Humm. All Rights Reserved.
Comments and corrections to: humm@ccat.sas.upenn.edu.