The Archetype of Lilith
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Nick Concklin
November 29, 2007
ENGS 25: World Literature
Research Paper
The Archetype of Lilith
The question “Who is Lilith?” has no one answer. Lilith is a demon temptress of the night . Lilith is the first wife of Adam, the first man according to Abrahamic tradition. Lilith is an archetype for independent, obstinate women . She is present in the mythological folklore of almost every Middle-Eastern and European culture to have developed since she first appeared in Sumerian mythology. Some scholars have placed her origin within a set of Sumerian wind and storm demons called Lilitu around 3000 B.C. Some scholars such as Samuel Kramer have (controversially) identified Lilith with the character Ki-sikil-lil-la-ke (“maiden [of Gilgamesh’s father Lila/Lillu ] who screeches constantly; gladdener of all hearts”) as well as Ki-sikil-ud-da-ka-ra (“maiden who has stolen/seized the light”) from the prologue to the Sumerian epic Gilgamesh . Nonetheless it is Jewish folklore that truly developed the character of Lilith and it is this version that is most commonly meant when one refers to Lilith.
What we see within these early versions of Lilith are really characters that share certain associated traits with the Jewish character of Lilith. For example the Lilitu demons evolved from storm and wind demons into demons of the night. They invaded the dreams of sleeping men to seduce him, much like the succubae of medieval Western folklore (whom Lilith is sometimes identified as the queen or mother of). Lilitu demons were also said to prey upon women and children and were associated with predatory animals such as lions, snakes, and birds of prey. Furthermore they became associated with deserts and wastelands. That which was threatening to civilization or represented savagery and �natural evil’ was thought to be caused or exacerbated by demons. Many of these associations were adopted by Semitic culture and as a result we come to know Lilith as a demon queen that preys upon children (because God preys upon hers) and seduces men in their dreams.
We know that the character of Lilith was known of in Jewish culture by at least 8th century B.C. due to the singular reference to her in the Jewish Bible. The passage (Book of Isaiah 34:14) refers to the screeching owl that will find rest in the desert after God exacts his vengeance and turns the earth into a вЂ?desolate wilderness.’ This passage may allude to the character identified with Lilith in Gilgamesh in which she fled to the desert after being abandoned by the Anzu bird . The character that Kramer identifies as Lilith in his translation takes residence in a tree along with a dragon or serpent that built a nest at the foot of the tree and the Anzu bird who resided in the top of the tree. While Kramer’s account is disputed it isn’t difficult to see the connection. The Semitic character of Lilith adopted many characteristics typical of Lilitu demons including associations with serpents and birds of prey. Furthermore, the Gilgamesh character fled to the desert when abandoned by the Anzu bird just as the Jewish Lilith left the Garden of Eden for the deserts. Aside from the alluding to the cultural origin of Lilith’s character the Bible provides us with little insight to one of the largest mythological characters in Jewish folklore. What the Bible does give us is a slight contradiction and it is upon this contradiction that the foundation for Lilith was laid. In Genesis 1:27 it is written “Male and Female He created them.” This implies a simultaneous creation of man and woman rather then the sequential account given in the stories of Adam and Eve. Because the Bible is God’s word and therefore infallible the rabbis interpreted this contradiction to allude to a more complex story: the story of Lilith . The story was developed and eventually recorded. It is within these unofficial texts that we have accounts of oral traditions and folklore that give us insight to the actual character of Lilith.
We must, at this point, distinguish between what I call historical Lilith and Lilith the demon. I use “historical” here in the sense that she is an active character in the Jewish mythological accounts about the history of mankind’s origin and early development. While there is no singular resolution to her story, in almost all accounts she seems to evolve into a supernatural demon temptress who is still very much a part of reality, threatening dreaming men and pregnant women. The most comprehensive account of Lilith the demon is available to us in the Talmud. The Talmud is a collection of discussions between Rabbis from the 3rd to 6th century CE. It discusses many aspects of Jewish culture and is broken down into sections pertaining to law, customs, history and so on. The main sections or books pertaining to Lilith include Niddah, вЂ?Erubin, and Shabbath. These spoke of Lilith as responsible for masturbation and, most significantly, that she more or less consistently raped Adam in his dreams as he fasted for 130 years in the desert, making him the father of demons .
The most comprehensive account of historical Lilith can be found within the Alphabet of Ben Sira. The Alphabet of Ben Sira was written between the 8th and 10th centuries CE and is the oldest surviving account of the historical Lilith. The Alphabet of Ben Sira is divided into two sections, one being of 22 Aramaic proverbs and the other of 22 Hebrew proverbs. Five of the Aramaic Proverbs and at least eleven of the Hebrew proverbs are taken from the Talmud. The Hebrew proverbs differ from the Aramaic as they are short stories rather then one-liners. After the Talmudic period in Jewish history passed and Kabbalah mysticism came to be around the 13th century CE historical Lilith reemerges. The story of historical Lilith had been circulated for so long within Jewish tradition that by the time Kabbalah mysticism came around there were numerous varieties of her story . It is within the historical Lilith that we find the archetype of women she has come to so vehemently represent.
The archetype of Lilith has existed within every recorded culture and is still very much present in today’s international society . It is an archetype of the independent woman unwilling to submit to the “intrinsic” superiority of men. As such this archetype has been associated with power and strong will but because this power and will is typically brought about during resistance to male power or the idea of male superiority