The story of Eve tempting Adam in the Garden of Eden is a patriarchal fairy tale that most of us learn at an early age, but Eve wasn’t the first wife or the first woman. Her predecessor Lilith was the first fallen woman who refused to submit to her husband and openly enjoyed sex for pleasure. Lilith is commonly depicted as a demon who seduces men, murders pregnant women, and devours infants. Although Lilith may be a gruesome nightmare to the patriarchy, she’s been embraced by many as a leader goddess, promoting feminine assertion, power, and reclamation of the divine.
The name Lilith has roots in a Sumerian class of winged female demons or “wind spirits” called the lilitu. The earliest recorded mention of this class of demons is the Sumerian poem, “Gilgamesh and the Huluppu Tree,” written around 2000 B.C. After the creation of humankind and the separation of heaven and earth, the warrior king Gilgamesh set his sights on the Inanna (Ishtar), the goddess of sex and war. Gilgamesh’s plan was thwarted once he was attacked by the lilitu. The visual representation of this poem is called the Burney Relief. By some accounts, the lilitu are said to be prostitutes for Ishtar, but Lilith is not mentioned in the Babylonian tradition as an independent being. Instead, another demoness named Lamashtu is an exact match for Lilith’s narrative.
Although Lilith may be a gruesome nightmare to the patriarchy, she’s been embraced by many as a leader goddess, promoting feminine assertion
Lamashtu is depicted as a winged demoness who flies by night to seduce men, render young women infertile, and to consume infants, just as Lilith would be described centuries later. According to lore, battles with Lamashtu could only be won with the protection of another demon, Pazuzu. (Yes, the same Pazuzu depicted in the infamous 1970s classic, The Exorcist.) Invoking Pazuzu was the only way that expectant mothers could protect themselves against Lamashtu’s attacks. It’s plausible that the Lamashtu/Lilith narrative offered an explanation for high rates of maternal and infant mortality, as well as a way for women in the ancient world to cope with fears of death.
Lamashtu was believed to be the daughter of the sky god Anu and was cast down to earth for alleged wicked deeds. Unlike other deities in the Mesopotamian pantheon, Lamashtu was the only entity who had no connections or requirements of service to another deity. She rebelled against other gods, engaged in sex, chaos, and destruction as she pleased, and this is likely why she was so terrifying to a patriarchal narrative.
Lilith is quite likely a syncretization of Lamashtu and has been crystallized in Judeo-Christian traditions. Rabbis writing the Talmud made great mention of the sex-crazed night demoness who sexually assaulted men while they slept. During the Middle Ages, Lilith appears as an independent entity, still sex-crazed, winged, and violent.
She rebelled against other gods, engaged in sex, chaos, and destruction as she pleased, and this is likely why she was so terrifying to a patriarchal narrative.
The Alphabet of Ben Sira includes twenty-two stories corresponding to the twenty-two letters of the Hebrew alphabet. The fifth letter tells the story of Lilith, a woman created from the earth alongside man, betrothed to Adam, and banished from Eden for her refusal to have missionary sex with Adam. Lilith argued that since they were both created from the earth, they were therefore equals, thus proving she was too good to lie underneath a man. Adam complained to God that Lilith refused to submit and God responded by punishing Lilith with the death of a hundred of her children daily. According to the story, Lilith was clearly quite fertile, but she was also enraged to be condemned to patriarchal punishments. As a result, Lilith attacks pregnant mothers and infants to satisfy her rage and to rebel against God.
Although the Lilith account in the Alphabet of Ben Sira is a widely-accepted narrative today, medieval scholars deemed it to be vulgar and rejected it as serious scholarship. Lilith’s last appearance in Jewish texts is in the kabbalistic book of Zohar, also written during the medieval period between 1250 – 1350 CE. Zohar recounts the creation of Lilith as a winged wife of Adam, who flies away in a jealous fit, angered by Eve’s physical connection to Adam.
Lilth argued that since they were both created from the earth, they were therefore equals.
In the early 20th century, Lilith retained her status as a dark feminine being, inspiring the character of the White Witch in C. S. Lewis’ The Chronicles of Narnia. However, with the rise of the feminist movement, depictions and understandings of Lilith have evolved. She has become a cultural icon and an inspiration for women’s sexuality and liberation.
Artists, poets, and novelists have all centered Lilith as a rebellious entity, challenging the status quo, reinforcing femininity, and embodying liberation. Toni Morrison and Alice Walker’s characters in Sula and The Color Purple have been likened to Lilith as women who are fearless in their sexual freedom and independence. Jewish feminist scholars have revisited the role of Lilith as a model for women, instead of the demonic figure banished by the patriarchy.
Lilith continues to live on, encouraging all of us to harness the divine energy within.
