Lilith in Myth and History

Lilith is a name known everywhere in the world. When discussing the so-called “biblical” Lilith, most people can tell you that she was Adam’s first wife. Rarely, however, do they know where this tale comes from. Nearly everybody knows that piece of the story and those same people know that it’s also not actually biblical. The story of Lilith is a fascinating one and it spans much longer than one would think. From ancient Sumer to modern day America, the Lilith story has evolved to the point where it’s no longer recognizable. Today, I will be discussing the origins and evolution of the Lilith tale. From its simple beginnings to its esoteric present, this is Lilith in myth and history.

Sources:

Books:
James D.G. Dunn, John Rogerson – Eerdman’s Commentary on the Bible
Edward Cook, Martin Abegg, Michael Wise – The Dead Sea Scrolls
William Dever – Did God Have a Wife?
Michael Heiser – The Unseen Realm
Mark S. Smith – The Origins of Biblical Monotheism
Alan F. Segal – Life After Death
Arthur George, Elena George – The Mythology of Eden
Loren Stuckenbruck – The Myth of Rebellious Angels
Stephanie Dalley – Myths from Mesopotamia
Graham Cunningham – Deliver Me from Evil
Ziony Zevit – The Religions of Ancient Israel
Raphael Patai – The Hebrew Goddess
Gershom Scholem – Origins of the Kabbalah
Gershom Scholem – Zohar: The Book of Splendor
David Stern, Mark J. Mirsky – Rabbinic Fantasies
Howard Schwartz – Lilith's Cave
James A. Montgomery – Aramaic Incantation Texts from Nippur
Reginald C. Thompson – The Devils and Evil Spirits of Babylonia
Andrew George - The Epic of Gilgamesh
Samuel Kramer – Gilgamesh and the Huluppu Tree
Adolphe Franck – The Kabbalah
Ronald H. Isaacs – Ascending Jacob’s Ladder
Jacob Elbaum - “Yalkut Shimoni,” Encyclopaedia Judaica
Joshua Trachtenberg – Jewish Magic and Superstition
The Zohar
Talmud – Nidah
Talmud – Eiruvin
Talmud – Shabbath

Papers:
Jo Milgrom – Giving Eve’s Daughters Their Due
Harry M. Geduld – The Lineage of Lilith
Frank Moore Cross, Richard J. Saley - Phoenician Incantations on a Plaque of the Seventh Century B. C. from Arslan Tash in Upper Syria
David Stern – The Alphabet of Ben Sira and the Early History of Parody in Jewish Literature
Rebecca Lesses - Exe(o)rcising Power: Women as Sorceresses, Exorcists, and Demonesses in Babylonian Jewish Society of Late Antiquity
S. Langdon - Babylonian and Hebrew Demonology with Reference to the Supposed Borrowing of Persian Dualism in Judaism and Christianity
Jacobus van Dijk - The Authenticity of the Arslan Tash Amulets
Douglas L. Penney, Michael O. Wise - By the Power of Beelzebub: An Aramaic Incantation Formula from Qumran (4Q560)
Jeffrey Hoffeld – Adam's Two Wives
Joseph Dan – Samael, Lilith, and the Concept of Evil in Early Kabbalah
Leonard A. Rotham - Jewish Midwives in Late Renaissance Venice and the Transition to Modernity