Lilith in Kabbalistic and later traditions is often paired with other demon queens: Naamah, Agrat and Mahalath. Variations among these names include Even Maskith, Nega, and Rahab (male). Possible variation of Lilith the Younger is Lilidtha. The information below is referenced, for the most part, from Sefaria, or Raphael Patai's "The Hebrew Goddess" and "Gates to the Old City".

 

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Dictionary entries from "The Encyclopedia of Jewish Myth, Magic and Mysticism, Second Edition - Geoffrey W. Dennis", along with some links. My own commentary, if included, will be in italics.

 

Na'amah/Naamah, Nahemah (נַעֲמָה, meaning "pleasant"):

Naamah: "Lovely/Pleasant." One of the four Queens of the Demons. She dwells in the sea. In one strand of the tradition, she is the daughter of Tubal-Cain mentioned in Genesis 4:22, who copulated with angels (6:4) producing demonic children. In another, she is the wife of Noah (Book of Jasher 5:15). In later Jewish tradition she is the mother of Asmodeus, a succubus, one of the consorts of Samael, who seduces sleeping men. She and Lilith had intercourse with Adam in order to bear demon children. Once aroused by her, even if a man has sex with his wife instead, any children from that conception will be inclined toward her (Tanh. Chukkat; MhG Gen. 4:22; Zohar I:9b, 19b, 55a; Zohar III:76b–77a).

The demon queen Naamah is hard to find consistent information on, as she's described differently in every text. She's a wife of Noah, an idolatress, a pleasant seductress that caused men to sin, and in the Zohar, the mother of demons. There is also debate whether all of those mentions refer to a single Na'amah or two different figures. The information below is on the demon Na'amah, or the sister of Tubal-Cain.

• Na'amah, Sources - Sefaria
• Jastow: נַעֲמָה/Naamah
• Introducing Naamah, the "Mother of All Demons" - Amit Naor

 

Agrat(h) bat Mahlat, Igrat(h), Iggereth, Igereth (אגרת)

Igrat or Agrat: The night demoness of harlotry, she is a succubus who seduces men in their sleep and gathers their nocturnal emissions. In Kabbalah, she is listed among the four demon queens, the mothers of all demons. Reflecting the rabbinic belief that evil spirits procreate, this demon is sometimes mentioned with a proper matronymic Hebrew name, bat Malkat, "daughter of Malkat." One tradition proposes that she herself was the product of a human demon coupling.

In the most elaborate account concerning her, she had intercourse with David, and from his royal semen she gave birth to both the gentile kings who would become his enemies (not unlike Morgan LaFaye and Arthur) and to Asmodeus, the King of Demons: Then came two women harlots to King Solomon (1 Kings 3:6). They were Lilith and Igrat. Lilith who strangles children because she cannot make of them a veil for herself [having her own demon children does not yield her the merit that comes from fulfilling the commandment to "be fruitful and multiply"] to serve as a hiding place for her. And the second is Igrat. One night King David slept in the camp in the desert, and Igrat coupled with him in his dream. And he had emission, and she conceived and bore Adad [king of Edom]. When they asked him, "What is your name?" he said, "Sh'mi Ad, Ad Sh'mi [My name is Ad, Ad is my name]," and they called him Ashm'dai. He is Ashm'dai, king of the demons, who deprived Solomon of his kingship and sat on his throne [he was Solomon's demon doppelganger] and therefore he was of the seed of the king of Edom (1 Kings 11:14), for he came from the side of the kingdom of evil … All [the four queens of the demons, Lilith, Igrat, Mahalath and Naamah] and all their cohorts give birth to children, except Lilith …

She is mentioned in the Talmud as a demon who communes with witches. The spiritual interventions of Chanina ben Dosa and Abaye curbed her malevolent power over humans (Pes. 110a and 112b; Num. R. 12:3; Bachya's comments on Gen. 4:22)

• Jastrow: אִגְּרַת/Igrath

 

Mahlat(h)/Mahalat(h)/Machlat(h)/Machalat/Malkat (מָחֲלַת)

Malkat: "Queen." One of the four demon queens, the mother of one of the other queens, Igrat. The name is grammatically odd in Hebrew, but she is based on the biblical term, "Queen of Heaven," a Pagan deity condemned by the prophet Jeremiah (Jer. 7:18; 44:17).

Note: this is a unique interpretation. Nowhere else have I found the Queen of Heaven connection.

Mahalath is one of the four wives of Samael, mother of Agrat. Sources on Mahalath are scarce, and interpretation on her appearances presents issues similar to Na'amah's, as both started out as mortal women and gradually appeared as demons/mothers of demons.

• Jastrow: מָחֲלַת/Maḥălath

 

Even Maskit(h)

Even Maskit: A demoness, the concubine of Rahav.

Note: Tuv haAretz refers to Even Maskith as the concubine of Samael.

 

Nega

According to Sefer Meir T'hillot, Nega rules over the Tequfot, fornicates with Israelites, and will not approach the tents of those who fear God. Nega is the Hebrew word for plague.

 

Rahab (רַהַב)

Rahav: A cosmic sea monster first mentioned in the biblical book of Isaiah (51:9; Ps. 89:10; Job 26:12). Talmud called him the Prince of the Sea, echoing the Canaanite name for their sea God, "Prince River." God slew him when he refused to help in creating the Earth. The oceans conceal the lethal stink of his carcass, which is why sea water smells so strange (B.B. 74b; Tan.10a). Rahav may be an alternative name for Leviathan, though some sources treat them as two different entities.

• Jastrow: רַהַב/Rahab

 

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Resources

 

Tanakh

Demons: Na'amah

The Tanakh gives information on the human Na'amah, daughter of Lamech, sister of Tubal-Cain.

• Genesis, 4:22

As for Zillah, she bore Tubal-cain, who forged all implements of copper and iron. And the sister of Tubal-cain was Naamah.

 

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Aramaic Incantation Bowls

Demons: Agrat

• Aramaic Bowl Spells, Jewish Babylonian Aramaic Bowls, Volume Two - Shaul Shaked, Siam Bhayro

 

JBA 102 (ms 1929/11) | Biblical quotation: Ex 3:14

• 6. Again, [...] by the upper Divine Presence, and by the middle Divine Presence, and by the ⟨lower⟩ Divine Presence, fr[om]
• 7. Ashmedai and from all [h]is a[rmy], and [fr]om ṭysʾypwryn and from all his retinue, and from Agrat daugh[ter of] Maḥlat and from all her chariots,
• 8. and fr[om ʾ]ny nhrʾ and from al[l her centuriae, and] from Lilith and from all her clans, and from Danaḥiš and from all his tribe, and from
• 9. zkyʾ and fr[om all] his family. By the na[me of] ḥy, [and by the name of] ḥt, and by the name of yhw yhw, and by the name of Sabaoth, and by the name of "I am that I am", and by the name of El Shaddai. Again,
• 10. I put you under oath, all of you, demon[s ... and no-]good ones and male idol spirits and female goddesses, that you should not approach and not harm Ḥiṣqīl son of Māmay
• 11. and Nukhraytā daughter of Maḥlaftā, his wife—[nei]ther you, Ashmedai, nor all your army, and neither you, ṭysʾypryn, nor all your retinue, and neither you, Agrat daughter of Maḥlat,
• 12. nor all your chariots, and neither you, ʾny nhrʾ, nor [a]ll your centuriae, and neither you, Lilith, nor all your clans, and neither you, Danaḥiš, nor all your tribe, and neither you, zkyʾ, nor all.
• 13. your family, from this day and for ever. Amen, Amen, Selah.

 

JBA 103 (ms 2053/196) | Biblical quotations: Num 9:23; Zech 3:2; Ps 55:8; Ps 91:7

• 7. Again, I am sealed and double sealed, I, Dukhtānšāh daughter of Gušnōy, by my ten fingers, by my twenty nerves, and by my sinews, and by the ring šyr, and by the signet-ring zrdyn,
• 8. and by the signet-ring of King Solomon son of David, from Ashmedai and from all his army, and from ṭysw ʾypwrn and from all his chariots, and from ʾny nhrʾ and from all her centuriae, and from Agrat
• 9. daughter of Maḥlat and from all her chariots, and from Danaḥiš and fr[om] all his tribes, and from zkyʾ and the amu[let] spirit and from all his family, and from the army of the demon Danaḥiš, the one who enters into the anus
• 10. of people, and sits in the stomach, and causes stomach ache, [and kn]eads d[o]ugh, and sits and uses [...] the body. By the name of [ḥy], and the name of ḥy, and the name of ḥt. By the name of yhw yhw. By the name of Sabaoth
• 11. Sabaoth. By the name of El Shaddai [...] demons and afflictions and sgy and satans and Dana[ḥ]iš and his army and the [e]vil Roni (?) and pi[q]das and no good ones and male idol spirits and female goddesses and all
• 12. [...] and all [...] and [... and] evil [tor]mentor[s], that you should not come near to Du[kh]tānšāh daughter of Gušnōy, nei[ther] you, Ash[medai, n]o[r]all [your a]r[my, and nei]ther yo[u, ṭysw]ʾypwrn, nor
• 13. all your chariots, and neither (you), [ʾ]nynhrʾ, nor a[ll] your centuriae, and neither(you), Agrat daughter of Maḥlat, nor all your cha[ri]ots, and neither you, Danaḥiš, no[r] all [your] retinue, [and nei]ther you, zkyʾ and the amulet spirit, n[o]r all
• 14. your retinue and your family and your [fa]mily, fr[om this] day and for [e]ver. A[men, Amen,] Selah. ṭssʿytʾ špr [...]"Beho[ld], I would wand[er] far off, I would remain in the wilderness. Selah". "A thousa[nd] shall fall at [your] sid[e], [and] ten thousand at your right hand, but it shall not touch you". Sound
• 15. and established.

 

JBA 104 (ms 2053/238) | Biblical quotations: Ex 3:14; Zech 3:2.

1. Sealed and double sealed is the house of Abraham son of Ā[da]rdukh, by my ten fingers, by my twenty nerves, by my sixty sinews, and by the ring šr,
2. by the signet-ring zrzyn, and by [the] signet-ring [of] Solomon son of David, the king of Israel, from Ashmedai, from all his army, from ṭysw ʾypwrn,
3. from all his retinue, from Agrat daughter of Maḥlat, from all her chariots, from Danaḥiš, from all his tribe, from ʾny,
4. from all her centuriae, from zkyʾ, from all his family. By the name of ḥy, andthe name of ḥy, and the name of ḥyt. By the name of yhw yhw. By the name of Sabaoth
5. Sabaoth, and by the name of Shaddai, and by the name of "I am that I am", that you should not come near to the house of Abraham son of Ādaredukh,
6. neither his food nor his property, and neither his sons nor his body. And may they move and depart and pass over and be far away
7. and flee, all idol spirits and piqdas and no-good ones and evil spirits and liliths, male and female lilis,
8. from the house of Abraham son of Ādardukh. Neither you, Ashmedai, nor all your army, neither you, ṭysw
9. ʾypwrn, nor all your retinue, neither you, Agrat daughter of Maḥlat, nor all
10. your chariots, neither you, Danaḥiš, nor all your tribe, neither you,
11. zkyʾ, nor all your family, neither you, ʾny, nor all
12. your centuriae, from this day and for eve[r], from
13. zry of iron. Amen, Amen,
14. Selah.

 

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Talmud

Demons: Agrat

• Pesachim 112b-113a

With regard to the instruction: Do not go out alone at night, the Gemara states that this is as it was taught in a baraita: One should not go out alone at night, neither on Tuesday nights nor on Shabbat nights, i.e., Friday nights, because the demon Agrat, daughter of Maḥalat, she and 180,000 angels of destruction go out at these times. And as each and every one of them has permission to destroy by itself, they are all the more dangerous when they go forth together.

The Gemara states: Initially, these demons were present every day. Once Agrat, daughter of Maḥalat, met Rabbi Ḥanina ben Dosa and said to him: Had they not announced about you in the Heavens: Be careful of Ḥanina and his Torah, I would have placed you in danger. He said to her: If I am considered important in Heaven, I decree upon you that you should never travel through inhabited places. She said to him: I beg you, leave me a little space. He left for her Shabbat nights and Tuesday nights.

And furthermore, once Agrat, daughter of Maḥalat met Abaye and said to him: Had they not announced about you in the Heavens: Be careful of Naḥmani, Abaye, and his Torah, I would have placed you in danger. He said to her: If I am considered important in Heaven, I decree upon you that you should never pass through inhabited places. The Gemara asks: But we see that, notwithstanding these anecdotes, demons do pass through inhabited areas. The Sages say in explanation: These demons are found on the paths [gazyata] near the city, as horses belonging to the demons flee along those paths, and the demons come to lead them away. Generally, however, demons do not enter inhabited places.

 

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Targum

• Onkelos Genesis (possibly 2nd century CE) 4:22

Human: Na'amah

Tzillah also gave birth to Tuval Kayin, who sharpened everything which cuts copper and iron [who was the master of all who know the craft of copper and iron]. The sister of Tuval Kayin was Naamah.

 

• Pseudo-Jonathan on Genesis (possibly 5th century CE) 4:22

Human: Na'amah

And Zillah bare also Tuvalkain, the chief (rab) of all artificers who know the workmanship of brass and iron. And the sister of Tuvalkain was Naama; she was mistress of elegies and songs.

 

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Midrash

• Bamidbar Rabbah 12:3

Demons: Agrat

Rabbi Shimon ben Yoḥai said: The Holy One blessed be He gave a weapon to Israel with the ineffable Name written upon it. "You will not fear the terror of night" (Psalms 91:5) – from Agrat bat Maḥalat and her chariot nor from all the demons that rule the night.

 

• Bereshit Rabbah 23:3

Human: Na'amah

And the sister of Tubal-Cain was Na'amah. Rabbi Abba bar Kahana said: Na'amah was Noah's wife. Why was she called Na'amah? Because all of her deeds were pleasant ....The Rabbis said this is a different Na'amah. Why was she called Na'amah? Because she beat on a drum to draw people to idol worship.

 

• Tanchuma Buber, Appendix to Chukat 1:1

Human: Na'amah

He became like a beautiful woman, whose beauty had not been equalled since the days of Naamah, the sister of Tubal Cain (of Gen. 4:22), through whom the ministering angels went astray. It is so stated (in Gen. 6:2): THE SONS OF GOD SAW HOW BEAUTIFUL THE HUMAN DAUGHTERS WERE <AND TOOK WHOMEVER THEY CHOSE AS THEIR WIVES>.

 

• Legends of the Jews 1:3:5

Human: Na'amah

The two wives of Lamech, Adah and Zillah, bore him each two children, Adah two sons, Jabal and Jubal, and Zillah a son, Tubal-cain, and a daughter, Naamah. Jabal was the first among men to erect temples to idols, and Jubal invented the music sung and played therein. Tubal-cain was rightly named, for he completed the work of his ancestor Cain. Cain committed murder, and Tubal-cain, the first who knew how to sharpen iron and copper, furnished the instruments used in wars and combats. Naamah, "the lovely," earned her name from the sweet sounds which she drew from her cymbals when she called the worshippers to pay homage to idols.

 

• Legends of the Jews 1:4:16

Human: Na'amah

Unlike Istehar, the pious maiden, Naamah, the lovely sister of Tubal-cain, led the angels astray with her beauty, and from her union with Shamdon sprang the devil Asmodeus. She was as shameless as all the other descendants of Cain, and as prone to bestial indulgences.

 

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Kabbalah

Zohar [Vols: Pritzker Edition]

Demons: Na'amah, Agrat, Mahalath, Rahab

 

I Genesis

Demons: Na'amah, Agrat

Introduction

• 15:157

 

Parashat Be-Reshit/Bereshit

• 9:102
• 94:353
• 94:355
• 94:357

 

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III Genesis

Demons: Rahab

Parashat Va-Yḥi/Vayechi

• 66:671

 

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V Exodus

Demons: Rahab

Parashat Terumah

• 84:814

 

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VII Leviticus

Demons: Na'amah

Parashat Aḥarei Mot/Achrei Mot 

• 59:360
• 59:361
• 60:365

 

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VIII Leviticus-Numbers

Demons: Agrat, Mahalath

Parashat Be-Har/Behar

• 11:66 - Zohar (relevant section untranslated on Sefaria, and not included in Pritzker edition)

 

Parashat Be-Ḥuqqotai/Bechukotai

• 7:26

 

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IX Numbers-Deuteronomy

Demons: Rahab

Parashat Balaq/Balak

• 8:145

 

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X Midrash ha-Ne'lam (relevant sections untranslated on Sefaria)

Demons: Na'amah, Agrat

Parashat Be-Reshit/Bereshit 839

Rabbi Yitsḥak said, "Why is it written And the sister of Tubal-Cain was נעמה (Na'amah), Na'amah (Genesis 4:22)?"

Well, Rabbi Yitsḥak said, "She was a righteous woman and נעימה (ne'imah), pleasing, in her deeds."

Rabbi Abbahu said, "The simple sense of Scripture indicates that she was learned in metal-working, like her brother Tubal-Cain, as implied by what is written: he was the progenitor of every implement of bronze and iron—and the sister of Tubal-Cain, Na'amah (ibid.). He invented this craft and his sister with him, as is written: and the sister of Tubal-Cain, Na'amah—she was skilled like him. The 'and' of 'and the sister' joins the preceding statement."

Rabbi Bo said, "She was the mother of demons; she bore them. For look, the mother of Ashmedai, king of the demons, is named Na'amah."

 

Parashat Noaḥ 56

"The chief minion of Agrat daughter of Maḥalat appeared—Joseph the demon. He said to them, 'Surely this is the great and eminent Rabbi of the generation, by whose decree I was dispatched from the settled regions of the earth! This is the one about whom they proclaim in the firmament!'

 

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XI Midrash ha-Nelam and Zoharic Compositions (relevant section untranslated on Sefaria)

Demons: Na'amah

Midrash ha-Ne'lam al Rut 292

Rabbi Neḥemiah said in the name of Rabbi Yehudah, "Na'amah was around at that time, and everyone was seduced by her."

Rabbi Shalom says, "She was the mother of demons. When the sons of God saw the daughters of humankind, they strayed after them, because the daughters of humankind were strolling naked. They had intercourse with them and had children from them. This is as is written: and afterward as well—when the sons of God…שם אנשי (anshei shem), men of renown (Genesis 6:4).

 

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XII Zoharic Compositions (relevant section untranslated on Sefaria)

Demons: Rahab

Zohar al ha-Parashot/Chadash, Beshalach 36

"When they arrived at the sea, Rahab—archon of Egypt and the sea—came as well. The blessed Holy One said, 'Moses, raise your staff and stretch out your hand (Exodus 14:16).' Once He said raise your staff, what was the point of and stretch out your hand? The explanation is: raise your staff—against the prince of the sea.

 

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Pardes Rimmonim [186d] - Moses Cordovero, 1548, a leader of the Safed Kabbalists

Demons: Mahalath

The ancient ones explained that there are two Liliths, one little and one great. The great one is the spouse of Samael, and she is a woman of harlotry, and the little one is the spouse of Ashmodai. And about this Lilith, the bride of Samael, the Geonim explained that she controls 480 legions as is the numerical value of her name. And on the Day of Atonement they go forth into the deserts, they march, and she screeches, for she is the princess of screeching. And Mahalath daughter of Ishmael, she too is a concubine of Samael, and the two [Lilith and Mahalath] go forth with 478 legions. She goes and sings in the Holy Tongue songs and paeans. And when the two meet on the Day of Atonement they quarrel there in the desert. They strive, the one with the other, until their voices rise up to heaven, and the earth shakes with their clamor. And all this is brought about by the Holy One, blessed be He, so that they should not accuse Israel while they [Israel] pray. And others wrote that that husk [i.e., demoness] is called Meshullahel [Messenger of God], and the reason is that she sends our evil angels, may the Merciful One destroy them! And we found it written that the wicked Samael and the evil Lilith have the likeness of a couple which, with the intermediacy of a groomsman, receives an emanation of evil and insolence, flowing from the one to the other. And about this mystery it is written, And on that day the Lord with His sore and great and strong sword will punish Leviathan the Slant Serpent, and Leviathan the Tortuous Serpent, and He will slay the Dragon that is in the sea (Isa. 27:1). Leviathan is the connection and coupling between the two who have the likeness of serpents. Therefore it is doubled: the Slant Serpent corresponding to Samael, and the Tortuous Serpent corresponding to Lilith.

 

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Kol Bokhim (in Ḳin'at Setarim) - Abraham Galante, 1589 (edited by his son), p. 15

Demons: Mahalath

Abraham [ben Mordecai] Galante [in Kol Bokhim] (died 1560 or 1588), an important Safed Kabbalist and contemporary of Moses Cordovero, recounts the entire story of the annual encounter in the desert between Lilith and Maḥalath, but gives a somewhat different characterization to one of the two chief she-demons:

Maḥalath, according to him, is shown by her name to have been a compulsive dancer: as she marches into the desert at the head of her bands of destructive angels, "she goes and dances and gyrates in ring dances" until she and Lilith fall upon each other and engage in a fierce battle.

 

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Emeq haMelekh (Valley of the King), 1648, p. 84b, cf. p. 140b.

Demons: Na'amah, Agrat

Asimon [a demon] rides on Naamah, and Naamah rides on Igrath, the daughter of Maḥalath, and this Igrath rides on several kinds of spirits and bands of mid-day demons; and from the left there is the shape of a serpent riding on a blind dragon, and this dragon rides on Lilith the wicked, may she be destroyed quickly in our days, amen.

 

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Tuv haAretz - Nathan Spira, 1655, p. 19c

Demons: Na'amah, Agrat, Even Maskith, Rahab

Know that there are seventy heavenly patrons, one appointed over each nation, and they all are under the rule of Samael and Rahab. Rahab was given as his share all the borders of Egypt, which measures 400 by 400 parasangs. Samael was given four kingdoms, and in each of them he has a concubine. The names of his concubines are: Lilith, whom he took as his consort, and she is the first one; the second is Naamah; the third, Even Maskith; and the fourth, Igrath, the daughter of Mahalath. And the four kingdoms are: first, the Kingdom of Damascus, in which is found the House of Rimmon; second, the Kingdom of Tyre, which is opposite the Land of Israel; third, the Kingdom of Malta, which formerly was called Rhodus; and fourth, the Kingdom called Granata, and some say that it is the Kingdom of Ishmael. And in each of these four kingdoms dwells one of the four aforementioned concubines.

 

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Other

 

Book of Mirrors (Sefer Mar'ot Hatsov'ot) - David Ben Yehuda Hahasid, after 1293, (from: Introducing Naamah, the "Mother of All Demons")

Demons: Na'amah

And Naamah exists to this day, and dwells in the depths of the great sea and emerges and trifles with humans and seduces them in their dreams …

 

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School of the RaShBA - R. Sh'lomo ben Avraham Adret, (source per The Hebrew Goddess: G. Scholem, Tarbitz, vol. 19 (1948), p. 172)

Demons: Na'amah, Agrat, Mahalath

Then came two women harlots to King Solomon. They were Lilith and lgrat. Lilith who strangles children because she cannot make of them a veil for herself to serve as a hiding place for her. And the second is lgrat. One night King David slept in the camp in the desert, and Igrat coupled with him in his dream. And he had emission, and she conceived and bore Adad [king of Edom]. When they asked him, "What is your name?" he said, "Sh'mi Ad, Ad sh'mi [My name is Ad, Ad is my name)." and they called him Ashm'dai. He is Ashmodai, king of the demons, who deprived Solomon of his kingship and sat on his throne, and therefore he was of the seed of the king of Edom (1 Kings 11:14), for he came from the side of the kingdom of evil. These two women strangled the son of the Shunamite woman ....

All [the four queens of the demons, Lilith, Igrat, Mahalath and Naamah] and all their cohorts give birth to children, except Lilith alone, who does not bear, but is just a fornication in the world.

 

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Sefer Meir T'hillot/Meïr Tehillot (The Illuminator of the Psalms), 1512

Demons: Naamah, Agrat, Mahalath, Nega

And know that the kabbalists have written that the woman from the land of Egypt whom his mother took for Ishmael was the daughter of Kasdiel the Egyptian sorcerer. And when Ishmael divorced her, according to the instructions of his father [Abraham], as it is mentioned in the Pesiqta, she was pregnant. And she bore a daughter, and she was Mahalath daughter of Ishmael. And the mother and the daughter participated in that desert in many sorceries. And a spirit ruled over it, lgratiel by name. And that spirit was attracted to Mahalath, who was very beautiful, until she conceived from him and bore a daughter, and called her name lgrat, after the name of the spirit. And thereafter Mahalath became the wife of Esau, and she left the desert. Not so her daughter lgrat, for she and Naamah and Lilith and Nega' rule over the four tequfot [the two solstices and the two equinoxes]. And they said that Lilith fornicates with all men, and Naamah only with the Gentiles, and Nega' only with Israel, and Igrat is sent out to do harm on the nights preceding the Sabbaths and Wednesdays. And behold, Lilith is the scant measure that is abominable (Mic.6:10), which Igrat and Naamah carry to the Land of Shinar, as Zechariah (5:11) said. And about this it is said to the fearers of God, neither shall any plague (Nega') come nigh thy tent (Ps. 91:10).

 

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Kav HaYashar, c. 1665-1705, 17:6

Demons: Na'amah

If a man sees the image of a woman in a dream, even if it is the image of his wife or an unmarried woman, and awakens filled with passion and desire he must not have relations with his wife in the heat of that desire. For if he does so, the child thus conceived will be subject to epileptic attacks whenever the moon is full, Heaven forbid, with no possibility of a cure his entire life. For the image that appeared to him was the female demon known as Na'amah. Thus the Zohar (Part III 77a) writes: "since it was out of desire for her (i.e., Na'amah) that he had relations, the child will be born from her side … and so he will be affected at each and every moon."

 

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Commentary

Ramban on Genesis, c. 1246-1270 4:22:2

Human: Na'amah

AND THE SISTER OF TUBAL-CAIN WAS NAAMAH. This is as if Scripture would say: "and a sister was born to him and her name was Naamah." A similar sense is found in the verses: And Lotan's sister was Timnah; And Miriam their sister; His sister's name was Maacah.

In Bereshith Rabbah there are some Rabbis who say that Naamah was Noah's wife. "And why did they call her Naamah [which means lovely]? Because her deeds were lovely and pleasant." By this the Rabbis meant to say that she was famous in those generations because she was a righteous woman and she gave birth to righteous children. This was why Scripture mentioned her. If so, a small remembrance of Cain was left in the world. However, if we say that she was not the woman from whom Noah begot his three sons, there is no reason for Scripture mentioning her. However, our Rabbis have another Midrash concerning her which states that she was the very beautiful woman in whom the bnei ha'elohim erred. This is hinted in the verse, And the 'bnei ha'elohim' saw the daughters of men, as mentioned in Pirkei d'Rabbi Eliezer. But other sources have it that Naamah was the wife of Shamdon, the mother of Ashmedai, and it is from her that the demons were born for her name is indeed found in the writings of "the use of the demons." Scripture hints and deals briefly with such hidden matters.

 

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Baḥya on Genesis, Rabbeinu Bahya, Bereshit 4:22:3 | Venice, 1546, 15d

Demons: Na'amah, Agrat, Mahalath

"and the sister of Tubal-Kayin was Naamah." Bereshit Rabbah 23,4 claims that Naamah became the wife of Noach. It is claimed that the Torah calls her Naamah to reflect her lovely disposition, her good deeds.

There is a different tradition (compare Zohar Chadash Midrash Ha-neelam 19,2) which claims that Naamah was the wife of the demon Ashmadon if the demons Ashmadai and others were born by her. We have a tradition that four women (compare Nachmanides) became the mothers of demons. They were Lilith, Naamah, Igrat, and Machalat. Each one of them disposes of whole camps of followers and a spiritually negative aura emanates from them all. It is said that each one of these is dominant during one of the four seasons of the year and that they gather at the mountain Nishpeh (a simile for a high mountain mentioned in Isaiah 13,2.) This mountain is located near mountains called חשך, and each one holds sway during one of the four seasons of the year from sundown until midnight, they and all the members of their respective camps (entourage).

 

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Manuscripts

 

G. Scholem, Tarbitz, vol. 19 (1948), p. 175. (15th century) (per The Hebrew Goddess)

Demons: Agrat

"I adjure you, Ograth [i.e., Igrath] bath Mahalath, Queen of the Demons, with the great, strong and terrible Name, with the name of his holy angels, and with the name of Bilar the heroic, King of the Demons, that you send to me X, daughter of Y, the beautiful maiden from among your maidens who follow you, whose number is like the number of the days of the year, and with the name of Metatron and Sandalphon, AAA NNN SSS." And this must be done either on the eve of Sunday or on the eve of Wednesday. And one must have a separate room, and a clean white bed and clothes, and the room and the bed should be fumigated with aloe wood. And the knowledgeable will understand.

 

MS Bill Gross, EE.011.039, f. 88a. (18th century) (per Stolen Children and Monstrous Changelings)

Demons: Agrat, Mahalath

May power be denied to all forces of Liliths and Maḥalat, along with their entire army, to switch or harm the fruit of her womb that will come from it, on the authority of this amulet and not on account of female sorceresses (מכשיפות נשים' עיד ולא). May you [also] send your angels, your servants, appointed according to your decree over Liliths, and Agrath bat Maḥalat, whose names are Senoy, Sensenoy, and Samengalof.

 

Israel Museum MS 180/017, f. 170b. (18th century) (per Stolen Children and Monstrous Changelings)

Demons: Agrat, Mahalath

I adjure you, Igrat (איגרת) the daughter of Maḥalat, or the Queen of Sheba (Malkath Sheva), or Lilith, in the name of God, the Lord of Hosts (Tseva'ot), who sits upon the cherubs ruling over supernal and lower beings, who dwells in the heavens above and in the waters that are below the earth, and [commanding] over all evil spirits (shedin), souls, and demons (lilin), and over all the angels of destruction, who fulfill His will throughout all the [created] worlds, crushing [creatures] under His feet (Lam. 3:34). […]

With this I adjure you, Maḥalat, or the Queen of Sheba (Malkath Sheva), or Lilith, who goes out and wanders around on this night, the seventh in the week, which is under the influence of the fifth planet, in the fifth firmament associated with the planet Mars, that rules over this night, and in the name of the guardian that commands and is stationed in the fifth firmament, who is called, Asimor (אסימור) the great angel with all the other angels who serve him, that you bring to me Igrat the daughter of Maḥalat, or the Queen of Sheba (Malkath Sheva), or Lilith.

 

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Possible variation of Lilith (the Younger): Lilidtha:

R. Ya'aqov and R. Yitzhaq

The same mid-13th century author, Isaac Hacohen, also asserts that "on rare occasions Qaftzefoni couples with, and adheres to, and loves a creature whose name is Lilidtha", who in a mysterious way resembles Hagar the Egyptian; but whether this Lilidtha is identical with Qaftzefoni's own daughter, Lilith the Younger, cannot be established.

"The demon whose name is Qaftzefoni, on rare occasions, when permission is granted him, has intercourse with, and attaches himself to, and loves, a creature whose name is Lilidtha [Lilith], and she resembles Hagar the Egyptian".

 

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Other daemons who have a relationship with Lilith:

For her Consorts (Samael, Asmodeus), Companion (Tanin'iver), Children (lilin, shedim), King (Bagdana) and Opposite (Laylah) refer to our Relationships Wiki.

Entries as presented by "The Encyclopedia of Jewish Myth, Magic and Mysticism, Second Edition - Geoffrey W. Dennis":

• Asimon: (אסימון). "Formless." Either a demon or punishing Angel mentioned in the Zohar. He torments those who transgress on the Sabbath. He is multihued and has eight wings (I: 14b; II: 249b). [Note: Asimon is also mentioned in Emeq Hamelekh, see above].
• Asirta: An evil spirit who serves Lilith (Zohar II). Note: Pritzker (Vol. 9) renders "Astirya".
• Hormin: A demon, one of the children of Lilith. He possessed extraordinary speed. He was executed by the demonic authorities for making his presence visible to mortals (B.B. 73a). | Ormuzd: A demon, the child of Lilith. (B.B. 73b).
• Sariel: "Chieftain of God". This angel is mentioned only in passing in I Enoch, but in Kabbalah, he is the prince of the demons of the air and he serves Lilith.

The Burney Relief, also known as the Queen of the Night Relief, is an image of a goddess that has been previously falsely associated with Lilith, an association that still persists today in occult and even some academic spaces. The interpretation was based on the Epic of Gilgamesh, and specifically the ki-sikil-lil-la-ke (Sumerian equivalent of Akkadian ardat-lilî) that got mistranslated as Lilith by scholars of the 20th century.  

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"The Anchor Bible Dictionary - David Noel Freedman" has a summary under the entry "Lilith - Lowell K. Handy":

Two sources of information previously used to define Lilith are both suspect. Kramer (1938:5) translated ki-sikil-líl-lá-ke4 as "Lilith" in a Sumerian Gilgamesh fragment. The text relates an incident where this female being takes up lodging in a tree trunk which has a Zu-bird perched in the branches and a snake living among the roots. This text was used to interpret a sculpture of a woman with bird talons for feet as being a depiction of Lilith (Frankfort 1937:130 fig 1, 134–35; Kraeling 1937:18).

From the beginning this interpretation was questioned (Opitz 1932:330) so that after some debate neither the female in the story nor the figure are assumed to be Lilith (Ribichini 1978:31–33; RLA 7:25).

 

Relevant sources:

• Frankfort, H. 1937. The Burney Relief. AfO 12: 128–35.
• Kraeling, E. G. 1937. A Unique Babylonian Relief. BASOR 67: 16–18.
• Kramer, S. N. 1938. Gilgamesh and the Ḫuluppu-Tree: A Reconstructed Sumerian Text. Assyriological Studies 10. Chicago.

 

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Frankfort cites Kraeling and Gadd. During the same period, Assyriologist Kramer published "Gilgamesh and the Huluppu Tree" that is still quoted to this day as proof that Lilith existed in ancient Mesopotamia. The first study on the Tablet was done by Langdon.

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The Epic of Gilgamesh

 

The Sumerian Epic of Gilgamish - S. Langdon, 1932 - first study, and the earliest translation of ki-sikil-lil-la-ke as Lilith that I could find.

• 9. šab-bi-a kiskil-lil-la-ge (!) e im-ma-ni-in-du (!)
• Therein Lilîth had built her house

This text appears to have no connection with the Gilgamish epic. The only certain information which I can obtain from it is that Gilgamish seized the young of the Zu bird, which is identical with the eagle of the Etana myth, and Zu which stole the tablets of fate and was conquered by Lugalbanda, father of Gilgamish. He then went to the mountains where ardat lilî or Lilith had had built her house. Here, in the account of the destruction of the house of Lilith, the verbs are plural. The subject must be Gilgamish and his brother, referred to in lines 1 and 23. Is this "brother" really Enkidu here? They utterly destroyed the house of Lilith.  

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Gilgamesh and the Huluppu Tree - Samuel Noah Kramer, 1932, published 1938 - due to his contribution to Assyriology his text was quite influential. Kramer understands the epithets "rejoicer of all hearts" and "Queen of Heaven" to be referring to Inanna.

After ten years had passed and the tree had matured, Inanna, to her chagrin, found herself unable to realize her hopes. For in the meantime 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. But Gilgamesh, informed of Inanna's distress, rushes to her aid. Making light of his weighty armor, the giant slays the dragon with his huge bronze ax, seven talents and seven minas in weight. Thereupon the Zu-bird flees with his young to the mountain, while Lilith, terror-stricken, tears down her house and escapes to the desert. […]

 

• 42. šab-bi-a ki-sikil-líl-lá-ke4 é im-ma-ni-ib-dù

• In its midst Lilith had built for herself a house.

• 43. ki-sikil gù-dè-dè šà-ḫúl-ḫúl

• The ever shouting (?) maid, the rejoicer of all hearts,

• 44. kug ^(d) inanna-ke4 ír e-NE ba-še8-še8

• The pure Inanna, how (?) she weeps!

• 84. šab-ba-bi-a ki-sikil-líl-lá-ke4 é im-ma-ni-ib-dù

• In its midst Lilith had built for herself a house.

• 85. ki-sikil gù-dè-dè šà-ḫúl-ḫúl

• The ever shouting (?) maid, the rejoicer of all hearts,

• kug ^(d) ga-ša-an-an-na-DU ír e-NE ba-še8-še8

• The pure Inanna, how (?) she weeps!"

• 96. šab-bi-a ki-sikil-líl-lá-ke4 é im-ma-ni-in-zal

• In its midst Lilith destroyed her house

• 97. a-ri-a-ri-eš šu-ba-an-kar-kar-ri

• (And) escapes to the desert places.

 

To Inanna's dismay, however, she was unable to get at the tree, for the snake, the Zu-bird, and Lilith had taken possession of it as their abode. Thereupon Gilgamesh came to the rescue of the weeping Inanna; he uprooted the tree, and after the men of Uruk had cut off its crown he gave part of it to Inanna for her throne and bed. […]  

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Epic of Gilgamesh, Tablet XII - C. J. Gadd, 1933 - Gadd understands the epithet "joyful" to be referring to ki-sikil-lil-la-ke.

• 4. šab-ba-bi ki-sikil-líl-lá-ge é im-ma-ni-ib-dù

• In its midst Lilith had built a house

• 5. ki-sikil gú-de-de sà-húl-húl

• The shrieking maid the joyful

• 6. kug d.ga-ša-an-an-na DU er-e-ne-ne ba-ERIN.ERIN

• The bright Queen of Heaven tears for them (?) wept

• 16 [šab-bi-a ki-]sikil-líl-lá-ge é im-ma-ni-ib-zil-li-de

• In its midst Lilith destroys (her) house

 

(b) In II. 4, 5, 16, there are references to something which was to be seen "in the middle", i. e. in the trunk of the tree, where the demoness ardat lili had 'built a house'. It will later be suggested (note on 1. 4) that ardat lili is here the owl, in which case the tree must be one which could have in its trunk a cavity for the nest of an owl.

[...]

4. Here, and in II. 5, 16, 17, there is a particular description of the 'middle' of the tree —Lilith had 'built a house' there, she is described as 'shrieking' and 'joyful', the 'house' was despoiled after Gilgamesh's attack and various things were made out of the wood. It can hardly be questioned that this is a description of the trunk of the tree, as opposed to its root and its branches. If, then, the words about Lilith refer to some formation or appearance of the trunk which suggested to the writer that a demoness inhabited it, we can say nothing as to what is meant.

Dr. R. C. Thompson allows me to mention his suggestion that Lilith here is a name for the owl; he refers to his Semitic Magic, pp. 20f. It is in favour of this supposition that the owl makes its nest not in the branches (where Zû was) but in cavities of the trunk, and also that Lilith is called in I. 5, 'shrieking'. The other epithet 'joyful' is, however, less suitable, and the main objection is that ardat lili in Babylonian is never described as an owl, and that the Jewish traditions concerning Lilith in this form seem to be late and of no great authority.  

[What's cited from Semitic Magic:

Doughty relates how in Arabia he "heard scratching owls sometimes in the night; then the nomad wives and children answered them with mocking again, 'Ymgebas! Ymgebas!' The hareem said, 'It is a wailful woman, seeking her lost child through the wilderness, which was turned into this forlorn bird.'"

Among the Malays, if a woman die in childbirth she is supposed to become a langsuyar, or flying demon, a female familiar. To prevent this, glass beads are put in the mouth of the corpse, a hen's egg is put under the armpits, and needles in the palms of the hands. This stops the dead woman shrieking, waving her arms, or opening her hands. The original langsuyar was supposed to be a kind of night owl, like the Lilith of Rabbinic tradition, and is similar, therefore, to the ghost of which Doughty speaks].

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The Epic of Gilgamesh has been translated many times since Gadd, Kramer, and Langdon, and none of the later scholars translate "ki-sikil-lil-la-ke" as Lilith. The ki-sikil-lil-la-ke/ardat-lilî is instead translated as:

 

The Electronic Text Corpus of Sumerian Literature - Gilgamesh, Enkidu and the nether world

• In its trunk, the phantom maid built herself a dwelling, the maid who laughs with a joyful heart. But holy Inana cried!

 

The Epic of Gilgamesh - Andrew R. George

• After five years [had gone by, after ten years had gone by,]
• the tree had grown stout, its bark none could split,
• in its roots a Snake-that-Knows-no-Charm had made its nest,
• in its branches a Lion-Bird had hatched its brood,
• in its trunk a Demon-Maiden had built her home.
• The maiden who laughs with happy heart,
• holy Inanna, how she was weeping!

 

The Epic of Gilgamesh (Second Edition) - Benjamin R. Foster

• In its trunk a demon-girl had made her home.
• The smiling maiden with a happy heart,
• She, radiant Inanna, wept and wept.

 

The translations of George and Foster also make clear that the epithets with a happy heart/rejoicer of all hearts/joyful are referring to Inanna/Ishtar, and not the ardat-lilî. While the ardat-lilî has influenced Lilith (and Lilith in Aramaic sources appears to be a conflation of Lamaštu and the lilû class), the terms are not interchangeable.

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Burney Relief

Kraeling and Frankfort believed the Relief to be Lilith. Both of them seem to understand "Queen of Heaven" from the Epic of Gilgamesh to be referring to ki-sikil-lil-la-ke, instead of the actual queen, Inanna.

 

A Unique Babylonian Relief - Emil G. Kraeling, 1937 - uses Lilitu and Lilith interchangeably

We know only two evil demons from pictorial representations: the horrible fever demon Lamashtu (formerly read Labartu), a freak composed of various animals, and the evil wind-demon Pazuzu, who has a normal human form from the knees up, but has animal feet and a horrible face. Perhaps we have here a third representation of a demon. If so it must be Lilîtu, who was originally, as her Sumerian name suggests, the demon of an evil wind (Meissner, Bab. u. Ass. II, 201), and whose "house" in a tree Gilgamesh destroys, according to a recently discovered Sumerian fragment of the famous epic. Hers evidently was no hideous appearance for she is called ki-sikil-líl-lá, "the beautiful maiden". […]

The seductive beauty of the female demon on this Babylonian relief is noteworthy. If it should be Lilitu then we should have to infer (from the owls) that she was already regarded as a nocturnal demon, partly, we may suppose, because of the similarity of her name to the Semitic word for night. Lilith is mentioned in Is. 34:14. Her beauty and her nocturnal excursions, which were regarded as dangerous to children, are frequently mentioned in late Jewish sources.

We see no reason to depart from our opinion that in Mr. Sidney Burney's relief and doubtless also in that from the Louvre [AO 6501] we have a portrayal of Lilith. But we admit that she is here on the way to becoming a goddess. The literary sources afford us a striking illustration when the Sumerian text to which we have already referred, describing Gilgamesh's destruction of the tree-home of Lilith, states "In the midst (of the tree) Lilith had built her a house, the shrieking maid, the joyful, the bright Queen of heaven." Mrs. Van Buren, too, quotes these lines but without discerning any relationship between our relief and Lilith. If Lilith is given a divine predicate in this text it seems clear that at a certain time and in a certain area she, who later appears only as a demon, obtained divine rank. In our Relief demoniacal origin of the figure in question is apparent and divine rank equally clear.

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The Burney Relief - H. Frankfort, 1937  

The figures discussed so far were male, but female demons of monstrous appearance were well known in Babylonia and it is with one of these, Lilith, that the Burney relief has been identified by E. G. Kraeling. […] And while most of the other demons combine a variety of zoomorphic features, Lilith must be human in essentials, so that she is perhaps the most likely of the host to be depicted in our relief. The crown of divinity which she wears does not vitiate the identification; the line of demarcation between gods and demons is far from rigid; we shall presently find her adorned with so typically a divine epithet as "Bright Queen of Heaven".

The association of the figure with the lions is obscure; if these beasts serve commonly as a support to Ishtar, they occur also in association with other gods, such as Samas and Ningirsu. The owls, however, might well be the symbol peculiar to Lilith. In a fragment of a Sumerian version of the Epic [32] Gilgamesh fells a tree, at the foot of which the serpent had made her nest while at the top the storm-bird Zu had put his young; "in the midst Lilith had built a house, the shrieking maid, the joyful, the bright Queen of Heaven". R. Campbell Thompson writing without knowledge of the Burney relief [33] suggests that the nesting-place in the hollow of a tree and the epithet "shrieking", would fit the owl, which shares moreover with Lilith the habit of nocturnal flight. This assumption supports the identification of the figure of the relief with Lilith, but it cannot be proved, so long as the texts supply only circumstantial evidence as to Lilith's appearance and emblems. But whatever the name of the creature represented in the Burney relief [34], there can be no doubt that it renders an inhabitant of the Land of Death.

 

• [32] Gadd, RA XXX (1933), pp. 127-43.
• [33] RA XXX (1933), p. 135; and Semitic magic, p. 20 [Note: refer to text under Gadd].
• [34] It is not altogether impossible to hold Mrs. Van Buren's view (AfO XI, p. 356) that our relief shows an aspect of Ishtar, but this is in any case incompatible with the opinion that it represents Lilith, whose specialised character is the very opposite of Ishtar's. The epithet "Queen of Heaven" might refer to Lilith's power of flight only, and seems hardly sufficient to combine her with Ishtar. Nor is it even likely that any aspect of Ishtar should be rendered in the form assumed by the figure in the Burney relief.

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Who is the goddess of the Burney Relief?

If the Burney/Queen of the Night Relief is not Lilith, then who is the goddess it's depicting? Scholars are not sure. There's no inscription, and the location it came from is unknown as it was not archaeologically excavated. There is evidence that points to two major Goddesses of ancient Mesopotamia, one being Ištar as Kilili, and the other being the queen Ereškigal. The Relief's authenticity is questioned by others.

 

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Inanna-Ištar, Kilili:

Figurative Language in the Ancient Near East - Murray Mindlin, Markham J. Geller, John E. Wansbrough, "Pictures and Pictorial Language (The Burney Relief) - Thorkild Jacobsen" - quoted below is his summary.

1. The size of the relief suggests a cult-relief. Since demons had no cult the figure depicted is unlikely to be a demon.
2. The horned crown with four tiers suggests a major deity.
3. The lions suggest Inanna, since she is the only goddess associated with lions.
4. The mountain pattern fits since Inanna’s home was the mountain crests in the east.
5. The yardstick and coil of rope in her hands accord with the description of her in the myth Inanna's Descent.
6. So does the necklace she is wearing.
7. Finally, the owls and the wings and bird talons of the figure show that Inanna is pictured in her aspect of Owl-goddess and goddess of harlots, Ninnina, in Akkadian Kilili.

 

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Ereškigal:

Death in Mesopotamia - Bendt Alster, "The Iconography of Death in Mesopotamia in the Early Second Millennium B.C - E. Porada"

 

In addition to the male gods thought to be associated with death, a female deity has long been known. She is best represented in the so-called Burney relief (pl. XIII a) where she is portrayed as a beautiful woman with a multiple divine crown, nude except for her rich jewelry, having bird wings which point downward (a criterion of demons) and bird claws with which she stands on the bodies of two lions flanked by two owls. The provenience of the relief may be located at Nippur on the basis of a minor detail in the stylization of the lions — the small bow in place of the shoulder star which made its appearance in the Agade period. A fragmentary relief or plaque from Nippur shows a lion with a similar bow, pl. XII c, and a mane stylized like those of the lions in the Burney relief. The same bow, though less well preserved, is seen in another fragment of a clay plaque from Nippur.

If the suggested provenience of the Burney relief at Nippur proves to be correct, the imposing demonic figure depicted on it may have to be identified with the female ruler of the dead or with some other major figure of the Old Babylonian pantheon which was occasionally associated with death.

[…] The goddess portrayed in the Burney relief, the only female deity of the type here considered, impresses the viewer not only by her noble bearing but also by the fact that she holds the rod and ring, emblems of universal power in the Old Babylonian period.

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Forgery

The 'Queen of the Night' Plaque - A Revisit - Pauline Albenda - I will quote the section on Lilith, but the paper is recommended to understand the history of the Relief.

 

Lilith: As noted above, the first identification of Lilith resulted from Gadd's translation of the fragmentary Sumerian tablet. The Chicago Assyrian Dictionary identifies lilitu or lilu (male) as a demoness, and cites several examples in ritual texts. An eighth-century B.C. Babylonian Utukki Limnuti incantation to block the entry of the enemy into someone's house mentions among the descriptions and names of evil spirits "the robber lilû, or lilitu or handmaid of lilû." These creatures seem to have been faceless, since no physical features are explicitly cited in the ritual text. In addition to these evil spirits there was the eššebu, a bird of ill portent.

In his survey of ancient Near Eastern art, Frankfort referred to Isaiah 34.14 to support his identification of the composite female on the Burney plaque with Lilith. H. W. F. Saggs later pointed out that lilitu the feminine demon has been identified with the Hebrew word lilû, "night-monster," according to the translation of the English Revised Version of Isaiah 34.14. Other modern translations of the Hebrew word in Isaiah 34.14 - the Revised Standard Version and the King James Version - identify the monster as "night hag" or "satyr," respectively. Mention of the owl does occur among the wild beasts and birds that shall settle in the wasted land of Edom. For example, the comparable Isaiah 13.21-22 states that "wild beasts of the desert shall lie there; and their houses shall be full of owls, and ostriches shall dwell there, and the scops owl shall hop about there."

 

In his recent study of the portion of Gilgamesh Tablet XII that Gadd published in 1933, Andrew George translates the relevant lines of the text as follows:

In its base a Snake-that-knows-no-Charm had made its nest, in its branches a Thunderbird had hatched its brood, in its trunk a Demon-Maid had built her home. The maiden who laughs with happy heart, holy Inanna was weeping.

This translation does not support the interpretations of Van Buren and other scholars who have identified the female figure on the British Museum relief as the goddess Inanna or Ishtar. Moreover, several lines later in the text one reads that the Sumerian hero Bilgameš (Gilgamesh in Akkadian) tore down the tree and gave the wood to the goddess for her throne and bed. In addition, there is no support in George's translation for a linkage between the Demon-Maid and an owl.  

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Conclusion:

The Burney Relief, or Queen of the Night Relief, was assumed to be Lilith in the past, mainly by Kraeling and Frankfort, based on the translations of "Gilgamesh, Enkidu and the Netherworld". The first study of the text was done by Langdon, and afterwards by Kramer and Gadd, all of whom understood the ki-sikil-lil-la-ke/ardat-lili to be Lilith. Gadd also includes Thompson's suggestion, that ki-sikil-lil-la-ke is the name for an owl, and understands the epithets of Inanna to be referring to the ardat-lili. Accepted translations refer to the demoness as phantom maid, demon-maiden/girl, or another variation. The interpretation of the Burney Relief as Lilith is not supported by modern scholarship. Lilith is not a figure found in ancient Mesopotamia, and the Relief itself is usually theorized to be Ishtar as Kilili, Ereshkigal, or even believed to be inauthentic.

Lamaštu is a unique goddess of ancient Mesopotamia, with an appearance of a hybrid part woman/part animal, that's unusual for a being of her status. After getting expelled from heaven, she was given a dog or lion head by Enlil, and became a demon, which reflects the iconography of anthropomorphic gods as opposed to hybrid demons and monsters of the ancient faith.

Lamaštu, while a threat to human babies, nurses dogs, pigs and sometimes goats as their replacement. Dogs, along with donkeys, are her frequent companions, the latter one also being her means of transportation to the underworld. Her head is fairly inconsistent, appearing as feline (male lion), avian and canine, with donkey ears and teeth (once dog's teeth), and incantations describe her as a She-Wolf (once She-Goat), with spots like a leopard's (once fish's). She appears amongst animals in amulets, they're part of her environment in incantations and myths, and she even follows the "Mistress of the Animals" motif that was common in the ancient Near East and Mediterranean world, holding serpents in each hand, that also symbolize her venom and dangerous nature. Other animals that point to her venom are scorpions and centipedes.

 

Notes on: Head, Description/Appearance, Replacement (of human babies), Companion, Prey, and Connection (last term for any other connection that's not previously specified).

 

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Feline

Lion headed (nēšu)

• Head: Lamaštu appears most frequently with a lion's head, both in amulets (especially in the canonical Group B, C and D amulets, as Group A is inconsistent) and incantations (Lam. II 36, 161; MB: I 11; RA 4), but as Farber (2014) notes in OB2 note 2, "Among the numerous representations of Lamaštu with a lion's head, not one shows her with the head of a female lion, *labbatu". In an incantation, Enlil is the one that gave her a lion's face: BIN 2, 72 "a face of a lioness Enlil fixed for her" (Zomer, 2022).
• Description/Appearance: Lamaštu roars like a lion: Lam. II 164 "roaring like a lion" | MB: I 15 "roaring (and) howling like a lion". She's also compared to a lion: Emar 7 "Like a lion … do not" (Farber, 2014).
• Connection: Lamaštu intimidates a lion: Lam. I 179 "By standing up to a lion, she sextu[ples] her (own) frightful splendor" | OA2 21 "(As) she made limp" 20 "the muscles of (even) a lion" (Farber, 2014).

 

No. 67, Lion-Headed

 

Leopard (nammarat)

• Description/Appearance: Lam. II 37 "The small of her back is speckled like a leopard" (Farber, 2014).
• Description/Appearance: Old Assyrian (OA1): "She is fierce, fearsome, divine; she is a leopard, the Daughter of Anu is a she-wolf" (Wee, 2021). Wee adds in [30]: "In various iterations of the description in first millennium BCE texts, the word nammarat ("she is a leopard") seems to have been substituted by namurrat ("she is of terrifying aura")". [Note: different translation in Farber, 2014].
• Description/Appearance: (27′–28′) "[Her lateral parts (lit. kidneys)] are spotted like a leopard" | Note: Obv. 27′–28: "The quotation here is from the Lamaštu Incantation Series II, 37, translated "The small of her back is speckled like a leopard". […] The argument confirms the link between the lamaštu-demoness with "spotted" lateral parts (lit. kidneys) and the "dappled" ox, as suggested by the omen in Sa-gig U1:18 (S1: 15)" (Wee, 2019).
• Description/Appearance: Lam. I 140 "of a pant]her are her (two) fibulas" (Farber, 2014. In his note he mentions leopard instead).

 

Cat (šurānu)

• Description/Appearance: FsB 9: like a cat she … (Farber, 2014).

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Avian

Eagle (erû)

• Head: On amulets (Group A, e.g. 18), Lamaštu appears with a head of a bird of prey, an eagle/Anzû (Wiggermann, 2000). This description also appears in incantations, MB: I 16 Her face is (that of) Anzû. | FsB 18 Her face is (that of) Anzu? (Farber, 2014).
• Description/Appearance: Lamaštu's feet are Anzû's talons, a description consistent between amulets (e.g. 41) and incantations (Lam. I 106, RA 3; Lam. I 141 refers to eagle talons) (Wiggermann, 2000; Farber, 2014).
• Connection: Some amulets of Group B (27, 34, 35) feature the likeness of an Anzû eagle as an apotropaic figure, who gets replaced by Pazuzu on amulets of groups C and D (Wiggermann, 2000).

No. 18, Head of an eagle with a mane

No. 41, bird talons

No. 35, Anzû as apotropaic figure

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Canine

Wolf (barbaru/barbarat)

• Description/Appearance: Lamaštu is often described as a She-Wolf: Lam. I 37, OB1: 1–4, OA1: 1–2, Ug: V 16'-17', Lam. II 120, Lam. III 90, RS 3, FsB 6, RA 2 (Farber, 2014).
• Connection: Lamaštu intimidates a wolf: Lam. I 180/Ug. I: 5' "By standing up to a wolf, she [imposes on him] whimpering" (Farber, 2014).

 

Dog (kalbu/kalbatu)

• Head: OB2 2: "Enlil fitted her with a dog's face" | FsB 18 "(that of) a do⟨g⟩? is her head" (Farber, 2014).
• Description/Appearance: On some amulets (Group A, e.g. 42, 66), Lamaštu either has characteristics of a dog, or is fully a dog standing on hind legs (Wiggermann, 2000). In an incantation she's said to have teeth of a dog (Lam. I 141: "[Tee]th of a dog are her teeth"). On another occasion, it's her behind: OB4 7: "[The be]hind? of an e[lamite?] dog is at [her] behind?" (Farber, 2014).
• Description/Appearance: Lamaštu whimpers like a dog: Lam. II 165 "whimpering all the time like a bitch" | MB: I: 14 "screaming (and) whimpering like a bitch" (Farber, 2014)
• Replacement: pigs and dogs are frequently portrayed on amulets and suckle her breasts (Groups C and D), or appear next to her (Group A (Wiggermann, 2000). She suckles puppies in an incantation: Ug. IV 9′′ "May she suckle the puppies of the bitch" (Farber, 2014).
• Companion: (e.g. 88) A black dog is Lamaštu's companion/manifestation (Wiggermann, 2000). Note 76: "The black dog who is Lamaštu's gallû in Lam. I 14 executes her deadly orders, and can be called a manifestation of the demoness. It is this gallû which is the possible etymon for Greek Gellō". The phrase of the incantation is "I have made you seize a black dog", which some translate to "I've married you to a black dog" (more on the marriage: Farber, 2007).
• Connection: figurines of dogs are common in Lamaštu incantations (3rd pirsu, "Dog Figurines Ritual": Farber, 2014). They feature either as watch-dogs (guarding the house and patient), or enemies of Lamaštu (Farber, 2007).

 

No. 42, Lamaštu as a dog

No. 88, Lamaštu with dog companions

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Venomous

Snake (ṣerru)

• Description/Appearance: Lamaštu slithers like a snake (Lam. I 134, OB2 6, FsB 5; Wiggermann (2000) translates OB2 "door-pivot" instead of snake) | Snake's poison is her venom (Lam. I 127) | She's compared to a snake: FsB 5 "Like a snake she opened the breast" (Farber, 2014)
• Connection: Lamaštu is seen holding snakes on amulets of Groups C and D (e.g. 23), like the "Mistress of the Animals" (Wiggermann, 2000). The same motif appears in incantations, where Lamaštu images are made to hold snakes (Lam. III 7: Farber, 2014). They appear as part of her environment on amulets of Group A (e.g. 32).
• Connection: Lamaštu's venom is symbolized by the serpents, scorpions and centipedes, that could point to her perverted femininity, since they often appear on amulets between her legs (Götting, 2018).

 

No. 23, Lamashtu holds snakes

No. 32, Lamashtu next to a snake

 

Scorpion (zuqiqīpu)

• Description/Appearance: Scorpion's poison is her venom (Lam. I 127: Farber, 2014)
• Connection: Scorpions are part of Lamaštu's environment on amulets of Group A (e.g. 65: Wiggermann, 2000).
• Connection: Lamaštu's venom is symbolized by the serpents, scorpions and centipedes, that could point to her perverted femininity, since they often appear on amulets between her legs (Götting, 2018).

No. 65, Lamashtu with a scorpion

 

Centipede (ḫallulāja)

• Connection: Centipedes feature in the background of Lamaštu's amulets, specifically the groups C and D (Farber, 2014). Examples of such amulets are no. 37 (Götting, 2020) and no. SM 1949.03.002 (Wee, 2021).
• Connection: Lamaštu's venom is symbolized by the serpents, scorpions and centipedes, that could point to her perverted femininity, since they often appear on amulets between her legs (Götting, 2018).
• Connection: Possible protective aspect: Wiggermann (2000) mentions that: "Farber 1987: 102ff. identifies a centipede on certain Lamaštu amulets, who as an assistant of the divine court probably stands on the side of the victim". A centipede, "ḫallulāja", is a demon and a protective spirit (Wiggermann, 2011).

No. 37, centipede next to Lamaštu

no. SM 1949.03.002, centipede next to Lamaštu

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Equine

Team of equids (urû)

• Connection: equids are part of her environment: Lam. II 87 "A team of equids? and a pig go in front of her, whoever she suckles drops (dead?)" (Farber, 2014).

 

Donkey (imēru)

• Description/Appearance: In incantations (Lam. II 36, 161; MB: I 11; RS 2), Lamaštu is said to have the teeth of a donkey (not recognizable on amulets: Farber, 2014). On the amulets themselves (Wiggermann, 2000), Lamaštu is often depicted with the ears of a donkey (Group B, e.g. 9).
• Companion: the donkey is Lamaštu's means to the underworld (Groups C and D, e.g. 24), often standing on a boat that carries both across the river Ulaya and to the Netherworld (Wiggermann, 2000).
• Connection: a donkey's leg appears on amulets (Group A, e.g. 85, also C and D), which has a symbolic meaning: "Note 175: The symbolic meaning of the donkey's lower leg is revealed by Maqlu V 45: "may the passer-by look angrily upon her (the witch), as upon a donkey's lower leg" (cf. AfO 21:77), the context of which is the expulsion of witches" (Wiggermann, 2000; also Götting, 2020).
• Connection: Lamaštu is intimidating donkeys: Lam. I 40/Lam. II 123: "She holds back the ox as it moves around, she blocks the don[key] as it runs" | OB1 8–9 "She hol[ds] back the [o]x while it is moving around, she forces the donkey [to lie down] completely inactive" | OA1 9–13 "She [...] pulls the fast donkey? at its tail" (Farber, 2014) | Alt. translation (Zomer, 2022): 12–13 "She tears off the tail of the quick mule".
• Connection: Donkeys are part of Lamaštu's environment: SKS 5: "She moves about between the oxen", 6 "[roars] all the time between the donkeys", 7 "ru[ns] around between the oxen", 8 "jumps up and down between the donkeys" (Farber, 2014).
• Connection: donkeys figurines are common in Lamaštu incantations (e.g. K 888: Farber, 2014).
• Prey: Lamaštu is advised to act as midwife to animals: MB: I: "18 Grab the (wild) animals, the wild ass, the gazelle, (–), 19 wild bulls, bucks, deer (and) ibexes!" (Farber, 2014).

No. 9, donkey ears

No. 24, donkey as vehicle

No. 85, donkey leg

Onager (serrēmu)

• Connection: Lam. I: 195 "Like a wild onager ride (to?) your mountain!" | Ug: II: 14′ "Like an onager [in] your [wildern]ess roam [your] mountain!" (Farber, 2014).

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Bovidae

Cattle

• Prey: Lamaštu is redirected to cattle: Emar 24: "I have taken you 23 to well-fed cattle, 24 to fattened sheep" (Farber, 2014).

 

Cow

• Description/Appearance: YOS 11, 66: "You are a kamad, you are an august queen, you are a wild cow, you know no sacrificial offering. Oh, be gone, … ! Be gone, depart! Be gone, depart!" (George, 2018).

 

Sheep

• Prey: Lamaštu is redirected to sheep: Emar 24: "I have taken you 23 to well-fed cattle, 24 to fattened sheep" (Farber, 2014).

 

Goat

• Description/Appearance: She's once described as She-Goat (OB4 2) instead of She-Wolf (Farber, 2014).
• Replacement: Single instance of goats replacing human babies, like dogs and pigs: Ug IV: 9 "May she suckle the puppies of the bitch, 10 the twin (kid)s of [the go]at!" (Farber, 2014).

 

Oxen

• Connection: Oxen were used as an omen and a symbol of disease caused by the Daughter of Anu: (19) "If he sees a red ox, the lamaštu-demoness has seized that sick man" | (24′–25′) "(If) he sees a dappled ox, [the lamaštu-demoness] has seized that sick man" (Wee, 2019).
• Connection: Lamaštu is intimidating oxen: Lam. I 40/Lam. II 123: "She holds back the ox as it moves around, she blocks the don[key] as it runs" | OB1 8–9 "She hol[ds] back the [o]x while it is moving around, she forces the donkey  [to lie down] completely inactive" (Farber, 2014).
• Connection: Oxen are part of Lamaštu's environment: SKS 5: "She moves about between the oxen", 6 "[roars] all the time between the donkeys", 7 "ru[ns] around between the oxen", 8 "jumps up and down between the donkeys" (Farber, 2014).

 

Gazelle

• Prey: Lamaštu is advised to act as midwife to animals: MB: I: "18 Grab the (wild) animals, the wild ass, the gazelle, (–), 19 wild bulls, bucks, deer (and) ibexes!"

 

Bulls

• Prey: Lamaštu is advised to act as midwife to animals: MB: I: "18 Grab the (wild) animals, the wild ass, the gazelle, (–), 19 wild bulls, bucks, deer (and) ibexes!" (Farber, 2014).

 

Ibexes

• Prey: Lamaštu is advised to act as midwife to animals: MB: I: "18 Grab the (wild) animals, the wild ass, the gazelle, (–), 19 wild bulls, bucks, deer (and) ibexes!" (Farber, 2014).
• Prey: Lam. II 42 "take deer and ibexes" (Farber, 2014).

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Rodent

Hamster (asqūdu) [Note: ORACC translates as rodent]

• Description/Appearance: FsB 8: "Like a hamster …" (Farber, 2014).

 

Vole (harriru)

• Description/Appearance: FsB 10: "like a vole she wrinkles her nose o[ver] …" (Farber, 2014).

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Other

Pig (šahû)/piglet (kurkuzannu)

• Replacement: pigs and dogs are frequently portrayed on amulets (Wiggermann, 2000) and suckle her breasts (Groups C and D), or appear next to her (Group A, e.g. 11).
• Prey: a heart of a piglet is placed inside the mouth of a figurine of Lamaštu in incantations (e.g. Lam. I 27: Farber, 2014).
• Connection: pigs are part of her environment: Lam. II 87 "A team of equids? and a pig go in front of her, whoever she suckles drops (dead?)" (Farber, 2014).

No. 11, piglet and head of a dog

 

Fish (nūnu)

• Description/Appearance: Variation of leopard spots, OB4 3′ Like a fish, [the small of her back?] is speck[led] (Farber, 2014).
• Connection: Fish appear in the background of amulets of Groups C and D (Farber, 2014).

 

Deer/Bucks

• Prey: Lamaštu is advised to act as midwife to animals: MB: I: "18 Grab the (wild) animals, the wild ass, the gazelle, (–), 19 wild bulls, bucks, deer (and) ibexes!" (Farber, 2014).
• Prey: Lam. II 42 "take deer and ibexes" (Farber, 2014).

 

Mongoose

• Description/Appearance: Lam. II 18 "like a mongoose do not slither in by the door pivot" (Farber, 2014).

 

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As an aside, Lamaštu on some amulets has a striking similarity to a "Master of the Animals" from Iran: "Tepe Giyan Stone Seal Iran, 5000-4000 BCE British Museum - BM 128660"

 

https://preview.redd.it/5fqc5x311shh1.jpg?width=1875&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=f35f7c18714d606a2c614f32a1c3f659c541da4c

 

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Sources:

• Farber, Walter (2007). Lamaštu and the Dogs
• Farber, Walter (2014). Lamaštu, An Edition of the Canonical Series of Lamashtu Incantations
• George, Andrew R. (2018). Kamadme, the Sumerian Counterpart of the Demon Lamaštu, in Sources of Evil - Buylaere
• Götting, Eva (2018). Arcane Art, Some Thoughts on the Perception of the Magico-Religious Imagery of Lamaštu-Amulets
• Götting, Eva (2020). A Demon's Travel Kit, An Introduction to the Items Depicted on Amulets against the Demoness Lamaštu
• Wee, John Z. (2019). Mesopotamian Commentaries on the Diagnostic Handbook Sa-gig
• Wee, John Z. (2021). The Lamashtu Amulet, A Portrait of the Caregiver as a Demoness
• Wiggermann, F.A.M. (2000). Lamaštu, Daughter of Anu, in Birth in Babylonia and the Bible - M. Stol https://www.academia.edu/2393886/Lamastu_Daughter_of_Anu
• Wiggermann, F.A.M. (2011). The Mesopotamian Pandemonium
• Zomer, Elyze; Wasserman, Nathan (2022). Akkadian Magic Literature, Old Babylonian and Old Assyrian Incantations

 

Further reading:

• Animals and their Relation to Gods, Humans and Things in the Ancient World - Raija Mattila, Sanae Ito, Sebastian Fink, "Animals and Demons. Faunal Appearances, Metaphors, and Similes in Lamaštu Incantations - Joonas Hirvonen"
• Dogs, Pigs, Lamaštu, and the Breast-Feeding of Animals by Women - Frans A. M. Wiggermann
• Intimate Relations Reconsidering Backgrounds of the Mesopotamian Mistress of the Animals (Ἡ Πότνια Θηρῶν) - Gebhard J. Selz

This painting is an offering to Lilith and her parallels. Through it, I wanted to explore each spirit individually, devote a part of my practice to them, and find out how they differ from Lilith herself when approached.

Lilith is the woman sitting in the center of the tree, as the crossing point of all of those beings. She wears a red dress, has red hair, and her eyes are black with her symbols (sigil and black moon Lilith ⚸) in the center. For me, Lilith, as the name that survived across millennia, embodies and represents all other beings like her, as she's a common reference point. Lilith feels inconsistent. She's both warm, can be motherly, but is also a vast and limitless void. She's helped me open my eyes and grow, and I believe there are many more lessons left to learn from her.

The lioness with the lion's mane, Lamaštu is holding serpents and standing to the left of Lilith, as her predecessor, and older, more primordial manifestation. She's naked, with donkey ears, leopard spots and eagle talons. Approaching Lamaštu frequently feels like being hunted, she feels wild and primordial. She's the most ancient of the demons (as Kamadme), and the only goddess in the long chain of child-killing succubi of the ancient Near East and Mediterranean world.

A screech owl, Strix, survived in Jewish folklore as the Estrie. A screech owl appears in Isaiah 34:14 as lilit, an association that stuck through time, but Strix is also a separate Greco-Roman spirit linked with witches. Striga also appears as a name of Gello in the lists given by her.

The half woman/half serpent that translated "lilit" in the Vulgate, Lamia appears with hollow eyes as a reference to her mythology. She is an ophidian/serpentine representation of Lilith in the ancient Greek world. Lamia's mythology isn't as developed as that of her Near Eastern counterparts, but she was the one who opened the doors for me to approach the rest.

The spirit that borrowed Medusa's appearance in the Testament of Solomon, Abyzou is connected to the abyss. Phthonos (φθόνος, envy) appeared on amulets as a half-woman/half-fish, which I decided to honour here. With her Greek parallel, Aura (or Antaura), Abyzou is connected to water, and by extension (using modern correspondences) to emotions.

The young woman that's mourning the life she lost to the left is an ardat-lilî, with a bat wing as a reference to the winged Lamaštu-lilû in an incantation. The lilītu/ardat-lilî influenced Lilith, her plurality, and they're etymologically connected. To approach their energy, I prefer to do so through Lamaštu, now essentially the embodiment of all of Lilith's traits, frequently by chanting "Lamaštu ki-sikil-lil-la, Pašittu ki-sikil-ud-da-kar-ra".

The woman on the right, Gello, might have been a passing reference in one of Sappho's poems (mentioned by Zenobius). Gello's etymology, while obscure, is commonly linked to gallû. She is also seen mourning the life she lost, as Gello is the spirit of a woman that died a virgin, something she shares with the ardat-lilî. She's the demoness with plenty and sometimes long name lists (reaching 72 names), shares the names of Abyzou and Strix, and as such appears in many manuscripts with lots of correspondences.

Lots of spirits syncretised with Lilith start their mythology as mortal women who faced disaster, and even Lamashtu herself is presented as a frustrated mother in incantations. Approaching them, especially Lamaštu and Lilith, has changed the course of my life and the way that I think about the world around me. While their mythology never fails to point out their evil deeds, it's my understanding that death is a necessity for the world to function, and a spirit, whose domain is cosmic balance, might be intimidating but isn't necessarily evil. The more I learn about them, the more complicated it becomes, as their essence will always be hard to grasp. Lilith is terrifying and beautiful, and a reminder that spirits like her will linger in the background of most mythologies across the world, as a powerful force of destruction and decay.

Ave Lilith ⚸

Besides the volumes focused on the Anti-Witchcraft corpus, Maqlû, Udug-Hul/Utukkū Lemnūtu and Melothesia/Astrology, plenty of publications have been made available that include incantations directed towards Kamadme/Lamaštu or the spirits of the lilû class. The most important volume on Lamaštu incantations is "Lamaštu, An Edition of the Canonical Series of Lamashtu Incantations" by Walter Farber. I will not include it in this post, as I unfortunately cannot copy a whole book, but it's a necessity for serious studies on her.

 

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Any Evil, a Stalking Ghost, and the Bull-Headed Demon - Daniel Schwemer

Mss. A // B // c obv. 14′–rev. 19 // d

 

1. Incantation: Whoever you are, [A]ny Evil, an evil šēdu-demon,
2. an evil ghost, an evil alû-demon, an evil utukku-demon, an evil gallû-demon,
3. an e[vil] god, an evil rābiṣu-demon, a stalking (ms. c: evil) stalker,
4. an illness, headache, insomnia,
5. a male lilû-demon, a female lilû-demon, the lilû-girl,
6. or any evil that can seize a human,
7. that has been fastened to my sides and keeps persecuting me day and night:

 

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Akkadian Magic Literature, Old Babylonian and Old Assyrian Incantations - Nathan Wasserman, Elyze Zomer

2.1.11 Various Diseases

№ 49: CT 42, 32

• 10–11 As for the murderous bile, Lamaštu, the Snatcher-demon, dog bite, (or) human tooth, may Annunītum trample (them) through her incantation!

 

№ 50: CT 44, 32(+)33t

• 14''' (By) a spell of the Twin Deities,
• 15''' Ḫimiṭ ṣētim-disease, šibiṭ [šāri-disease,]
• 16''' seizure by Lilû? and Lilītu?
• 17''' (and) Šulak of …,
• 18''' the hurling Ḫayyattu-demon I have been seized!

 

№ 53: Fs. Stol 150

• 7 May the twin-brother and twin-sister, children of Sîn, prevent Lamaštu, the murderous bile, the Snatcher, pox, fever, falling, šanadum-disease, shivering, the asakku-disease from bringing (you) to your destiny!
• 8 May the bright slaughter-demoness not approach you!

 

2.2.1 Dogs

№ 63: AMD 1, 286b

• 10 It came down and …
• 11 It came down …
• 12 Long of hand(s) (just as) Lamaštu!

 

2.3.6 Witchcraft

№ 147: PBS 1/2, 122

• 1 Sum: Evil one, [evil] eye, child of destruction,
• Akk: Lilītum whose e[ye is evil, …]
• 2 Sum: is r[oaming around] (with) sorceries and witchcraft, [chasing around like a lilû-demon].
• Akk: Witchcraft (and) sorceries are r[oaming around, …]
• 3 Sum: [In order to bind the ensnared] young girl (and) the lad,
• Akk: The young lad and girl […]

 

2.4.2 Lamaštu

№ 158: AMD 1, 286a

• 5 Incantation (against) Lamaštu.
• 6–7 Its procedure: you tie up a lump of salt in a piece of cloth.
• 8 You tie (it) on his neck.
• 9 He will be well.

 

№ 159: BIN 2, 72

• 1–2 Anum created her, Ea brought her up, a face of a lioness Enlil fixed for her.
• 3–5 She is short of hands, very long of fingers, as to her nails she is very long, her two forearms are smeared?.
• 6–7 She entered the door of the house, slipping through the door socket.
• 8–9 Once slipped through the door socket, she saw the child. She seized it seven times in its abdomen.
• 10–13 Take off your nails, drop off your arms, before he has reached you, the wise-of-work, Ea the hero!
• 14–15 The door socket is wide (enough) for you, open are the doors: Go, walk about the steppe!
• 16–19 With dust your mouth, with a whirl-wind your face, with cress seeds finely ground I will verily fill your eyes!
• 20 I conjure you by the oath of Ea!
• 21 You must go away!

 

№ 160: BIN 4, 126

• 1–2 She is unique! She is a goddess! She is late (born)!
• 3–5 She keeps flashing! She is an utukku-demoness! She is evil!
• 5–7 A daughter of a god, the daughter of Anum.
• 8–10 Because of her malevolent intention(s), her blasphemous decision(s),
• 10–13 Anum, her father, smashed her down to earth from heaven.
• 14–15 – Because of her malevolent intention(s), her rebellious decision(s)!
• 16–17 Her hair is loose. Her garments are stripped off.
• 18–20 She goes straight for the godless person(s)!
• 20–21 She slackens the lion's muscles!
• 22–24 She catches the muscles of a child and the infant!

 

№ 161: Fs. de Meyer 89

• 1' H[er] breasts are [stripped off …]
• 2' A goat is … […]
• 3' Like a fish [her body is do]tted.
• 4' Like šaršerru-paste [her ch]eek is pale.
• 5' Her head is a lion's head,
• 6' Her teeth are donkey's teeth.
• 7' … of a dog …
• 8' … in a hole …
• 1' …
• 2' Her [h]eart …
• 3' Do (f.) not return! …
• 4' The donkey …
• 5' That she has caught …
• 6' Catch (f.) !

 

№ 162: Or. 66, 61

• 1–2 She is fierce! She is fearsome! She is a goddess! She is radiating!
• 3–4 She is a she-wolf! The daughter of Anum!
• 5–6 In the grass is her dwelling,
• 7–8 in the alfafa-grass is her lair.
• 9–11 She holds back the agile young man.
• 12–13 She tears off the tail of the quick mule.
• 13–14 She smites entirely the little ones.
• 15–16 She gives the old ones amniotic fluid to drink – so they say.
• 17–19 The spell is not mine, it is the spell of Ninkilil, the lord of spells!
• 20–22 Ninkarrak cast it, I received it.

 

№ 163: TIM 9, 63d

• i 1 [May they? not] return!
• i 2 … may she? not return!
• i 3 … life?
• ii 1 Incantation (against) Lamaštu

 

№ 164: YOS 11, 19a

• 1 She is fierce, she is evil?, she is...
• 2 She is roaming around the c[hildren? (…)]
• 3 Although she is not a physician, she bandages [the umbilical cord?].
• 4 Although she is not a midwife, she wipes off the new-born,
• 5 She keeps counting the months of the pregnant women,
• 6 She is blocking regularly the gate of the woman who is giving birth.
• 7 She keeps accompanying the stride of the livestock.
• 8 She is examining the land in a demon's rage:
• 9–11 she takes hold of the young man in the street, of the young woman in the dance, of the little-one on the shoulder of the nurse.
• 12–14 When the two gods saw her, they threw her out of the window, they made her slink through the door socket.
• 15 They have tied her to a tamarisk? in the middle of the sea.
• 16 ... in the Araḫtum-canal...
• 17 Incantation (against) Lamaštu... babi[e(s)].

 

№ 165: YOS 11, 20

• 1–2 She is fierce, she is frightening, she is a goddess, she has awe-inspiring radiance?.
• 3–4 Indeed, she is a she-wolf, the daughter of Anum,
• 5–7 the grass is [her la]ir?, … [in the th]reshold is [her lo]cation?,
• 8–9 She is ho[lding back?] the walking [b]ull?, [she is forcing?] the donkey to sit.
• 10–12 She strangles the small-ones, she compels the big ones to drink the amniotic fluid.
• 13 tu-en-nu-ru

 

2.4.3 Wardat-lilî

№ 166: YOS 11, 92

• 1 Incantation (against) Wardat-lilî.
• 2–3 The guide of the god Erra, the weeper? of all winds,
• 4–6 who was cut-off in her prime like a fresh fruit.
• 7–12 The (girls) spend (f.) time in dancing every day, the (girls) keep twirling in celebration. At their shout, the street shuts away.
• 13–14 A bridegroom did not deflower her.
• 15–16 She did not kiss the lip(s) of a baby, so tender.
• 17–18 She was canny, she left her parental house.
• 19–20 She was despised for not [giving birth to] a child.
• 21–24 And so, her husband, an evil storm, and she, a phantom, are roaming in the steppe.
• 25–27 I conjure you (f.) by Anum and Antum, Enšēda and Ḫadaniš:
• 28–29 You will not enter to the house which I enter!
• 30–31 [Where] I spit you will not touch!

 

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Corpus of Middle Babylonian and Middle Assyrian Incantations - Elyze Zomer

Any Evil / Various Diseases

Ugaritica 5, 17b

• 28. labāṣu! (text: aḫhāzu), aḫhāzu, the ḫayyattu-demon, the lilû-demon, the lilītu demon,
• 29. verily the ardat lilî-demon, striking of the nose-disease, the ḫimiṭ-ṣēti-disease

 

Udug.ḫul & Udug.ḫul-related

Emar 729b

• 18. may the evil utukku-demon, the evil alû-demon, the evil eṭemmu, the evil gallû demon, the evil god, (and) the evil rābiṣu-demon,
• 19. lamaštu, labāṣu, (and) the aḫḫāzu-demons, the lilû-demon, the eṭel lilî-demon,
• 20. the lilītu-demon, the ardat lilî-demon, the evil Namtar-demon,

 

KUB 37, 101(+)102

• 4'. [The evil] utukku-demon, […], the evil […], the evil rābiṣu-demon,
• 5'. lamaštu, [labāṣu], aḫḫāzu,
• 6'. lil[û, lilītu, ardat] lilî

 

7.17 Miscellaneous

AS 16, 287f.b

• 12. INCANTATION: 'The Great Lady' is his queen! […'The Great Lady']
• 13. is his queen! ditto (='The Great Lady' is his queen!?). Be you a Kamadru! Be you a Kamad! [(…)]
• 14. Like evil does not stand on the right side, like evil [does not stand on the left] side […]
• 15. at his right side! right and left? ditto (= ?) By Heaven be conjured! By Heaven […]

 

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Mesopotamian Incantations and Related Texts in the Schøyen Collection - Andrew R. George

 

II.A.15. No. 10a/MS 3089+3102 (Pl. XXXV)

• i 1'–3' [The stormwind of the land settled on the earth. It brought head ailments, it] brought [eye ailments,] it brought [stomach] ailments, it brought gut ailments, it brought [muscle]ailments, it [brought] tooth [ailments,]
• 4'–11' it [brought] unpleasant diseases, [it] brought “seven-grown” feet, it brought “standing head,” wind of the insides, it brought dogs, it brought the demon Kamadme, it brought the demon Kamadru, it brought the demon Kamad-ḪAL, it brought nunzunun and nunbar.

 

II.B.4. No. 39/MS 3069 (Pl. CIII)

• obv. 1–7 [. . .] iglili ulili! Be you an evil Maiden, or be [you] an evil [. . .,] or be you an evil Lurker, or be you an [evil] . . ., or be you an evil ala-demon, [or be you] an evil udug-demon from the steppe, or be you an evil udug-demon from my city, [or be you an evil] malevolent asag-demon, or be you an evil god, [or be you] evil kamad-demons, or be you evil ghosts(?), or the divine Seven, or evil eyes, or be you evil [. . .] of heaven, earth and netherworld, [or evil] gods [of . . .]

 

II.B.5. No. 12d/MS 3096 (Pl. XLI)

• iii 22'–26' Evil udug-demon, residing in the man's body, Fate-demon, residing in the man's body, Kamadme-demon (Lamaštu), residing in the man's body, headache-(demon) coming out of the netherworld in the confusion(?), Kamadme-demon, you shall arise from the man's body!

 

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II.B.8. No. 22c–d (Pl. LXVII), No. 28c (Pl. LXXVII) and No. 10g (Pl. XXXV)

No. 22c/MS 3105/1 / 28c/3067

• ii 7'–13' Kamadme (var. Kamadgen) is (her) name, child [of An,] sister of the divine street-children of Ur, . . . (three lines not translated). May she be [adjured] by the gods(!) of heaven and earth, may she fly away with the birds of the sky!

 

No. 10g/MS 3089+3102 (for George's commentary on the interpretation of the text, refer to: Names of Lamaštu)

• 14'–25' The lady, envoy of the Anunna-gods, whose names are most manifest among the gods, whose word is supreme among their queens, has taken hold (of a victim). A malevolent asag-demon, with a grievous ulu-demon, inflicted on mankind, you are Kamad(me) (Lamaštu)! The Lady who Hears Prayers, in blooming she is (like) the sea, in fruiting she makes . . ., the exalted lady, lady who gives birth, like the foremost supreme child of An, . . . (remainder lost)

 

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II.B.9. No. 37/MS 3074 (Pl. C)

• 1–9 . . . May it become clean (or leave)! (By)Enlil, Ninlil, Enki, Nergal: be you Kamadme, be you Kamadru, zilaḫ zilzilaḫ zilaḫ numeraḫ! Let not (even) Asalluḫe, son of Eridu, be able to undo (this spell)!

 

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II.B.10. Nos. 62–63 (Pls. CXXXVII–CXXX-VIII)

No. 62/MS 1913

• Kamadme, daughter of An, chosen one of the
• gods, queen, most majestic of queens.

 

No. 63/MS 2779

• Lamaštu: Daughter of Anu is her first name.
• Second is Sister of the Gods of the Streets.
• Third is Knife that Cleaves the Head.
• Fourth is One who Kindles Fire.
• Fifth is Goddess whose Face is Furious.
• Sixth is Entrusted to the Hand.
• Adopted by Irnina is the seventh.
• Be adjured by the [great] gods, [fly away with the birds of the sky!]

 

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Sumerian and Akkadian in Old Babylonian Incantation Tablets - Nicholas Michael Gill

OBI 012 = Ashm 1932-0421 (OECT 5, 55)

• obv. Fragmentary remains of a mathematical exercise.
• rev. 1 Kamadme is the name of the daughter of An. She is the assistant of An, the little child of Ur. The flitting goddess sets her mouth on bodies. The goddess set loose a burning eye.

 

OBI 035 = BM 92505 (CT 44, 27)

• obv. 20 Incantation formula. As he went over the earth, as he went over the earth, the prince sent forth semen, the prince sent forth semen. After the prince sent forth the princely seed into the earth, Šakkan was begotten from it in the dry land.
• obv. 24 The lord looked over the broad steppe. The great lord Enki looked over the broad steppe. He released a lamb he had caught there. The wardat-lilîm was lurking in the windy place and the eṭlu-lilîm was lurking in the windy place.
• rev. 2 He made them leave the body and drove them away from the body. The lord who is wise with respect to the earth pushed back against them.

 

OBI 098 = IM 21180, y (TIM 9, 63)

• obv. 1′ He shall recover … You shall be exorcized by the heavens. You shall be exorcized by the earth. You shall be exorcized by Enlil. You shall be exorcized by Ninlil. You shall be exorcized by Asalluhi the child of Eridu. An incantation for Kamadme.
• obv. 6′ He shall become immaculate by Enlil, Enki, and Nergal, the heavens, the seven of them, the earths, the seven of them, the lords, the seven of them, and the mounds, the seven of them.
• obv. 8′ As long as the human being, the child of his god, also remains alive, you shall not eat food with him. You shall not drink water with him. You shall not sit on the throne with him. You shall not lay in bed with him.
• obv. 11′ You shall not sit on the throne with him, y
• ou shall not lay in bed with him, and you shall not place your hand upon the table of your ancestor, Enlil.
• obv. 14′ Kamadme, you shall be exorcized by heaven! You shall be exorcized by earth! You shall be exorcized by all the great gods! An incantation for Kamadme.
• obv.17′ Kamadme is the name of the child of An. She is the assistant of An, a child of the streets of Ur. The flitting goddess has poison for bodies in her mouth. The goddess set loose a burning eye. The lady looks inside the womb.
• obv. 22′ You shall be exorcized by the gods of the heavens. She has flown away with the birds of the heavens.
• rev. 1 The shepherd set up the cattle pen and the sheepfold in a pure place. He pastured its first-rate goats and pastured its female goats. As for the wool of a virgin ewe and the wool of a virgin kid,
• rev. 4 after you have gathered their black wool on the right and their white wool on the left, after you have approached the side of the black dog laying in a ditch and the white dog laying in a ditch,
• rev. 8 and after Uttu, the benevolent woman, the great matron, the wise matron of Inanna, has spun it for you on the right and on the left, then, after you have rubbed them with the butter of a pure cow and after you have cast the spell of Eridu on them,
• rev. 13 the evil utukkum, the evil alû, the evil eṭemmum, the evil gallû, Kamadme, clammy Kamad, the evil man, the evil eye, the evil mouth, and the evil tongue shall stand off to the side.
• rev. 17 The benevolent utukkum and the benevolent lamassum shall stand alongside them. You shall be exorcized by the heavens. You shall be exorcized by the earth. You shall be exorcized by Enlil. You shall be exorcized by Ninlil.
• rev. 20 You shall be exorcized by Ninurta, the strong hero of Enlil. You shall be exorcized by Nusku the august vizier of Enlil. You shall be exorcized by Enki, the lord whose words do not come off like pitch. You shall be exorcized by … l.
• ed. i 1′ They shall not return! Kamadme shall not return to me. He shall recover. An incantation for Kamadme.

 

 

OBI 109 = IM 160562

• rev. 3 Incantation formula. For the utukkum, clammy Kamad, corpses, and the deceased.

 

OBI 116 = LB 1005

• rev. 1 Kamadme, you shall be exorcized by the heavens. You shall be exorcized by earth. As long as the human being, the child of his god, returns to this place, you shall not eat food with him, you shall not drink water with him, and you shall not place your hand upon the table of your father, Enlil.

 

OBI 147 = MS 3074 (CUSAS 32, 37)

• obv. 1 Incantation formula. He shall become immaculate by Enlil, Ninlil, Enki, and Nergal! Whether you are Kamadme, or whether you are clammy Kamad,
• obv. 6 zi-la-ah zi-il-zi-la-ah zi-la-ah nu-mera-ah. Asalluhi, the child of Eridu, will not undo it alongside him. Incantation formula.
• obv. 11 After he has been released, you will not eat bread. You will not drink water. You shall be exorcized by the heavens! You shall be exorcized by earth! You shall be exorcized by Utu, the judge of the land!
• rev. 1 You shall be exorcized by Enlil! You shall be exorcized by Ninlil!

 

OBI 181 = NBC 3830 (YOS 11, 66)

• rev. 4 You are Kamadme. You are an august mistress. You are a wild cow. Your offerings are no more. rev. 8 Your jubilation shall come to an end! Get away from the street! Get away from the street!

 

 

OBI 279 = YBC 5149 (YOS 11, 90)

• obv. 1 The entirety of the heavens and the entirety of the earth is the tongue of a single ox and the tongue of a single sheep! The tongue of humanity spoils the food and spoils the bread. The mouth which holds sorcery is changing the appearance! Kamadme is the one who has poured leprosy onto the man. That human being keeps crying out bitterly.

 

OBI 287 = YBC 5627 (YOS 11, 89)

• obv. 1 Incantation formula. He shall become immaculate by An, Enlil, Enki, and Nergal! The heavens, the seven of them. The earths, the seven of them. The mounds, the seven of them. The boundaries, the seven of them. The frontiers, the seven of them. The thrones, the seven of them. The divine secrets, the seven of them. The me, the seven of them. The heavens and the earth, the seven of them. zi-im-zi-ra-ah.
• obv. 8 I am Numelah. I am the prince of the Abzu. I am Nunuh. Kamadme, you shall be exorcized by the heavens! You shall be exorcized by earth! You shall be exorcized by Enlil! rev. 1 He has raised his head to the heavens. He has lowered his head to the earth. An incantation for Kamadme.

 

OBI 291 = YBC 5631 (YOS 11, 78)

• obv. 1 A sick head has set itself upon a person. The sick head has placed a hand upon the little one in order to make the neck sick. Bandages cannot hold onto the sick head. The young man is sick.
• obv. 5 Nothing can hold back the lilû from the sick young man. The sick head has seized the necklace. It has made the very sick neck of the young woman convulse. Asalluhi saw it.
• obv. 10 “That which I know, you also know! As for the arsuppum barley, šeguššum barley, and ennēnum barley which has reached its day in the furrow,
• rev. 1 a wise woman shall grind it with a clean arm.” It is an incantation for a sick head.

 

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The Exorcist's Manual (KAR 44) - Mark J. Geller

• 10 gloss: lad 'lad of lilû-demon', 'maiden of lilû-demon', 'substitute figurines' gloss: the evil demon is walking around.
• 13 Ki'utukku (prayers) to a man's personal god, '(Ušburrudû-spells) for undoing witchcraft', '(Namerimburrudû-spells) for undoing the (effects) of a (broken) oath', 'blowing of the wind', Lamaštu,
• 14 (and) 'All evil'. 'Combustion' (Maqlû-ritual), 'Burning' (Šurpu-ritual), '(rituals) to make bad dreams good' and '(rituals) for arousing desire',
• 15 gloss: a woman not giving birth 'to bind a pregnant woman', 'woman in travail', Lamaštu and (incantations) 'to calm a baby'
• 34 the evil alû-demon, the lilû-spirit, 'Supporter of evil'-demon, the 'Hand of the (broken) oath' (affliction), 'Hand of mankind' (sorcery),

 

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Incantations and Anti-Witchcraft Texts from Ugarit - Gregorio del Olmo Lete

A series of incantations against Lamashtu RS 25.420+

• Refer to Farber's "Lamaštu, An Edition of the Canonical Series of Lamashtu Incantations", under "Ug".

 

Another incantation against Lamashtu RS 25.513

• 1 [She is ], she is an Amorite, she is uncan[ny, ]
• 2 she is [ ], and she is powerful, … [ ]
• 3 [ ], she is sco[wling?], she is a she-wolf, the daughter [of Anu! ]
• 4 [ h]er cheek [is as yellow as] kalû-clay [ ]
• 5 [ ] she ente[rs] a house [ ]
• 6 [ re]turn? and [ ]
• 7 [ she enters] the locked [house

 

A collection of incantations against various demons and diseases RS 17.155

• 26 evil alû demon, kuraštimmu disease, fever, [ ]
• 27 [s]py demon, utukku demon, šīqu disease, šaššaṭu disease, [Lamashtu,]
• 28 labaṣu demon, catcher demon, terror demon, lilû demon, lilī[tu demon]
• 29 or ardat-lilî demon, n… disease, ṣētu fever,
• 30 (and) mighty gallû demon, who hover high in the city

 

Incantation against demons RS 34.021

• 6 utukku demon [ ]
• 7 … [ ]
• 8 the lurker of … [ ]
• 9 lilītu? demon [ ]
• 10 migh[ty] gallû demon

Trying to be as exhaustive as possible, this post is to be used as a reference sheet for the most important volumes of Mesopotamian magic that include Kamadme/Lamaštu and the phantoms lilû, lilītu and ardat-lilî. The relevant passages of each incantation will be included.

 

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Anti-Witchcraft

Corpus of Mesopotamian Anti-Witchcraft Rituals, Volume 1 - Tzvi Abusch, Daniel Schwemer

 

TEXTS OF GROUP SEVEN: UŠBURRUDA TEXTS

7.2 TABLET 63 OF THE CANONICAL UŠBURRUDA SERIES

• (37′) Its ritual: 39′ [You ...]
• 37′ lupine, 'heals-a-thousand'-plant, 'heals-twenty'-plant, sikillu-plant, elkulla-plant,
• 38′'wood-of-release', Lamaštu-plant, kukuru-plant, burāšu-juniper, ce[dar, 'sweet' reed, tamarisk],
• 39′ maštakal-soapwort, 'horned' salt-plant, salt, sulph[ur, 16 drugs for undoing witchcraft].
• 40′ You recite this incantation over (it) three times. [...]
• 41′ You rub him with oil, then witchcraft ... [...]
• 42′ will not approach him. This man will be pure, his 'heart' will be cleansed ... [...] ... [...].

 

7.10 PRESCRIPTIONS AND DRUG LISTS FOR UŠBURRUDA: 7.10.4: BAM 430 and BAM 431 (mss. H and L)

• 19 Lupine, 'heals-a-thousand'-plant, 'heals-twenty'-plant,
• 20 sikillu-plant, 'wood-of-release', kukuru-plant,
• 21 burāšu-juniper,cedar, 'sweet' reed,
• 22 tamarisk, maštakal-soapwort,
• 23 elkullaplant, Lamaštu-plant,
• 24'horned' salt-plant, salt, sulphur.
• 25 16 drugs for undoing witchcraft.

 

TEXTS OF GROUP EIGHT: CEREMONIAL RITUALS FOR UNDOING WITCHCRAFT

 

8.7.1: The Library Version: Mss. A // B // c // D: A3 rev. II

• 4′ in a brewer's oven ditto (= “I burn them” or similar), in a potter's kiln [ditto],
• 5′ in a melting oven ditto, in a roasting oven d[itto],
• 6′ in a crucible ditto, in a brazier d[itto],
• 7′ I let them descend [to the netherworld together with the Daughter] of Anu,
• 8′ I have made fig[urines of the wa]rlock [and] witch, and [ … ] the Daughter of Anu.
• 9′ To the good hands of the goddess

 

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Corpus of Mesopotamian Anti-Witchcraft Rituals, Volume 2 - Tzvi Abusch, Daniel Schwemer

 

TEXTS OF GROUP SEVEN: UŠBURRUDA TEXTS

7.14 TRAPPING AND BURNING WITCHES (too fragmentary for translation, mentions plant of Lamaštu)

 

TEXTS OF GROUP EIGHT: CEREMONIAL RITUALS FOR UNDOING WITCHCRAFT

8.15 SUMERIAN INCANTATIONS AGAINST A DEMONIC WITCH

• Enuru-incantation:
• 1 The evil one (variant: Evil storm), evil eye, child of destruction,
• [Akk.:] The lilītum-demon, whose e[ye is evil, … ],
• 2 roaming with witchcraft (and) magic, she is flitting about like a male lil-demon.
• [Akk.:] witchcraft (and) magic are roa[ming, … ].
• 3 In order to bind the ensnared young woman (and) man,
• [Akk.:] [ … ] the young man and the young woma[n],

 

8.25 GHOSTS, GODS AND WITCHES

• 108 'hand-of-a-human', the lilû-demon, the lilītu-demon, [the ardat lilî-demon],
• 109 Lamaštu, the labāṣu-demon, [the aḫḫāzu-demon],
• 207 or Lamaštu, or the labāṣu-demon, or the aḫ[ḫāzu-demon],
• 208 or the lilû-demon, or the lilītu-demon, or the ardat lilî-demon,

 

ADDITIONAL TEXTS TO VOLUME 1

A.5 A LIST OF MATERIALS FOR AN ANTI-WITCHCRAFT RITUAL

• 4 A figurine of the daughter of Anu,
• 5 (made) of clay from the clay pit;
• 6 two donkeys of clay;
• 7 a ḫašmānu-cloth;
• 8 two leather bags filled with pro[vision]s;
• 9 a silver [ri]ng, a grain of si[lve]r;
• 10 a seal of ḫaltu-stone; … ;
• 11 [a per]fume flask; a cu[p fi]lled [with …].
• 12 A bread oven, a brewer's [oven],
• 13 [a potter's] kiln, a melting oven, a roasting ov[en, a crucib]le,
• 14 a new [braz]ier; … […].

 

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Corpus of Mesopotamian Anti-Witchcraft Rituals, Volume 3 - Tzvi Abusch, Daniel Schwemer, Mikko Luukko, Greta Van Buylaere

 

TEXTS OF GROUP EIGHT: CEREMONIAL RITUALS FOR UNDOING WITCHCRAFT

8.47 A COLLECTION OF ANTI-WITCHCRAFT RITES CLOSELY RELATED TO MAQLÛ

• 33 [An evil rābiṣu-demon you have caused to seize me. May an evil rābiṣu-demon seize you!] [Lamaštu, the lab]āṣu-demon (and) the
• 34 [aḫḫāzu-demon you have caused to seize me]. May [Lamaštu, the labāṣu-demon (and) the aḫḫāz]u-demon seize you!
• 35 [The lilû-demon, the lilītu-demon (and) the ardat lilî-demon] you have caused to seize me. 36[May the lilû-demon, the lilītu-demon (and) the ardat lilî-demon] seize you!

 

8.52 A PARALLEL TO MAQLÛ II 52-58

• 10" either an evi[l] utukku-demon, [or an evil alû-demon],
• 11" or an evil ghost, [or an evil gallû-demon],
• 12" or an evil god, [or an evil rābiṣu-demon],
• 13" or Lamaštu, o[r the labāṣu-demon],
• 14" or the aḫḫ[āzu-demon], [or the lilû-demon, or the lilītu-demon, or]
• 15" the ardat-[lilî-demon], [or]
• 16" the liʾb[u]-disease [of the mountain], [or bennu-epilepsy, the semen of]
• 17" Šulpa[ea, ...]

 

TEXTS OF GROUP F: SMALL, UNASSIGNABLE FRAGMENTS

F.4 FRAGMENTARY RITUALS AND PRESCRIPTIONS (too fragmentary for translation, mentions lilû)

 

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The Witchcraft Series Maqlû - Tzvi Abusch

MAQLÛ TABLET I

• 135 Incantation. I am raising the torch and burning their statues,
• 136 (Those) of the utukku-demon, the šēdu-spirit, the lurker-demon, the
• ghost,
• 137 Lamaštu, labāṣu (disease), ahhāzu-jaundice,
• 138 lilû, lilītu, ardat-lilî,
• 139 And any evil that seizes mankind,
• 140 Melt, dissolve, drip ever away!

 

MAQLÛ TABLET II

• 51 Who have given me over to a dead man, who have made me experience hardship—
• 52 Be it an evil utukku-demon, be it an evil alû-demon,
• 53 Be it an evil ghost, be it an evil (demonic) constable,
• 54 Be it an evil god, be it an evil lurker-demon,
• 55 Be it Lamaštu, be it labāṣu (disease), be it ahhāzu-jaundice,
• 56 Be it lilû, be it lilītu, be it ardat-lilî,
• 61 Be it Hand-of-a-ghost-disease, be it Hand-[of-a-curse]-disease,
• 62 Be it Hand-of-mankind-disease, be it young Lamaštu, the daughter of Anu

 

MAQLÛ TABLET IV

• 39 Figurines, repre[sentations o]f my face and my body you have made
• 40 And fed to dog(s), fed to pig(s),
• 41 Fed to bir[d(s)], cast into a river.
• 42 You have handed over figurines of me to Lamaštu, daughter of Anu, You (have performed against me, have had performed against me: may Girra release).

 

MAQLÛ TABLET V

• 65 An evil lurker-demon you have caused to seize me: May an evil lurker-demon seize you.
• 66 Lamaštu, labāṣu (disease), (and) aḫḫāzu-jaundice you have caused to seize me: May Lamaštu, labāṣu (disease), (and) aḫḫāzu-jaundice seize you.
• 67 lilû, lilītu, (and) ardat-lilî you have caused to seize me: May lilû, lilītu, (and) ardat-lilî seize you.
• 68 By oath and curse you have brought me to an end: By oath and curse may your body come to an end.

 

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Udug-Hul/Utukkū Lemnūtu

Healing Magic and Evil Demons, Canonical Udug-hul Incantations - Markham J. Geller

[Note: Geller has a tendency to translate the lil-demons to Lilith. Any mention of Lilith in the below text refers to a lilitu].

 

Tablet 1

Purification incantations:

• 59' Whatever evil, creatures of the land.....

• 60' (and) spirits extolled [...........],

• 61' Sheriff and Bailiff demons, evil spirit ...

• 62' male and female Liliths ....

• 79' Lilû-demon, be adjured by heaven, be adjured by earth,

• 80' Lilītu-demon, be adjured by heaven, be adjured by earth,

• 81' Ardat lilî, be adjured by heaven, be adjured by earth,

• 82' may the evil tongue stand aside!

 

Appendix:

• 13 the seizing of Lilû and Lilītu

 

Tablet 2

The demons and illnesses:

• 64 Lamaštu, Labaṣu, and Jaundice-demons,
• 65 Lilû, Lilītu, Ardat Lilî

 

Tablet 3

Descriptions of demons:

• 34 the Lamaštu and Labaṣu demons who infect the body,
• 35 and the wraith who constantly wanders about in the steppe:
• 36 (all these) have approached the distraught man,
• 37 they deposited 'sacrilege' (asakku)-disease in his body.

 

Exorcist's visitation:

• 113 Evil Utukku, Alû-demon, ghost, Sheriff-demon, god, and Bailiff-demon,
• 114 whether it be illness, death, the Lilû or Lilītu, 'sacrilege' (asakku)-disease, or ill fate,
• 115 depart from before me, go out of the house!
• 118 Evil Utukku, Alû-demon, Sheriff-demon, ghost, god, and Bailiff-demon,
• 119 whether it be illness, death, the Lilû or Lilith, 'sacrilege' (asakku)-disease, or ill Fate (Namtar),
• 120 depart from before me, be adjured by heaven [and earth].

 

Exorcist's diagnosis:

• 138 Evil Utukku-demon, evil Alû-demon, evil ghost, evil Sheriff-demon, evil god, and evil Bailiff-demon,
• 139 Lamaštu, Labaṣu, and Jaundice demons,
• 140 Lilû, Lilītu, and Ardat Lilî

 

Tablet 4

Godless demons destroy society:

• 67 Incantation. They have no personal god, they are the workers –
• 68 the evil Utukku, Alû, ghost, Sheriff-demon, god, and Bailiff-demon,
• 69 the Lamaštu, Labaṣu, and Jaundice demons: they chance upon a man.

 

Ghosts again:

• 130' Whether you are the ghost who rises up from the Netherworld,
• 131' or whether you are the Lilû-demon who has no bed;
• 132' whether you are a virgo intacta,
• 133' or whether you are a lad not yet at puberty
• 149' whether you are one with no one to call (his) name.
• 150' Whether you are the Lamaštu, Labaṣu, or jaundice-demon,
• 151' whether you are the hierodule womb,
• 152' whether you are a wet-nurse,
• 153' whether you are a wailing woman (or) wet-nurse;

 

Tablet 5

Type of demons:

• 21 Whether you are the Lamaštu, Labaṣu, or jaundice-demon

 

The demonic Seven:

• 85 They are the seven marauding gods,
• 86 seven gods in all,
• 87 seven evil gods,
• 88 seven evil Lamaštu,
• 89 seven Labaṣu and li'ibu-disease demons

 

Demons of a good pedigree

• 153 They are the wraiths (zaqīqu) who flit about,

 

The sexless Seven:

• 171 They are neither male nor female,
• 172 they are the wraiths who flit about,
• 173 they neither marry nor bear children.

 

Maiden-demon as victim, defended by Ištar: (refer to "New Duplicates to SBTU II - M. J. Geller, "SBTU II No. 6 and 7" below)

 

Tablet 6

Demons forbidden to approach:

• 46 evil Lamaštu-demon, may you not approach him,
• 47 evil Labaṣu-demon, may you not approach him,
• 48 Jaundice-demon, may you not approach him,
• 49 wraith, may you not approach him,
• 50 Lilith, may you not approach him,
• 51 Ardat Lilî, may you not approach him,

 

List of diseases:

• 59 Lamaštu-demon, Labaṣu, and Jaundice-demon,
• 60 Lilu, Lilītu, Ardat Lilî

 

Tablet 7

Demons cause bellyache:

• 1 Incantation. The evil Utukku-demon lurks in the quiet street in secret and spill out into the thoroughfare.
• 2 The evil Sheriff-demon, released from the steppe, takes no pity (even) on the robber.
• 3 (They are) the Lamaštu and Labaṣu demons who spatter (poison) behind a man.

The ritual:

• 22 so that the evil Lamaštu and Labaṣu demons, who spatter (poison) behind a man, go out.

 

Tablet 9

Instructions to the patient:

• 84' Lamaštu-demon, go out!
• 85' Labaṣu-demon, go out!
• 86' Jaundice-demon, go out!
• 87' Lilû, Lilītu, Ardat lilî, go out!

 

Tablet 10

Marduk Hymn:

• 14 I am the captor, the hero Marduk who weakens the captive Lamaštu-demon,
• 15 I am the captor, the hero Marduk who weakens the captive Labaṣu-demon,
• 16 I am the captor, the hero Marduk who weakens the captive Jaundice-demon,
• 17 I am the captor, the hero Marduk who weakens the captive Lilû-demon,
• 18 I am the captor, the hero Marduk who weakens the captive Lilith,
• 19 I am the captor, the hero Marduk who weakens the captive Ardat Lilî

 

Marduk takes note and takes action:

• 29 the hero Marduk [noticed the Lamaštu-demon],
• 30 the hero Marduk [noticed the Labaṣu-demon],
• 31 the hero Marduk [noticed the Jaundice-demon],
• 32 the hero [Marduk noticed the Lilû-demon]
• 33 the hero [Marduk noticed Lilith],
• 34 the hero [Marduk] noticed Ardat Lilî,
• 35 the hero Marduk noticed the 'accessory to evil'-demon.

 

Marduk orders the demons to depart:

• 57 Lamaštu depart! clear off outside!
• 58 Labaṣu depart! clear off outside!
• 59 Jaundice-demon depart! clear off outside!
• 60 Lilû-demon depart! clear off outside!
• 61 Lilith depart! clear off outside!
• 62 Ardat Lilî depart! clear off outside!

 

Tablet 11

Section I:

• 1 Incantation. Begone Evil, evil angel, evil demon, evil poultergeist, evil ghost,
• 2 evil devil, evil god, evil spirit, Lamaštu,
• 3 Labāṣu, Grabber
• 4 Lilû, Līlītu, young lady of Lilû

 

Section II:

• 16 Or you who constantly pick on (victims) like Lilû

 

Tablet 12

The aim of the incantation:

• 99 Evil Utukku-demon, Alû-demon, ghost, Sheriff-demon, Bailiff-demon,
• 100 Lamaštu, Labaṣu, and Jaundice demons,

 

Tablet 13-15

Marduk performs the ritual:

• 137 As for the evil Utukku, Alû, ghost, Sheriff-demon, god, and Bailiff-demon,
• 138 Lilû, Lilītu, Ardat Lilî,
• 139 evil Fate (Namtar), dangerous 'sacrilege' (asakku)-disease, and illness not improving,
• 140 the rogue with an evil face, evil mouth, evil tongue,
• 141 may the evil spells, sorcery, magic, and practices stand aside.

 

Uttu spins Marduk's wool:

• 177 As for the evil Utukku, Alû, ghost, Sheriff-demon, god, and Bailiff-demon,
• 178 Lamaštu, Labaṣu, and Jaundice-demons,
• 179 Lilû, Lilītu, Ardat Lilî,
• 180 may the spells, sorcery, magic, and evil practices stand aside.

 

Illness as divine spittle:

• 189 the (poisonous) spittle of Sîn and Šamaš has spattered the man
• 190 the (poisonous) spittle of Ištar has spattered the man,
• 191 the (poisonous) spittle of the spirit and Lamaštu has spattered the man,
• 192 the spittle of Ninazu, lord of the weapon, has spattered the man.

 

Demons to depart:

• 223' May the Lamaštu, Labaṣu, and Jaundice demons, [Lilû, Lilītu, Ardat Lilî]

 

Tablet 16

Ea's ritual instructions to Marduk:

• 169' [Lamaštu], Labaṣu, and Jaundice-demons,
• 170' [Lilû], Lilītu, and Ardat lilî

 

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Graeco-Babylonian Utukkū Lemnūtu - Markham J. Geller

BM 34816 and duplicates (UH IX 87'-91'):

BM 34816 [lú-lí]l-lá ki-sikil ki-sikil-ù-d[a.......................] (= UH IX 87')

 

[λιλα χισχιλ] χισχι[λ λιλα] / [ωδ]α [χαρ]

• K 5237 [...............................................-d]a-kar-ra [è-ba]-ra
• BM 35321 lú-líl-lá ki-sikil<-líl>-lá ki-sikil-ud-da-kar-ra [..........]
• BM 34816 [l]i-lu-u li-li-tu KI.SIKIL ár-da-t[u …]

 

λιλι [αρδα[θ] λ[ιλι]

• BM 35321 li-lu-ú li-li-tu4 ár-dat li-lu-ú […]
• K 5237 [.............................] [li-li-i ṣi]-i

 

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New Duplicates to SBTU II - M. J. Geller, "SBTU II No. 6 and 7" - the ardat-lili incantations are linked below (in order), by the Electronic Babylonian Library.

 

The lines 20-8' of IM.77002/14-27 of Geller's incantation are difficult to interpret. Geller understood this passage as an attack of an utukku demon towards an ardat-lili, which lead to Ištar shaking the heavens and defending her. He presents Ištar as the patron of an ardat-lili (as in his translation of Udug-Hul 5). The Electronic Babylonian Library (IM.77002) understands the ardat-lili to be the perpetrator, attacking an utukku. A recent examination by Marie Barkowsky in "Studies in Mesopotamian Demonology", by comparing the tablet to Neo-Assyrian manuscripts, identifies the ardat-lili as a vehicle that let an utukku demon back into civilization, where he attacked "him", an unnamed patient, and not "her", an ardat-lili, which led to the anger of Ištar.

IM.77002

IM.76957

 

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Astrology

Melothesia in Babylonia - Markham J. Geller 

Note: Geller has a tendency to translate the lil-demons to Lilith. The lilith in BAM 212 is a lilitu. All other mentions of "Lilith" are ardat-lili.

 

The Uruk 'taxonomy' (SBTU I 43)

• 10. KI.MIN MIN | ddìm.me | pharynx, mouth | Lamaštu
• 11. KI.MIN MIN | pa-šit-t[u₄] mímar-tu₄ | pharynx, mouth | Pašittu-daughter

 

BAM 212:

• Incantation. [Whoever you are], whatever evil, evil spirit,
• evil [ghost?], evil Alû-demon, evil Gallû-demon,
• evil [……………………], watcher, watched,
• illness, headache, depression, lil-demon,
• lilith-demon, maiden-lil-demon,
• […………….], seizing mankind,
• which [………] and pursues me day and night.
• I inflict on you [my] illness, evil [………….].

 

BRM 4 20 Translation

• 27. (The spells for) lilû-demon: region of Taurus, alternatively Libra
• 28)  (The spells for) Lilith: region of Taurus, alternatively Taurus, alternatively, Gemini, third alternative, Sagittarius.
• 29. (The spells for) Lilû and Lilith: region of Sagittarius.

 

STT 300 Translation

• 2-3 [If in month Ayyāru], you perform (the spells) from the first day to the 15th day (for) having 'forehead affliction' or (for) alleviating impotence, (or) from [the first day] to the 30th day for getting rid of Lilû-demon and seizure, it will pay off.
• 7-8 If in the month Ayyāru on the 10th day at the usual time, you perform(the spells) for 'loosening the grasp', on the 21st day (the spells) for 'breaking an oath'; (the spells) for 'keeping an enemy away from someone', (or) on the 13th day (the spells) to get rid of the Lilû and Lilith demons, it will pay off.
• 12-13 If in the month Du'uzu on the 10th day, you perform (the spells) for 'a man to love a man', on the 21st day (the spells) for 'having a woman come', on the 12th day (the spells) for getting rid of the Lilû and Lilith demons, (or) on the 21st day (you perform) the counterspells for 'making a man love a woman',117 it will pay off.
• 25-27 If in the month of Arahsamnu the 10th day at the usual time, you perform (the spells) for a prince to mention his name in the palace with good intentions, on the 21st day at the usual time (the spells) for 'one who sees you to rejoice at seeing you', on the 12th day (the spells) for quarantining the patient (and) for getting rid of the Lilû and Lilith demons, on the 18th day (the spells) for a mogul or prince not to believe slander, (or) on the 28th day (the spells) 'not to experience insults', it will pay off.
• 35 If in the month of Kislimu, the […] day being for (spells) to get rid of Lilû and Lilith demons (and spells for) aphasia -- if you perform them, it will pay off.
• 36-38 If in the month [Ṭebetu, on the 10th day] at the usual time you perform(the spells) for depositing gold and silver; on the 11th day (the spells) for annuling the 'divine anger of the watchful god'; on the 11th day at the usual time (the spells against) a 'man's slave not running away'; (the spells for insuring that) the intentions of male or female slaves not change'; (the spells) for annuling the 'divine anger of the watchful god' or on the 12th day (the spells) for 'cutting off the breath' and to get rid of Lilû and Lilith demons, it will pay off. (If) in the month Ṭebetu, you perform the (spells) for 'cutting off the breath', it will pay off.

 

LBAT 1597

• 6. If (the moon is) in the region of Taurus and Orion, joint-disease, vertigo, maškadu-disease, šû-disease, seizure; [alternatively] lamaštu-disease (lit. 'Daughter of Anu') (in) Orion (and) Saturn.
• 9. If (the moon is) in the region of Leo, lamaštu, labašu, and ahhazu-demons, the seized-by-lamaštu(-disease), seized by lamaštu day-and-night(-disease), the god is a lion related to a belligerent god, I·tar, and Hand of the Ghost-disease, (in the region of) Venus and Leo.

 

SBTU V 243

• 2 […] (the spells for) Lilith, region of Taurus, region of Pleides.

rev.

• 3' (The spells for) annulling witchcraft (ušburruda), 'cutting off the breath', Lilû and Lilith, region of Sagittarius

 

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The Circulation of Astronomical Knowledge in the Ancient World - John M. Steele, "Virtual Moons over Babylonia: The Calendar Text System, Its Micro-Zodiac of 13, and the Making of Medical Zodiology" John Z. Wee

 

Tablet BRM iv, 19

• rev. 20′–21′: On Month 2 Day 12, in order to remove lilû and ardat lilî demons; make (spells/rituals), and it will be well. (2! 12 7 6 Scales (micro-Libra) of Stars (Pleiades in Taurus) is the distance).
• 22′–23′: On Month 4 Day 12, in order to remove lilû and ardat lilî demons; make (spells/rituals), and it will be well. (4 12 9 6 Pabilsag (micro-Sagittarius) [of] Crab (Cancer) is the distance).

 

Tablet STT ii, 300

• 12–13: If on Month 4 …; on Day 12, in order to remove lilû (and) ardat lilî demons; … make (spells/rituals), and it will be well.
• 9–11: If on Month [10] …; on Day 12, ( for) 'cutting off the breath' and in order to remove lilû (and) ardat lilî demons; make (spells/rituals), and it will be well …

 

Tablet BRM iv, 20 (= ms c)

• 29: (Spells/rituals for) the lilû demon; with the Stars (Pleiades in (micro)-Taurus) or with the Scales ((micro)-Libra)
• 30: (Spells/rituals for) the ardat lilî demon; with the Stars (Pleiades in (micro)-Taurus), or with the Twins ((micro)-Gemini), or with ˹Pabilsag˺ ((micro)-Sagittarius).
• 31: (Spells/rituals for) lilû (and) ardat lilî demons; with ˹Pabilsag˺ ((micro)-Sagittarius).

 

Tablet SpTU v, 243

• 3–4: [(Spells/rituals for) lilû and] ardat lilî demons; with …176 (or) with the Stars (Pleiades in (micro)-Taurus).
• 4′–5′: (Spells/rituals for) sorcery, 'cutting off the breath,' lilû and ardat lilî demons; with Pabilsag ((micro)-Sagittarius).

 

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Cultural Plurality In Ancient Magical Texts And Practices - Ljuba Merlina Bortolani, William D. Furley, Svenja Nagel, Joachim Friedrich Quack, "Beyond Ereškigal? Mesopotamian Magic Traditions in the Papyri Graecae Magicae - Daniel Schwemer"

 

Hemerological data in STT 300  

Month	Day	Ritual purpose
i	[?]–30	Removing lilû-demon and epilepsy
ii	13	Removing lilû- and ardat lilî-demons
iv	12	Removing lilû- and ardat lilî-demons
viii	22	Removing lilû- and ardat lilî-demons
ix	[?]	Removing lilû- and ardat lilî-demons
x	12	Removing lilû- and ardat lilî-demons

 

BRM IV, 19

Month	Day	Zodiacal Sign	Micro-Zodiacal Sign	Ritual Purpose
ii	12	Taurus (ii) 12°	Libra (vii) 6°	Removing lilû- and ardat lilî-demons
iv	12	Cancer (iv) 12°	Sagittarius (ix) 6°	Removing lilû- and ardat lilî-demons

 

BRM IV, 20

Ritual purpose	Constellation	Relation to month
Removing lilû-demon	Taurus (ii); Libra (vii)	Zodiac; micro-zodiac
Removing the ardat lilî-demon	Taurus (ii); Gemini (iii); Sagittarius (ix)	Zodiac; unclear; unclear
Removing lilû- and ardat lilî-demons	Sagittarius (ix)	Unclear

Lilin (Hebrew: לִילֵי ,לִילִין, Syriac: ܠܠܝ̈ܬܐ) (masculine plural of lili, also called lillin, lilim, lilis or male liliths) are plural night spirits in Jewish mythology, male equivalent of Lilith, but are also her children, which she had with Adam or other mortal men.

Their first appearance is in 2 Baruch, as demons similar to shedim, and afterwards in Aramaic incantation bowls, as the male equivalent of the liliths. They don't appear in the Bible, but in rabbinic literature such as the Babylonian Talmud and Midrash.

That Lilith bore from Adam spirits, demons and lilin became a common motif in the mystical literature of the 14th-17th centuries, often adding that it was Adam's own sin which made it possible for Lilith to overcome him against his will (Patai, The Hebrew Goddess).

 

Origins

The lilin are believed to be derived from the Akkadian lilû, while the liliths from the lilītu and ardat-lilî wind demons/ghosts. They are also connected with the goddess Lamaštu, although the analysis on the equation between Lamaštu and the lilû class, which resulted in the liliths, is mainly focused on their female counterparts.

 

Appearance

They have human form with an addition of wings, or are otherwise bald but have hair covering the rest of their faces and bodies.

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History

2 (Syriac Apocalypse of) Baruch

Lilin first appear in 2 Baruch, 2nd century AD. After fasting for seven days, Baruch sends up a lamentation to Yahweh, and in a passage we find a reference to the lilin:

I will call the Sirens from the sea,

And you Lilin, come you from the desert,

And you Shedim and dragons from the forests:

Awake and gird up your loins unto mourning,

And take up with me the dirges,

And make lamentation with me (10:8).

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Incantation Bowls

Hundreds of Aramaic incantation bowls from Sasanian Empire survive, that mention Bagdana "king of the liliths", Lilith, female liliths, and their masculine counterparts, lilis (lylyn) or male liliths. The bowls were found buried upside down, and contain spiral writing that had a functional or symbolic purpose, designed like a maze to trap the demons inside the bowls, imprisoning them within the lines of the incantations that lead them farther away from within.

Liliths and lilin are able to generate demonic offspring, and according to Montgomery's Bowl 1 ("Aramaic Incantation Texts from Nippur"), appear to men in the likeness of women, and to women in the likeness of men, and lie with them by night and by day. The demons are treated with a divorce formula (geṭ), which achieves the recognition of their status and legitimate attachment, while also annulling that status.

 

Some bowls (taken from the two volumes of "Aramaic Bowl Spells" by Shaked, Bhayro and Ford) that feature male lilis/lilin include:

Divorce Text: Joshua bar Peraḥia, 16:1-4 (MS 1929/16)

1 I cast a lot and take (it). And I perform 2 magical acts like Rabbi Joshua bar Peraḥia. And I have written 3 a deed of divorce to all evil liliths, male and female, the ban demon, the companion demon, who appear 4 to Abba...

Divorce Text: Elisur Bagdana, 35:1-3, 9 (MS 2053/89)

1 Bound are the dēvs, sealed are the lilis, bound are the lilis, se[a]led are the dēvs. 2 Bound are the lilis and sealed are [the dē]v[s] and the no-good ones and the lilis, they and their families and [th]eir wives 3 and their sons, from the star and from the lot of Dukhta[y] daughter of Hormizdukh. [...] 9 Elisu(r) Bagdana, the king of demons.

Divorce Text: Other Divorce Texts, 62:1-4 (MS 2053/242)

I beswear you, lilith, male lili and female lili. By the name of pzrhyʾ whʾl. 2 Lilith, the grabber and the snatcher: the three of you, and the four of you, and the five of you. You are stripped naked 3 and are not clothed, your hair is dishevelled and cast behind your back. It was heard concerning you: your father’s name is Palḥas and your mother is the lilith Palḥadad.

The Seals of Ashmedai 81:1-4 (MS 1927/36)

1 Bound are] 2 the demons and sealed are the lilis. Bound are the demons by the great seal of Ashmedai, the king of demo[ns, and by] another 3 [s]eal of Ashmedai, the king of dēvs. I adjure you by Palḥadad, the demon who is yo[u]r father, by Palḥas, the lilith, 4 your mother.

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Talmud

The Babylonian Talmud makes two mentions of the lilin (and five of Lilith).

• Adam, after he received Eve as his wife and was persuaded to eat from the Tree of Knowledge, was expelled from the Garden of Eden with the curse of mortality. When Adam realised that because of his sin, God decreed humankind mortal, he distanced himself for 130 years. He fasted, refrained from intercourse, and wore fig twigs over his naked body. He could not control his involuntary night emissions, which attracted female spirits, who coupled with him and bore spirits (ruhin), demons (shedim) and lilin (Eruvin 18b).
• Some builders of the Tower of Babel, after their desire to ascend to the top of the tower and wage war, became apes, spirits, demons and lilin (Sanhedrin 109a).

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Targum

Lilin are mentioned in different books of the Targum:

 

Targum Jonathan

Targum Jonathan (2-4th CE) on Isaiah 34:14:

And there shall meet one another, martens and wild cats, and demons (lilin), each shall sport with its companion: verily dryads shall dwell there, and they shall find rest for themselves.

 

Targum Pseudo-Jonathan

(date uncertain, possibly 5th AD)

Targum Pseudo-Jonathan on Numbers 6:

The Lord bless thee and keep thee. The Lord make His face to shine upon thee, and gracious unto thee. The Lord lift up His countenance upon thee, and grant thee peace. The Lord bless thee in all thy business, and keep) thee from demons of the night (lilin), and things that cause terror, and from demons of the noon and of the morning, and from malignant spirits and phantoms.

Targum Pseudo-Jonathan on Deuteronomy 32:

I will make them go into captivity in Media and Elam, in the captivity of Babel, the house of Agag who are like demons gaping with famine, and to corpses devoured by birds, and to stricken evil spirits of the noon, to Lillin and to spirits big with evil. And the Javanaee (Greeks) who bite with their teeth like wild beasts will I send against them, and will shake them by the hand of the Syrians venomous as basilisks, the serpents of the dust.

 

Aramaic Targum

Targum Sheni (date uncertain, possibly 6th AD) on Esther 1:3:

King Solomon, it may be remarked here, “had dominion over the demons, spirits, and Lilin, and knew the language of each ... and when his heart was merry with wine, he would command the wild animals, the fowl of heaven, and the creeping things of the earth, as well as the demons, spirits, and Lilin, to dance before him". (Patai, The Hebrew Goddess).

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Emeq haMelekh

(Information taken from Patai, "The Hebrew Goddess" and some passages of "Gates to the Old City")

Emeq haMelekh (Valley of the King) is a Kabbalistic text, written by Naftali Hertz ben Yaakov Elchanan (Bacharach) in 1648.

In the text, Lilin are described as bald, but have hair on the rest of their heads and body down to their feet (140b). According to the cosmology of the text, in the second of the seven earth-layers, counting from the bottom, dwell:

"the giant human figures, tall of stature, who were born of Adam in the 130 years during which he begot demons, spirits, and Lilin. Lilith used to come to him against his will and conceive from Adam [and she bore these beings]. And they are always sad and full of sorrow and sighs, and there is no joy at all among them. And these hosts can multiply [and ascend] from that earth to this world upon which we stand, and [here] they become harmful spirits, and [then] they return there..." (179d–180a)

Lilith is present even when a man wishes to engage in lawful intercourse with his wife, in order to take hold of the semen that's lost from the man, with which she creates demons, spirits and lilin (19c). She is described as an "Alien Woman" and "Impure Female", who leaves her consort Samael to fornicate with men who "sleep below in the impurity of spontaneous emission" and from them are born the demons, spirits, and lilin, who are called the Sons of Man (84b, 84c, 102d-103a).

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Midrash ABKIR

The Midrash ABKIR (10th century) is a lost work, the remnants of which present the relationship between Adam, a lilith, and the creation of djinn and lilin.

When Adam saw that death had come upon him by the hand of Cain, he separated from Eve. A lilith named Piznai found him and aroused him with her beauty, resulting in the birth of 92 thousands djinns and lilin. Their first born child was named Agrimas, who took lilith Amarit as his bride, which also resulted in the birth of 92 thousand djinns and lilin. The first born of Agrimas was Avalmas, who took the lilith Gofrit, which again resulted in the birth of 88 thousand djinns and lilin.

The story ends with the slaying of the spirits by Methuselah, using a sword which had the explicit name of God written on it. Agrimas was forced to write and give the names of the djinn and lilin, and the demons gave the humans iron to restrain the spirits. The remaining spirits concealed themselves in the remotest mountains and in the depths of the ocean.

(Source: The Encyclopedia of Jewish Myth, Magic and Mysticism (Second ed.) - Geoffrey W. Dennis, "Lilin")

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Amulets and Prayers

Amulet

A Moroccan amulet invokes God, Michael and Gabriel to protect the wearer against "lessening of the moon" (wish for Redemption), and has inscribed:

In the Name of Kuzu 2. Fourteen-letter Name, Yah 3. You will protect the bearer of this amulet 4. from Shiddin, from spirits, from Lillin 5. and from every evil thing Evermore, Selah, forever, Amen.

(Source: Hebrew Magic Amulets - T. Schrire, "Plate 8")

 

Prayer

Rites and prayers were created to avert the malign influence of demons, and formulas for the dying were prescribed by Kabbalists, by which the shedim (demons), ruhin (evil spirits), lilin and mazzikim (harmers) are adjured, not to follow the dead or injure them, or cause injury to any person.

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This article of mine was used to create the Wikipedia page of Lilin.

The figure of Lilith was originally a type of demon, appearing first in the Dead Sea Scrolls (1st BCE), and then developing in the Aramaic (as well as Syriac and Mandaic) incantation bowls. They appear with many names, with added genealogies, including the names of their mothers/fathers and grandmothers.

Most bowls refer to plural male and female liliths, without mentions of their names. I've only kept the name lists, and refrained from including descriptions whenever possible.

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ARAMAIC

Aramaic Incantation Texts from Nippur - James A. Montgomery

No. 8

• Pelahdad

No. 11

• Halbas
• Zarni

No. 17

• Lilith of the Desert
• (Lilith) whose mother is Palhan and whose father Pelahdad

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Amulets and Magic Bowls, Aramaic Incantations of Late Antiquity - Joseph Naveh, Shaul Shaked

Amulet 15

• [Side]ros

Bowl 12

• Sideros
• Lilith

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Incantation Texts in Jewish Aramaic from Late Antiquity - A Corpus of Magic Bowls - Dan Levene

Bowl M103 & M119

• ZNY (Zanay)

Bowl M145 - liliths

• Zarni

Bowl M155

• TST (Ṭasat)

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Jewish Aramaic Curse Texts from Late-Antique Mesopotamia - Dan Levene

Isbell 22 (Gordon 1934b) no. 9737 of the Iraq Museum Catalogue

• Hablas
• Granddaughter of Zarnai

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Aramaic Bowl Spells, Jewish Babylonian Aramaic Bowls, Volume One - Shaul Shaked, Siam Bhayro

I.2.1. DIVORCE TEXTS: JOSHUA BAR PERAHIA

JBA 15 (MS 1927/43)

• lilith of the open field
• Palḥadad

JBA 18 (MS 2053/103)

• (Palḥadad)

JBA 19 (MS 2053/132)

• Palḥadad

JBA 24 (MS 2053/251)

• Pa]l[ḥadad
• Lili

I.2.2. DIVORCE TEXTS: Elisur Bagdana

JBA 27 (MS 1927/16)

• [Ḥalbat]
• granddaughter of the Zarnay

JBA 29 (MS 1927/51)

• Ḥabṭas
• granddaughter of Za[rnay

JBA 30 (MS 1928/47)

• Ḥablas
• granddaughter of Zarnay

JBA 31 (MS 2053/41)

• Ḥalbat
• granddaughter of Zarnay

JBA 32 (MS 2053/64)

• Ḥalba[t]
• granddaughter of Zarnay

JBA 33 (MS 2053/83)

• Ḥabṭas
• granddaughter of Zarnay

JBA 34 (MS 2053/86)

• Ḥablas
• granddaughter [of] Zarnay

JBA 36 (MS 2053/110)

• [Ḥa]l[ba]s
• granddaughter of Zarnay

JBA 37 (MS 2053/123)

• [Ḥabṭa]s
• [granddaughter of Zarnay

JBA 38 (MS 2053/151)

• Ḥabla[s]
• ⟨grand⟩daughter of Zarnay

JBA 39 (MS 2053/162)

• [Ḥablas]
• grand[daughter of Zarnay

JBA 40 (MS 2053/167)

• Ḥalbat
• granddaughter of Zarnay

JBA 42 (MS 2053/190)

• Ḥalbat
• granddaughter of Zarnay

JBA 43 (MS 2053/193)

• Ḥabṭas
• granddaughter of Zarnay

JBA 44 (MS 2053/213)

• Zarnay

JBA 45 (MS 2053/237)

• Ḥab[la]s
• granddaughter of Za[rnay]

JBA 46 (MS 2053/249)

• Sagnat
• Ḥablas
• granddaughter of Zarnay

JBA 47 (MS 2053/258)

• Ḥabṭas
• granddaughter of Zarnay
• Ṭasat

I.2.2.1. DIVORCE TEXTS: Elisur Bagdana (Divorce Formula not Present)

JBA 48 (MS 2053/200)

• Lili

JBA 49 (MS 2053/270)

• Lili

I.2.3. DIVORCE TEXTS: The Lilith Zanay, the Fornicating Singing-Girl JBA 50 (MS 2053/207)

• Za[nay

JBA 51 (MS 2053/209)

• Zanay

JBA 52 (MS 2053/231)

• Za[na]y

JBA 53 (MS 2053/253)

• Zanay

JBA 54 (MS 2053/273)

• Zanay

I.2.4. DIVORCE TEXTS: Other Divorce Texts JBA 55 (MS 1928/1)

• Ramit Ḥagigat
• Ṣemotat
• Zarnay
• who is called Pargos

JBA 62 (MS 2053/242)

• Palḥadad

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Aramaic Magic Bowls in the Vorderasiatisches Museum in Berlin - Siam Bhayro, James Nathan Ford, Dan Levene, Ortal-Paz Saar

I VA.2182

• Aḥablas
• daughter of Zarnay

Shelf mark: VA.2180 (unpublished)

• Zarnay and her seven daughters

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Aramaic Incantation Bowls in Museum Collections, Volume One, The Frau Professor Hilprecht Collection of Babylonian Antiquities, Jena - James Nathan Ford, Matthew Morgenstern

I. JBA and Hebrew Bowls

HS 3003

• Sideros

Notes of HS 3009:

• "Semomit Lilita" (B 16073:5)

HS 3016

• Paḥladad

HS 3026

• Ḥablat
• granddaughter of Zarnay

Notes of HS 3032

• "The lilith Semimut (or: Semomit) gave birth to twelve sons" (Wolfe 23:7–8)

HS 3034

• Ḥablas
• granddaughter of Zarnay

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Aramaic Bowl Spells, Jewish Babylonian Aramaic Bowls, Volume Two - Shaul Shaked, Siam Bhayro

I.3.2. The Seals of Ashmedai

JBA 81 (MS 1927/36)

• Palḥas

JBA 82 (MS 2053/39)

• Palḥas

JBA 83 (MS 2053/121)

• Palḥas

JBA 84 (MS 2053/144)

• Palḥas

JBA 85 (MS 2053/147)

• Ḥablas

JBA 86 (MS 2053/226)

• Palḥadod

I.4.1.1. The Lilith Gannav(at)/Gannaqat

JBA 91 (MS 1927/38)

• Gannav
• Gannavat

JBA 92 (MS 1927/54)

• Gannaqat

JBA 93 (MS 2053/15)

• [Ga]nnaqat

JBA 94 (MS 2053/51)

• Gannaqat

JBA 95 (MS 2053/69)

• Gannav

JBA 98 (MS 2053/140)

• Gannav

JBA 99 (MS 2053/173)

• Gannavat

JBA 101 (MS 2053/215)

• Gannav

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Notes on Some Recently Published Magic Bowls in the Schøyen Collection and Two New Parallels - J. N. Ford

A New "Elisur Bagdana" Bowl (Davidovitz 27)

• Ḥablas
• granddaughter of Zarni

Museo Sefardí 1073

• Ḥablas
• granddaughter of Zarni

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SYRIAC

Aramaic Incantation Texts from Nippur - James A. Montgomery

No. 36

• Murderess, daughter of Murderess
• Dodib

Lamaštu, the Daughter of Anu, is the Akkadian equivalent of Sumerian Kamadme. Lamaštu syncretised with the plural lilû/lilītu/ardat-lilî ghosts is what resulted in the figure of Lilith, who herself has been mostly plural, sometimes dual and singular. But is Lamaštu herself singular? 

Even though little is known about Kamadme from Sumer, what we do know is that Lamaštu was first the "seven Kamadme damsels" and later on the leading goddess of a triad, along with dìm.me.A/Labāṣu and dìm.me.ḪAB/Aḫḫāzu, before developing individuality. She appears in incantations as the "seven evil-lamaštu demons", and is herself a "type" of demon, since additions to the name Kamadme result in other demons (apart from Labāṣu and Aḫḫāzu, also Bibītu and Lilītu). The seven Kamadme survive as Lamaštu's seven names.

So Lamaštu, while usually thought of as a singular being, has herself some inconsistencies and displays plurality that reflects the later child-killing demons of the ancient Mediterranean and Near East.

The below text is mostly referenced, as usually, from Wiggermann, a big part of it is providing the resources that he cites in footnote [45]. Keep in mind that Kamadme was previously thought to be read as "Dimme".

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Seven Lamaštu:

Lamaštu, An Edition of the Canonical Series of Lamashtu Incantations - Walter Farber:

Already in Sumerian texts from the 3rd millennium b.c., a female spirit named Dimme was mentioned as one of a group of seven similar demons, without specific individual traits or features. In Sumerian and bilingual texts of a later date, she became the leading lady in a triad with two other demons whose Sumerian names shared the element *dimme (^(d)dìm.me.A and ^(d)dìm.me.ḪAB) with hers. In the Akkadian versions of these texts, ^(d)dìm.me is called Lamaštu, which sounds like an Akkadian name but is still of unclear etymology; the other two were known under the names of Labāṣu and Aḫḫāzu. Only in the 2nd millennium, and probably under the influence of the Semitic speakers of Akkadian, did Lamaštu gain in individuality and swiftly become the most well-known of all Mesopotamian demons.

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Birth in Babylonia and the Bible - M. Stol, "Lamaštu, Daughter of Anu - F.A.M. Wiggermann":

That these texts stem from an oral rather than a written tradition is shown by the many minor variations between essentially identical texts. Dimme occurs in Sumerian incantations of the late third millennium, but the contexts are fairly unspecific, [5] and do not allow a reconstruction of her early history.

• [5] 5N-T 42:9 ki-sikil dìm-me imin-na (unpub.), "the seven Dimme damsels";
• HS 1552:2 dìm gig-dè èš ba-an-dib lú ì-tag (unpub., ref. courtesy M.J. Geller), "Dimme, in order to cause illness, passed through the house and touched the person";
• HS 1600 i 7 dìm a-dingir-re-ne-kam lú ì-ùr-ùr-e (unpub., ref. courtesy M.J. Geller). "Dimme, who is the offspring of gods. sweeps over the person".
• In UHF, an OB series of third millennium descent, Dimme occurs in lists besides Dimme-a and Dimme-LAGAB (Geller, FAOS 12 152).

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[...] Although the evidence for the third millennium history of Lamaštu is limited, there are clear indications that in origin she was not the individual mythological figure of later tradition. In the Ur III period her Sumerian name, Dimme, is not spelled with the divine determinative, even though she is called the "offspring of gods". A text of the same period reveals the early existence of the "seven Dimme damsels" (note 5), a feature which persists through time [45], and adheres to the individualized Lamaštu in the form of her seven names. Other early demons, specifically the udug and the asag, usually operate in vaguely defined groups of seven, and the Dimme damsels probably are just such a group, from which the later individual Dimme was singled out.

[45] In CT 16 13 iii 2lf. (UH V) the "seven evil Dimme/Lamaštu" (between other groups of sevenfold demons) are followed by a reference to the "seven heavens and seven earths", which recur in an incantation against Lamaštu (and other sevenfold demons).

• Mesopotamian Cosmic Geography - Wayne Horowitz

CT 16 13 iii 13-14 iii 28

• 13. Seven gods of the broad heavens.
• 15. Seven gods of the broad land.
• 17. Seven robber gods.
• 18. Seven gods, all,
• 19. Seven evil gods.
• 21. Seven evil lamaštu-demons.
• 23. Seven evil infectious lamaštu-demons.
• 25. Heaven seven, earth seven.
• 26. [Akkadian] In heaven seven, in earth seven.
• 27. O evil demon, evil devil, evil ghost, evil ghoul, evil god, evil prowler;
• 28. be exorcised by heaven, be exorcised by earth.

Also translated in:

• Healing Magic and Evil Demons, Canonical Udug-hul Incantations - Markham J. Geller

Udug-hul Tablet 5

• 85 They are the seven marauding gods,
• 86 seven gods in all,
• 87 seven evil gods,
• 88 seven evil Lamaštu
• 89 seven Labaṣu and li'ibu-disease demons,
• 90 seven in Heaven and seven in the Netherworld.

[45] Her activities can be described as sevenfold (BIN 2 72:9, OB), as well as the measures taken against her (BM 120022:32f., SBTU 3 84:37ff.. OB and SB).

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Lamaštu as Type:

Birth in Babylonia and the Bible - M. Stol, "Lamaštu, Daughter of Anu - F.A.M. Wiggermann":

[45] That the original Dimme is a type rather than an individual appears from the fact that with various additions (-a/LAGAB/tab/gi4) the names of various individual demons result (see the dictionaries for Labāṣu, Aḫḫāzu, Bibîtu, and Lilîtu).

• Note: An = Anum ša ameli includes all of the above:

153. [^(d)]RAB^(kám-me)	la-maš-tu
154. [^(d)RAB^(kám-me)].A	la-ba-ṣu
155. [^(d)RAB^(kám-me)].LAGAB	aḫ-ḫa-zu
156. ^(d)[RA]B[^(kám-m)]^(e).TAB	bi-bi-tu
157. ^(d)RAB^(kám-me).GI₆	li-li-tu

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[45] These are referred to as "all Lamaštu's" (dDIM.ME gab-bi) in a first millennium prescription (stones and plants) against various evils (CT 14 16, BM 93084).

[45] dDIM.ME becomes a noun meaning "Lamaštu-type being" when it is used in the plural (A.R. George, RA 85 [1991] 148:156b, Commentary to TDP I; see also Lambert, NABU 1992/129:1), a usage that is attested also for the names of gods.

• BABYLONIAN TEXTS FROM THE FOLIOS OF SIDNEY SMITH: Part Two: Prognostic and Diagnostic Omens, Tablet I - A. R. George
• 15b ^(d)dim.me.meš
• 15b Lamaštu demons

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Mesopotamian Incantations and Related Texts in the Schøyen Collection - Andrew R. George 

II.B.4. No. 39 (Pl. CIII)

• 5 ka-ma-ad ḫul-ḫul ḫe-m[e-en]
• 5 [or be you] evil kamad-demons

Note obv. 5. The kamad-demons are those whose names are compounded with the sign kamad (DÌM): Lamaštu, Labāṣu, Aḫḫāzu, Bibītu and Lilītu.

Lilith, as a demoness who is both a succubus and is associated with crib death and disease, is believed to have characteristics of both the lilû spirits and Lamaštu (although the reasons why she has characteristics of both and the opinions of scholars on Lilith and her ties to ancient Mesopotamia is another future (and long) post). To some, this syncretism/conflation might seem counterintuitive. The lilû spirits are ruled by king Pazuzu, who was the nemesis of Lamaštu, and chased her away from her victims. At the same time, Lamaštu herself has been identified with the lilû, lilītu and ardat-lilî, and even believed to be included in the spectre class.

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Lamaštu, equation with lilû, lilītu, ardat-lilî:

1. Birth in Babylonia and the Bible - M. Stol, "Lamaštu, Daughter of Anu - F.A.M. Wiggermann:

An example of overlapping traits is supplied by Lamaštu and Lilītu. Lilītu (also Ardat Lilî), the "Spectre(-Damsel)", and her male counterpart Lilû, "Spectre", form a sub-class of dissatisfied ghosts, the souls of those who died in a state of virginity and never knew the pleasures of love-making and family life. Trying to make up for their unsatisfactory lives, they visit the living at night, and select a mate: Lilītu is a succuba, and Lilû an incubus. Although Lilītu's interest in babies is explicit in an OB incantation, it is so far only her male counterpart who is attested in the medical corpus as a threat for the newly born. According to an OB Sumerian prayer to the goddess of healing, Lamaštu prefers the cover of the night for her operations, just like the lil-spirits, so that the two different demonic types can be seen to converge in

1. their timing (night) and

2. victims (babies, but not exclusively).

Lilītu:

The observed convergence is made explicit in a SB explanatory god list, in which "Lamaštu of the night" (dDim-me-gi6) is equated with Lilītu (An = Anu ša ameli 157). The equation is based on a popular etymology, which derives Lilītu from Semitic \*lyl, "night", instead of from Sumerian líI, "wind, spirit, spectre", the true etymon.

Lilû:

When she "picks" (ḫiāru) the nation in order to select a victim, Lamaštu's "fury" (uzzu) is compared to that of a lilû; the verb ḫiāru usually means "to select a mate", and typically describes the activities of demons of the "spectre"-class. Lamaštu is included in this class when she is chased off by the apotropaic demon Pazuzu, whom the accompanying incantations call "king of the evil lilû-demons".

Note 67: STT 144:19'ff., duplicated by the text on a clay cylinder from a Hellenistic grave in Ugarit, Nougayrol 1969:404 D, RA 61 [1967] 95. On the amulets Lamaštu is never winged, once in an incantation she is adhorted to "fly away with the birds of the sky" (Lam. I 8, cf. forerunner Tonietti 1979:305, 23). The only time she is "supplied with wings" (Lam. I 114) occurs in a comparison with lilû-spectres, which unequivocally points to the existence of a winged Lilītu/Ardat lilî.

Ardat-lilî:

In a late variant version of the old incantation concerned with her names, Lamaštu is actually identified as Ardat Lilî.

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So from above, we have these mentions in the Lamaštu incantations:

• Lilû - OB3 8

• Lilû, from note 67 - I 114

• Ardat lilî - STT 144 3

For the equation of dDim-me-gi6 with the lilītu in the An = Anum ša amēli I've made a separate post.

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Lamaštu incantations

2. Lamaštu, An Edition of the Canonical Series of Lamashtu Incantations - Walter Farber:

Lilû:

Lamaštu Series I:

• 114 She is fitted with wing(s) and [ . . . ] like Lilû

Note I 114: W. Meinhold informs me that her collation of the last sign of this line in exemplar m yielded an unequivocal, though damaged, *LÍL, thus proving Falkenstein's restoration kīma lil[î/īti ipparraš] (Falkenstein 1931: 9) to be at least partially correct. Unfortunately, lilû is not otherwise attested as "flying around," and I therefore still hesitate to accept his restoration of the predicate (see also the cautious remarks by Wiggermann 2000: 228 with n. 67).

 

OB3: An OB Incantation on a Tablet with an Unrelated Other Spell:

• 7 She keeps following the tracks of livestock,
• 8 spies out the land with the wrath of a lilû demon.

Note 8: For a different rendering of this line, see Foster 1993: 131: ina uzzim šālilim "with plundering fierceness"—that is, with a wrath poised on pillaging. Without a clarifying parallel, I return to van Dijk's reading 6 and Groneberg's interpretation of the line (see Groneberg 1997: 48 to line 124; Wiggermann 2000: 228 n. 65; Foster 2005: 174 "with demonic fierceness"; and most recently CAD U/W 394a).

 

Ardat lilî:

STT 144:

• 3 ki.sikil líl-a dumu a.rá dùg-a
• 3 "Maiden-of-the-Wind," child of good behavior

Note 3: The direct connection of Lamaštu with ki.sikil.lí l.lá / ardat lilî in this line is noteworthy, although I wonder whether the phrase is used here as a descriptive epithet rather than as a reference to a "real" demonic figure.

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Lamaštu herself part of the lilû/spectre class

As mentioned in "Lamaštu, Daughter of Anu - F.A.M. Wiggermann" above: "Lamaštu is included in this [spectre-]class when she is chased off by the apotropaic demon Pazuzu".

3. This is also mentioned in "The Mesopotamian Pandemonium - Frans Wiggermann":

The plural "lil-spirits" occurs only in Pazuzu's qualification "king of the evil lil-spirits", and must cover Lamaštu, one of the beings over whom Pazuzu exerts power as king. The remarkable and unexplained grouping of sexually unsatisfied spirits under a king cannot be independent from the king's equally remarkable and unexplained serpentine penis.

[…]

Pazuzu, the personified West Wind, is the "king of the evil lil-demons", who as such had power over his unsatisfied subjects including Lamaštu, apparently in some respect — frustrated motherhood? — an unsatisfied lil-demon, too.

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Lamaštu's inclusion in the lilû class

As is evident, the sources that mention Lamaštu as part of the lilû class are by Wiggermann, arguing that Lamaštu became part of the wind demon class after she was chased away by a wind demon, Anzû.

4. Pazuzu, Reallexikon der Assyriologie und Vorderasiatischen Archäologie - F.A.M. Wiggermann

It seems likely that a new perception of the lilû demons, and the inclusion of Lamaštu in this class (§ 4), triggered the need for a supernatural helper more potent and versatile than his peers and predecessors, a reliable king of evil, to whom evil submits; and in view of his adversaries, the new figure had to be a wind demon.

That Lamaštu had become a "wind" (lilû) demon already at the end of the Bronze Age is suggested by Lamaštu (Abb. 3) amulets from Assyria, on which the demoness is combatted with the help of a Lion-Griffin [Anzû], a storm demon in the service of Adad or Ninurta (Wiggermann 2000, 222), and a functional equivalent of the later Pazuzu.

From the Late Bronze Age onwards (combatted by storm demon) Lamaštu was included in the lilû class of demons. In later Aramaic and Jewish sources Lamaštu is fused with Lilith, who is both a succuba and a baby snatching demoness.

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We understand that this association of Lamaštu with the lilû class of demons is mainly proposed by Wiggermann from Heeßel's article:

5. Evil against Evil, The Demon Pazuzu - Nils R. Heeßel

22 Apart from the fact, of course, that Lamaštu was considered to belong to the lilû-demons as observed by FA.M. Wiggermann, Pazuzu, cit., p. 376. As this categorization does not play an important role either in the Lamaštu rituals or in the Pazuzu texts it is, however, a rather constructed connection.

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Pašittu, epithet of Lamaštu, among the lilû

6. Demons to a Slippery Slope, MLC 1948, a new list of Sumerian terms and their equivalents - Klaus Wagensonner

• 2 ki-sikil-en-lil2-la2 | wa-ar-˹da-at˺ lil-li | a female demon (Wardat lilî)

• 3 ki-sikil-lu2-da-kar-/ra | pa-ši-it-tum | a female demon (Pāsittum)

Both demons occur together elsewhere such as, for instance, in the first tablet of Udug-hul:

• lu2-lil2-la2 | Lilû

• ki-sikil-lil2-la2 | Lilītu

• ki-sikil-u4-da-kar-ra | Ardat lilî

Bilingual evidence from the same text suggests that kisikil-lil2-la2 is equated with the demon Lilītu and kisikil-u4-da-kar-ra with Ardat lilî. In contrast, our short Old Babylonian lexical text clearly equates the former with Wardat lilî and the latter with another demon called Pāšittum. […]

In the third entry, the Akkadian refers to the female demon Pāšittum. This demoness also occurs on the reverse of the afore mentioned list UET 7, 93 in an array of quite similar entries:

• (21) lil2-lil2-le-gi4 | li-li-u2-um

• (22) lil2-lil2-gi4-a | li-li-i-tum

• (23) lil2-lil2-us2-sa | pa-ši-it-tum

The verbal root for the name of this demoness is pašātuṃ, "to erase." Her name is hence sometimes translated as "the exterminator," or "the obliterating one." She is closely associated or even identical to the baby-snatching demoness Lamaštu.

Translation per "The Mesopotamian Pandemonium": lil-lil-us-sa "she who follows the lil-demons" see pašittu.

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Lamaštu as succubus, Maiden Lamaštu, Pašittu among the lil2

The article mentions Lamaštu's sexual behaviour and equates her with a succubus.

7. Nocturnal Transgressions - Jacob Jan de Ridder, Elyze Zomer

The image presented in Ḫulbazizi no. 60, found on numerous Lamaštu amulets, describing sexual transgression and the infliction of terrifying dreams, places Lamaštu in a similar role [to the lil2 demons]. Although Lamaštu is infamously known as the bringer of miscarriage, infant death and stillbirth, there are indications that she could also function as a kind of succubus. A hint at the sexual devious nature of Lamaštu may be found in a demon sequence situated in a passage of the following unpublished zi-pa3 incantation

1. […] the evil [A]lû demon, the evil Utukku demon, the evil Gallû demon, the evil god, the evil goddess, / [… Lamašt]u, Labāṣu, Aḫḫāzu,

2. [Eṭel-l]ilî, Ardat-lilî, Lilû, Lilītu, Sum. the one showing her vulva, Akk. burning sensation, the escaper, the obliterator,

3. (and) Kililu, who stand always ready in the corners, who stand always ready at the sides.

In this passage, Lamaštu occurs first in ll. 3′–4′ as [dkam-ad-me]=[Lamaš]tu, as expected in the usual enumeration of demons. However, in ll. 6′–7′ we find the quite unique equation gal4-la-bi su3-su3=pāšittu. The latter pāšittu "obliterator" is a well-known epithet of Lamaštu; its Sumerian counterpart gal4-la-bi su3-su3 "the one showing her vulva" is otherwise unparalleled but would fit the naked representation of Lamaštu on amulets.

1. Furthermore, the entry is found among the group of lil2 demons, not the kamad group. [22]

2. This aspect of Lamaštu can be explained from the equation dkamad-me ĝe6 "Lamaštu of the night"=li-li-tu (CT 24, 44:16; Lambert/Winters 2023, 254). [...]

3. Lamaštu's possible connection with the lil2-demons is further displayed in phrases found in an Ur III incantation ki-sikil kamad-me "the maiden Lamaštu" (5NT42: 9; Wiggermann 2000, 218 fn. 5) and

4. a non-standardized Lamaštu incantation dkamad-me dumu an-na/mu pa3-da diĝir-re-e-ne-ke4/ki-sikil-lil2-la2 dumu a-ra2 du10-ga/dumu a-ra2 du10-ga "Lamaštu, child of An, infamous among the gods, Ardat-lilî, good child, good child! (STT 144 r. 1′–4′ // AuOr Suppl. 23, 69; Farber 2014, 300).

5. This, combined with the fact that Ḫulbazizi no. 60 ša maldī eršīya ītiqu [transgressed the edges of my bed] is the most common incantation distributed on Lamaštu amulets in the first millennium BCE, suggests that Lamaštu in this period was regarded as having the capacity of a succubus, sharing features with the lil2-demons.

6. Moreover, it would explain why the demon Pazuzu, who calls himself "king of the lil2-demons" (cf. Heeßel 2002, 65–66), depicted with an erect serpentine penis, is commonly used in this period as a nemesis against the apparently sexually unsatisfied side of Lamaštu. [23]

Note 22: Note in this regard the following sequence in an Old Babylonian lexical list: lil2-lil2-le-gi4=lilû, lil2-lil2-gi4-a=lilītu, lil2-lil2-us2-sa=pāšittu (UET 7, 93 iv 21–23; Sjöberg 1996, 222–223), where pāšittu is again found in direct context of lil2-demons.

Note 23: As such, Lamaštu embodies now all aspects shared with the biblical figure Lilith who as the first wife of Adam becomes the infamous baby snatching succubus in later Judaic traditions especially known from the Judaic-Aramaic incantation bowls. This confirms the suspicion by Wiggermann (2000, 227–228) that Lamaštu incorporating the sexual aspects of lil2-demons can be regarded as a kind of demonic forerunner to the figure of Lilith. Like Lamaštu, Lilith is also subject to a demonic king known by the epithet Bagdana (alternatively as Qiṭrus, Iqarus, or Tiqos, see Gabbay 2010).

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Conclusions:

Wiggermann (1-4)

1. Lamaštu shared overlapping traits with lilû, lilītu and ardat-lilî, like their victims and seeking the cover of the night. The latter is made explicit in the An = Anum ša ameli where lilītu is identified with Kamadme (Lamaštu) of the night.

2. Lamaštu has been compared to or identified with lilû and ardat-lilî in incantations.

3. Pazuzu's qualifications as "king of the evil lil-spirits" must cover Lamaštu, one of the beings he exerts power over as a king.

4. A new perception of the lilû demons, and the inclusion of Lamaštu in this class, likely triggered the need of a supernatural helper like Pazuzu. Lamaštu had become a "wind" demon, which was evident after she was combated with the help of an Anzû, a storm demon.

5. With Heeßel's article it's clear that the categorization of Lamaštu in the lilû class is mostly observed by Wiggermann, but this does not play an important role either in the Lamaštu rituals or in the Pazuzu texts.

6. Wagensonner presents a list of lexical names with Sumerian terms and their Akkadian equivalents, in which ki-sikil-lu2-da-kar-ra is the Akkadian Pašittu (Lamaštu) instead of the usual ardat lilî, including then Lamaštu in the lilû class. In another list, Pašittu is equated with lil2-lil2-us2-sa, which we learn from "The Mesopotamian Pandemonium" means "she who follows the lil-demons".

7. Ridder and Zomer gather the instances in which Lamaštu has the qualities of a succubus. Apart from her equation with the lilû group of spirits and being subject to the king of the lil-demons Pazuzu (numbered by me as 2, 4 and 6), Pašittu is again found in an entry among the lil2 demons, Lamaštu is found in an incantation as "ki-sikil kamad-me" "the maiden Lamaštu", similar then to ki-sikil-lil-la or ki-sikil-ud-da-kar-ra (lilītu/ardat-lilî and ardat-lilî/Pašittu), and Ḫulbazizi no. 60 incantations on Lamaštu amulets hint at Lamaštu's capacity of a succubus, sharing features with the lil-demons. Lamaštu now embodies all aspects shared with Lilith.

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[Older post of mine from r/Lilith].

I've seen countless mentions so far of Lilith supposedly being a prostitute of Inanna, her hand, her handmaiden, a sacred harlot, just off the top of my head. I ignored it mainly as misinformation, but always had the question where the hell this is coming from. Lilith and Inanna are not even part of the same religion.

I first saw this post from the Library of Lilith that made things a little clearer, but I still had so many questions. What sources are these people using? Are the translations made up, are they updated somewhere in the countless books published?

Main source of misinformation, a popular book that while academic makes lots of claims, is "Lilith, The First Eve - Siegmund Hurwitz", who cites Stephen Langdon, and then Langdon cites himself.

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1. Lilith, the First Eve - Siegmund Hurwitz

Lilitû, too, is described in a Babylonian text as a temple prostitute of Ishtar. This particular characteristic is already to be found in older, Sumerian texts, in which it says [80] that Inanna – who corresponds to the Babylonian Ishtar – has sent the beautiful, unmarried and seductive prostitute Lilitû out into the streets and fields in order to lead men astray. This is why Lilith is also called "the hand of Inanna."

[80] S.H. Langdon: Tammuz und Ischtar. Oxford, 1914, p. 74.

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2. Tammuz and Ishtar - Stephen Langdon, page 74

A) A tablet redacted in classical Sumerian, and certainly a product of the Sumerian period, describes the female personification of lust as under the protection of Innini. [1] The text describes minutely the demon sent by Innini, a beautiful and licentious unmarried harlot, who seduces men in the streets and fields. [2] And in a grammatical text she is explained as the hand of Innini [3]. […]

B) In the liturgies, as well as in the incantations, both Innini and the divine harlot Lilitu are expressly described as virgins, [1] and both are constantly referred to as maidens. [2] There is every reason to suppose, that women were attached to her temples, and that these sacred harlots occupied a section of the sacred quarters known as the mastaku or woman's house. The general name for these devotees was probably ardatu, maiden. [3]

A) [1] Babylonian Liturgies, pp. 12-14 [Incantation in the "House of Light", Against the Harlot of Innini, again by Langdon].

[2] This demon was called lilitu by the Semites, a word derived from the Sumerian root lil, and passed into Aramaic and Hebrew as לִילִית, and erroneously derived from לֵיל night. For a discussion of the word see Babylonian Liturgies, p. 15.

[3] Babyloniaca, ii. 188, i.

The last one leads to LEXIKALISCHE STUDIEN VON Maximilian STRECK, "DIE WURZELN raabu UND rabu". I don't speak German so it's hard to say with certainty, but page 188 of volume ii does not mention Inanna/Ishtar or ardat-lili/lilitu, or even Lilith. I wonder if the reference was a mistake and he instead meant Babyloniaca, iv. 188, column ii as he also mentions the 4th volume right after this citation, the same page of the volume, and because it does mention a "hand of Inanna", a disease that affected an ardat lilî.

B) [1] Babyloniaca, iv. 188, 4 f.

*Source for Inanna and Lilitu being described as virgins/maidens. I assume this is also the source for hand of Inanna, column ii, instead of volume ii.

(references of [2] and [3] unrelated)

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3. Babyloniaca IV, Grammatical Treatises Upon a Religious Text Concerning the ardat lili

Tablet Sm. 49+752

No I, col. I: "The maid of the wind demon, which rushes in at the window of man, the maid disobedient. The maid who like a woman has not has intercourse. The maid who like a woman has not…"

This is the source for Inanna and "harlot" Lilitu being described as virgins and maidens, but as noticed does not mention anything similar to that. The text is mentioned in "New Duplicates to SBTU II - M. J. Geller" (numbered E, full incantation towards the end), relevant passage:

1. Incantation. The maiden Lili who blew into a man's window, the maiden .... (Sum.: The maiden of the steppe, when blowing through the window in the wind, is the maiden who flitted about. Var.: The Maiden(-demon) is actually a maiden of the steppe who blows in the wind in the «phantom's window»)
2. The maiden is like a woman who never had intercourse.
3. The maiden is like a woman who was never deflowered.

Col. II: "The maid hand of Nana (?) forth from the cavern went (?). The maid of the plain without the man" [ki-el su dInnini]

This was not used as a source, but I assume Langdon meant to cite this volume (iv, same page), column ii, instead volume ii, as the page in volume ii does not mention Inanna or a hand of hers, while this one does, and is the continuation of the previous text (so again mentioned in "New Duplicates to SBTU II - M. J. Geller"). It will be cited in full at the end, but the relevant passage says: "The maiden (is one) whom the <hand of Ishtar>-disease treated harshly in the nest". So ardat-lilî/lilītu (and especially Lilith) isn't the hand of Inanna, but an ardat-lilî was treated harshly by a disease called "hand of Ishtar". More on it towards the end.

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4. Babylonian Liturgies, pp. 12-14 (Incantation in the "House of Light", Against the Harlot of Innini) - Stephen Langdon

"This incantation in the 'house of light' against the harlot of Innina (Ishtar) is extremely valuable as the earliest and most important description of the female incarnation of lasciviousness. Sumero-Babylonian religion represented the male and female principles of this aspect of human sin by the demons lil-la and ki-el lil-la (ASKT. 88, 30 f.), the former representing the temptation of woman and the latter, the servant of lilu (ardat lili), the temptation of man. In the evolution of Babylonian magic it is the ardat lili, or the harlot who becomes most prominent. We see her in this early Sumerian text described as a beautiful woman (ardatu damkatu) haunting the streets and enticing her lover in his sleep. Both the lil-la (lili) and the ki-el lil-la are represented in the original mythology as unmarried (ASKT. 88, 30). In the later period there grew up beside the 'servant of lilu' another vague female principle of lili, called the lilitu, a Semitic feminine formation of lilu and translated into Sumerian by sal-lil-la (Maklu I 138). The word rapidly displaced the earlier ardat lili and passed into the other Semitic languages as a female demon of darkness and lust. When the Sumerian for ki-el lil-la is employed for lilitu and the scribe wished to write both lilitu and ardat lili in the same line he employed for the latter the Sumerian word ki-el ud-da-kar-ra, or maid of darkness. The connection of lilitu with the idea of darkness was further promoted among the Semites by the popular erroneous derivation from laiil, night'. The harlot's evil machinations were, however, conceived of as carried on after sunset from the earliest period and a man seduced by the vision of lust was purified in the 'house of light'. The text here published is closely allied with commentaries on an incantation against the harlot published by me in Babyloniaca IV 185 ff".

Langdon: Babylonian Liturgies, Edinburgh 09.405-2.

1. The sacred maid stands in the street.
2. The maid harlot of Innina stands on the.... wall.
3. Fatted cow, fatted cow is she.
4. Fatted cow of Innina is she.
5. Maiden who in the house of the mighty prince of Eridu dwells,
6. Like the verdant garden bearing seemliness she is.
7. Her bed like ..... is made in the holy city.
8. Shepherdess of the plain, protection of .... is she.
9. The limbs (of a man) she looked upon; limbs of one beloved are they.
10. The hand (of a man) she looked upon; hand of one beloved is it.
11. The foot (of a man) she looked upon; the foot of one beloved is it.
12. At the holy threshold, .... of lazuli,
13. ... place of...... she has gone forth.
14. Her beloved lay in repose.
15. Her beloved.... was disposed.
16. Her beloved from above like......
17. ... the strong man like a deluge she overwhelmed.
18. Marduk beheld it.
19. To his father Ea, into the house he entered, and wailed.
20. "Oh my father the sacred maid stood in the street".
21. Twice he spoke thus.
22. "What he has said I know not, how I shall restore him (I know not).
23. Ea answered his son Marduk.
24. "Oh my son what know I, what shall I add to thee?
25. Oh Marduk what know I, what shall I add to thee ?
26. Whatsoever I know thou also knowest.
27. Fat of the sacred steer, milk of the cow.
28. Fat of a steer, steer, take.
29. With fat his limbs fat of a white anoint.
30. The breast of the maiden...... (turn away).
31. Maid who opened the door mayest thou disperse".
32. The son (of his god) who wept may sigh (?) no more.
33. Behind me the wandering demon may one cause to perish. Curse. Incantation of the house of light.

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Now that we passed the misinformation and it led us nowhere, as Langdon seems to cite himself, we need to look for sources outside Hurwitz and Langdon. Notice though, how they seem to mix up ardat/maiden/young woman, with ardat-lili/demon maiden, with lilitu and Lilith. This was bound to be taken out of context.

5. The sources seem to lead to "Babylonian Liturgies" and not just by Hurwitz, but surprisingly by Geller too. Langdon is cited in "Tablets and Magic Bowls - Markham J. Geller" in the book "Officina Magica, Essays on the Practice of Magic in Antiquity - Shaul Shaked".

But Geller never mentions ardat-lili as a prostitute of Inanna. If we read "Tablets and Magic Bowls" carefully, note 39 reads: "The description of the ardat lilî [as a lady of ill repute; she always leans out of windows or stands in corners, and sits in recesses] goes back to much earlier Sumerian prototypes, such as the Old Babylonian Sumerian incantation describing the ki-sikil as a prostitute of Inanna". So ardat-lili's depiction (who is a demon maiden) is mirrored with Inanna's young (ardat/ki-sikil) prostitute, who as we will also see, is being mistreated.

6. While searching for a more credible translation, I found out that Geller himself has translated the relevant text in "Mesopotamian Love Magic: Discourse or Intercourse?", included in "Sex and Gender in the Ancient Near East, CRRAI 47" three years before "Tablets and Magic Bowls", so I'm not sure why he cited Langdon over his own work, I assume it's due to Langdon's introduction.

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7. Geller's article translating the same text as Langdon, "Mesopotamian Love Magic: Discourse or Intercourse?" is sadly inaccessible to me, but fortunately I found the text in "Sumerian and Akkadian in Old Babylonian Incantation Tablets - Nicholas Michael Gill". The relevant introduction will be added below.

Page 232:

"A few Sumerian incantation texts dating to the Old Babylonian period function to establish control over a lover to sexually exploit them. Three of these incantation texts, OBI 154, 10, OBI 192, and OBI 259, are duplicates containing the same incipit:

ki-sikil sa6-ga sila-a gub-ba, "A pretty young woman was standing on the street."

The first of these incantation texts, OBI 154,10 is significantly truncated version. A fourth duplicate of this incantation text, OBI 041 is heavily glossed in Akkadian, and thus considered bilingual. These incantation texts describe the woman of desire as a prostitute of Inanna and invoke fruit imagery to describe her fertility and appeal. After a divine dialogue in which Enki instructs Asalluhi to apply ingredients upon the breasts of the desired woman, the speech-act highlights the efficacy of the incantation text:"

"After you have poured the butter of a pure cow, the cream of a sheep and a domestic cow, the butter of a cow, and the butter of a white cow into this blue-green šikkatum vessel, and after you have applied it onto the breast of young woman, the young woman shall not shut the open door to him. She shall not sooth her crying children. She shall run after me!"

"This incantation text therefore functions to manipulate the affection and mannerism of the targeted woman so that she will adore only the client, even to the detriment of any children she may have. This love incantation text therefore is a rare attestation of so-called black magic in Mesopotamia, serving to manipulate the thoughts and affections of others for personal gain. OBI 154, 11 is probably also a fragmentary love incantation text. Like the others, the incipit mentions the ki-sikil and moreover the incantation immediately prior to it on the tablet, OBI 154, 10 is one of the previously discussed Sumerian love incantations."

OBI 192 = NMS A.1909.405.02 (BL 4) 414 (this is the same as Landon's text).

There is a benevolent young woman standing in the street. There is a young lady, a prostitute of Inanna, standing in the tavern. The cows are abundant. The cows are abundant. She is a good apkallum of Inanna. obv. 5 She is the august storehouse of Enki. When the young woman sits, she is a garden of apples adorned in loveliness. When she lies down, her joyous branches cast a protective shadow. She is a branch of cedar casting a protective shadow. Her hair extends towards him. It is the hair of a loving heart. Her hand extends towards him. It is the hand of a loving heart. Her foot extends towards him. It is the foot of a loving heart. obv. 12 The staircase is pure and the entrance is lapis lazuli when she descends the staircase from the heavens to earth. In order for the loving heart to spread and in order for the loving heart to reduce modesty, after the beloved heart has extended down from the heavens like dew, it struck the breast of the young manlike a reed. rev. 1 Asalluhi saw it. He enters into the temple to Enki, his father and calls out to him: “My father, there is a benevolent young woman standing in the street.” Then he spoke a second time. “I do not know what it is that I will say. What will I reply to him?” rev. 6 Enki replies to Asalluhi, his child, there. “My child, what do you not know? What more can I say to you? Asalluhi, what do you not know? What more can I say to you? That which I know, you also know! rev. 10 After you have poured the butter of a pure cow, the cream of a domestic cow, the butter of a cow, and the butter of a white cow into a blue-green šikkatum vessel, and after you have applied it onto the breast of the young woman, rev. 14 you shall not be locked out from the young woman whose door is open.” She shall not sooth her crying child. She shall run after me! Incantation formula.

OBI 259 = WCMA 20.1.30 444

There is a benevolent young woman standing in the street. The young woman is a prostitute, a child of Inanna. The young woman, the child of Inanna, stands in the tavern. The butter is abundant. The cream is abundant. obv. 5 She is an apkallum of Enlil and Inanna. She is the august storehouse of Enki. When the young lady sits, she is a forest of apples adorned in loveliness. When she lies down, her joyous branches cast a protective shadow. Her hand extends towards him. It is the hand of a loving heart. Her eye extends towards him. It is the eye of a loving heart. Her foot extends towards him. It is the foot of a loving heart. obv. 12 The staircase is pure and the platform is lapis lazuli when she descends the staircase from the heavens to earth. rev. 1 He replies to him there. “After you have poured the butter of a pure cow, the cream of a sheep and a domestic cow, the butter of a cow, and the butter of a white cow into this blue-green šikkatum vessel, rev. 5 and after you have applied it onto the breast of young woman, the young woman shall not shut the open door to him.” She shall not sooth her crying children. She shall run after me!

[OBI 154, 10/II.I. INCANTATIONS TO AROUSE LOVE No. 9k (Pl. XXXIII) - found in "Mesopotamian Incantations and Related Texts in the Schøyen Collection - Andrew R. George"]

[Pretty girl, standing in the street, my harlot-girl Inanna, standing in the tavern! Abundant, abundant! To the sage, mine, sublime lips, at the word of Enki, girl, her mother, nose, apple, my lap, O! Enenuri-spell. Incantation formula (for) love.]

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8. How does ardat-lili compare to the girls her age? We find that out in "New Duplicates to SBTU II - M. J. Geller"

SBTU II No. 6 and 7:

• 28. Incantation. **The maiden Lili who blew into a man's window**, the maiden .... (Sum.: The maiden of the steppe, when blowing through the window in the wind, is the maiden who flitted about. Var.: The Maiden(-demon) is actually a maiden of the steppe who blows in the wind in the «phantom's window»
• 29. The maiden is like a woman who never had intercourse.
• 30. The maiden is like a woman who was never deflowered.
• 31. The maiden (is one who) never experienced sex in her husband's lap.
• 32. The maiden (is one who) never peeled off her clothes on her husband's lap.
• 33. The maiden (is one) for whom no nice looking lad ever loosened her (garment)-clasp.
• 34. The maiden (is one) who had no milk in her breasts, but only bitter liquid comes out.
• 35. The maiden (is one) who never fulfilled (her) sexuality nor satisfied (her) desires in a man's lap.
• 36. The maiden (is one) who never had (her own) room, who never called (her) mother's name
• 37. The maiden (is one) who, in misery, harmed her cheeks.
• 38. The maiden (is one) who never rejoiced with other girls.
• 39. The maiden (is one) who was not seen at her city feast, nor ever raises her eyes.
• 40. The maiden (is one) from whose (own) room she is snatched away from (her) spouse.
• 41. The maiden (is one) who had no spouse, nor bore a son.
• 42. The maiden (is one) who had no spouse, nor raised a son.
• 43. The maiden (is one) who had neither spouse nor son.
• 44. The maiden (is one) who was deprived of both spouse and son.
• 45. The maiden (is one) who was forced out of her wedding house.
• 46. The maiden Lilî (is one) who was forced out of the window like the wind.
• 47. The maiden (is one) whose <ghost> is not (Sum. mentioned) in the mouth.
• 48. The maiden (is one) whose anxiety carried her off to the Netherworld
• 49. The maiden (is one) whom the <hand of Ishtar>-disease treated harshly in the nest (Sum.: drove from the nest).
• 50. The maiden (is one) who always prowls around outside in the broad steppe.
• 51. [The maiden is one who] constantly loosens [...]. outside.
• 52. [The maiden is one who] .... stands about.
• 53. [The maiden is one who always] prowls around, and always crosses over (from) roof to roof.

In this text we see an actual ardat-lilî, and not a young woman/prostitute. She was also treated harshly by the "hand of Ištar" disease. "Diagnoses in Assyrian and Babylonian Medicine - JoAnn Scurlock, Burton R. Andersen" gives us information on the hand of Ištar:

"There are many texts that refer to arthritis, especially of the feet, hands, and hips, which attribute that disease to "hand" of Ištar […] Ištar is often associated with venereal diseases, especially urethritis, since she is the goddess of sexual love. Gonococcal urethritis, one of the most common venereal diseases in the current era, often leads to gonococcal arthritis."

So this ardat lilî passed early due to the hand of Ištar. Ištar is not the only goddess who is associated with disease in this way, as the book also mentions hand of god/goddess/ghost and specifically hand of Gula/Šamaš/Sîn/Marduk etc. and even hand of Lamaštu/hand of the daughter of Anu.

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Conclusion:

Outdated sources:

1. Lilith, The First Eve - Siegmund Hurwitz - Main source cited when referring to Lilith or Lilitu as a prostitute of Inanna, who in turn cites Langdon.

2.Tammuz and Ishtar - Stephen Langdon - refers to a young girl as personified lust, prostitute of Inanna, a demon unmarried harlot. The sources for this statement is "Babylonian Liturgies" while recent translations do not make any references to ardat-lili/demon-girl, but a young prostitute of Inanna. As for the hand of Inanna, I'm not certain the source he cited is correct. He cites Babyloniaca ii page 188, and then Babyloniaca iv 188. It was likely a mistake and both citations should have mentioned Babyloniaca iv 188, as it does mention a "hand of Inanna". The hand of Ishtar refers to a disease, and does not have the meaning of "handmaiden" that got ascribed to lilitu/ardat-lili in recent years.

The reason his next statement does not make sense, describing ardat-lili/lilitu as both harlots and then virgins, is due to a conflation of ki-sikil/young woman (in this case prostitute), with a demon-girl that died unmarried and virgin. The word ardat just means maiden/young woman.

3. Babyloniaca IV, Grammatical Treatises Upon a Religious Text Concerning the ardat lili (pages 187-191) - Stephen Langdon - an ardat lili seeks her (male) victim, and then is mentioned along with the "hand of Inanna", which in reality is a disease.

4. Babylonian Liturgies - Stephen Langdon - what the sources that mention Lilith/lilitu as a prostitute of Inanna usually cite. Langdon begins with a description of ardat lili but ends up presenting an incantation about a maiden/prostitute of Inanna that is not a demoness. That is also evident by the later translations (most notably Geller: Mesopotamian Love Magic) that lack any indication that the text describes a demoness. Ki-sikil of Inanna is not ki-sikil-lil-la-ke or ki-sikil-ud-da-kar-ra, that would point to an ardat lili.

Young woman, prostitute of Inanna

5. Tablets and Magic Bowls - Markham J. Geller, in "Officina Magica, Essays on the Practice of Magic in Antiquity - Shaul Shaked" - Geller compares Mesopotamian incantations with Aramaic incantation bowls, as well as the similarities between Lilith, lilitu/ardat lili and the goddess Lamashtu. He mentions that ardat-lili's description goes back to earlier prototypes, so has similarities, with the descriptions of prostitutes of Inanna.

6. Mesopotamian Love Magic: Discourse or Intercourse? - Markham J. Geller, in "Sex and Gender in the Ancient Near East, CRRAI 47" - inaccessible to me, but it's cited in the book below. Geller translated the same incantation as Langdon did in "Babylonian Liturgies", where we notice an absence of any reference to a demoness, and a focus on a young prostitute of Inanna.

7. Sumerian and Akkadian in Old Babylonian Incantation Tablets - Nicholas Michael Gill - in the incantation translated by Langdon, then Geller, a young woman is standing in the street. The incantation, a rare attestation of Mesopotamian black magic, tries to establish control over the woman and sexually exploit her, tries to manipulate her into adoring her client, to the detriment of any children she might have. It describes a prostitute of Inanna with fruit imagery to describe her fertility, and the god Enki who instructs Asalluhi to apply ingredients on her breasts. What it does not refer to is an ardat-lili or a lilitu.

Ardat-lili, demon-maiden

8. New Duplicates to SBTU II - M. J. Geller - in other incantations the nature of the actual ardat lili becomes clear. Her life ended early, and she does not get to spend time like the girls of her age, dancing and twirling in celebration. She never had sex, never got married, left her parental house and was despised for not having a child. She didn't get to complete the societal roles of her time and was gone too soon, so since then she is roaming in the steppe. This also explains the violent tendencies of the ardat lili (and the lilu ghosts generally). She lacked a normal life so now spends her days hunting her victims after her death, until she gets married off in a "mock" wedding ceremony.

This ardat-lili (since they're plural spirits and it varies) also passed due to the disease of the hand of Ishtar.

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[Older post of mine from r/Lilith ]