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Re: Who is Lileth?2
nitrous who-is-at ccnet.com
Sat, 18 Feb 95 10:19:53 PDT=20
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In article <D449LB.JK3 who-is-at utu.fi>, <jkivela@utu.fi> writes:
> I'm not sure if this is the right group for this kind of discussion.
Anyway,=20
> it's an interesting legend since it tries to punish women just because=
they=20
> are independent. In that case it also tells us something, not very=20
flattering,=20
> about Christianity.=20
You definitley got a point there! But probabley not the best group to talk=
=20
about religious preferences.
I found some other references to her, so here they are:
Adam's first wife, Lilith, was an early rabbinical attempt to assimilate=
thhe=20
Sumero-Babylonian Goddess Belit-ili, or Belili, to Jewish mythology. To the=
=20
Canaanites, Lilith was Baalat, the "Divine Lady". On a tablet from Ur, ca.
2000=20
B.C.E. she was addressed as Lillake. (Graves & Patai, 68) Hebraic tradition=
=20
said Adam married Lilith because he grew tired of coupling with beasts, a=20
common custom of Middle-Eastern herdsmen, though the Old Testament declared
it=20
a sin (Deuteronomy 27:21). Adam ttried to force Lilith to lie beneath him in=
=20
the "missionary position" favored by male-dominant society. Moslems were so=
=20
insistent on the male-superior position that they said "Accursed be the man
who=20
maketh woman heaven and himself earth" (Edwards, 157) Catholic authorites
said=20
any sexual position other than the male-superior one is sinful. But Lillith=
=20
was neither a Moslem or a Catholic. She sneered at Adam's sexual crudity,=20
cursed him, and flew away to make her home by the Red SEa. God sent angels=
to=20
fetch Lilith back, but she cursed them too. She spent her time coupling with=
=20
"demons" and giving birth to a hundred children a day. so God had to produce=
=20
Eve as Lilith's more docile replacement.There have been many connections=20
between Lilith and the Etruscan divinity Leinth, who had no face and who
waited=20
at the gate of the underworld with Eita and Persipnei to receive the souls=
of=20
the dead (hays, 183). Admission to the underworld was often mythologized as=
a=20
sexual union. The lily or lilu (lotus) was the Great Mother's flower-yoni,=
=20
whose title formed Lilith's name.
The story of Lilith disappeared from the canonical Bible, but her daughters,=
=20
the lilim haunted men for over a thousand years. Well into the middle ages
the=20
Jews were still making amulets to keep away the lilum, who were lustful
demons=20
who copulated with men in their sleep, causing nocturnal emmisions. Greeks=
=20
adopted the lilim and called the Lamiae, Empusae (Forcers-in) or Daughters=
of=20
Hecate. Christians also adopted them and called the harlots of hell, or=20
succubae, the female counterparts of incubi. Even if a male child laughed in=
=20
his sleep, people said Lilith was fondling him. To protect baby boys against=
=20
her, chalk circles were draen around cradlles with the written names of the=
=20
three angels God sent to fetch Lilith back to Adam. Some said men and babies=
=20
should not be left alone in a house or Lilith might seize them. (Cavendish,=
=20
P.E., 99).
=95Next message: Richard Spear: "Re: Peking Man" =95Previous message:
BD81245 who-is-at bingvmb.cc.binghamton.edu: "Re: Illegal Demonstration proposal for
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