{"id":4751,"date":"2026-04-20T13:21:43","date_gmt":"2026-04-20T13:21:43","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/iwell-guard.com\/lilu-and-lilitu\/"},"modified":"2026-06-05T14:28:39","modified_gmt":"2026-06-05T14:28:39","slug":"lilu-and-lilitu","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/iwell-guard.com\/en\/lilu-and-lilitu\/","title":{"rendered":"Lil\u00fb and Lil\u012btu"},"content":{"rendered":"\t\t<div data-elementor-type=\"wp-page\" data-elementor-id=\"4751\" class=\"elementor elementor-4751 elementor-722\" data-elementor-post-type=\"page\">\n\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-element elementor-element-10fdade e-flex e-con-boxed e-con e-parent\" data-id=\"10fdade\" data-element_type=\"container\" data-e-type=\"container\" data-settings=\"{&quot;background_background&quot;:&quot;classic&quot;}\">\n\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"e-con-inner\">\n\t\t<div class=\"elementor-element elementor-element-herohlft0 e-flex e-con-boxed e-con e-child\" data-id=\"herohlft0\" data-element_type=\"container\" data-e-type=\"container\">\n\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"e-con-inner\">\n\t\t<div class=\"elementor-element elementor-element-c3ceb64 e-con-full e-flex e-con e-child\" data-id=\"c3ceb64\" data-element_type=\"container\" data-e-type=\"container\">\n\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-element elementor-element-96ae5e1 elementor-widget elementor-widget-heading\" data-id=\"96ae5e1\" data-element_type=\"widget\" data-e-type=\"widget\" data-widget_type=\"heading.default\">\n\t\t\t\t\t<h1 class=\"elementor-heading-title elementor-size-default\">Lilu and Lilitu, demoness of the Mesopotamian tradition<\/h1>\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-element elementor-element-e45238a elementor-widget elementor-widget-text-editor\" data-id=\"e45238a\" data-element_type=\"widget\" data-e-type=\"widget\" data-widget_type=\"text-editor.default\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<p>Lilu and Lilitu is a demoness of the Mesopotamian <span class=\"iwg-fachbegriff\" data-tooltip=\"The passing on of knowledge and narratives across generations.\" tabindex=\"0\">tradition<\/span>.<\/p><p>A being of night and wind, moving between sleep, the desert and seduction.<\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<div class=\"elementor-element elementor-element-klsbdg01 e-con-full e-flex e-con e-parent\" data-id=\"klsbdg01\" data-element_type=\"container\" data-e-type=\"container\">\n\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-element elementor-element-klshtm01 elementor-widget elementor-widget-html\" data-id=\"klshtm01\" data-element_type=\"widget\" data-e-type=\"widget\" data-widget_type=\"html.default\">\n\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"iwg-pill-row\"><span class=\"iwg-klasse-badge\" tabindex=\"0\" data-tooltip=\"Demon \/ demoness: a supernatural being with a mostly harmful or ambivalent effect. It stands between gods and humans, causes illness, temptation or misfortune, and is warded off through incantation, apotropaic objects and rituals.\">Demoness<\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/iwell-guard.com\/en\/mesopotamia\/\" class=\"iwg-kultur-badge\" tabindex=\"0\" data-tooltip=\"Cradle of documented religion: Sumer, Akkad, Babylon, Assyria (c. 3500 BCE to 330 BCE).\">Mesopotamia<\/a><\/div>\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<div class=\"elementor-element elementor-element-3f74855 e-con-full e-flex e-con e-child\" data-id=\"3f74855\" data-element_type=\"container\" data-e-type=\"container\">\n\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-element elementor-element-1c30362 elementor-toc--minimized-on-tablet elementor-widget elementor-widget-table-of-contents\" data-id=\"1c30362\" data-element_type=\"widget\" data-e-type=\"widget\" data-settings=\"{&quot;exclude_headings_by_selector&quot;:[],&quot;no_headings_message&quot;:&quot;Es wurden keine \\u00dcberschriften auf dieser Seite gefunden.&quot;,&quot;headings_by_tags&quot;:[&quot;h2&quot;,&quot;h3&quot;],&quot;marker_view&quot;:&quot;bullets&quot;,&quot;icon&quot;:{&quot;value&quot;:&quot;fas fa-circle&quot;,&quot;library&quot;:&quot;fa-solid&quot;,&quot;rendered_tag&quot;:&quot;&lt;svg class=\\&quot;e-font-icon-svg e-fas-circle\\&quot; viewBox=\\&quot;0 0 512 512\\&quot; xmlns=\\&quot;http:\\\/\\\/www.w3.org\\\/2000\\\/svg\\&quot;&gt;&lt;path d=\\&quot;M256 8C119 8 8 119 8 256s111 248 248 248 248-111 248-248S393 8 256 8z\\&quot;&gt;&lt;\\\/path&gt;&lt;\\\/svg&gt;&quot;},&quot;minimize_box&quot;:&quot;yes&quot;,&quot;minimized_on&quot;:&quot;tablet&quot;,&quot;hierarchical_view&quot;:&quot;yes&quot;,&quot;min_height&quot;:{&quot;unit&quot;:&quot;px&quot;,&quot;size&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;sizes&quot;:[]},&quot;min_height_tablet&quot;:{&quot;unit&quot;:&quot;px&quot;,&quot;size&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;sizes&quot;:[]},&quot;min_height_mobile&quot;:{&quot;unit&quot;:&quot;px&quot;,&quot;size&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;sizes&quot;:[]}}\" data-widget_type=\"table-of-contents.default\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-toc__header\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<h2 class=\"elementor-toc__header-title\">\n\t\t\t\tTable of Contents\t\t\t<\/h2>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-toc__toggle-button elementor-toc__toggle-button--expand\" role=\"button\" tabindex=\"0\" aria-controls=\"elementor-toc__1c30362\" aria-expanded=\"true\" aria-label=\"Open table of contents\"><svg aria-hidden=\"true\" class=\"e-font-icon-svg e-fas-chevron-down\" viewBox=\"0 0 448 512\" xmlns=\"http:\/\/www.w3.org\/2000\/svg\"><path d=\"M207.029 381.476L12.686 187.132c-9.373-9.373-9.373-24.569 0-33.941l22.667-22.667c9.357-9.357 24.522-9.375 33.901-.04L224 284.505l154.745-154.021c9.379-9.335 24.544-9.317 33.901.04l22.667 22.667c9.373 9.373 9.373 24.569 0 33.941L240.971 381.476c-9.373 9.372-24.569 9.372-33.942 0z\"><\/path><\/svg><\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-toc__toggle-button elementor-toc__toggle-button--collapse\" role=\"button\" tabindex=\"0\" aria-controls=\"elementor-toc__1c30362\" aria-expanded=\"true\" aria-label=\"Close table of contents\"><svg aria-hidden=\"true\" class=\"e-font-icon-svg e-fas-chevron-up\" viewBox=\"0 0 448 512\" xmlns=\"http:\/\/www.w3.org\/2000\/svg\"><path d=\"M240.971 130.524l194.343 194.343c9.373 9.373 9.373 24.569 0 33.941l-22.667 22.667c-9.357 9.357-24.522 9.375-33.901.04L224 227.495 69.255 381.516c-9.379 9.335-24.544 9.317-33.901-.04l-22.667-22.667c-9.373-9.373-9.373-24.569 0-33.941L207.03 130.525c9.372-9.373 24.568-9.373 33.941-.001z\"><\/path><\/svg><\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<div id=\"elementor-toc__1c30362\" class=\"elementor-toc__body\">\n\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-toc__spinner-container\">\n\t\t\t\t<svg class=\"elementor-toc__spinner eicon-animation-spin e-font-icon-svg e-eicon-loading\" aria-hidden=\"true\" viewBox=\"0 0 1000 1000\" xmlns=\"http:\/\/www.w3.org\/2000\/svg\"><path d=\"M500 975V858C696 858 858 696 858 500S696 142 500 142 142 304 142 500H25C25 237 238 25 500 25S975 237 975 500 763 975 500 975Z\"><\/path><\/svg>\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<div class=\"elementor-element elementor-element-herorght0 e-con-full e-flex e-con e-child\" data-id=\"herorght0\" data-element_type=\"container\" data-e-type=\"container\">\n\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-element elementor-element-heroimg00 iwg-hero-image elementor-widget elementor-widget-image\" data-id=\"heroimg00\" data-element_type=\"widget\" data-e-type=\"widget\" data-widget_type=\"image.default\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<img fetchpriority=\"high\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"683\" height=\"1024\" src=\"https:\/\/iwell-guard.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/daemonen_mesopotamien_lilu-und-lilitu-1-683x1024.webp\" class=\"attachment-large size-large wp-image-4752\" alt=\"Lilu and Lilitu: demons from the Mesopotamian tradition, historical and illustrative\" srcset=\"https:\/\/iwell-guard.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/daemonen_mesopotamien_lilu-und-lilitu-1-683x1024.webp 683w, https:\/\/iwell-guard.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/daemonen_mesopotamien_lilu-und-lilitu-1-200x300.webp 200w, https:\/\/iwell-guard.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/daemonen_mesopotamien_lilu-und-lilitu-1-768x1152.webp 768w, https:\/\/iwell-guard.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/daemonen_mesopotamien_lilu-und-lilitu-1.webp 1024w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 683px) 100vw, 683px\" \/>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<div class=\"elementor-element elementor-element-32917199 e-flex e-con-boxed e-con e-parent\" data-id=\"32917199\" data-element_type=\"container\" data-e-type=\"container\">\n\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"e-con-inner\">\n\t\t<div class=\"elementor-element elementor-element-26e916cb e-flex e-con-boxed e-con e-child\" data-id=\"26e916cb\" data-element_type=\"container\" data-e-type=\"container\">\n\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"e-con-inner\">\n\t\t<div class=\"elementor-element elementor-element-253a40d4 e-flex e-con-boxed e-con e-child\" data-id=\"253a40d4\" data-element_type=\"container\" data-e-type=\"container\">\n\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"e-con-inner\">\n\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-element elementor-element-1200c304 elementor-widget elementor-widget-heading\" data-id=\"1200c304\" data-element_type=\"widget\" data-e-type=\"widget\" data-widget_type=\"heading.default\">\n\t\t\t\t\t<h3 class=\"elementor-heading-title elementor-size-default\">Lil\u00fb and Lil\u012btu<\/h3>\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-element elementor-element-11758e7f elementor-widget elementor-widget-text-editor\" data-id=\"11758e7f\" data-element_type=\"widget\" data-e-type=\"widget\" data-widget_type=\"text-editor.default\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<p>Lil\u00fb (male) and Lil\u012btu (female) form an Akkadian pair of <span class=\"iwg-fachbegriff\" data-tooltip=\"A spiritual being to which harmful or ambivalent effect is attributed.\" tabindex=\"0\">demons<\/span> closely associated with wind, night and unblessed sexuality. The Sumerian etymon <em>l\u00edl<\/em> originally denotes moving air; from it develop, in Akkadian, beings that dwell in that space, incorporeal, intangible and dangerous to sleepers.<\/p><p>From this same layer also comes the younger female variant <em>ardat-lil\u00ee<\/em>, which threatens above all young men and women in childbed.<\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<div class=\"elementor-element elementor-element-159dcf9a e-flex e-con-boxed e-con e-child\" data-id=\"159dcf9a\" data-element_type=\"container\" data-e-type=\"container\">\n\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"e-con-inner\">\n\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-element elementor-element-48cee66f elementor-widget elementor-widget-heading\" data-id=\"48cee66f\" data-element_type=\"widget\" data-e-type=\"widget\" data-widget_type=\"heading.default\">\n\t\t\t\t\t<h2 class=\"elementor-heading-title elementor-size-default\">At a glance: Lilu and Lilitu<\/h2>\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-element elementor-element-3f50d82c elementor-widget elementor-widget-text-editor\" data-id=\"3f50d82c\" data-element_type=\"widget\" data-e-type=\"widget\" data-widget_type=\"text-editor.default\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<p><strong>Type:<\/strong> pair of wind and night demons (Akkadian)<br>Origin: Sumerian <em>l\u00edl<\/em> \u2192 Akkadian <em>lil\u00fb<\/em> (m.) and <em>lil\u012btu<\/em> (f.); ardat-lil\u00ee as the child-endangering variant<br>Function: nocturnal seduction, disturbance of sleep, sexual threat; ardat-lil\u00ee additionally a threat to women in childbed and to infants<br><span class=\"iwg-fachbegriff\" data-tooltip=\"The petitioning or invoking address of a deity or power.\" tabindex=\"0\">Invocation<\/span>: <span class=\"iwg-fachbegriff\" data-tooltip=\"A linguistic ritual intended to summon or bind a power.\" tabindex=\"0\">incantation<\/span> tablets (Maql\u00fb series), protective <span class=\"iwg-fachbegriff\" data-tooltip=\"A worn object to which a protective, misfortune-averting effect is attributed.\" tabindex=\"0\">amulets<\/span><br>Central sources: Akkadian incantation texts, lexical lists, Gilgamesh<\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<div class=\"elementor-element elementor-element-18613602 e-flex e-con-boxed e-con e-parent\" data-id=\"18613602\" data-element_type=\"container\" data-e-type=\"container\">\n\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"e-con-inner\">\n\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-element elementor-element-262b8a9f elementor-widget elementor-widget-heading\" data-id=\"262b8a9f\" data-element_type=\"widget\" data-e-type=\"widget\" data-widget_type=\"heading.default\">\n\t\t\t\t\t<h2 class=\"elementor-heading-title elementor-size-default\">Context<\/h2>\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<div class=\"elementor-element elementor-element-46dcb7d e-con-full e-flex e-con e-child\" data-id=\"46dcb7d\" data-element_type=\"container\" data-e-type=\"container\">\n\t\t<div class=\"elementor-element elementor-element-61d3ab3 e-flex e-con-boxed e-con e-child\" data-id=\"61d3ab3\" data-element_type=\"container\" data-e-type=\"container\">\n\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"e-con-inner\">\n\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-element elementor-element-117c166 elementor-widget elementor-widget-heading\" data-id=\"117c166\" data-element_type=\"widget\" data-e-type=\"widget\" data-widget_type=\"heading.default\">\n\t\t\t\t\t<h3 class=\"elementor-heading-title elementor-size-default\">Period of the texts<\/h3>\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-element elementor-element-73997a0 elementor-widget elementor-widget-text-editor\" data-id=\"73997a0\" data-element_type=\"widget\" data-e-type=\"widget\" data-widget_type=\"text-editor.default\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<p>The first attestations are found in Sumerian-Akkadian texts of the 2nd millennium BCE. The group remains present throughout the 1st millennium. It had a considerable afterlife in Aramaic incantation bowls of <span class=\"iwg-fachbegriff\" data-tooltip=\"The transitional epoch between antiquity and the Middle Ages, roughly the 3rd to 7th century.\" tabindex=\"0\">late antiquity<\/span> and in the Jewish tradition around Lilith.<\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<div class=\"elementor-element elementor-element-d47b156 e-flex e-con-boxed e-con e-child\" data-id=\"d47b156\" data-element_type=\"container\" data-e-type=\"container\">\n\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"e-con-inner\">\n\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-element elementor-element-ff38c2b elementor-widget elementor-widget-heading\" data-id=\"ff38c2b\" data-element_type=\"widget\" data-e-type=\"widget\" data-widget_type=\"heading.default\">\n\t\t\t\t\t<h3 class=\"elementor-heading-title elementor-size-default\">Area of distribution<\/h3>\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-element elementor-element-4e49fcc elementor-widget elementor-widget-text-editor\" data-id=\"4e49fcc\" data-element_type=\"widget\" data-e-type=\"widget\" data-widget_type=\"text-editor.default\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<p>The core area is Mesopotamia. From there, motifs and names travel via the Levant into Aramaic, Hebrew and later into Christian folk traditions. The connection to Jewish incantations and protective amulets from Babylonia and Palestine is especially close.<\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<div class=\"elementor-element elementor-element-db03c39 e-con-full e-flex e-con e-child\" data-id=\"db03c39\" data-element_type=\"container\" data-e-type=\"container\">\n\t\t<div class=\"elementor-element elementor-element-229a87b e-flex e-con-boxed e-con e-child\" data-id=\"229a87b\" data-element_type=\"container\" data-e-type=\"container\">\n\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"e-con-inner\">\n\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-element elementor-element-1f471fc elementor-widget elementor-widget-heading\" data-id=\"1f471fc\" data-element_type=\"widget\" data-e-type=\"widget\" data-widget_type=\"heading.default\">\n\t\t\t\t\t<h3 class=\"elementor-heading-title elementor-size-default\">State of the sources<\/h3>\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-element elementor-element-36b1201 elementor-widget elementor-widget-text-editor\" data-id=\"36b1201\" data-element_type=\"widget\" data-e-type=\"widget\" data-widget_type=\"text-editor.default\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<p>Central are the Akkadian incantation texts against Lil\u00fb, Lil\u012btu and ardat-lil\u00ee, which appear in the great incantation series Maql\u00fb and \u0160urpu. Alongside them are individual mentions in lexical lists, in the collection Utukk\u016b lemn\u016btu (&#8220;Evil Demons&#8221;) and in Late Babylonian school texts.<\/p><p>The most important edition is by M.J. Geller (2007 and 2016, Brill); earlier preparatory work was done by R. Borger and F.A.M. Wiggermann.<\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<div class=\"elementor-element elementor-element-3ae0637c e-flex e-con-boxed e-con e-parent\" data-id=\"3ae0637c\" data-element_type=\"container\" data-e-type=\"container\">\n\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"e-con-inner\">\n\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-element elementor-element-31d07739 elementor-widget elementor-widget-heading\" data-id=\"31d07739\" data-element_type=\"widget\" data-e-type=\"widget\" data-widget_type=\"heading.default\">\n\t\t\t\t\t<h2 class=\"elementor-heading-title elementor-size-default\">Name and variants<\/h2>\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<div class=\"elementor-element elementor-element-b7642947 e-con-full e-flex e-con e-child\" data-id=\"b7642947\" data-element_type=\"container\" data-e-type=\"container\">\n\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-element elementor-element-a086266 elementor-widget elementor-widget-text-editor\" data-id=\"a086266\" data-element_type=\"widget\" data-e-type=\"widget\" data-widget_type=\"text-editor.default\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<p><strong>Sumerian:<\/strong> <em>l\u00edl<\/em> (wind\/moving air) \u2192 <em>l\u00edl-l\u00e1<\/em> (wind being). <strong>Akkadian:<\/strong> <em>lil\u00fb<\/em> (m.), <em>lil\u012btu<\/em> (f.), <em>ardat-lil\u00ee<\/em> (&#8220;young woman-lil\u00ee&#8221;, a female form with a child-endangering component). The phonetic similarity to Hebrew <em>laylah<\/em> (night) is secondary; the folk-etymological link with &#8220;night&#8221; is first attestable in Aramaic-rabbinic writings and shapes the later image of Lilith.<\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<div class=\"elementor-element elementor-element-709a44a8 e-flex e-con-boxed e-con e-parent\" data-id=\"709a44a8\" data-element_type=\"container\" data-e-type=\"container\">\n\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"e-con-inner\">\n\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-element elementor-element-2f585873 elementor-widget elementor-widget-heading\" data-id=\"2f585873\" data-element_type=\"widget\" data-e-type=\"widget\" data-widget_type=\"heading.default\">\n\t\t\t\t\t<h2 class=\"elementor-heading-title elementor-size-default\">Characteristics<\/h2>\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<div class=\"elementor-element elementor-element-70621c12 e-con-full e-flex e-con e-child\" data-id=\"70621c12\" data-element_type=\"container\" data-e-type=\"container\">\n\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-element elementor-element-4296eb49 elementor-widget elementor-widget-text-editor\" data-id=\"4296eb49\" data-element_type=\"widget\" data-e-type=\"widget\" data-widget_type=\"text-editor.default\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<h3>Appearance<\/h3><p>Lil\u00fb and Lil\u012btu have no fixed iconographic programme. They are wind beings, incorporeal, sometimes experienced as nocturnal shadows or dreams. The ardat-lil\u00ee can appear youthful and female, often as a seductive figure who comes to sleeping men. Pictorial representations are rare and not unambiguous.<\/p><h3>Behaviour<\/h3><p>They come in the night, enter houses and bedchambers, and afflict sleepers. Lil\u00fb seduces women, Lil\u012btu men. Ardat-lil\u00ee threatens bachelors, women in childbed and infants. They vanish with the morning but leave behind illness, nightmares or unwanted sexual experiences.<\/p><h3>Sphere of effect<\/h3><p>Sleep disturbances, nightmares, <a class=\"iwg-fachbegriff\" href=\"https:\/\/iwell-guard.com\/en\/sleep-paralysis\/\" tabindex=\"0\" data-tooltip=\"A state of perception in which consciousness awakens but the body is still paralysed by REM atonia; often linked with hallucinations.\" style=\"color:inherit;text-decoration:none\">sleep paralysis<\/a>, sexual dreams, unexplained pregnancy losses, infertility. In a rural-archaic understanding, also infertile land and disturbed animal births. The sphere of effect partly overlaps with that of <span class=\"iwg-fachbegriff\" data-tooltip=\"Mesopotamian demoness regarded as a threat to pregnant women and newborns.\" tabindex=\"0\">Lamashtu<\/span>, but is more strongly centred on sleep.<\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<div class=\"elementor-element elementor-element-44e71476 e-flex e-con-boxed e-con e-parent\" data-id=\"44e71476\" data-element_type=\"container\" data-e-type=\"container\">\n\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"e-con-inner\">\n\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-element elementor-element-3c1fc3f0 elementor-widget elementor-widget-heading\" data-id=\"3c1fc3f0\" data-element_type=\"widget\" data-e-type=\"widget\" data-widget_type=\"heading.default\">\n\t\t\t\t\t<h2 class=\"elementor-heading-title elementor-size-default\">Profile: Lilu and Lilitu<\/h2>\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<div class=\"elementor-element elementor-element-84f33b8e e-con-full e-flex e-con e-child\" data-id=\"84f33b8e\" data-element_type=\"container\" data-e-type=\"container\">\n\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-element elementor-element-hqkdc67p elementor-widget elementor-widget-text-editor\" data-id=\"hqkdc67p\" data-element_type=\"widget\" data-e-type=\"widget\" data-widget_type=\"text-editor.default\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<p>The most important aspects of Lil\u00fb and Lil\u012btu at a glance. The detailed treatment of name, description, defence and parallels can be found in chapters 2, 3, 5 and 6.<\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<div class=\"elementor-element elementor-element-pemmx7c5 e-con-full e-flex e-con e-child\" data-id=\"pemmx7c5\" data-element_type=\"container\" data-e-type=\"container\">\n\t\t<div class=\"elementor-element elementor-element-pemmx7c1 e-con-full e-flex e-con e-child\" data-id=\"pemmx7c1\" data-element_type=\"container\" data-e-type=\"container\">\n\t\t<div class=\"elementor-element elementor-element-qh9oavvu iwg-steckbrief-card e-flex e-con-boxed e-con e-child\" data-id=\"qh9oavvu\" data-element_type=\"container\" data-e-type=\"container\">\n\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"e-con-inner\">\n\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-element elementor-element-awzx8k2k elementor-widget elementor-widget-heading\" data-id=\"awzx8k2k\" data-element_type=\"widget\" data-e-type=\"widget\" data-widget_type=\"heading.default\">\n\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-heading-title elementor-size-default\">Origin<\/div>\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-element elementor-element-x6rowhv0 elementor-widget elementor-widget-text-editor\" data-id=\"x6rowhv0\" data-element_type=\"widget\" data-e-type=\"widget\" data-widget_type=\"text-editor.default\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<p>Sumerian-Akkadian etymology: from <em>l\u00edl<\/em> (moving air, wind, breath) develops the category of incorporeal wind beings. Lil\u00fb is the male, Lil\u012btu the female representative of this class. The ardat-lil\u00ee develops as a specific younger variant with a pronounced sexual and child-endangering component.<\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<div class=\"elementor-element elementor-element-8e3o4kxs iwg-steckbrief-card e-flex e-con-boxed e-con e-child\" data-id=\"8e3o4kxs\" data-element_type=\"container\" data-e-type=\"container\">\n\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"e-con-inner\">\n\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-element elementor-element-08rkdgov elementor-widget elementor-widget-heading\" data-id=\"08rkdgov\" data-element_type=\"widget\" data-e-type=\"widget\" data-widget_type=\"heading.default\">\n\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-heading-title elementor-size-default\">Directed at<\/div>\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-element elementor-element-uwjelx8s elementor-widget elementor-widget-text-editor\" data-id=\"uwjelx8s\" data-element_type=\"widget\" data-e-type=\"widget\" data-widget_type=\"text-editor.default\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<p>Sleepers, especially the unmarried and the childless. Travellers in desert and wasteland. Places where the social space of protection is thin.<\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<div class=\"elementor-element elementor-element-jm2n74ec iwg-steckbrief-card e-flex e-con-boxed e-con e-child\" data-id=\"jm2n74ec\" data-element_type=\"container\" data-e-type=\"container\">\n\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"e-con-inner\">\n\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-element elementor-element-8vufse4c elementor-widget elementor-widget-heading\" data-id=\"8vufse4c\" data-element_type=\"widget\" data-e-type=\"widget\" data-widget_type=\"heading.default\">\n\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-heading-title elementor-size-default\">Form<\/div>\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-element elementor-element-mwb9u015 elementor-widget elementor-widget-text-editor\" data-id=\"mwb9u015\" data-element_type=\"widget\" data-e-type=\"widget\" data-widget_type=\"text-editor.default\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<p>No fixed iconographic programme. Lil\u00fb and Lil\u012btu are mostly described as wind or nocturnal shadow. The ardat-lil\u00ee occasionally appears in incantation texts as an attractive young woman with long hair.<\/p><p>Pictorial representations are very rare; some clay plaques of the Old Babylonian period (the so-called &#8220;Burney <span class=\"iwg-fachbegriff\" data-tooltip=\"A representation worked out of a flat surface so that it stands out in relief.\" tabindex=\"0\">Relief<\/span>&#8220;) are sometimes associated with Lil\u012btu, but the identification is disputed.<\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<div class=\"elementor-element elementor-element-pemmx7c2 e-con-full e-flex e-con e-child\" data-id=\"pemmx7c2\" data-element_type=\"container\" data-e-type=\"container\">\n\t\t<div class=\"elementor-element elementor-element-37ss2yr6 iwg-steckbrief-card e-flex e-con-boxed e-con e-child\" data-id=\"37ss2yr6\" data-element_type=\"container\" data-e-type=\"container\">\n\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"e-con-inner\">\n\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-element elementor-element-3v0wp3wx elementor-widget elementor-widget-heading\" data-id=\"3v0wp3wx\" data-element_type=\"widget\" data-e-type=\"widget\" data-widget_type=\"heading.default\">\n\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-heading-title elementor-size-default\">Sphere of effect<\/div>\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-element elementor-element-w3247g2m elementor-widget elementor-widget-text-editor\" data-id=\"w3247g2m\" data-element_type=\"widget\" data-e-type=\"widget\" data-widget_type=\"text-editor.default\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<p>Nightmares, <a class=\"iwg-fachbegriff\" href=\"https:\/\/iwell-guard.com\/en\/sleep-paralysis\/\" tabindex=\"0\" data-tooltip=\"A state of perception in which consciousness awakens but the body is still paralysed by REM atonia.\" style=\"color:inherit;text-decoration:none\">sleep paralysis<\/a>, nocturnal sexual experiences, melancholy, infertility. An explanatory figure for what happens in the night and at the edge of the social space.<\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<div class=\"elementor-element elementor-element-0qpjal9w iwg-steckbrief-card e-flex e-con-boxed e-con e-child\" data-id=\"0qpjal9w\" data-element_type=\"container\" data-e-type=\"container\">\n\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"e-con-inner\">\n\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-element elementor-element-6ndoih0o elementor-widget elementor-widget-heading\" data-id=\"6ndoih0o\" data-element_type=\"widget\" data-e-type=\"widget\" data-widget_type=\"heading.default\">\n\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-heading-title elementor-size-default\">Means of protection<\/div>\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-element elementor-element-6684tyh9 elementor-widget elementor-widget-text-editor\" data-id=\"6684tyh9\" data-element_type=\"widget\" data-e-type=\"widget\" data-widget_type=\"text-editor.default\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<p>Incantations, protective amulets with inscriptions, <span class=\"iwg-fachbegriff\" data-tooltip=\"An ordered sequence of symbolic actions with religious or cultural meaning.\" tabindex=\"0\">ritual<\/span> protective measures for the sleeping space. In later tradition: incantation bowls with protective formulae against Lilith.<\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<div class=\"elementor-element elementor-element-3lfi7x32 iwg-steckbrief-card e-flex e-con-boxed e-con e-child\" data-id=\"3lfi7x32\" data-element_type=\"container\" data-e-type=\"container\">\n\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"e-con-inner\">\n\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-element elementor-element-0kg99ga1 elementor-widget elementor-widget-heading\" data-id=\"0kg99ga1\" data-element_type=\"widget\" data-e-type=\"widget\" data-widget_type=\"heading.default\">\n\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-heading-title elementor-size-default\">Related beings<\/div>\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-element elementor-element-n0fum6kp elementor-widget elementor-widget-text-editor\" data-id=\"n0fum6kp\" data-element_type=\"widget\" data-e-type=\"widget\" data-widget_type=\"text-editor.default\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<p>Direct successors: <a href=\"https:\/\/iwell-guard.com\/en\/lilith\/\">Lilith<\/a> (Jewish-rabbinic tradition, Middle Ages). Functionally related: <a href=\"\/en\/lamia\/\">Lamia<\/a> and <a href=\"\/en\/empusa\/\">Empusa<\/a> (Greece), <a href=\"\/en\/succubus\/\">succubus<\/a> and <a href=\"\/en\/incubus\/\">incubus<\/a> (medieval Christian), <a href=\"\/en\/yurei\/\">Y\u016brei<\/a> in the Japanese tradition as restless nocturnal apparitions. <a href=\"\/en\/mahr\/\">Mahr<\/a> (Germanic) and <a href=\"\/en\/kikimora\/\">Kikimora<\/a> (Slavic) also share the <span class=\"iwg-fachbegriff\" data-tooltip=\"A recurring element of content in art or narrative.\" tabindex=\"0\">motif<\/span> of the nocturnal intruder in the sleeping space.<\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<div class=\"elementor-element elementor-element-7533bc7a e-flex e-con-boxed e-con e-parent\" data-id=\"7533bc7a\" data-element_type=\"container\" data-e-type=\"container\">\n\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"e-con-inner\">\n\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-element elementor-element-2447d18d elementor-widget elementor-widget-heading\" data-id=\"2447d18d\" data-element_type=\"widget\" data-e-type=\"widget\" data-widget_type=\"heading.default\">\n\t\t\t\t\t<h2 class=\"elementor-heading-title elementor-size-default\">Practical defence<\/h2>\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<div class=\"elementor-element elementor-element-d5d0260c e-con-full e-flex e-con e-child\" data-id=\"d5d0260c\" data-element_type=\"container\" data-e-type=\"container\">\n\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-element elementor-element-341be2ac elementor-widget elementor-widget-text-editor\" data-id=\"341be2ac\" data-element_type=\"widget\" data-e-type=\"widget\" data-widget_type=\"text-editor.default\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<h3>Rituals of defence<\/h3><p>The incantation series Maql\u00fb (&#8220;Burning&#8221;) and \u0160urpu (&#8220;Burning&#8221;) contain detailed <span class=\"iwg-fachbegriff\" data-tooltip=\"An ordered sequence of symbolic actions with religious or cultural meaning.\" tabindex=\"0\">ritual<\/span> instructions against Lil\u00fb, Lil\u012btu and ardat-lil\u00ee. Typical is the combination of orally recited incantation formulae with incense <span class=\"iwg-fachbegriff\" data-tooltip=\"An offering to a deity to express gratitude, petition, or veneration.\" tabindex=\"0\">offerings<\/span> (juniper, cedar wood), protective amulets at the bed or above the door, and <span class=\"iwg-fachbegriff\" data-tooltip=\"A sign that stands representatively for a concept or meaning.\" tabindex=\"0\">symbolic<\/span> acts of destruction (burning clay figures that represent the being).<\/p><p>The sleeping place itself is secured by protective circles and <span class=\"iwg-fachbegriff\" data-tooltip=\"Warding off evil: of signs and objects intended to keep harmful influences away.\" tabindex=\"0\">apotropaic<\/span> inscriptions.<\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<div class=\"elementor-element elementor-element-5a584676 e-flex e-con-boxed e-con e-parent\" data-id=\"5a584676\" data-element_type=\"container\" data-e-type=\"container\">\n\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"e-con-inner\">\n\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-element elementor-element-6d0757bf elementor-widget elementor-widget-heading\" data-id=\"6d0757bf\" data-element_type=\"widget\" data-e-type=\"widget\" data-widget_type=\"heading.default\">\n\t\t\t\t\t<h2 class=\"elementor-heading-title elementor-size-default\">Lilu and Lilitu, parallels in other cultures<\/h2>\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<div class=\"elementor-element elementor-element-60563f68 e-con-full e-flex e-con e-child\" data-id=\"60563f68\" data-element_type=\"container\" data-e-type=\"container\">\n\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-element elementor-element-5a93fdd6 elementor-widget elementor-widget-text-editor\" data-id=\"5a93fdd6\" data-element_type=\"widget\" data-e-type=\"widget\" data-widget_type=\"text-editor.default\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<p><strong>Jewish tradition:<\/strong> Lilith is the direct successor of the Akkadian Lil\u012btu\/ardat-lil\u00ee. First mentioned in Isaiah 34:14 as a desert demoness; elaborated in the Babylonian <span class=\"iwg-fachbegriff\" tabindex=\"0\" data-tooltip=\"The principal work of rabbinic Judaism, in a Babylonian and a Jerusalem version; it contains Mishnah and Gemara.\">Talmud<\/span> (b. Eruvin 100b, Niddah 24b), and then comprehensively in the medieval Alphabet of Ben Sira (10th c.).<\/p><p>The kabbalistic tradition makes her Adam&#8217;s first wife, who leaves him and ever after threatens infants. Protective amulets bearing the archangels Sanvi, Sansanvi and Semangelaf remained in use into modern times.<\/p><p><strong>Greek-Roman world:<\/strong> Lamia and Empusa take up the <span class=\"iwg-fachbegriff\" data-tooltip=\"A recurring element of content in art or narrative.\" tabindex=\"0\">motif<\/span> of the nocturnal female demoness. Both are originally single figures, but in <span class=\"iwg-fachbegriff\" data-tooltip=\"The transitional epoch between antiquity and the Middle Ages, roughly the 3rd to 7th century.\" tabindex=\"0\">late antiquity<\/span> they become generic designations. The Roman striga and the gello serve the same complex.<\/p><p><strong>Middle Ages and modern period:<\/strong> succubus and incubus become, in scholastic <span class=\"iwg-fachbegriff\" data-tooltip=\"The scholarly doctrine of God and of the faith of a religion.\" tabindex=\"0\">theology<\/span>, independent categories of sexually active demons.<\/p><p>The witch trials of the <span class=\"iwg-fachbegriff\" data-tooltip=\"Epoch roughly from the 15th to the 18th century.\" tabindex=\"0\">early modern period<\/span> take up the complex and connect it with the accusation of carnal commerce with the devil. In <span class=\"iwg-fachbegriff\" data-tooltip=\"Religious ideas and customs that are widespread in everyday life.\" tabindex=\"0\">folk belief<\/span>, the &#8220;Mahr&#8221; as a pressing <span class=\"iwg-fachbegriff\" data-tooltip=\"An incorporeal being to which effects in the world are attributed.\" tabindex=\"0\">spirit<\/span> remains alive in the German-speaking area into the 19th century.<\/p><p><strong>Modern reception:<\/strong> In the 20th century the figure of Lilith was rediscovered especially in feminist <span class=\"iwg-fachbegriff\" data-tooltip=\"The scholarly doctrine of God and of the faith of a religion.\" tabindex=\"0\">theology<\/span> and in Jewish-American literature (Lilith Magazine, Judith Plaskow), and read as a counter-figure to the subordinate Eve. The Pazuzu-Lamashtu-Lil\u00fb complex enjoys broad pop-cultural uptake in modern horror and fantasy literature.<\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<div class=\"elementor-element elementor-element-cpd2ae5c9 e-flex e-con-boxed e-con e-parent\" data-id=\"cpd2ae5c9\" data-element_type=\"container\" data-e-type=\"container\">\n\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"e-con-inner\">\n\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-element elementor-element-cpcb748d7 elementor-widget elementor-widget-heading\" data-id=\"cpcb748d7\" data-element_type=\"widget\" data-e-type=\"widget\" data-widget_type=\"heading.default\">\n\t\t\t\t\t<h2 class=\"elementor-heading-title elementor-size-default\">The incantation series Maql\u00fb and its place within it<\/h2>\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<div class=\"elementor-element elementor-element-cp7d03588 e-con-full e-flex e-con e-child\" data-id=\"cp7d03588\" data-element_type=\"container\" data-e-type=\"container\">\n\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-element elementor-element-cp1104060 elementor-widget elementor-widget-text-editor\" data-id=\"cp1104060\" data-element_type=\"widget\" data-e-type=\"widget\" data-widget_type=\"text-editor.default\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<p>The most important cuneiform source on the nocturnal demons of the <em>lil\u00fb<\/em> and <em>lil\u012btu<\/em> type is not a single <span class=\"iwg-fachbegriff\" data-tooltip=\"A transmitted narrative about gods, origins and the order of the world.\" tabindex=\"0\">myth<\/span>, but a whole collection of ritual texts.<\/p><p>Especially rich is the Neo-Assyrian incantation series <em>Maql\u00fb<\/em> (&#8220;Burning&#8221;), preserved on nine tablets plus a ritual tablet and made accessible by Tzvi Abusch in a critical edition. <em>Maql\u00fb<\/em> is primarily directed against sorcery, but it repeatedly names the <em>lil\u00fb<\/em> beings in lists of harmful powers from which the incantation priest protects the patient.<\/p><p>Alongside it stands the great series of medical-<span class=\"iwg-fachbegriff\" data-tooltip=\"Practices that seek to intervene in the course of events through special actions or formulas.\" tabindex=\"0\">magical<\/span> diagnostic texts. In the so-called Sakikk\u00fb series and in relevant incantations against childhood illnesses, the <em>lil\u012btu<\/em> appears as a being that threatens infants and women in childbed.<\/p><p>Closely related is the figure of the <em>ardat lil\u00ee<\/em>, the &#8220;Lil\u00fb maid&#8221;, a demoness imagined as having died unmarried and childless and who therefore envies the living what was denied to her.<\/p><p>Walter Farber edited and commented on the incantations for the protection of mother and child, including the series <em>Lama\u0161tu<\/em>; the <em>lil\u012btu<\/em> also belongs to this milieu.<\/p><p>Methodologically it is important that these texts offer no narrative <span class=\"iwg-fachbegriff\" data-tooltip=\"The totality of the transmitted divine narratives of a culture.\" tabindex=\"0\">mythology<\/span>. They describe the demons functionally, through their effect and through the act of defence. What we know about the appearance, origin and behaviour of the <em>lil\u00fb<\/em> beings is therefore derived almost entirely from ritual contexts, not from divine epics.<\/p><p>This state of the sources explains why the figure of the <em>lil\u012btu<\/em> remains blurred in the cuneiform sources, and why only the later Jewish <span class=\"iwg-fachbegriff\" data-tooltip=\"The handing down of knowledge and narratives across generations.\" tabindex=\"0\">transmission<\/span> condensed her into a named single figure.<\/p><p>Anyone reading the Mesopotamian attestations should always keep in <span class=\"iwg-fachbegriff\" data-tooltip=\"An incorporeal being to which effects in the world are attributed.\" tabindex=\"0\">mind<\/span> the difference between a class of demons and the later <a href=\"https:\/\/iwell-guard.com\/en\/lilith\/\">Lilith<\/a> of the rabbinic texts.<\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<div class=\"elementor-element elementor-element-cp99f2ecb e-flex e-con-boxed e-con e-parent\" data-id=\"cp99f2ecb\" data-element_type=\"container\" data-e-type=\"container\">\n\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"e-con-inner\">\n\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-element elementor-element-cp445bb03 elementor-widget elementor-widget-heading\" data-id=\"cp445bb03\" data-element_type=\"widget\" data-e-type=\"widget\" data-widget_type=\"heading.default\">\n\t\t\t\t\t<h2 class=\"elementor-heading-title elementor-size-default\">From a collective of demons to a single figure: the history of reception<\/h2>\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<div class=\"elementor-element elementor-element-cp1cc05d0 e-con-full e-flex e-con e-child\" data-id=\"cp1cc05d0\" data-element_type=\"container\" data-e-type=\"container\">\n\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-element elementor-element-cp774944b elementor-widget elementor-widget-text-editor\" data-id=\"cp774944b\" data-element_type=\"widget\" data-e-type=\"widget\" data-widget_type=\"text-editor.default\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<p>The development from the Mesopotamian class of demons to the single Jewish figure can be traced in stages. In the Babylonian sources of the second and first millennia BCE, <em>lil\u00fb<\/em>, <em>lil\u012btu<\/em> and <em>ardat lil\u00ee<\/em> are three related but not identical beings without a biography of their own.<\/p><p>The biblical attestation in Isaiah 34:14, where the word <em>l\u012bl\u012bt<\/em> appears among the desert animals and figures of doom at the devastated Edom, is an isolated mention; translations waver between &#8220;night <span class=\"iwg-fachbegriff\" data-tooltip=\"An incorporeal being to which effects in the world are attributed.\" tabindex=\"0\">ghost<\/span>&#8220;, &#8220;Lilith&#8221; and concrete animal names, which illustrates the uncertainty of scholarship well.<\/p><p>Only the rabbinic literature and the Aramaic incantation bowls from <span class=\"iwg-fachbegriff\" data-tooltip=\"Transitional epoch between antiquity and the Middle Ages, roughly the 3rd to 7th century.\" tabindex=\"0\">late-antique<\/span> Mesopotamia give the figure contour. The bowls, of which several hundred have been published and which were studied by Joseph Naveh and Shaul Shaked among others, and later by Dan Levene and Christa M\u00fcller-Kessler, name Lilith as a threat to marriage, pregnancy and infants.<\/p><p>Here she is already an addressable power that can be banished by name, often conceived in the plural as a whole family of Lilin.<\/p><p>The medieval stage is marked by the pseudepigraphic <em>Alphabet of Ben Sira<\/em>, which introduces Lilith as Adam&#8217;s first wife, who refuses subordination. This text, whose dating and character (whether meant seriously or satirically) remain disputed to this day, supplied the narrative framework on which the later <span class=\"iwg-fachbegriff\" data-tooltip=\"A current of Jewish mysticism with principal works such as the Sefer Yetzirah and the Zohar.\" tabindex=\"0\">Kabbalah<\/span> and the modern reception oriented themselves.<\/p><p>From there a long line leads through Romanticism to the feminist reappropriation of the twentieth century. For a religious-studies understanding it is decisive to keep these layers apart: the Mesopotamian <em>lil\u00fb<\/em> beings are the starting point, not the finished image.<\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<div class=\"elementor-element elementor-element-cp0b18833 e-flex e-con-boxed e-con e-parent\" data-id=\"cp0b18833\" data-element_type=\"container\" data-e-type=\"container\">\n\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"e-con-inner\">\n\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-element elementor-element-cp3c8c54d elementor-widget elementor-widget-heading\" data-id=\"cp3c8c54d\" data-element_type=\"widget\" data-e-type=\"widget\" data-widget_type=\"heading.default\">\n\t\t\t\t\t<h2 class=\"elementor-heading-title elementor-size-default\">Etymology and the connection to the wind<\/h2>\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<div class=\"elementor-element elementor-element-cpbfc23ab e-con-full e-flex e-con e-child\" data-id=\"cpbfc23ab\" data-element_type=\"container\" data-e-type=\"container\">\n\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-element elementor-element-cp6b5dd10 elementor-widget elementor-widget-text-editor\" data-id=\"cp6b5dd10\" data-element_type=\"widget\" data-e-type=\"widget\" data-widget_type=\"text-editor.default\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<p>The older folk-etymological interpretation derived <em>lil\u012btu<\/em> from Hebrew <em>laylah<\/em> (&#8220;night&#8221;) and saw in these beings pure night demons. This explanation is linguistically untenable, even though it strongly shaped the later conception.<\/p><p>The derivation prevailing today in Assyriology connects <em>lil\u00fb<\/em> with the Sumerian <em>lil<\/em>, a term from the semantic field of &#8220;wind&#8221;, &#8220;air&#8221;, &#8220;breath&#8221;, &#8220;storm&#8221;. The <em>lil\u00fb<\/em> beings would accordingly originally be wind and storm demons, incorporeal powers that travel through the air.<\/p><p>This etymology fits several features of the <span class=\"iwg-fachbegriff\" data-tooltip=\"The handing down of knowledge and narratives across generations.\" tabindex=\"0\">transmission<\/span>. The <em>lil\u00fb<\/em> are regarded as restless, without a fixed place; they enter through windows and crevices; they have no human partner and no offspring in the ordinary sense.<\/p><p>The wind as an image of the homeless, unsettled and intangible is an obvious fit. The later attachment to &#8220;night&#8221; would then be a secondary reinterpretation, favoured by the phonetic echo and by the fact that many of these demons were indeed imagined as nocturnally active.<\/p><p>Scholarship continues to debate how close the connection is with the Sumerian <span class=\"iwg-fachbegriff\" data-tooltip=\"A being venerated as divine within a religion.\" tabindex=\"0\">deity<\/span> Enlil, whose name contains the same element <em>lil<\/em>, without a direct kinship following from this. Certain only is that the word field is <span class=\"iwg-fachbegriff\" data-tooltip=\"Epoch of Greek and Roman culture, roughly 800 BC to 600 AD.\" tabindex=\"0\">ancient<\/span> and reaches deep back into the Sumerian linguistic layer.<\/p><p>For the history of the designation this means: the name carries with it a conception older than any narrated figure. Before the <em>lil\u012btu<\/em> acquired a face, she was a breath.<\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<div class=\"elementor-element elementor-element-cp474329a e-flex e-con-boxed e-con e-parent\" data-id=\"cp474329a\" data-element_type=\"container\" data-e-type=\"container\">\n\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"e-con-inner\">\n\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-element elementor-element-cpa117c08 elementor-widget elementor-widget-heading\" data-id=\"cpa117c08\" data-element_type=\"widget\" data-e-type=\"widget\" data-widget_type=\"heading.default\">\n\t\t\t\t\t<h2 class=\"elementor-heading-title elementor-size-default\">The ardat lil\u00ee and the logic of an unfulfilled life<\/h2>\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<div class=\"elementor-element elementor-element-cp73b3a75 e-con-full e-flex e-con e-child\" data-id=\"cp73b3a75\" data-element_type=\"container\" data-e-type=\"container\">\n\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-element elementor-element-cp20036d2 elementor-widget elementor-widget-text-editor\" data-id=\"cp20036d2\" data-element_type=\"widget\" data-e-type=\"widget\" data-widget_type=\"text-editor.default\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<p>Among the three related beings, the <em>ardat lil\u00ee<\/em> deserves particular attention, because the inner logic of the entire group of demons becomes visible in her. <em>Ardatu<\/em> denotes in Akkadian the marriageable young woman who is not yet a mother.<\/p><p>The <em>ardat lil\u00ee<\/em> is the demonisation of precisely this state when it failed to reach its conclusion: a girl who died before marriage and motherhood, or who never found a husband.<\/p><p>The incantation texts describe her as a being to whom the normal female stages of life were denied. She has no breasts that give milk, she knows no husband, she was never defloured.<\/p><p>From this lack her dangerousness draws its strength: she seeks out young men at night to make up on them for what she lacked in life, and she at the same time threatens the pregnant women and women in childbed whose fulfilled life she herself never had.<\/p><p>Envy of the successful life is the driving <span class=\"iwg-fachbegriff\" data-tooltip=\"A recurring element of content in art or narrative.\" tabindex=\"0\">motif<\/span>.<\/p><p>This construction is illuminating from a religious-studies perspective, because it shows how a society translates its own social fault lines into demons.<\/p><p>The early death of a young woman, childlessness, the refused or missed happiness of marriage: these were real fears, and the belief in the <em>ardat lil\u00ee<\/em> gave them a manageable form. One could perform a <span class=\"iwg-fachbegriff\" data-tooltip=\"An ordered sequence of symbolic actions with religious or cultural meaning.\" tabindex=\"0\">ritual<\/span> against the <span class=\"iwg-fachbegriff\" data-tooltip=\"A spiritual being to which a harmful or ambivalent effect is attributed.\" tabindex=\"0\">demon<\/span>, while one was powerless against social fate itself.<\/p><p>The same logic carries the later conception of Lilith, which carried on for centuries the <span class=\"iwg-fachbegriff\" data-tooltip=\"A recurring element of content in art or narrative.\" tabindex=\"0\">motif<\/span> of the dead or rejected woman who takes revenge on children.<\/p><p>Related mechanisms are found in the figure of <a href=\"https:\/\/iwell-guard.com\/en\/lamashtu\/\">Lama\u0161tu<\/a>, who likewise threatens mother and child, but there as a god-born power and not as a failed human being.<\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<div class=\"elementor-element elementor-element-36dd7469 e-flex e-con-boxed e-con e-parent\" data-id=\"36dd7469\" data-element_type=\"container\" data-e-type=\"container\">\n\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"e-con-inner\">\n\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-element elementor-element-13760ab4 elementor-widget elementor-widget-heading\" data-id=\"13760ab4\" data-element_type=\"widget\" data-e-type=\"widget\" data-widget_type=\"heading.default\">\n\t\t\t\t\t<h2 class=\"elementor-heading-title elementor-size-default\">Further links<\/h2>\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<div class=\"elementor-element elementor-element-28c87796 e-con-full e-flex e-con e-child\" data-id=\"28c87796\" data-element_type=\"container\" data-e-type=\"container\">\n\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-element elementor-element-5d6538df elementor-widget elementor-widget-text-editor\" data-id=\"5d6538df\" data-element_type=\"widget\" data-e-type=\"widget\" data-widget_type=\"text-editor.default\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<p>Recommended internal links for this page:<\/p><ul><li><a href=\"https:\/\/iwell-guard.com\/en\/mesopotamia\/\">Mesopotamia<\/a> (parent culture page)<\/li><li>Detail on Lilu and Lilitu to follow<\/li><li>Detail on Lilu and Lilitu to follow<\/li><li><a href=\"https:\/\/iwell-guard.com\/en\/lilith\/\">Lilith<\/a> (the later Jewish successor)<\/li><li><a href=\"https:\/\/iwell-guard.com\/en\/night-beings-and-sleep-paralysis\/\">Night beings<\/a> and <a class=\"iwg-fachbegriff\" href=\"https:\/\/iwell-guard.com\/en\/sleep-paralysis\/\" tabindex=\"0\" data-tooltip=\"A waking state with muscular REM atonia; interpreted worldwide as a ghostly experience (Mahr, Old Hag, Kanashibari) and neurologically explicable.\" style=\"color:inherit;text-decoration:none\">sleep paralysis<\/a> (modern classification)<\/li><li>Female demons (overview page)<\/li><li><a href=\"\/en\/incubus\/\">Incubus<\/a> and <a href=\"\/en\/succubus\/\">succubus<\/a> (Christian-medieval parallels)<\/li><\/ul>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<div class=\"elementor-element elementor-element-grl4kl40 e-flex e-con-boxed e-con e-parent\" data-id=\"grl4kl40\" data-element_type=\"container\" data-e-type=\"container\">\n\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"e-con-inner\">\n\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-element elementor-element-bzsbfrmh elementor-widget elementor-widget-heading\" data-id=\"bzsbfrmh\" data-element_type=\"widget\" data-e-type=\"widget\" data-widget_type=\"heading.default\">\n\t\t\t\t\t<h2 class=\"elementor-heading-title elementor-size-default\">Sources and literature<\/h2>\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<div class=\"elementor-element elementor-element-2c13224a e-con-full e-flex e-con e-child\" data-id=\"2c13224a\" data-element_type=\"container\" data-e-type=\"container\">\n\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-element elementor-element-0eymh9ub elementor-widget elementor-widget-text-editor\" data-id=\"0eymh9ub\" data-element_type=\"widget\" data-e-type=\"widget\" data-widget_type=\"text-editor.default\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<p>A compact selection of central works on Lil\u00fb, Lil\u012btu and the wider context of nocturnal demons:<\/p><div data-nosnippet=\"true\"><ul><li><span data-nosnippet>Wiggermann, Frans A. M.: <em><a href=\"https:\/\/archive.org\/details\/mesopotamian-protective-spirits\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Mesopotamian Protective Spirits. The Ritual Texts<\/a><\/em> (Cuneiform Monographs 1). Groningen 1992.<\/span><\/li><li><span data-nosnippet>Hutter, Manfred: &#8220;Lilith&#8221;, in: <em>Dictionary of Deities and Demons in the Bible.<\/em> 2nd ed. Leiden 1999.<\/span><\/li><li><span data-nosnippet>Naveh, Joseph \/ Shaked, Shaul: <em>Amulets and <span class=\"iwg-fachbegriff\" data-tooltip=\"Practices that seek to intervene in the course of events through special actions or formulas.\" tabindex=\"0\">Magic<\/span> Bowls. Aramaic Incantations of Late Antiquity.<\/em> Jerusalem 1985.<\/span><\/li><li><span data-nosnippet>Black, Jeremy \/ Green, Anthony: <em><a href=\"https:\/\/www.britishmuseum.org\/collection\/term\/BIB4117\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Gods, Demons and Symbols of Ancient Mesopotamia. An Illustrated Dictionary.<\/a><\/em> London 1992.<\/span><\/li><li><span data-nosnippet>Stol, Marten: <em>Birth in Babylonia and the Bible.<\/em> Groningen 2000.<\/span><\/li><\/ul><\/div>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<div class=\"elementor-element elementor-element-iwgca-liluund-sec e-flex e-con-boxed e-con e-parent\" data-id=\"iwgca-liluund-sec\" data-element_type=\"container\" data-e-type=\"container\" id=\"iwg-ca-lilu-und-lilitu\">\n\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"e-con-inner\">\n\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-element elementor-element-iwgca-liluund-te iwg-ca-textwrap elementor-widget elementor-widget-text-editor\" data-id=\"iwgca-liluund-te\" data-element_type=\"widget\" data-e-type=\"widget\" data-widget_type=\"text-editor.default\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<div data-nosnippet=\"true\"><p class=\"iwg-ca-bridge\">The protective practice described here is a religious-studies classification of historical traditions. iWell Guard ties in with this cultural-historical line of wearable protective objects and represents a contemporary form of it. <a href=\"https:\/\/iwell-guard.com\/en\/about-iwell-guard-the-protective-pendant-in-detail\/?utm_source=iwell-guard.com&#038;utm_medium=text-link&#038;utm_campaign=schadwesen-tradition\">More about the iWell Guard \u2192<\/a><\/p><\/div>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<div class=\"elementor-element elementor-element-iwgkw2-add-liluundlilitu e-flex e-con-boxed e-con e-parent\" data-id=\"iwgkw2-add-liluundlilitu\" data-element_type=\"container\" data-e-type=\"container\">\n\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"e-con-inner\">\n\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-element elementor-element-iwgkw2-add-liluundlilitu-t elementor-widget elementor-widget-text-editor\" data-id=\"iwgkw2-add-liluundlilitu-t\" data-element_type=\"widget\" data-e-type=\"widget\" data-widget_type=\"text-editor.default\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<p>Lil\u00fb and Lil\u012btu are among the earliest figures of <strong>Mesopotamian<\/strong> demonology that are tangible by name, and they are attested in Akkadian incantations from the second millennium before our era.<\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Lilu and Lilitu, demoness of the Mesopotamian tradition Lilu and Lilitu is a demoness of the Mesopotamian tradition. A being of night and wind, moving between sleep, the desert and seduction. DemonessMesopotamia Table of Contents Lil\u00fb and Lil\u012btu Lil\u00fb (male) and Lil\u012btu (female) form an Akkadian pair of demons closely associated with wind, night and [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":4752,"parent":0,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"elementor_header_footer","meta":{"_yoast_wpseo_focuskw":"Lil\u00fb and Lil\u012btu","_yoast_wpseo_title":"Lil\u00fb and Lil\u012btu: Mesopotamian Demons","_yoast_wpseo_metadesc":"In Mesopotamian demonology, Lil\u00fb and Lil\u012btu form a group of elusive night beings. They are less clearly defined than Lamashtu, yet...","_yoast_wpseo_meta-robots-noindex":"","_yoast_wpseo_canonical":"","_angie_page":false,"gefaehrdungsstufe":"","wesen_kultur":"","wesen_klasse":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[79,80,85,83],"class_list":["post-4751","page","type-page","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-cultures","category-demons","category-mesopotamia","category-seduction-demons"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO Premium plugin v27.7 (Yoast SEO v27.7) - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-premium-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Lil\u00fb and Lil\u012btu: Mesopotamian Demons<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"In Mesopotamian demonology, Lil\u00fb and Lil\u012btu form a group of elusive night beings. 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