Original scientific paper

From Lamaštu to Lilith. Personifications of female evil in Mesopotamian and Jewish mythology

Kathrin Trattner ; Department of Religious Studies, University of Graz, Austria

Abstract

The concept of childbed-demonesses is or has been known in various religions and cultures throughout Europe and Asia. Undoubtedly, the most famous one of these figures is Lilith. According to kabbalistic sources she was Adam’s first wife, who was expelled from paradise due to her sexual disobedience. Henceforth, she has been known to be a strangler of children, seductress of men and mother of demons. But regardless whether one is talking about the Jewish myth of Lilith, the Mesopotamian demoness Lamaštu or the Lil-demons, one thing remains constant: The evilness of those figures descends from their female sexuality. First, this article tries to apprehend the specifically female evilness of these demonesses with a special focus on Lilith. After that, feminist reinterpretations and deconstructions of this patriarchal concept of archetypical female evil will be explored and analysed. Finally, a look at contemporary popular cultural images of Lilith will be taken in order to analyse whether her commercial reception is in any connection to her mythological roots or if a reinterpretation through feminist discourses has already left its traces in her media conception.

Keywords

Ardat-lili – demon – demoness – feminism – film – gender – Judaism – Kabbalah – Lamaštu – Lilith – Lilitu – Lil-triad – Mesopotamia – popular culture – sexuality – succubus – TV

Hrčak ID:

115429

URI

https://hrcak.srce.hr/115429

Publication date:

30.1.2014.

Article data in other languages: german

Visits: 4.089 *