So after hearing about Lilith in class the other day I decided to find out the whole story behind her as I became quite curious. After doing a bit of background, I found there are a couple different versions of the story and how everything happened. In one version she is a demon who murders babies, much like the witches we heard about in class. Another version she is a succubus who gives men wet dreams, another scenario much like the witches we talked about in class. She was a goddess in one story, and then became Wife of Death. Some stories even turned her into a good guy by making her a model for oppressed womanhood. The one I decided to look at closer was the one most commonly accepted and dates around the medieval ages, which I thought was perfect for our class.
The story starts off with God creating Adam from dust and clay. But as Adam is the only person, he gets a little lonely. God hears Adam's woe and decides to create Lilith from the same dust and clay he created Adam from. When Lilith was first created however, she and Adam fought often. Adam tried to rule over Lilith as he was the alpha male, Lilith did not like this one bit. Lilith demanded she be treated as an equal since she was in fact created from the same dust and clay as Adam was. Lilith got fed up with Adam and his domineering ways, so she left the Garden. God sent three angels to chase Lilith and bring her back to the Garden, but when they caught Lilith, she refused to go back. Lilith then claimed that she would kill children and babies to get back at Adam. The angels then proceeded to overpower Lilith and demanded that she not kill children and babies. Lilith, being inferior to the angels, decided to strike a deal with the angels. Lilith would not harm any children or babies as long as the mother hung an amulet around their neck with the names of the three angels. This amulet would tell Lilith to stay away from that household as it would be guarded by the angels (heh get it "guarded by angels," they are guardian angels, ha hilarious, the story didn't say that specifically but I put it in there because I liked the idea, okay back to story time) So seeing how Lilith turned out, God decided to make a new woman to be Adam's mate. This time he did not make her from the same materials as Adam so she could not claim to be equal. God decided to make this new woman from Adam's rib. This woman, of course as we all know, was named Eve. But Lilith still flew around the world, looking for babies to kill, and swearing vengeance upon men. They say she would howl through the night, giving her the nickname "The Howling One."
