| Other Names / Variants: |
Artdat-lilī
Lilū - male
Lilītu -
female |
Ardat-Lile (Semetic Spirit)
- She is a female spirit or
demon who weds human beings and works great harm in the dwellings of
men. (b)
Lilītu: The male Lilū and the two
females Lilītu and the Artdat-lilī are a sort of family
group of demons. They are not gods. The Lilū haunts
the desert and open country and is especially dangerous to pregnant
women and infants. The Lilītu seems to be a female
equivalent, while the Artdat-lilī (whose name means
'maiden Lilū') seems to have the character of a frustrated
bride, incapable of normal sexual activity. As such, she
compensates by aggressive behavior especially towards young men.
The Artdat-lilī, who is often mentioned in magical texts,
seems to have some affinities with the Jewish Lilith (e.g. Isaiah
34:14). 'She is not a wife, a mother; she has not known happiness, has
not undressed in front of her husband, has no milk in her breasts.'
She was believed to cause impotence in men and sterility in women.
A plaque though possibly to depict her shows a
scorpion-tailed she-wolf about to devour a young girl. (r)
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Resource List - all entries are taken verbatim from
the original source:
(b)
"Encyclopaedia of Occultism"
by Lewis Spence. ©1959
(r) "Gods, Demons, and
Symbols of Ancient Mesopotamia. An Illustrated Dictionary."
Jeremy Black and Anthony Green. University of Texas Press, Austin.
©1992
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