by Robert Masello.

The succubus has a long and ancient history beginning, perhaps, with the Assyrian demon known as Lilitu. Sexually insatiable, this demoness prowled at night, looking for men to seduce and corrupt. In Hebrew myth, she was transformed and became Lilith, the queen of the succubi. Lilith searched for men who were sleeping alone, then seduced them and sucked their blood. She was also a great danger to children. Any boy under the age of eight, or any girl less than twenty days old was also prey. To protect them, parents were advised to draw a charcoal circle on a wall of the room, and write inside it "Adam and Eve, barring Lilith." On the door they were supposed to write three names -"Sanvi, Sansnvi, Semangelaf."

"What did these names mean? For Lilith, they were family history. According to one of the creation stories, Lilith was Adam's first wife made by God out of mud and filth. But the young couple didn't get along at all. Indisputably the world's first feminist, Lilith considered herself Adam's equal, and objected to lying under Adam when making love. When he insisted, she flew away - and Adam when whining to God. God select three angels - Savi, Sansanvi, and Semangelaf - and sent them to retrieve her. They picked up her trail by the Red Sea, where they found Lilith carrying on with a horde of lewd demons; by them, she had already produced hundreds of little demons, called lilin. The angels relayed God's order - that she return forthwith to Adam - but Lilith refused. In a gesture of compromise, however, she did swear that if she saw the angels' names written anywhere near a newborn, she'd spare that baby's life. The angels took the deal.

"When Isaiah speaks of the "night hag," who dwells in the wilderness with wild beasts and hyenas, it is Lilith he is referring to. And it's Lilith in Psalms 91:5, too, when we are promised God will protect us from "the terror by night."