Lilin () were hostile night spirits that attacked men in
ancient Mesopotamian religion
Mesopotamian religion refers to the religion, religious beliefs and practices of the civilizations of ancient Mesopotamia, particularly Sumer, Akkadian Empire, Akkad, Assyria and Babylonia between circa 6000 BC and 400 AD, after which they lar ...
and
Jewish folklore
Jewish folklore are legends, music, oral history, proverbs, jokes, popular beliefs, fairy tales, stories, tall tales, and customs that are the traditions of Judaism. Folktales are characterized by the presence of unusual personages, by the su ...
.
Judaism
In
Jewish mythology
Jewish mythology is the body of myths associated with Judaism. Elements of Jewish mythology have had a profound influence on Christian mythology and on Islamic mythology, as well as on world culture in general. Christian mythology directly in ...
, ''Lilin'' is a term for night spirits.
Biblical apocrypha
In the
Syriac Apocalypse of Baruch, ''lilin'' come from the desert and they are similar to
shedim
''Shedim'' ( he, שֵׁדִים; singular: ''Shed'') are spirits or demons in the Tanakh and Jewish mythology. However, they are not necessarily equivalent to the modern connotation of demons as evil entities. Evil spirits were thought as t ...
.
See also
*
Lilu (mythology)
A lilu or lilû is a masculine Akkadian word for a spirit or demon.
History
Jo Ann Scurlock and Burton R. Andersen (2005) see the origin of ''lilu'' in treatment of mental illness.
In Sumerian and Akkadian literature
In Akkadian literature h ...
, Akkadian and Sumerian demons
*
Lilith
Lilith ( ; he, לִילִית, Līlīṯ) is a female figure in Mesopotamian and Judaic mythology, alternatively the first wife of Adam and supposedly the primordial she-demon. Lilith is cited as having been "banished" from the Garden of Ed ...
, Jewish female demon
*
Nocnitsa
Notes
References
Mesopotamian legendary creatures
Demons in Judaism
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