A lilu or lilû is a masculine

Akkadian Akkadian or Accadian may refer to: * Akkadians, inhabitants of the Akkadian Empire * Akkadian language, an extinct Eastern Semitic language * Akkadian literature, literature in this language * Akkadian cuneiform Cuneiform is a logo- syllabi ...

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 hlilu occurs. In Sumerian literature lili occurs. Dating of specific Akkadian, Sumerian, and Babylonian texts mentioning ''lilu'' (masculine), ''lilitu'' (female) and ''lili'' (female) are haphazard. In older scholarship, such as R. Campbell Thompson's ''The Devils and Evil Spirits of Babylonia'' (1904), specific text references are rarely given. An exception is K156 which mentions an ''ardat lili''

Heinrich Zimmern :''To be distinguished from Heinrich Zimmer (1890–1943) German Indologist, and Heinrich Zimmer (Celticist) (1851–1910)'' Heinrich Zimmern (14 July 1862, in Graben – 17 February 1931, in Leipzig) was a German Assyriologist. He was the first ...

(1917) tentatively identified ''vardat lilitu'' KAT3, 459 as paramour of ''lilu''. A

cuneiform Cuneiform is a logo-syllabic script that was used to write several languages of the Ancient Middle East. The script was in active use from the early Bronze Age until the beginning of the Common Era. It is named for the characteristic wedge-sh ...

inscription lists ''lilû'' alongside other wicked beings from

Mesopotamian mythology Mesopotamian mythology refers to the myths, religious texts, and other literature that comes from the region of ancient Mesopotamia which is a historical region of Western Asia, situated within the Tigris–Euphrates river system that occupies ...

and folklore:

Sumerian King List

In the '' Sumerian King List'' the father of

Gilgamesh sux, , label=none , image = Hero lion Dur-Sharrukin Louvre AO19862.jpg , alt = , caption = Possible representation of Gilgamesh as Master of Animals, grasping a lion in his left arm and snake in his right hand, in an Assy ...

is said to be a ''lilu''.

'Spirit in the tree' in the Gilgamesh cycle

''Tablet XII'', dated , is a later

Assyria Assyria ( Neo-Assyrian cuneiform: , romanized: ''māt Aššur''; syc, ܐܬܘܪ, ʾāthor) was a major ancient Mesopotamian civilization which existed as a city-state at times controlling regional territories in the indigenous lands of the ...

translation of the latter part of the Sumerian ''

Epic of Gilgamesh The ''Epic of Gilgamesh'' () is an epic poem from ancient Mesopotamia, and is regarded as the earliest surviving notable literature and the second oldest religious text, after the Pyramid Texts. The literary history of Gilgamesh begins with ...

''. It describes a 'spirit in the tree' referred to a ''ki-sikil-lil-la-ke''. Suggested translations for the ''Tablet XII'' 'spirit in the tree' include ''ki-sikil'' as "sacred place", ''lil'' as "spirit", and ''lil-la-ke'' as "water spirit". but also simply "owl", given that the ''lil'' builds a home in the trunk of the tree. The ''ki-sikil-lil-la-ke'' is associated with a serpent and a zu bird. In ''Gilgamesh, Enkidu, and the Netherworld'', a huluppu tree grows in Inanna's garden in

Uruk Uruk, also known as Warka or Warkah, was an ancient city of Sumer (and later of Babylonia) situated east of the present bed of the Euphrates River on the dried-up ancient channel of the Euphrates east of modern Samawah, Al-Muthannā, Iraq.Harm ...

, whose wood she plans to use to build a new throne. After ten years of growth, she comes to harvest it and finds a serpent living at its base, a Zu bird raising young in its crown, and that a ''ki-sikil-lil-la-ke'' made a house in its trunk. Gilgamesh is said to have killed the snake, and then the zu bird flew away to the mountains with its young, while the ''ki-sikil-lil-la-ke'' fearfully destroys its house and runs for the forest.

Relationship to Hebrew ''Lilith'' and ''lilin''

It is disputed whether, if at all, the Akkadian word ''lilu'' or its cognates are related to the

Hebrew Hebrew (; ; ) is a Northwest Semitic language of the Afroasiatic language family. Historically, it is one of the spoken languages of the Israelites and their longest-surviving descendants, the Jews and Samaritans. It was largely preserved ...

word ''

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 ...

'' in Isaiah 34:14, which is thought to be a night bird by some modern scholars such as Judit M. Blair. The Babylonian concept of lilu may be more strongly related to the later

Talmud The Talmud (; he, , Talmūḏ) is the central text of Rabbinic Judaism and the primary source of Jewish religious law ('' halakha'') and Jewish theology. Until the advent of modernity, in nearly all Jewish communities, the Talmud was the ce ...

ic concept of

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 ...

(female) and

lilin Lilin () were hostile night spirits that attacked men in ancient Mesopotamian religion and Jewish folklore. Judaism In Jewish mythology, ''Lilin'' is a term for night spirits. Biblical apocrypha In the Syriac Apocalypse of Baruch, ''lilin'' ...

(female). Samuel Noah Kramer (1932, published 1938) translated ''ki-sikil-lil-la-ke'' as ''Lilith'' in "Tablet XII" of the ''

''. Identification of ''ki-sikil-lil-la-ke'' as ''Lilith'' is stated in ''

Dictionary of Deities and Demons in the Bible The ''Dictionary of Deities and Demons in the Bible'' (DDD) is an academic reference work edited by Karel van der Toorn, Bob Becking and Pieter W. van der Horst which contains academic articles on the named gods, angels, and demons in the books o ...

'' (1999). According to a new source from

Late Antiquity Late antiquity is the time of transition from classical antiquity to the Middle Ages, generally spanning the 3rd–7th century in Europe and adjacent areas bordering the Mediterranean Basin. The popularization of this periodization in English ha ...

, Lilith appears in a Mandaic magic story where she is considered to represent the branches of a tree with other demonic figures that form other parts of the tree, though this may also include multiple "Liliths". A connection between the Gilgamesh ''ki-sikil-lil-la-ke'' and the Jewish Lilith was rejected on textual grounds by Sergio Ribichini (1978).Ribichini, S. ''Lilith nell-albero Huluppu'' Pp. 25 in ''Atti del 1° Convegno Italiano sul Vicino Oriente Antico'', Rome, 1976

Notes

References

{{Authority control Mesopotamian demons Lilith