Since the late first millennium AD, Lilith has been known within Jewish demonology as the first wife of Adam and the consort of Satan. Her origins are thought to lie in Mesopotamian demons. The exhibition will include a ceramic incantation bowl from 500-800 AD Iraq, featuring a rare early image of Lilith in female form. Buried upside down under the thresholds of houses these bowls were inscribed with charms to protect the named patrons from demonic forces and regularly name Lilith; sometimes as grammatically singular and feminine, but also masculine or plural.
Lilith as "consort to Satan" presumably refers to her cohabitation with Sama'el, notably in the Kabbalistic Treatise on the Left Emanation.
For past posts on Lilith, start here and follow the links. For posts on the Babylonian Aramaic incantation bowls, see here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, and links.
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