Ink Blot

Take Lilith. Aside from chick-rock, what do we know about her? Was she the first wife of Adam? Was she a vampire? Was she ever anything at all?

The whole idea of Lilith as Adam’s first wife goes like this: Adam and Lilith were both created from mud by God and ment as equals. They got into a fight over who was supposed to be on the top during sex. Lilith refused to submit to Adam and leaves Eden on her own and is later cursed by God for it. But she never actually shows up in the bible. She shows up in a manuscript called The Alphabet of Ben Sira, written anonymously in the late middle ages. She may or may not be in a translation of the Gilgamesh epic from ancient Sumer.

Most period sources agree that she (it, they; depending on translation) was more or less demonic. Stealing and devouring children, she was the cause of still births and infant deaths. She was one to be warded against with a amulet from the day of birth to the day of circumcision in Jewish tradition.

Whether or not she was ever married to Adam, she has certainly captured the imagination of all those since.  I am still not certain how she ended up as the poster child for the modern feminist movement. Ok, I guess I can see the point about walking out of Paradise on principle. It seems a moot point to discuss the idea of compromise 7000 years after the fact.

But if the feminists are after a mythology to suit their current cause, there are much better candidates than Lilith.  Athena? Brigid? Morrigain for the darker ones? At this point I would settle for Hilary if I had to.