Lilith Bibliography

The original version of this bibliography was put together by Thomas R. W. Longstaff (t_longst@COLBY.EDU), drawing partly from responses to a query on the ioudaios discussion group (ioudaios-l@lehigh.edu). I have formatted it for the Web. In addition to bibliography, some of the original respondants also sent comments and suggestions which I have included. I have also merged in Alejandro Gonzalez's bibliography. In addition to these sources, I have added a good deal of material myself over the last year or so. If you don't see something that you think should be here, please bring it to my attention.[AH]

Ahrens, W. Hebräische Amulette mit magischen Zahlenquadraten. Berlin, 1916.

Bacher, Wilhelm. "Lilith, Königin von Smargad", Monatschrift für Geschichte und Wissenschaft des Judenstums 19 (1870): 187-189. Breslau.

Bailey, Lloyd R. Biblical Perspectives on Death. Overtures to Biblical Theology, 5, Philadelphia: Fortress Press, 1979. comment

Baring, Anne & Cashford, Jules. The Myth of the Goddess: evolution of an image. London: New York, N.Y., Arkana, 1993.

Baumgarten, Joseph M. Revue de Qumran (1992): comment

Boyle, Darl MacLeod, Where Lilith Dances. New Haven:Yale, 1971 (1921)

Bril, Jacques. Lilith, ou, La Mère Obscure. Paris: Payot, 1981.

Bitton, Michele. "Le mythe juif de Lilith [microform]: de la feminite demoniaque au feminisme." Doctoral dissertation (Universite de Provence, Aix en Provence), 1988.

Budge, E.A. Wallis. Amulets and Superstitions, Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1930. [pp. 212-238, 283-4.]

Cantor, Aviva. "The Lilith Question." Lilith 1 (1976): (Also: In On Being a Jewish Feminist: A Reader, ed. Susannah Heschel. New York: Schocken Books, 1983.)

Cavendish, Richard. The Powers of Evil in Western Religion, Magic, and Folk Belief. New York: Putnam, 1975.

Chadourne, Marc. Dieu crea d'abord Lilith. Paris: Fayard, 1938.

Colonna, M. T.. Lilith e la luna nera e l'eros rifutato, Florence, 1980.

Colonna, M.T. "Lilith, or the Black Moon." Journal of Analytical Psychology, Oct 1980: 325-50.

Corelli, Marie. The Soul of Lilith. New York: Lovell, Coryell & Co., 1892.

Couchaux, Brigitte. "Lilith." In Brunel, Pierre, Dictionnaire des Myths Littéraires. Paris: Éditions du Rocher, 1988.
[English tr.: Companion to Literary Myths, Heroes and Archetypes, London and New York: Routledge, 1992].

Creuzer. Symbolik und Mythologie der alten Völker, besonders der Griechen, Leipzig and Darmstad, 1840/1. (reprinted: Hildesheim, Zürich and New York, 1990.)

Dan, Joseph. The Hebrew Story in the Middle Ages. Jerusalem, 1974.

---. "Samael, Lillith and the Concept of Evil in the Early Kabbalah". AJSreview 5 (1980): 17-40.

Dan, Joseph and Kiener, Ronald. "Treatise on the Left Emanation (by Isaac b. Jacob ha-Kohen". In The Early Kabbalah. New York: Paulist Press, 1986: 165-182.

Dijkstra, Bram. Idols of Perversity: Fantasies of Feminine Evil in Fin-de-JSiecle Culture. New York: Oxford U. Press, 1986.

Edwardes, Allen. The Jewel in the Lotus: A Historical Survey of the Sexual Culture of the East. New York: Julian Press, 1962.

Eisenstadt, J. D., ed. Ozar Midrashim. Israel, n.d.

"Lilith". Encyclopaedia Biblica eds. Cheyne & Sutherland, London, 1902.

Farber, Walter, ed. Schlaf, Kindchen, Schlaf! Mesopatamische Baby-Beschwörungen und -Rituale. Mesopotamian Civilizations, 2. Winona Lake, IN: Eisenbrauns, 1989.

Farrar, Janet & Stewart. The Witches' Goddess: the feminine principle of divinity. London: Robert Hale, 1995.

Frankfort, Henri. "The Burney Relief." AfO 12 (1937). Pp. 128-35.

Gaster, Moses. "Beiträge zur vergleichende Sagen- und Märchenkunde. X. Lilith und die drei Angel", Monatschrift für Geschichte und Wissenschaft des Judenstum 29 (1880): 553-565. Breslau.

---. "Two Thousand Years of a Charm against the Child-Stealing Witch." Folk-Lore 11 (1900): 129-161.

---. Ma'aseh Book 2 vols. Philadelphia, 1934.

Gaster, Theodor Herzl. "A Canaanite Magical Text." Orientalia, 11. Rome: Pontificium Institutum Biblicum, 1942. Pp. 41-79.

---. The Dead Sea Scriptures, in English Translation. Garden City, NY: Anchor Press, 1976. Pp. 371-373, 504.

Geller, Markham J. "Eight Incantation Bowls." Orientalia lovaniensia periodica, 17. Leuven, Instituut voor Orientalistiek, 1986. Pp. 101-17.

Ginzberg, Louis. The Legends of the Jews. Translated by Henrietta Szold, Paul Radin and Boaz Cohen. Philadelphia: The Jewish Publication Society of America, 1909-1938. [I: 65; V: 87 ss, 147-8; VI: 289] (also: New York: Simon and Schuster, 1956.)

Gonzalo Rubio, Concepción. La angeología en la literatura ab ínica y sefardí, Barcelona: Ameller, 1977. [Pp. 25, 50-52, 54-55.]

Gordon, Cyrus H. "Aramaic Magical Bowls in the Istanbul and Bahgdad Museums." Archiv Orientální, 6 (1934): 319-34. Praha.

Gottleib, Rabbi Lynn. "The First Tale." In Taking the Fruit: Modern Women's Tales of the East, ed. Janes Sprague Zones. 17-21. San Diego: Woman's Institute for Continuing Jewish Education, 1989.

Gourmont, Remy de. Lilith suivi de Theodat. Paris: Societe du Mercure de France, 1906.

Gravelaine, Joelle de. Le retour de Lilith: la lune noire. Paris: L'Espace bleu/Hachette, 1985.

Graves, Robert. The Greek Myths. New York: Penguin Books, 1960.

Graves, Robert and Raphael Patai. Hebrew Myths: The Book of Genesis. Garden City: Doubleday, 1964.
[Spanish tr.: Los mitos hebreos. Tr. y Luis Echávarri. Madrid: Alianza, 1986.]

Gustafson, Fred. The Black Madonna. Boston: Sigo Press, 1990.

Handy, Lowell K. "Lilith". Anchor Bible Dictionary. New York: Doubleday, 1992. Vol. 4, p. 324f.

Heschel, Susannah, ed. On Being a Jewish Feminist: A Reader. New York: Schocken Books, 1983.

Hufford, David. The terror that comes in the night : an experience-centered study of supernatural assault traditions. Philadelphia : University of Pennsylvania Press, 1982. comment

Hurwitz, Siegmund. Lilith, die erste Eva: eine Studie uber dunkle Aspekte des Wieblichen. Zurich: Daimon Verlag, 1980, 1993.
[English tr.: Lilith, the First Eve: Historical and Psychological Aspects of the Dark Feminine. Translated by Gela Jacobson. Einsiedeln, Switzerland: Daimon Verlag, 1992.] [ISBN: 3-85630-545-9]

Isbell, Charles D. Corpus of the Aramaic Incantation Bowls. SBL Dissertation Series, No. 17, Missoula, MT: Scholars Press, 1975. comment

Killen, A. M. "La légende de Lilith", Revue de littérature comparée 12 (1932): 277-311.

Koltuv, Barbara Black. The Book of Lilith. York Beach, ME: Nicolas-Hays, 1986.

Kraeling, Emil Gottlieb Heinrich. "A Unique Babylonian Relief." BASOR, 67 (1937). Pp. 16-18.

Krämer, K. "Babylonisches Gut in syrischen Zaubertexten." Mitteilungen der Altorientalischen Gesellschaft 4 (1928/9): 110-4. comment

Kramer, Samuel Noah. "Gilgamesh and the Huluppu-Tree: A reconstructed Sumerian Text." Assyriological Studies of the Oriental Institute of the University of Chicago 10. Chicago: 1938.

Krappe, A. H. "The Birth of Eve." In Occident and Orient: Gaster Anniversary Volume, ed. B. Schindler. 312-322. London: Taylor's Foreign Press, 1936.

Lacks, Roslyn. Women and Judaism: myth, history, and struggle. Garden City, N.Y.: Doubleday, 1980.

Lambert, W. L. (G.?). "Inscribed Pazuzu Heads from Babylon." Forschungen und Berichte 10. Berlin: Akademie-Verlag, 1958. Pp. 41-47

Lassner, Jacob. Demonizing the Queen of Sheba. Boundaries of Gender and Culture in Postbiblical Judaism and Medieval Islam, Chicago: The University of Chicago Press, 1993.

Levi, Israel. "Lilit et Lilin." REJ, 68 (1914):15-21.

Levi, Primo. Lilit e altri racconti, Turín, 1981.
[Spanish tr.: Lilit y otros relatos, Barcelona: Península, 1989]

Martinez, Florentino Garcia. The Dead Sea Scrolls Translated. 1996.

Matt, Daniel Chanan. Zohar: The Book of Enlightenment. New York: Paulist Press, 1983.

Meissner, Bruno. Babylonien und Assyrien. Heidelberg, C. Winter, 1920-25.

Milgrom, J. "Some Second Thoughts About Adam's First Wife." In Genesis 1-3 in the History of Exegesis, ed. G. Robbins. Lewiston, ME: Edwin Mellen, 1988.

Montgomery, James Alan. Aramaic incantation texts from Nippur. University of Pennsylvania. The Museum. Publications of the Babylonian section, vol. 3. Philadelphia, University museum, 1913. comment

---. "Some Early Amulets from Palestine." JOAS, 31 (1911): 272-81.

Naveh, Joseph and Paul Shaked. Amulets and Magic Bowls: Aramaic Incantations of Late Antiquity. Leiden: E. J. Brill, 1985. comment

Nitzan, Bilhah. Qumran prayer and religious poetry. Leiden: E. J. Brill, 1994. comment

Opitz, Dietrich. "Ausgrabungen und Forschungsreisen: Ur." AfO 8 (1932). Pp. 328-31.

Paglia, Camille. Sexual Personae: Art and Decadence from Nefertiti to Emily Dickinson. New York: Vintage, 1991.

Patai, Raphael. Adam ve-Adama [Man and Earth]. Jerusalem: The Hebrew Press Association, 1941-1942.

---. Gates to the Old City. Detroit: Wayne State Universtiy Press, 1981.

---. The Hebrew Goddess. Third Enlarged edition. New York: KTAV Publishing House, 1978. (Also: Wayne State University Press, 1990.) comment

Pirani, Alix, ed. The Absent Mother: Restoring the Goddess to Judaism and Christianity. comment

Plaskow, Judith. "The Coming of Lilith: Toward a Feminist Theology." In Womanspirit Rising: A Feminist Reader in Religion, ed. Judith Plaskow and Carol Christ. New York: Harper and Row, 1979a.

Pritchard, James B., ed. Ancient Near Eastern Texts Relating to the Old Testament. Princeton, New Jersy: Princeton Universit5y Press, 1969. P. 658.

Rappoport, Angelo S. Myth and Legend of Ancient Israel, with an Introduction and Additional Notes by Raphael Patai, 3 vols. New York: Ktav, 1966. (Reprinted: London: Senate, 1995, 2 vols; I: 77-79.)

Redgrove, Peter. The Black Goddess and the Sixth Sense. Bloomsbury, 1987. (Also Paladin, 1989.)

Ribichini, Sergio. "Lilith nell-albero Huluppu." Atti del l° Convegno Italiano sul Vicino Oriente Antico (Roma, 22-24 Aprile 1976). Orientis Antiqvi Collectio 13. Rome. Pp. 25-33.

Rigney, Barbara Hill. Lilith's Daughters: Women and Religion in Contemporary Fiction. Madison: U of Wisconsin, 1982.

Schäfer, P. "Jewish Magic in Late Antiquity and the Middle Ages." Journal of Semitic Studies 41 (1990): 75-91.

Scholem, Gershom. Kabbalah. Jerusalem, 1974.
[Spanish tr.: Grandes temas y personalidades de la Cábala, Barcelona: Riopiedras, 1994.]

---. "Lilith." In Encyclopedia Judaica. Jerusalem, 1972. Pp. 245-249.

Schrire, Theodore. Hebrew Amulets, London: Routledge & K. Paul, 1966.

Schorr, O.H. "Malachim, Shedim Umazzikim." HeXaluz, 7 (1865): 16-22. (8 (1869): 3-16) Frankfort.

Schwartz, Howard. Lillith's Cave: Jewish Tales of the Supernatural. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1989.

---. "Mermaid and Siren: The Polar Roles of Lilith and Eve in Jewish Lore". The Sagarin Review, Vol. 2, 1992, pp. 105-116.

Scot, Reginald. The Discoverie of Witchcraft. New York: Da Capo Press, 1971.

Schaafsma, Karen. "The Demon Lover: Lilith and the Hero in Modern Fantasy." Exrapolation Spring 1987 Vol. 28, No. 1.

Selbie, John A. "Lilith." In Dictionary of the Bible, ed. James Hasting and John A. Selbie. Edinborough/New York: Scribners & sons, 1909.

Starck, Marcia & Stern, Gynne. The Dark Goddess: dancing with the shadow. Freedom, CA: Crossing Press, 1993.

Stern, David and Mirsky, Mark Jay. Rabbinic Fantasies: Imaginative Narratives from Classical Hebrew Literature. Philadelphia, Jewish Publication Society, 1990. Pp. 183-184. comment

Torczyner, H. "A Hebrew Incantation against Night-Demons from Biblical Times." JNES 6 (1947). Pp. 18-29.

Trachtenberg, Joshua. Jewish Magic and Superstition: A Study of Folk Religion. New York: Atheneum, 1982. (Also: New York: Meridia Books, 1961.) Orig. published 1939.

Waite, Arthur Edward. The Holy Kabbalah : A Study Of The Secret Tradition In Israel As Unfolded By Sons Of The Doctrine For The Benefit And Consolation Of The Elect Dispersed Through The Lands And Ages Of The Greater Exile. Secaucus, N.J.: Citadel Press, 1976.

Wolkstein, Diane and Kramer, Samuel Noah. Inanna: Queen of Heaven and Earth. Harper & Row, NY, 1983.

Yassif, Eli. "Pseudo Ben Sira and the 'Wisdom Questions': Tradition in the Middle Ages." Fabula 23 (1982): 48-63.

---. Sippurey ben Sira be-yame ha Binayyim [The Tales of Ben Sira in the Middle Ages]. Jerusalem: Magnes Press, 1984.

Zoller, Israel. Lilith. Rome, 1926. (Reprinnt from Revista di Antropologia 27).

---. "Lilith." Filologische Schriften, 3 (1929): 121-42.

Fiction, Poetry and Art based on Lilith

Or in which she plays a major role

Dame, Enid. Lilith and Her Demons. Merrick, NY: Cross-Cultural Communications, 1986.

Gourmont, Remy de. Lilith. Paris, 1892.
[E.t.: Heard, John, tr, Lilith, a Play. Boston: John W. Luce Co., 1945.]

Heeley, David Anthony (1971-). Lilith. First of Darkness and Light trilogy. St. Paul, MN: Llewellyn Publications, 1996.

Le Compte, Eduard. I, Eve. New York: Atheneum, 1988.

McDonald, George. Visionary Novels: Lilith, Phantasies. New York: Noonday Press, 1954.

Rossetti, Dante Gabriel. "Lilith. For a Picture", in Poems, London: Dent, Everyman's Library, 1961.

Shaw, Bernard, (1856-1950). Back to Methuselah. A metabiological pentateuch. London: Constable and company ltd., 1927.

Simpson, Elizabeth Leonie. I, Lilith. Brooklyn, N.Y.: The Smith, 1991.

Sterling, George. Lilith. 1926.

Williams, Charles (1886-1945). Descent into Hell. Grand Rapids, MI: Eerdmans, 1993, 1949.

movie. Blood Ties. Richard and Esther Shapiro Entertainment, Inc., 1991.

movie. Bordello of Blood. Tales from the Crypt. Universal, 1996.

various. The dybbuk of delight: an anthology of Jewish women's poetry. Nottingham: Five Leaves Publications in association with the European Jewish Publications Society, 1995. [ISBN: 0907123570]

Bibliographic Comments:

Joseph M. Baumgarten writes:
On Llit (Lilit), it just so happens that she is metioned in a $Q 4Q text, which led me to re-evaluate the possibly demonic nature of the seductress in 4Q184 in a paper just published in Revue de Qumran. I refer there to the long history of this demoness, Lilit.

According ot Marc Bregman (Hebrew Union College, Jerusalem):
The Israeli newspaper, Yediot Ahronot, Friday 22/4/1994 carries a brief review of [Nitzah Abarbanel, Eve and Lilith [*Havah ve-Lilit*]] The author analyses the emergence of these two feminine types in patriarchal culture using both Freudian and Jungian theories.

Daniel Cohen:
The Absent Mother: restoring the goddess to Judaism and Christianity edited by Alix Pirani (published in England by a branch of Harper-Collins, so should be easy to get) contains a historical article by Asphodel Long with some original insights on Lilith (the book also has some modern poetry on themes relating to Lilith).
  Asphodel Long has also written her own book In a Chariot Drawn by Lions (with both a British and a US publisher - Women's Press and Crossing Press, respectively). It's a fine book, by a scholar for a general audience. It's mainly concerned with Wisdom as the female face of God in Judaism, but drawing connections with Wisdom aspects of goddesses of the ancient Near East; not so much on Lilith, though.

Marsha B. Cohen comments (in a note to Robert Kraft):
Discussion of [11QPsAp a and 4Q510-511] in Bilhah Nitzan's Qumran prayer and religious poetry. Chapter 8 on "Magical Poetry," p. 227+.

LeGrand Cinq-Mars comments:
Rather ancillary at best, but not irrelevant, is [David Hufford's] ethnographic or folkloristic study of a certain kind of quasi-dream experience known in Newfoundland as "hagging", that is, being beset by a "hag".

Alejandro Gonzalez writes:
On Kramer, "Babylonisches Gut...": sobre supervivencia de Lilitu en Lilith.
On Montgomery, Aramaic Incantation Texts...: Editions of various amulets against Lilith, in Aramaic.

Rebecca Lesses writes:
One little known source of information on Lilith that I would suggest would be the Babylonian incantation bowls, which frequently mention both "lilita" and "lilin" (i.e., male and female liliths) -- not just a single lilith. You could look at Isbell's "Corpus of the Aramaic Incantation Bowls" and Naveh and Shaked's two books on Aramaic Incantations of late antiquity (both published by Magnes Press).

Michael Swartz writes:
On Lilith, as you can see, there is an extensive literature, including a few important articles by Scholem. There is also R. Patai's, The Hebrew Goddess. A "classic" source is also the Alphabet of ben Sira, edited by Yasif and translated in Stern and Mirsky's, Rabbinic Fantasies, and discussed by J. Dan in Ha-Sippur ha-`Ivri. See also the magical bowls from Nippur in Montgomery, AIT.

Daniel Wing writes:
I just thought you'd like to know (If you don't already.) That Lillith plays a fairly large part in Piers Anthony's Incarnations of Immortality series of novels. She is especially involved in the Fourth, Sixth, and Seventh books.

Additional Comments:

Abbreviations

© Copyright 1995-1997 Alan Humm. Comments and Corrections to: humm@ccat.sas.upenn.edu.