In her demonized form, Lilith is a frightening and threatening creature. Much more so than Eve, she personifies the real (sexual) power women exercise over men.
Who, or what, is Lilith? Other than a feminist icon, that is. Transformed in our modern age from something evil and vengeful into an object of reverence, where did she come from? The imaginations of sexually-repressed men concerned with personal righteousness, as an attempt to explain their own pesky erections and nighttime emissions? Superstitious mothers seeking a scapegoat for the high number of mysterious crib deaths? Pre-Judeo/Christian Babylonian mythology? Answer: All of the above.
There are two separate creation stories in the book of Genesis, and Eve doesn’t show up as the partner of Adam until the second version. Though not named in the text, Lilith derives from the first, perhaps older, story, created at the same time as Adam and, dare we say it, equal to him? Banished from Eden by God because she refused to submit to the male—banished before the eating of the forbidden fruit and the imposition of the penalty of mortality— she was reputed to drink blood as well as seduce (rape?) men and strangle newborns. She copulated with demons (or the devil) and gave birth to a brood of evil progeny. Is there any doubt that the vampire is found among her children?
