myths: Lilith (after John Collier)
According to Jewish folklore, Lilith is a mythological demon and seductress, and Adam's first wife, before Eve.
The legend of Lilith began with the Biblical reference to humankind's first creation "male and female He created them", which could either mean a dual-bodied being later divided into two who must thereafter seek each other out (literally 'looking for their other half'); or that woman was created at the same time as Adam. If this were the case, how we can account for the contradictory account that Eve was the first woman, created from Adam sometime after his initial creation? And what happened to the original female? The answer, according to some Jewish interpretations, is that she was Lilith; created at the same time as Adam (although from filth and sediment rather than from dust). Lilith refused to comply with Adam's demand that she submit herself to him, and in the end fled from him.
Adam then complained to God about his loneliness, and the creation of Eve followed, together with the Fall and the expulsion from the Garden of Eden. Adam, blaming this on Eve, separated from her, and for a time reunited with Lilith, during which time she bore him a number of children, who became demons.
After Adam's reconciliation with Eve, Lilith assumed the Queenship of the Demons. By some accounts, she became the wife of Lucifer, in others she is the Night-Rider seducing men in their sleep. In addition to this, she still produces children, according to a much later Kabbalistic elaboration. These demons are the children of men, as her original offspring were the children of Adam.
