As Levene pointed out though, “belief in demons was widespread at this time among the Jews of this area as well as among other peoples.” Some would argue that the Jews, who were still in captivity in Babylon at this time, learned all of this from their pagan captors. They did influence King Solomon with all his pagan wives and practices. However, Lilith is first mentioned in the Biblical Book of Isaiah written around 700 BC. In Isaiah 34:14 she is called the night demon. Five hundred years later she is mentioned in the Dead Sea Scroll, Songs of the Sages. The later Zohar, the Bible of Jewish Mysticism, compiled in 1200 AD also mentions her.

At this time in history there was a high infant as well as a high birth mother mortality rate, and these were attributed to Lilith. Lilith was said to be roaming the earth looking for pregnant women and newborn infants to attack. Lilith emerges later on in the medieval period as the first mate of Adam in the Garden of Eden who refused to be subservient to him and subsequently as the wife of Samael (Satan).

In the Midrash (story, legend) Alpha Ben Sira written around 800 AD, Lilith’s origin is first discussed. She supposedly was the first woman created independently just like Adam but unlike Adam who was created from clean dirt (Hebrew-adamah), she was created from filth and sewage. Adam was said to have mated with this demoness and from that union sprang innumerable demons that still plague mankind. Lilith did not want to be subservient to Adam. She did not want to lie beneath him during lovemaking. Lilith was the quintessential, feminist archetypal figure. When Adam refused her wishes, she flew off. Adam complained to God and He sent three angels, Senoy, Sansenoy and Samangelof to bring her back. They found her at the Red Sea bearing 100 demons a day. They begged her to return or they would destroy her, but she refused. She told them that God had ordered her to take charge of newborn children (Satan and his cohorts are liars)-boys until the 8th day and circumcision and girls until their 20th day. Lilith told them if she saw their three names on an amulet she would spare the children. Thus, some Jewish women to this day wear an amulet with the names of these angels on it to ward off the evil eye of Lilith.

Lilith was also thought to be the great temptress of men. She was a succubus that attached itself to men causing them to err. She was also the one that supposedly caused nocturnal emissions in men. God then created Eve as a helpmate to Adam from his own side. Many an incantation bowl said “Adam and Eve out Lilith.”

To combat demons that were thought to cause a myriad of medical problems, mishaps and other ills, some Jews invoked numerous magic rites and formulas. They also invoked magic formulas to gain the attention of a potential suitor or to ward off an unwelcome person. Thus, there were both love incantations as well as curses. These various incantations have been found on bowls, parchment, tin, lead, copper, silver, gold, eggs and less frequently on human skulls.

Levene got the opportunity to view some of these skulls in the Moussaieff collection as he worked on his doctoral dissertation.

These skulls just surfaced over the years on the antiquities market and were not excavated professionally so their validity, context, and age are still unknown.

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