Lilith Pictures: Ancient and Magical |
![]() ![]()   She has wings and is wearing (only) a multiple-horned mitre, both characteristic of portraits of high divinity. It is not clear what she holds in her hands. The object in her right hand is worn or broken, so, while it is likely, we cannot be sure that she holds similar objects in each hand. The object in her left hand could be an ankh, reminiscent of a famous Egyptian portrait of the Canaanite goddess, Anat, or a snake, present in other Egyptian-Anat pictures and , of course, characteristic of portraits of the Cretan goddess (or perhaps her priestess). Both have their examples in ancient Near Eastern iconography, including material from Iraq (Mesopotamia), and it doesn't really look like either a snake or an ankh, truth be told.   The only ways in which this image distinguishes itself from the mass of goddess images in the ancient world are the bird feed and the accompanying animals. The presence of animals is not at all unusual. In fact, the lions she is standing on create something of a problem (if we want this to be Lilake/Lilitu), since they are generally associated with Inanna. For identification with Lilith the key lies in the owls and the bird feet. Lilith is arguably identified with the owl in Isaiah 34. Also the Gilgamesh prologue associates the tree-dweller with the owl, so if the tree-dweller is Lilith, that strengthens the argument. My current reading is that the bird feet clue us in that this is not Inanna, but whether it is Lilith is still a matter open to speculation. London Museum Collection |
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