Editing Lilith (section)

=== Incantation bowls ===
[[File:Incantation bowl demon Met L1999.83.3.jpg|thumb|[[Incantation bowl]] with an [[Aramaic]] inscription around a demon, from [[Nippur]], Mesopotamia, 6–7th century]]
An individual Lilith, along with [[Bagdana (Judaism)|Bagdana]] "king of the lilits", is one of the demons to feature prominently in protective spells in the eighty surviving Jewish occult [[incantation bowl]]s from [[Sassanid Empire]] Babylon (4th–6th century AD) with influence from Iranian culture.<sup>[[Lilith#cite note-47|[47]]]</sup><ref name="Shaked-2013">{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=6yKp94t5J34C|last=Shaked|first=Shaul|others=Ford, James Nathan; Bhayro, Siam; Morgenstern, Matthew; Vilozny, Naama|title=Aramaic bowl spells : Jewish Babylonian Aramaic bowls. Volume one|date=2013|location=Leiden|isbn=9789004229372|oclc=854568886}}</ref> These bowls were buried upside down below the structure of the house or on the land of the house, in order to trap the demon or demoness.<ref name="Lesses-2001">{{Cite journal|last=Lesses|first=Rebecca|date=2001|title=Exe(o)rcising Power: Women as Sorceresses, Exorcists, and Demonesses in Babylonian Jewish Society of Late Antiquity|journal=Journal of the American Academy of Religion|volume=69|issue=2|pages=343–375|jstor=1465786|doi=10.1093/jaarel/69.2.343|pmid=20681106}}</ref> Almost every house was found to have such protective bowls against demons and demonesses.<ref name="Lesses-2001" /><ref>''Descenders to the chariot: the people behind the Hekhalot literature'', p. 277 James R. Davila – 2001: "that they be used by anyone and everyone. The whole community could become the equals of the sages. Perhaps this is why nearly every house excavated in the Jewish settlement in Nippur had one or more incantation bowl buried in it."</ref>

The centre of the inside of the bowl depicts Lilith, or the male form, Lilit.  Surrounding the image is writing in spiral form; the writing often begins at the centre and works its way to the edge.<ref>{{Cite journal|last=Yamauchi|first=Edwin M.|date=October–December 1965|title=Aramaic Magic Bowls|journal=Journal of the American Oriental Society|volume=85|issue=4|pages=511–523|doi=10.2307/596720|jstor=596720}}</ref> The writing is most commonly scripture or references to the Talmud.  The incantation bowls which have been analysed, are inscribed in the following languages, [[Jewish Babylonian Aramaic]], [[Syriac language|Syriac]], Mandaic, [[Middle Persian]], and Arabic.  Some bowls are written in a false script which has no meaning.<ref name="Shaked-2013" />

The correctly worded incantation bowl was capable of warding off Lilith or Lilit from the household.  Lilith had the power to transform into a woman's physical features, seduce her husband, and conceive a child.  However, Lilith would become hateful toward the children born of the husband and wife and would seek to kill them.  Similarly, Lilit would transform into the physical features of the husband, seduce the wife, she would give birth to a child.  It would become evident that the child was not fathered by the husband, and the child would be looked down on.  Lilit would seek revenge on the family by killing the children born to the husband and wife.<ref>{{Cite journal|last=Isbell|first=Charles D.|date=March 1978|title=The Story of the Aramaic Magical Incantation Bowls|journal=The Biblical Archaeologist|language=en|volume=41|issue=1|pages=5–16|doi=10.2307/3209471|jstor=3209471|s2cid=194977929}}</ref>

Key features of the depiction of Lilith or Lilit include the following.  The figure is often depicted with arms and legs chained, indicating the control of the family over the demon(ess).  The demon(ess) is depicted in a frontal position with the whole face showing.  The eyes are very large, as well as the hands (if depicted).  The demon(ess) is entirely static.<ref name="Shaked-2013" />

One bowl contains the following inscription commissioned from a Jewish occultist to protect a woman called Rashnoi and her husband from Lilith:{{blockquote|Thou liliths, male lili and female lilith, [[hag]] and ghool, I adjure you by the Strong One of Abraham, by the Rock of Isaac, by the [[El Shaddai|Shaddai]] of Jacob, by [[Jah|Yah]] Ha-Shem by Yah his memorial, to turn away from this Rashnoi b. M. and from Geyonai b. M. her husband. [Here is] your divorce and writ and letter of separation, sent through holy angels. Amen, Amen, Selah, Halleluyah! ([http://www.bib-arch.org/images/e-features/BSBR170501500L.jpg image])|Excerpt from translation in ''Aramaic Incantation Texts from Nippur''.<ref>{{cite book | last=Montgomery | first=James Alan | title=Aramaic Incantation Texts from Nippur | publisher=Cambridge University Press | publication-place=Cambridge | date=2011 | isbn=978-0-511-79285-4 | page=156}}</ref>}}