Editing Lilith (section)

== In Mandaeism ==
In [[Mandaean scriptures]] such as the ''[[Ginza Rabba]]'' and ''[[Qulasta]]'', liliths ({{langx|myz|ࡋࡉࡋࡉࡕ}}) are mentioned as inhabitants of the [[World of Darkness (Mandaeism)|World of Darkness]].<ref name="GR Gelbert">{{cite book |url=https://livingwaterbooks.com.au/product/ginza-rba/ |last1=Gelbert |first1=Carlos |title=Ginza Rba |year=2011 |publisher=Living Water Books |location=Sydney |isbn=9780958034630 |access-date=17 December 2021 |archive-date=16 March 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220316031021/https://livingwaterbooks.com.au/product/ginza-rba/ |url-status=live }}</ref>

Lilith is mentioned in a [[Mandaeism|Mandaean]] magic incantation inscribed in [[Mandaic language|Mandaic]] on a c. 7th-century Late Antiquity lead amulet designated "BM 135794 II",{{sfn|Müller-Kessler|2002|pp=183-186}} where she is mentioned together with other demons, in plural form. The first of the charm's text consists of a banning formula that calls for the binding, subduing and destruction of various demons, mentioned by name in plural form, and also talks of the demons of time walking about and harming "the children of Adam and all offspring of Hawa (=Eve)". The lines of this formula are repeated near-identically about three times, with Lilith's name, in plural, appearing in the formula on lines 27, 46 and 55, in the same near-identical line "Sahras, Dews, Rhuas, Humartas and Lilits."{{sfn|Müller-Kessler|2002|pp=185-186}} At lines 70-100, the banning formula of the charm ends and is taken over by a Mandaic magic story that tells of a gnostic tree made up of different demon groups and of a "[[Daeva|Dew]]" demon dwelling in the tree being cast out of it and expelled from the tree by the archangel [[Gabriel]]. In this part of the charm, Lilith is mentioned as a part of this gnostic tree, again rendered in plural.{{sfn|Müller-Kessler|2002|p=183, 186-187}} The tree's trunk is said to be made up of "[[Daeva|Dews]]" (or 'dewis' or 'daeva') on lines 76-77, the tree's foliage to be made up of "Latabas" ('devils') on line 77, and its branches to be made up of "Lilits" on lines 77-78.{{sfn|Müller-Kessler|2002|pp=186-187}} The charm associates the demons with time, using units of time such as "season", "month", "day", "hour", "minute" and so on,{{sfn|Müller-Kessler|2002|pp=185-187}} and so the charm has been interpreted to be a magical protection against "demons of time" or against time as threatening and harmful elements.{{sfn|Müller-Kessler|2002|pp=183-186}}

The amulet is part of a set of lead, silver and gold amulets attributed to the family archive of [[Mah-Adhur Gushnasp]], who served as prime minister of the [[Sasanian Empire]] during [[Ardashir III]]'s reign, and was discovered by Lietuenant Colonel H.S. Alexander in a lead jar under the foundations of a private house in a mound near el-Qurnah at the confluence of the rivers Tigris and Euphrates in southern Iraq during a private dig between 1910 and 1920, which was then passed on to the British Library and is today housed in the Department of the Ancient Near East in the British Museum. The text was translated by scholar Christa Müller-Kessler and published in 2002 in Cornelia Wunsch and C. B. F. Walker's ''Mining The Archives''.{{sfn|Müller-Kessler|2002|pp=183-187}}