Life With Death

Lilith is a character from Jewish myth, although she is reckoned to have her origins further back. The Jewish Lilith is reckoned to be related to the Babylonian demons the Lilitu, but her real power is attributed to her in Jewish folklore from the eighth century onwards. Specifically in the Alphabet of Ben Sira, a book of proverbs and commentary, mentions Lilith as the first wife of Adam.

This Lilith didn’t spend too much time hanging around playing Foxy Bingo and filing her nails (although she no doubt did a bit of that on her days off). No, this feisty mama was thrown out of Eden for not submitting to the ornery will of Adam. This may be because unlike Eve, who was made out of the rib of Adam, Lilith was made from the same soil as him. Lilith has been flying the flag for female emancipation in the imaginations of women (and men) ever since.

Aphrodite is the Ancient Greek goddess of love, and again the Greeks are reckoned to have been influenced by the cult of Astarte in Phoenicia (Modern day Israel, Lebanon and Syria). Aphrodite was born when Cronus, the leader of the Titans who ruled the heavens before the gods came along, killed his father Uranus (the sky) chopping off his penis in the process and chucking it in the sea. Aphrodite was then born from the sea.

Although death has probably been personified since humans first started having thoughts, and most religions and folk traditions have death in human form. The Grim Reaper as in the man with the scythe, cloak and possibly egg timer, was born in 15th Century Europe. A version of him certainly exists in Albrecht Dürer’s (1471 – 1528) wood block print, The Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse. Death has also been represented as a woman, notably in Slavic countries.