Editing Lilith (section)

=== The spirit in the tree in the Gilgamesh cycle ===
[[Samuel Noah Kramer]] (1932, published 1938)<ref>Kramer, S. N. (1938) ''Gilgamesh and the Huluppu-Tree: A Reconstructed Sumerian Text''. Assyriological Studies 10. Chicago.</ref> translated {{Transliteration|akk|ki-sikil-lil-la-ke}} as "Lilith" in Tablet XII of the ''[[Epic of Gilgamesh]]'' dated {{circa|600 BC}}. Tablet XII is not part of the ''Epic of Gilgamesh,'' but is a later Assyrian Akkadian translation of the latter part of the [[Sumerian language|Sumerian]] ''Epic of Gilgamesh''.<ref>George, A. (2003) ''The epic of Gilgamesh: the Babylonian epic poem and other texts in Akkadian''. p. 100 ''Tablet XII. Appendix The last Tablet in the 'Series of Gilgamesh' ''. {{ISBN|9780713991963}}</ref> The {{Transliteration|akk|ki-sikil-lil-la-ke}} is associated with a serpent and a [[Zu (mythology)|zu bird]].{{efn|Kramer translates the zu as "[[owl]]", but most often it is translated as "[[eagle]]", "[[vulture]]", or "[[bird of prey]]".}} In ''Gilgamesh, Enkidu, and the Netherworld'', a [[willow|huluppu tree]] grows in [[Inanna]]'s garden in [[Uruk]], whose wood she plans to use to build a new throne. After ten years of growth, she comes to harvest it and finds a serpent living at its base, a Zu bird raising young in its crown, and that a {{Transliteration|akk|ki-sikil-lil-la-ke}} made a house in its trunk. Gilgamesh is said to have killed the snake, and then the zu bird flew away to the mountains with its young, while the {{Transliteration|akk|ki-sikil-lil-la-ke}} fearfully destroys its house and runs for the forest.<ref>{{cite encyclopedia |title=[[Chicago Assyrian Dictionary]] |year=1956 |location=Chicago |publisher=[[University of Chicago]] }}</ref>{{sfnp|Hurwitz|1980|p=49}}

Identification of the {{Transliteration|akk|ki-sikil-lil-la-ke}} as Lilith is stated in the ''[[Dictionary of Deities and Demons in the Bible]]'' (1999).<ref>Manfred Hutter article in [[Karel van der Toorn]], Bob Becking, [[Pieter Willem van der Horst]] – 1999 pp. 520–521, article cites Hutter's own 1988 work ''Behexung, Entsühnung und Heilung'' [[Eisenbrauns]] 1988. pp. 224–228.</ref> Suggested translations for the Tablet XII spirit in the tree include {{Transliteration|akk|ki-sikil}} as "sacred place", {{Transliteration|akk|lil}} as "spirit", and {{Transliteration|akk|lil-la-ke}} as "water spirit",<ref>Sterman Sabbath, Roberta (2009) ''Sacred tropes: Tanakh, New Testament, and Qur'an as literature and culture''.</ref> but also simply "owl", given that the {{Transliteration|akk|lil}} is building a home in the trunk of the tree.<ref>''Sex and gender in the ancient Near East: proceedings of the 47th Rencontre Assyriologique Internationale'', Helsinki, 2–6 July 2001, Part 2 p. 481.</ref> A connection between the Gilgamesh {{Transliteration|akk|ki-sikil-lil-la-ke}} and the Jewish Lilith was rejected on textual grounds by Sergio Ribichini (1978).<ref>Ribichini, S. (1976) "Lilith nell-albero Huluppu", pp. 25 in ''Atti del 1° Convegno Italiano sul Vicino Oriente Antico'', Rome.</ref>