Four thousand years ago, in the fertile lands between the Tigris and Euphrates rivers, the Mesapotamian civilization emerged. They raised massive ziggurats, developed writing, and shaped a form of magical polytheistic thinking that would be the deep roots of later monotheistic religions.

In this still magical world, we have Lilitu—female night spirits who primarily visited men—and the Lilu—male night spirits who primarily visited women. These nocturnal beings posed no danger to the soul or person but were known to cause a wet dream from time to time and were definitely blamed for an unwanted pregnancy. Over time, references to the Lilu largely disappeared from the stories, while the Lilitu endured. Across the centuries and millennia, she was transformed and reinterpreted, increasingly molded to fit the needs and anxieties of male-dominated societies. Lilith is generally believed to have originated from these earlier lil- spirits.