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Lilith is a female figure in Mesopotamian and Judaic mythology, theorized to be the first wife of Adam or a primordial demon. She is thought to be mentioned in the Biblical Book of Isaiah, and in Late Antiquity in Mandaean mythology and Jewish mythology sources from 500 CE onward. Lilith appears in various concepts and localities that give partial descriptions of her. She is mentioned in the Babylonian Talmud (Eruvin 100b, Niddah 24b, Shabbat 151b, Baba Bathra 73a), in the Book of Adam and Eve as Adam's first wife, and in the Zohar as "a hot fiery female who first cohabited with man."

Interpretations of Lilith found in later Jewish materials are plentiful, but little information has survived relating to the Sumerian, Akkadian, Assyrian and Babylonian view of this class of demons. Many traditional rabbinic authorities, including Maimonides and Menachem Meiri, reject the existence of Lilith.

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This month in history Angeline Tubbs 1 August - Occultist Edward Kelley is born. (1555) 1 August - Witchfinder Margaret Aitken is exposed as a fraud. (1597) 4 August - Scottish nobleman William II de Soules is brought before the Black Parliament on charges of treason. (1320) 10 August - Astronomer Friedrich Wilhelm Bessel determines Sirius has an unseen companion. (1844) 12 August - Witchfinder General Matthew Hopkins dies of tuberculosis. (1647) 16 August - Angeline Tubbs, the Witch of Saratoga, dies. (1856) 18 August - French priest Urbain Grandier is convicted of "magic, maleficence, and possession." (1634) 19 August - Five people are executed in the Salem Witch Trials. (1692) 19 August - Occultist and author Damien Echols is freed from prison after making an Alford Plea. (2011) 21 August - A Voodoo ceremony turns into a violent rebellion sparking the Haitian Revolution. (1791) 25 August - Russian Tsar Ivan the Terrible is born. (1530) 25 August - Galileo Galilei demonstrates his telescope to Venetian lawmakers. (1609) 25 August - The occult horror film The Ninth Gate premiers in Spain. (1999) 29 August - Lilias Adie dies in prison, accused of witchcraft. (1704) 29 August - Austrian painter Christoph Haizmann visits a church in Pottenbrunn seeking an exorcism. (1677) 31 August - Mary Ann Nicholas is murdered, the first of Jack the Ripper's confirmed victims. (1888)

Featured image Tutankhamen was an ancient Egyptian pharaoh who was the last of his royal family to rule during the end of the 18th Dynasty during the New Kingdom of Egyptian history. In modern times, Tutankhamun became famous as a result of the 1922 discovery of his tomb (KV62) by a team led by the British Egyptologist Howard Carter and sponsored by the British aristocrat George Herbert. Although it had clearly been raided and robbed in ancient times, it retained much of its original contents, including the king's undisturbed mummy. The discovery received worldwide press coverage; with over 5,000 artifacts, it gave rise to renewed public interest in ancient Egypt, for which Tutankhamun's mask, now preserved at the Egyptian Museum, remains a popular symbol. On 4 November 2007, 85 years to the day after Carter's discovery, Tutankhamun's mummy was placed on display in his underground tomb at Luxor, when the linen-wrapped mummy was removed from its golden sarcophagus to a climate-controlled glass box. Photo credit: Travis McHenry (More Images)

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