Eisheth Zenunim
Jewish mythology (rabbinic–kabbalistic) · numen · Jewish mythology (rabbinic–kabbalistic) traditional religion; continuing · numen
THE CORPUS HELD THREE OF THE FOUR. She is also the least independently attested of the four, and the record claims for her only what the four-queen treatment gives.
Domains
- demons
- whoredom
- covenant betrayal
Relations
- fourth of the demon queens with: Lilith
- fourth of the demon queens with: Naamah
- fourth of the demon queens with: Agrat bat Mahlat
Sources
- Reference treatment of the four demon queens of Jewish mystical demonology: the four great female figures are Lilith, Naamah, Agrat bat Mahlat and Eisheth Zenunim. Lilith is the most famous of the four, remembered as Adam's first wife, a night spirit, a child killer, a seducer and later a symbol of female refusal; Naamah emerges from a single biblical name into a queen of beauty, music and corruption; Agrat bat Mahlat rules the roads, thresholds and wandering hosts of the night; and Eisheth Zenunim becomes the Woman of Whoredom, a figure shaped by ancient anxieties about desire, temptation and covenant betrayal. These figures appear in biblical fragments, rabbinic literature, the Alphabet of Ben Sira, incantation bowls, medieval Kabbalah, the Zohar, and the modern occult revival.
- Zohar