Unsolved:Agrat bat Mahlat
Agrat bat Mahlat (אגרת בת מחלת, also spelled Agrath, Igrat(h), Iggereth, Igereth) is a demon in Jewish mythology, one of the four wives of Samael, the others being Lilith, Naamah and Mahlat. Eisheth Zenunim (wife of harlotry), an epithet of Lilith, is contemporarily personified as a separate demonic entity.
Etymology
Mahlat and Agrat are proper names, "bat" meaning "daughter of" (in Hebrew). Therefore, Agrat bat Mahlat means "Agrat, daughter of Mahlat."
History
Talmud
Agrat might be "the mistress of the sorceresses" who communicated magic secrets to Amemar, a Jewish sage.[1]
In a Talmudic story, Agrat meets Ḥanina ben Dosa and Abaye (Talmud: Pesachim 112b:15-17), who ended up curbing her malevolent powers over humans.[2]
With regard to the instruction: Do not go out alone at night, the Gemara states that this is as it was taught in a baraita: One should not go out alone at night, neither on Tuesday nights nor on Shabbat nights, i.e., Friday nights, because the demon Agrat, daughter of Maḥalat, she and 180,000 angels of destruction go out at these times. And as each and every one of them has permission to destroy by itself, they are all the more dangerous when they go forth together.
The Gemara states: Initially, these demons were present every day. Once Agrat, daughter of Maḥalat, met Rabbi Ḥanina ben Dosa and said to him: Had they not announced about you in the Heavens: Be careful of Ḥanina and his Torah, I would have placed you in danger. He said to her: If I am considered important in Heaven, I decree upon you that you should never travel through inhabited places. She said to him: I beg you, leave me a little space. He left for her Shabbat nights and Tuesday nights.
And furthermore, once Agrat, daughter of Maḥalat met Abaye and said to him: Had they not announced about you in the Heavens: Be careful of Naḥmani, Abaye, and his Torah, I would have placed you in danger. He said to her: If I am considered important in Heaven, I decree upon you that you should never pass through inhabited places. The Gemara asks: But we see that, notwithstanding these anecdotes, demons do pass through inhabited areas.[3]
Aramaic Incantation Bowls
Agrat bat Mahlat appears in three Aramaic incantation bowls, sometimes besides lilis and liliths.
The bowls in which Agrat appears in are: JBA 102 (MS 1929/11), JBA 103 (MS 2053/196) and JBA 104 (MS 2053/238).[4]
A historiola inscribed on separate bowls (titled "RABBI ḤANINA BEN DOSA"), which deals with Ḥanina ben Dosa who encounters a female demon, shares some common motifs with the Talmudic encounter of the sage with Agrat. Despite the similarities, it cannot be based on the Talmudic story, and instead these two sources present separate versions of a story of an encounter between Ḥanina ben Dosa and an evil spirit.[5]
Kabbalah
Zohar
In Zoharistic Kabbalah, she is a queen of the demons and an angel of sacred prostitution, who mates with archangel Samael along with Lilith, Naamah and Mahlat.[1] Eisheth Zenunim (woman of whoredom), an epithet of Lilith, is contemporarily viewed as a demonic entity separate from Lilith, so is included in the demon queens.
According to legend, Agrat and Lilith visited King Solomon disguised as prostitutes. The spirits Solomon communicated with Agrat were all placed inside of a genie lamp-like vessel and set inside of a cave on the cliffs of the Dead Sea. Later, after the spirits were cast into the lamp, Agrat bat Mahlat and her lamp were discovered by King David. Agrat then mated with him a night and bore him a demonic son, Asmodeus, who is identified with Hadad the Edomite.[6]
In other sources
In a Tuv haAretz by Nathan Nata Spira (d. in 1663), it is explained that Mahalath was daughter to Ishmael and his wife, who was herself daughter of Egyptian sorcerer Kasdiel. Mother and daughter were exiled to the desert, where the demon Igrathiel mated with Mahalat and engendered Agrat or Igrat.[6] Mahalat later became Esau's wife.
In the rabbinic literature of Yalquṭ Ḥadash, on Tuesday and Friday nights, she is "the dancing roof-demon" who haunts the air with her chariot and her train of 18,000 messengers of destruction.[1]
See also
- Lilith
- Naamah
- Eisheth Zenunim
- Lilin
- Zohar
- Asmodeus
- Samael
References
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 Jewish Encyclopedia demonology
- ↑ Geoffrey W. Dennis, The encyclopedia of Jewish myth, magic and mysticism. p. 126
- ↑ "Pesachim 112b:15 | Sefaria Library" (in en). https://www.sefaria.org/Pesachim.112b.15?lang=bi&with=all&lang2=en.
- ↑ Shaked, Shaul; Ford, James Nathan; Bhayro, Siam (2022-03-23). Aramaic Bowl Spells. BRILL. ISBN 978-90-04-47171-9. https://doi.org/10.1163/9789004471719.
- ↑ Shaked, Shaul; Ford, James Nathan; Bhayro, Siam (2013-06-17). Aramaic Bowl Spells. BRILL. ISBN 978-90-04-22937-2. https://doi.org/10.1163/9789004229372.
- ↑ 6.0 6.1 Raphael Patai (1990). The Hebrew Goddess. Wayne State University Press.
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