title: Black Widow (2021 film)

text: Eric Pearson is credited as the screenwriter for "Black Widow", with Schaeffer and Benson receiving story credit. The film is mostly set between the main plot of "Captain America: Civil War" and that film's final scene, in which the Avengers escape from prison. Johansson and Feige felt setting the film after "Civil War" was "the best place to start" because it is the first time that Romanoff is on her own and not tied to a larger organization. A version of the script from before Pearson joined had included a scene from "Civil War" between Romanoff and Robert Downey Jr.'s Tony Stark / Iron Man, and Downey was reported to be appearing in the film, but Shortland and Feige decided against adding Stark or any other heroes to the film in order for Romanoff to stand on her own, and it was determined that the scene did not add anything new. The story sees Romanoff confronting Dreykov, the head of the Red Room, with Johansson explaining that she is running away from that trauma of her past, only for her sister, Belova, to force her to "come to terms with that" and face it in the film. Johansson added that these ideas were relevant to real-world events in the time the film was being made, and she was grateful to have the film to comment on these. The film begins with an opening credits sequence designed by Perception, featuring flashbacks to the Red Room and pictures of Dreykov, with Feige explaining that Shortland wanted to tell the story of what Dreykov is responsible for at the beginning of the film. A scene at the end of the film in which Thaddeus Ross pursues Romanoff was deliberately left unresolved, as Shortland wanted to leave the audience "on a high" questioning how Romanoff escapes rather than exhaust them with another fight.


title: Black Widow (2021 film)

text: Principal photography began on May 28, 2019, in Norway. Shortland wanted the film to have "peril at its heart" and be "really emotional but also story-driven". She took inspiration from films like "How to Train Your Dragon" (2010), "No Country for Old Men" (2007), and "Thelma & Louise" (1991), as well as "Captain America: The Winter Soldier". Shortland also looked at combat films and ones with armies and militia, allowing her to image females in those roles to help translate that to "Black Widow". She referenced fight scenes involving female characters in "Alien" (1979) and the "Terminator" franchise, and wanted the film's fights to resemble "real fights" rather than wrestling matches. Early reports suggested that Rob Hardy would be the film's cinematographer, but he left the production before filming began. Gabriel Beristain served as cinematographer instead, having previously done so for the Marvel One-Shot short films "Item 47" (2012) and "Agent Carter" (2013) as well as the television series "Agent Carter". Beristain was initially not credited in the film's trailers as pointed out by Jeff Sneider of "Collider", who wondered if contractual obstacles were to blame for Marvel not crediting the cinematographer at that point. Sneider felt Beristain would be credited in marketing materials leading up to the film's release, and he was confirmed in the role in the film's press advance. Beristein later confirmed he came as production had already began and moved to London, opting to leave a television directing job so he could be the main cinematographer in a Marvel Cinematic Universe film for the first time, having contributed additional photography for "Iron Man" and six other films. Shortland preferred to "be separate to the technical equipment" and also prioritize natural lighting, which provided a challenge in having to match the light of the location shoots in the additional photography filmed in Los Angeles. The naturalistic approach was also reflected in preferring lighting from outside, or lights with strong diffusion in interior scenes for the same effect. An anamorphic format was chosen to highlight the expansive movements and landscapes, "characters transitioning from the background to the foreground, crossing the screen in an elegant, majestic way", and filming those was helped by using an extension system that split the camera's image sensor from its body.


title: Black Widow (2021 film)

text: The production moved to Pinewood Studios in London in early June, with Ray Winstone joining the cast later that month. Shooting took place in mid-July at Hankley Common in Surrey, England, under the working title "Blue Bayou". The site was made to look like a Russian farmstead, with added helicopter crash sites. The Thursley Parish Council objected to this filming, as it had occurred while Marvel Studios' application to use the site was still pending. The production planned to revisit the site in late August 2019 for further filming. "Black Widow" was officially announced at the 2019 San Diego Comic-Con later in July, with a release date of May 1, 2020, revealed alongside roles for some of the new cast members. In August, bodybuilder Olivier Richters announced that he had been cast in the film, and crew undertook scanning and textured photography at the Well-Safe Guardian oil rig in the North Sea as a reference for visual effects.


title: Black Widow (2021 film)

text: 13 BMW X3s were used to create the car chase sequence involving Romanoff and Belova in Budapest, with the crew often switching off the electronic stability control and safety assistance functions to fit with the script, as well as swapping the X3's electronic parking brake for a hydraulically actuated one. Second unit director Darrin Prescott explained that the crew would often "replace the engine or tear the entire body off the car and rebuild it from scratch". The sequence's plot and locations were adjusted to help Prescott create the spontaneous, original stunts that he wanted.


title: Black Widow (2021 film)

text: A wrap party for the film was held at the end of September, before production moved to Macon, Georgia for the week of September 30. Filming locations in Macon, including Terminal Station, were dressed to portray Albany, New York. Set photos in October revealed that William Hurt would appear in the film, reprising his MCU role as Thaddeus Ross. Filming also took place in Atlanta, Budapest, Rome, Georgia, and Morocco. The production filmed for 87 days, and officially wrapped on October 6, 2019.


title: Black Widow (2021 film)

text: Matthew Schmidt and Leigh Folsom Boyd served as editors. A scene of Romanoff wearing underwear and a T-shirt that Shortland enjoyed due to "how sexy [Johansson] is [when] she's in control" was cut from the film because test audiences criticized the scene's "male gaze". In mid-March, Disney removed the film from its release schedule due to the COVID-19 pandemic. In early April, Disney announced that "Black Widow" would be released on November 6, 2020, and the rest of their slate of films were shifted to accommodate this. In September 2020, Disney pushed the release back again to May 7, 2021, followed by a third shift in March 2021 to July 9, 2021.


title: Black Widow (2021 film)

text: In April 2021, following Julia Louis-Dreyfus's appearance as Valentina Allegra de Fontaine in the Marvel Studios television series "The Falcon and the Winter Soldier" (2021), Joanna Robinson of "Vanity Fair" reported that Louis-Dreyfus had been expected to first appear in "Black Widow" before its delays pushed the film's release to after the series' premiere on Disney+. Feige later confirmed this, with "Black Widow" post-credits scene originally intended to be the introduction to the character but now acting as a reference to her appearance in "The Falcon and the Winter Soldier". He said this was the only change to Marvel's Phase Four plans that was forced by the pandemic. The post-credits scene was added after "Hawkeye" showrunner Jonathan Igla expressed interest in having Yelena Belova in his show, and Eric Pearson was asked to write it without knowing the character revealed as her target. Shortland said in May that the film had been completed a year prior and had not been altered despite the release delays. The release of the film revealed that Olga Kurylenko portrays Antonia Dreykov / Taskmaster in the film; Kurylenko's involvement was excluded from the film's marketing.


title: Black Widow (2021 film)

text: Visual effect vendors included Cinesite, Digital Domain, Industrial Light & Magic, Mammal Studios, SSVFX, Scanline VFX, Trixter, and Wētā FX. Digital Domain completed approximately 320 visual effects shots for the film, with work split between its offices in Los Angeles, Montreal and Vancouver, and was primarily responsible for the final battle sequence and creating the Red Room, an airborne fortress hidden in the clouds. The team took inspiration from architecture in the Soviet-era, in addition to incorporating brutalist architecture, and had to plan major aspects of the sequence, such as the lighting, atmosphere, and the altitude. A combination of practical and visual effects were used to create the sequence. Actors and stunt performers were filmed in a wind tunnel against bluescreens while being held aloft using wires and mechanical arms. The surrounding environment was created entirely with computer graphics. Dave Hodgins, the Digital Domain VFX supervisor, said "Rendering one cloud is easy, but rendering 100 clouds – along with dozens of pieces of big and small debris – is very complex, to say the least." The visual effects team used GPU rendering to create the bulk of the wreckage and debris, which allowed them to do more in a shorter period of time. The falling debris was created from reference footage of other chunks of debris and additional premade assets, which allowed them to capture a "diorama of stuff falling in each shot". Larger pieces were tracked to more recognizable shapes, while a lot of pieces were inserted to make the scene look "aesthetically pleasing".


title: Black Widow (2021 film)

text: Industrial Light & Magic completed approximately 800 VFX shots for the film, and worked on the opening airplane escape scene, the Budapest apartment fight along with its subsequent motorcycle and car chase, and the Widows fighting Romanoff in Dreykov's room. The opening airplane escape scene was created with half of an airplane rig on a biscuit driving platform with hydraulics. To adjust the lighting of the scene, the footage filmed in Atlanta and the dirt path along the cornfield was taken to LED screens, while close-up shots of David Harbour's Shostakov hanging off the plane were captured onstage. Footage of practical cars were also filmed using a rig which launched them, while additional CGI cars were also inserted into the sequence. To create the Budapest scenes, ILM collaborated closely with the second unit director Darren Prescott. The combat scene in the kitchen was filmed using a wire rig, while both Johansson and Pugh performed their movements against the stunt doubles for the other sister to aid in the face replacements for stunt doubles in post. Their chase across the rooftops was also a combination of practical and visual effects. Scenes involving smokestacks were created using virtual actors, while the courtyard was a digitally recreated environment. The car chase scene in Budapest features a practical tank driven by Taskmaster created by Paul Corbould, the special effects supervisor. Digital cars were also added to the scene to make it appear more dangerous and for better interaction with the tank. While most components of the scene was filmed practically using stunt doubles, some parts, such as the scene where the door is ripped, was created digitally. For the fight scene in Dreykov's office, the team used a projector onset to adjust the lighting on the Widow's bodies. They had to change the position to fix the lighting, as the screens displayed graphics and to adjust to the choreography of the sequence.


title: Black Widow (2021 film)

text: Alexandre Desplat was revealed to be composing the music for the film in January 2020. Late in post-production, Lorne Balfe replaced Desplat as composer, which Desplat confirmed in May 2020. A cover of Nirvana's "Smells Like Teen Spirit" by Think Up Anger, featuring Malia J, is used in the opening credits sequence, and was suggested by Perception. "American Pie" by Don McLean and "Cheap Thrills" by Sia are also featured in the film. Balfe's score was released digitally by Marvel Music and Hollywood Records on July 9, 2021.


title: Black Widow (2021 film)

text: The film was officially announced at the 2019 San Diego Comic-Con, with Feige, Shortland, and cast members promoting it and introducing footage from the first 30 days of production. Some of that footage was included in a teaser trailer for the film released in December, with several commentators highlighting its spy thriller tone, and calling the film "long awaited" or "highly anticipated" by fans. Rachel Leishman of "The Mary Sue" said finally seeing a trailer for the film was "surprisingly emotional", and felt that setting it between "Civil War" and "Infinity War" would allow the character to grow into her more mature form from the latter film after earlier MCU films had depicted her in a supporting role to the male Avengers. Scott Mendelson of "Forbes" compared the trailer's story and tone to the films "Atomic Blonde" (2017), "Red Sparrow" (2018), and "Anna" (2019), but felt "Black Widow" had a commercial advantage over those films since it stars a familiar character. Mendelson thought this familiarity could outweigh the teaser's focus on "family melodrama" over superheroics, which he compared to Marvel's "Thor" (2011). "The Hollywood Reporter"s Richard Newby found noticeable differences between Shortland's shot composition and cinematography in the trailer compared to the styles of Jon Favreau, Joss Whedon, and the Russo brothers, all directors who helped define Black Widow in previous MCU films. What was intended to be the final trailer for the film debuted in March 2020. Nicole Carpenter of "Polygon" said it was the most in-depth look at the film yet, with Josh Weiss of "Syfy Wire" enjoying its quieter moments in addition to the expected action sequences. Mendelson found the trailer to be an improvement over the teaser, attributing this to its theme of "found families (the Avengers), forced families ([the other characters in the trailer]) and actual family" portrayed by Pugh, Harbour, and Weisz.


title: Black Widow (2021 film)

text: Disney's president of marketing Asad Ayaz said that after "Black Widow" was delayed from its original May 2020 release date, the marketing team paused their campaign for the film. Once they began working towards a new release date in 2021, they were able to use character looks and story points that they had not revealed in the initial campaign to build a new approach to the film. Ayaz explained that they did not want it to feel like they had returned to the same marketing campaign, which focused on the Black Widow symbol and her black costume. The marketing team differentiated the new campaign by featuring the character's white costume from the film instead, and by focusing on her legacy as an Avenger. The campaign featured 30 brands, including co-branded opportunities with GEICO, Ziploc, BMW, and Synchrony Bank. Additional custom partnerships occurred with Fandango, YouTube, Roku, TikTok, Amazon, a Twitter E3 gaming sponsorship, and announcements, posters, and collectibles for the various premium theater experiences such as IMAX.


title: Black Widow (2021 film)

text: In September 2020, Barbie released two Black Widow dolls featuring the black and white outfits worn by Romanoff in the film. Marvel released another trailer for the film in April 2021, which Austen Goslin at "Polygon" felt was a new "final" trailer for the film's new release date. He said it only had a few new scenes in it but provided the best look yet at Taskmaster. Goslin highlighted the Russian-inspired version of "The Avengers" theme music used at the end of the trailer. Germain Lussier of "io9" also highlighted the use of "The Avengers" theme, feeling that the music combined with footage from previous MCU films as well as flashback moments of Natasha and her family made the trailer feel more epic than the previous final trailer. Lussier said it was a trailer that "gets you excited for the return" of MCU films. Ethan Anderton of "/Film" said the "epic" free-falling fight with Taskmaster showcased in the trailer "looks like a sequence unlike any other" in the MCU. The trailer received over views in its first 24 hours. On July 5, "Moneymaker: Behind the Black Widow", a half-hour documentary special centered on Johansson's stunt double Heidi Moneymaker, premiered on ESPN+ as part of ESPN's "" series. The special was directed by Martin Khodabakhshian and narrated by Johansson. A subsequent, eight-minute version of the special aired on ESPN's "Outside the Lines" on July 10. An episode of the series "" was released on July 7, exploring Black Widow using footage from her previous MCU appearances.


title: Black Widow (2021 film)

text: "Black Widow" premiered on June 29, 2021, at various red carpet fan events in London, Los Angeles, Melbourne, and New York City. It screened at the Taormina Film Fest on July 3, and was released in the United States on July 9, simultaneously in theaters and on Disney+ with Premier Access for . It premiered in 46 territories over the course of its first weekend. In the U.S. it opened in 4,100 theaters, with 375 in IMAX, over 800 in premium large format, 1,500 in 3D, and 275 in specialty D-Box, 4DX, and ScreenX theaters. In IMAX screenings, approximately 22 minutes of the film appeared in IMAX's expanded aspect ratio. "Black Widow" is the first film released in Phase Four of the MCU. Release dates for China, Taiwan, India, parts of Australia, and other Southeast Asia and Latin America markets were not set by the film's opening weekend, and by mid-September 2021, the film was not expected to be released theatrically in China.


title: Black Widow (2021 film)

text: The film was originally scheduled for release on May 1, 2020. In early March 2020, after the COVID-19 pandemic had caused the closure of theaters in many countries, the release date for the film "No Time to Die" was shifted from April 2020 to November 2020. Commentators began speculating about the potential for other major films like "Black Widow" to be postponed as well. "Deadline Hollywood" reported on rumors in the film distribution industry suggesting that "Black Widow" would take the November release date of Marvel's "Eternals", with the latter being delayed until 2021, but Disney said that it still intended to release "Black Widow" in May 2020. After a trailer was released for the film a week later, Scott Mendelson at "Forbes" highlighted how the trailer's existence and use of the May 2020 release date confirmed that the film was not being delayed. He said this was "the logical choice at this juncture", feeling it was the ideal release date for the film and there was no evidence that the pandemic would affect its performance in the U.S. A week later, theaters across the U.S. were closed due to the pandemic and gatherings larger than 50 people were discouraged by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC); Disney removed the film from its May release date. Adam B. Vary and Matt Donnelly at "Variety" questioned whether the MCU could be impacted more by the delay than other franchises due to its interconnected nature, though a Marvel Studios source told them that changing the film's release date would not affect the MCU timeline. The pair speculated that this was due to the film being a prequel set earlier in the timeline than other Phase Four films. In April, Disney changed its entire Phase Four release slate due to the pandemic, giving "Eternals" November 6, 2020, release date to "Black Widow" and shifting all of its other Phase Four films back in the release schedule to accommodate this.


title: Black Widow (2021 film)

text: Anthony D'Alessandro of "Deadline Hollywood" reported in September 2020 that Disney was considering rescheduling "Black Widow" again, with "Variety" also reporting this and attributing it to the low box office returns for Disney's "Mulan" in China and Warner Bros.' "Tenet" in North America. Later that month, Disney pushed back the release to May 7, 2021, rescheduling "Eternals" and "Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings" (2021) as a result. In January 2021, Feige said he still expected "Black Widow" to debut in theaters, but "Variety" reported that Disney was considering releasing the film on its streaming service Disney+. There was also potential to delay the film's release again if the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic did not improve leading up to the planned May 2021 release, or to release the film concurrently in theaters and on Disney+ with Premier Access as was done with Disney's "Raya and the Last Dragon" (2021). "Variety" felt it would be "insurmountably more challenging" for "Black Widow" to become profitable if it did not have a traditional theatrical release. In early February, Disney CEO Bob Chapek reaffirmed that "Black Widow" was intended to be solely released in theaters, but Disney was cognizant of theaters reopening, particularly in large cities such as New York and Los Angeles, as well as consumer desire to return to theaters. According to "Variety", Feige was opposed to a hybrid release for the film. If the film was delayed again, the film distribution industry believed Disney would move it to July 9, 2021, which at that point was the release date for "Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings". The next month, Chapek reiterated that Disney planned to release "Black Widow" in theaters on May 7, while "Deadline Hollywood" again noted that delaying the film, releasing it simultaneously on Disney+, or releasing it in theaters for a short time before making it available on Disney+ were all still possibilities. Chapek soon stated that Disney was remaining flexible as they gauged consumer behavior, and they would make a final decision on releasing the film at the "last minute".


title: Black Widow (2021 film)

text: In late March, Disney moved the film's release date to July 9, 2021, and announced that it would release simultaneously on Disney+ with Premier Access. "Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings" was delayed again as a result. Kareem Daniel, the chairman of Disney Media and Entertainment Distribution, said the simultaneous release gave fans options to see the film while serving the "evolving preferences of audiences". Chaim Gartenberg at "The Verge" opined that Disney had to move forward with a simultaneous release for the film because they could not afford to delay Marvel's Phase Four television series. He explained that those series were some of the few "high-profile, must-watch shows" on Disney+, and once they began releasing with "WandaVision" in January 2021 there was only so much time that the films could be delayed before the interconnected nature of Marvel's storytelling began causing issues. For instance, the series "Hawkeye" was expected to release later in 2021 and contain spoilers for "Black Widow", so the film needed to be released before then. Gartenberg described Disney and Marvel as being victims of their own success, but felt the potential revenue loss from the simultaneous release could lead to long-term positives such as fans who otherwise would not have watched Marvel's series potentially discovering them when signing up to Disney+ to watch "Black Widow".


title: Black Widow (2021 film)

text: In July 2021, Johansson filed a lawsuit in Los Angeles County Superior Court against The Walt Disney Company, alleging that the simultaneous release of "Black Widow" on Disney+ breached a stipulation in her contract that the film be released exclusively in theaters. The suit stated that the simultaneous release exempted Disney from paying "very large box office bonuses" that Johansson would have reportedly been entitled to. According to "The Wall Street Journal", Johansson had been concerned about the possibility of the film being released on Disney+ since prior to the release of "Avengers: Endgame". "Vulture" contributor Chris Lee noted that not having any planned appearances in future MCU projects might have emboldened Johansson to file the lawsuit. Disney issued a statement in response, saying the suit had "no merit whatsoever" and calling it a "callous disregard for the horrific and prolonged global effects of the COVID-19 pandemic." Additionally, the company claimed that they had fully complied with Johansson's contract and that the Disney+ Premier Access release of the film had "significantly enhanced [Johansson's] ability to earn additional compensation on top of the $20M she has received to date."


title: Black Widow (2021 film)

text: Bryan Lourd, Johansson's agent and co-chairman of Creative Artists Agency (CAA), condemned Disney's response, stating that the company had "shamelessly and falsely accused Ms. Johansson of being insensitive to the global COVID pandemic" and accusing them of "leaving artistic and financial partners" out of their streaming profits, with CAA criticizing Disney's disclosure of Johansson's $20 million earnings as "an attempt to weaponize her success as an artist and businesswoman, as if that were something she should be ashamed of." The advocacy organizations Women in Film, ReFrame, and Time's Up also released a joint statement condemning Disney's response, calling it a "gendered character attack" and saying they "stand firmly against Disney's recent statement which attempts to characterize Johansson as insensitive or selfish for defending her contractual business rights". "TheWrap" reported that Johansson was shocked by the tone of Disney's response, while Disney chairman and former CEO Bob Iger was allegedly mortified by the lawsuit. Feige was reportedly angered and embarrassed by Disney's handling of the situation, and wanted the company to make it right with Johansson. SAG-AFTRA president Gabrielle Carteris also condemned Disney's response, saying they "should be ashamed of themselves for resorting to tired tactics such as gender-shaming and bullying". In response to these criticisms, Disney attorney Daniel Petrocelli called the suit a "highly orchestrated [public relations] campaign to achieve an outcome that is not obtainable in a lawsuit".


title: Black Widow (2021 film)

text: Eriq Gardner at "The Hollywood Reporter" believed Johansson's case was potentially weak since disputes of this kind usually take place in arbitration, and that she had been forced into presenting a claim of tortious interference rather than a standard contract breach due to a clause in her contract. Gardner added that Johansson's complaint of Disney not waiting a few months for the market to recover from the impact of the pandemic was countered by the fact that Disney had already delayed the film's release by a year, since Disney would not want to wait too long after "Avengers: Endgame" to release "Black Widow" when the MCU was already moving on. This was especially true since the film introduces important new characters to the franchise such as Yelena Belova. "Screen Daily" editor Matt Mueller told BBC News that he expected the case to be resolved between Disney and Johansson before reaching court, and expressed surprise that Disney had let it get to this stage, given Warner Bros. had made agreements with stars for simultaneous releases in theaters and on HBO Max for titles like "" (2021). Mueller also believed the case would prompt other Hollywood film studios with streaming services to look at what "contractual steps" they would need to prevent further legal action like this. "Variety" reported in July 2021 that the case had prompted other Disney actors to consider similar litigations.


title: Black Widow (2021 film)

text: In August, Disney filed a motion to move the lawsuit to arbitration, citing that "Black Widow" outgrossed other MCU films on its opening weekend with an "impressive pandemic-era showing". Johansson's attorney John Berlinski criticized this move as an attempt by Disney to "hide its misconduct in a confidential arbitration", while calling the company's initial response to the case misogynistic. The suit was settled a month later under undisclosed terms, though "Deadline Hollywood" reported that Johansson would receive over $40 million from Disney. The settlement came after Disney chose to give theatrical-only releases to subsequent 2021 films following the box office success of "Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings" and "Free Guy" (2021), which both also received exclusive theatrical windows when initially released. In November 2021, Johansson said in regards to the lawsuit that she felt "very fortunate that nobody will have to go through what I went through" and thought the case had made "a positive impact in the industry and hopefully for artists and creatives' lives and livelihood."


title: Black Widow (2021 film)

text: "Black Widow" was released in the U.S. on digital download by Walt Disney Studios Home Entertainment on August 10, 2021, and was released on Ultra HD Blu-ray, Blu-ray, and DVD on September 14. Deleted scenes, a gag reel, and various behind-the-scenes featurettes were included. The film was made available to all Disney+ subscribers for streaming starting October 6. The IMAX Enhanced version of the film was made available on Disney+ beginning on November 12.


title: Black Widow (2021 film)

text: "Black Widow" grossed $183.7 million in the United States and Canada, and $196.1 million in other territories, for a worldwide total of $379.8 million. The film's opening weekend earned $226.2 million globally, which included $80.4 million domestic box office, $78.8 million international box office, and $67 million in Disney+ Premier Access global revenue. The opening weekend gross was within or exceeded various pre-release projections. In June 2021, Fandango reported that the film had the most ticket presales in 2021, and surpassed other MCU films like "Doctor Strange" (2016) and "" (2017).


title: Black Widow (2021 film)

text: "Black Widow" earned $39.5 million on its opening day, including $13.2 million from Thursday night previews, which was the best preview night and opening day since the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic in March 2020. Its total weekend gross was $80.4 million, making it the top film of the weekend. This was the largest box office opening since the COVID-19 pandemic began, surpassing "F9"s opening ($70 million), and the largest opening weekend since "" (2019). The domestic gross was within some of the pre-release projections for the film, though was considered under some industry projections made during the weekend after examining its opening night and preview grosses; "Deadline Hollywood" attributed some of this to the film's availability on Disney+ with Premier Access. When the $80.4 million theatrical gross was combined with the domestic Premier Access revenue of $55 million, totaling over $135.4 million for its opening weekend, Disney noted "Black Widow" was the only film to surpass $100 million in domestic consumer spend on opening weekend since the start of the pandemic, and marked the third largest opening ever for an MCU origin film, behind "Black Panther" ($202 million) and "Captain Marvel" ($153.4 million). Following its opening weekend, "Black Widow" posted the largest non-holiday Monday ($7.16 million) and Tuesday ($7.6 million) gross in the pandemic. The film passed $100 million in domestic box office six days after release, making it the fastest to do so in the pandemic.


title: Black Widow (2021 film)

text: In its second weekend, the film grossed $25.8 million, finishing second behind "Space Jam: A New Legacy". Its 67% drop marked the largest sophomore week decline for an MCU film, passing "Ant-Man and the Wasp" (62%). Box office analysts attributed "Black Widow" second-week decline to its Disney+ Premier Access release, as well as widely reported piracies of the film online. In its third weekend, the film earned a further $11.6 million and became the fastest film to reach $150 million in total domestic box office gross in the pandemic. "Black Widow" was the fourth-highest-grossing film of 2021 in the United States.


title: Black Widow (2021 film)

text: Outside of North America, "Black Widow" earned $78.8 million in its opening weekend, from 46 markets. It was the number one film in nearly all of these markets, including the markets in the Asia Pacific region where it opened, excluding Japan, where it was third, and all markets in the Latin America region. "Black Widow" was the top pandemic opening weekend in 15 European markets. IMAX accounted for $4.8 million of the weekend gross, from 59 countries, 11 of which set opening weekend records for the pandemic. In South Korea, the film's opening day was the second-best of 2021, with $3.3 million, and Hong Kong had the best opening of the pandemic, with $3.2 million. The film had the largest opening day of the pandemic in Austria, the Czech Republic, Qatar, and Slovakia, while in Saudi Arabia, the film earned the highest opening day for a Disney release ever. It was the number one film on opening day in many other markets. , the top markets are South Korea ($26.3 million), the United Kingdom ($25.8 million), and France ($15.1 million).


title: Black Widow (2021 film)

text: With Disney+ Premier Access, "Black Widow" earned $67 million worldwide in its opening weekend; it marked the first film Disney revealed Premier Access revenue for, with the revenue skewing heavily towards the United States with $55 million. Viewer tracking application Samba TV, which measures at least five minutes of viewership on smart televisions in over 3 million U.S. households, reported that 1.1 million households watched the film in its opening weekend. "Deadline Hollywood" noted that this viewership translated to about $33 million in revenue for Disney, considering the U.S.$29.99 price of Premier Access, which lined up with the announced worldwide revenue. The site also stated that Disney was receiving about 85% of the Disney+ Premier revenue, sharing the rest with platform providers such as Amazon Firestick and Apple TV+.


title: Black Widow (2021 film)

text: The following weekend, "Deadline" reported that "Black Widow" had become the most-pirated film of the past week, while some industry sources believed it had become the most-pirated film of the pandemic. Samba TV later updated the film's Disney+ Premier Access viewership, reporting that the film had been streamed over 2million times in the U.S. over its first 10 days of release, which resulted in around $60million in overall domestic revenue from Disney+. Samba TV also reported updates to 10-day viewership in the United Kingdom (258,000), Germany (116,000), and Australia (47,000). In October, Samba TV reported that over 1.1 million U.S. households had watched "Black Widow" in the first five days of its availability to all subscribers on Disney+. They also reported viewership in the United Kingdom (190,000) and Germany (96,000) during that same time frame. , "Black Widow" has earned $125 million through streaming and digital downloads. In its first 30 days, the film was watched in over 2.8million U.S. households. "Deadline Hollywood" also reported the film had been pirated over 20million times, resulting in at least $600million in lost revenue for Disney. In January 2022, tech firm Akami reported that "Black Widow" was the third-most pirated film of 2021.


title: Black Widow (2021 film)

text: The review aggregator Rotten Tomatoes reported an approval rating of 79%, with an average score of 6.9/10, based on 449 reviews. The website's critical consensus reads, ""Black Widow"s deeper themes are drowned out in all the action, but it remains a solidly entertaining standalone adventure that's rounded out by a stellar supporting cast." On Metacritic, the film has a weighted average score of 67 out of 100, based on 57 critics, indicating "generally favorable reviews". Audiences polled by CinemaScore gave the film an average grade of "A−" on an A+ to F scale, while PostTrak reported 88% of audience members gave it a positive score, with 69% saying they would definitely recommend it.


title: Black Widow (2021 film)

text: Owen Gleiberman of "Variety" initially feared "Black Widow" would be two hours of Johansson being "a kick-ass fighter in sleek leather with a few signature jackknife moves" but instead found the film to be "much more interesting and absorbing" and "features just enough kinetic combat to give a mainstream audience that getting-your-money's-worth feeling, but from the opening credits, most of it has a gritty, deliberate, zap-free tone that is strikingly — and intentionally — earthbound for a superhero fantasy." Brian Tallerico of "RogerEbert.com" praised Pugh's performance as "finding just the right shades of strength and vulnerability" and as "the film's MVP".


title: Black Widow (2021 film)

text: Writing for "The Hollywood Reporter", David Rooney called "Black Widow" a "high-octane espionage thriller" that "[shifts] away from the superhero template." Rooney added the film was "a stellar vehicle" for Johansson and praised the supporting cast. Joshua Rivera of "Polygon" wrote ""Black Widow" has a focus that's refreshing to the MCU, allowing it a sense of style and fun that's genuinely enjoyable once you get over the strangeness of the film's continuity in the MCU", although he said the film feels "hollow" and like an "apology" after the death of Romanoff in "". "IndieWire"s Eric Kohn gave the film a B grade, writing, "Like the welcoming breeziness of "", the saga of Natasha and Yelena doesn't try to rope in the fate of the known universe to make its operation worthwhile. The relatively low stakes help to foreground their moody dynamic, at least whenever the hand-to-hand combat doesn't get there first. Fortunately, the movie delivers on that front, most notably during a brawl between Black Widow and the robotic killer known as Taskmaster who mirrors her every move. If this is the last time we get to see Johansson mete out justice to her assailants with gymnastic velocity, it's an apt send-off."


title: Black Widow (2021 film)

text: Pete Hammond of "Deadline Hollywood" wrote that Johansson "goes out with all guns blazing as this first film in Phase 4 of the MCU does not stint one bit on the action," with a film that "more importantly focuses on the human being behind the shield of a superhero." Hammond felt that the opening sequence revealing Romanoff's family construct are actually Russian spies was reminiscent of "The Americans", while he praised the chemistry between Johansson and Pugh, "with Natasha's awkward shyness counterpunched by the lively and cynical Yelena." Of the performances, Hammond said: "Johansson is again a great presence in the role, showing expert action and acting chops throughout, while Pugh is clearly ready to lead her own franchise after this MCU debut. Weisz is simply such a good actor she can even make some of the more ridiculous dialogue land, and Harbour, tatted to the hilt, is clearly having a blast overplaying every moment of a character designed to think only about himself." Hammond also said "having Winstone in this picture lifts it several notches, and he is deliciously fun and scarily authentic as the villain of the piece."


title: Black Widow (2021 film)

text: Writing for "BBC Culture", Caryn James gave the film four out of five stars, opining that the film was "the least Avenger-like movie in the [MCU] so far", and that "after all this time a tweak in the formula is a good thing." James, like Hammond, noted the film's opening sequence as reminiscent of "The Americans", while she praised Pugh's performance, calling Belova "the most vibrant person in the film, more lived-in than most action-movie characters." James, however, also noted the film's presentation of "the perfect metaphor for Russia v the West" with "the Russians hav[ing] developed a synthetic formula that can suppress free will" with "nothing deep or heavy about the film's treatment of that idea". James also felt that Romanoff was "the least interesting character" amongst her family, being "an odd fit for the sly family movie unfolding around her", and felt the film had a "typically Avengers" ending with "an overwrought, too-long action scene that plays like a festival of stunt doubles tossing each other around a Russian lab."


title: Black Widow (2021 film)

text: "Black Widow" was one of 28 films that received the ReFrame Stamp for 2021, awarded by the gender equity coalition ReFrame for films that are proven to have gender-balanced hiring.


title: Black Widow (2021 film)

text: In February 2021, the documentary series "Marvel Studios: Assembled" was announced. The specials go behind the scenes of the MCU films and television series with cast members and additional creatives. A special for "Black Widow", featuring Johansson, released on Disney+ on October 20, 2021.


title: Black Widow (2021 film)

text: Pugh reprised her role in the Disney+ series "Hawkeye", with her involvement in the series set up by the film's post-credits scene. In June 2021, Shortland expressed interest in directing another film in the MCU, and noted that a potential sequel to "Black Widow" would likely revolve around a different character since Romanoff is dead in the present-day MCU. Weisz stated that she would be interested in a future storyline featuring Vostokoff assuming her Iron Maiden comic book persona.


title: Lilith

text: Lilith ( ; ) is a female figure in Mesopotamian and Judaic mythology, alternatively the first wife of Adam and supposedly the primordial she-demon. Lilith is cited as having been "banished" from the Garden of Eden for not complying with and obeying Adam. She is thought to be mentioned in Biblical Hebrew in the Book of Isaiah, and in Late Antiquity in Mandaean mythology and Jewish mythology sources from 500 CE onward. Lilith appears in historiolas (incantations incorporating a short mythic story) in various concepts and localities that give partial descriptions of her. She is mentioned in the Babylonian Talmud ( 100b, 24b, 151b, 73a), in the "Book of Adam and Eve" as Adam's first wife, and in the Zohar Leviticus 19a as "a hot fiery female who first cohabited with man". Many traditional rabbinic authorities, including Maimonides and Menachem Meiri, reject the existence of Lilith.


title: Lilith

text: The name Lilith stems from , , and ). The Akkadian word "lilu" is related to the Hebrew word lilith in , which is thought to be a night bird by some modern scholars such as Judit M. Blair. In the Ancient Mesopotamian religion, found in cuneiform texts of Sumer, Assyria, and Babylonia Lilith signifies a spirit or demon.


title: Lilith

text: Lilith continues to serve as source material in today's popular culture, Western culture, literature, occultism, fantasy, and horror.


title: Lilith

text: In some Jewish folklore, such as the satirical "Alphabet of Sirach" (), Lilith appears as Adam's first wife, who was created at the same time and from the same clay as Adam. The legend of Lilith developed extensively during the Middle Ages, in the tradition of Aggadah, the Zohar, and Jewish mysticism. For example, in the 11th-century writings of Isaac ben Jacob ha-Cohen, Lilith left Adam after she refused to become subservient to him and then would not return to the Garden of Eden after she had coupled with the archangel Samael.


title: Lilith

text: 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. While researchers almost universally agree that a connection exists, recent scholarship has disputed the relevance of two sources previously used to connect the Jewish to an Akkadian – the Gilgamesh appendix and the Arslan Tash amulets (see below for discussion of these two problematic sources). In contrast, some scholars, such as Lowell K. Handy, hold the view that though Lilith derives from Mesopotamian demonology, evidence of the Hebrew Lilith being present in the sources frequently cited - the Sumerian Gilgamesh fragment and the Sumerian incantation from Arshlan-Tash being two - is scant, if present at all.


title: Lilith

text: In Hebrew-language texts, the term or (translated as "night creatures", "night monster", "night hag", or "screech owl") first occurs in a list of animals in Isaiah 34. The Isaiah 34:14 Lilith reference does not appear in most common Bible translations such as KJV and NIV. Commentators and interpreters often envision the figure of Lilith as a dangerous demon of the night, who is sexually wanton, and who steals babies in the darkness. In the Dead Sea Scrolls "4Q510-511", the term first occurs in a list of monsters. Jewish magical inscriptions on bowls and amulets from the 6th century AD onward identify Lilith as a female demon and provide the first visual depictions of her.


title: Lilith

text: In the Akkadian language of Assyria and Babylonia, the terms and mean spirits. Some uses of are listed in the Assyrian Dictionary of the Oriental Institute of the University of Chicago (CAD, 1956, L.190), in Wolfram von Soden's "Akkadisches Handwörterbuch" (AHw, p. 553), and "Reallexikon der Assyriologie" (RLA, p. 47).


title: Lilith

text: Archibald Sayce (1882) considered that Hebrew (or ) and the earlier Akkadian are derived from Proto-Semitic. Charles Fossey (1902) has this literally translating to "female night being/demon", although cuneiform inscriptions from Mesopotamia exist where "Līlīt" and "Līlītu" refers to disease-bearing wind spirits.


title: Lilith

text: Samuel Noah Kramer (1932, published 1938) translated as "Lilith" in Tablet XII of the Epic of Gilgamesh dated . Tablet XII is not part of the Epic of Gilgamesh, but is a later Assyrian Akkadian translation of the latter part of the Sumerian "Epic of Gilgamesh". The is associated with a serpent and a zu bird. In "Gilgamesh, Enkidu, and the Netherworld", a 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 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 fearfully destroys its house and runs for the forest. Identification of the as Lilith is stated in the "Dictionary of Deities and Demons in the Bible" (1999). According to a new source from late antiquity, Lilith appears in a Mandaean magic story where she is considered to represent the branches of a tree with other demonic figures that form other parts of the tree, though this may also include multiple "Liliths".


title: Lilith

text: Suggested translations for the Tablet XII spirit in the tree include as "sacred place", as "spirit", and as "water spirit", but also simply "owl", given that the is building a home in the trunk of the tree.


title: Lilith

text: A connection between the Gilgamesh and the Jewish Lilith was rejected on textual grounds by Sergio Ribichini (1978).


title: Lilith

text: Kramer's translation of the Gilgamesh fragment was used by Henri Frankfort (1937) and Emil Kraeling (1937) to support identification of a woman with wings and bird-feet in the disputed Burney Relief as related to Lilith. Frankfort and Kraeling identified the figure in the relief with Lilith. Modern research has identified the figure as one of the main goddesses of the Mesopotamian pantheons, most probably Ereshkigal.


title: Lilith

text: The Arslan Tash amulets are limestone plaques discovered in 1933 at Arslan Tash, the authenticity of which is disputed. William F. Albright, Theodor H. Gaster, and others, accepted the amulets as a pre-Jewish source which shows that the name Lilith already existed in the 7th century BC but Torczyner (1947) identified the amulets as a later Jewish source.


title: Lilith

text: The word (or ) only appears once in the Hebrew Bible, in a prophecy regarding the fate of Edom, while the other seven terms in the list appear more than once and thus are better documented. The reading of scholars and translators is often guided by a decision about the complete list of eight creatures as a whole. Quoting from Isaiah 34 (NAB):


title: Lilith

text: In the Dead Sea Scrolls, among the 19 fragments of Isaiah found at Qumran, the Great Isaiah Scroll (1Q1Isa) in 34:14 renders the creature as plural (or ).


title: Lilith

text: Eberhard Schrader (1875) and Moritz Abraham Levy (1855) suggest that Lilith was a demon of the night, known also by the Jewish exiles in Babylon. Schrader's and Levy's view is therefore partly dependent on a later dating of Deutero-Isaiah to the 6th century BC, and the presence of Jews in Babylon which would coincide with the possible references to the in Babylonian demonology. However, this view is challenged by some modern research such as by Judit M. Blair (2009) who considers that the context indicates unclean animals.


title: Lilith

text: The Septuagint translates both the reference to Lilith and the word for jackals or "wild beasts of the island" within the same verse into Greek as , apparently assuming them as referring to the same creatures and omitting "wildcats/wild beasts of the desert" (so, instead of the wildcats or desert beasts meeting with the jackals or island beasts, the goat or "satyr" crying "to his fellow" and lilith or "screech owl" resting "there", it is the goat or "satyr", translated as "demons", and the jackals or island beasts "" meeting with each other and crying "one to the other" and the latter resting there in the translation).


title: Lilith

text: The translation is, "And demons shall meet with monsters, and one hairy one shall cry out to another; there the lamia has lain down and found rest for herself".


title: Lilith

text: The "screech owl" translation of the King James Version is, together with the "owl" (, probably a water bird) in 34:11 and the "great owl" (, properly a snake) of 34:15, an attempt to render the passage by choosing suitable animals for difficult to translate Hebrew words.


title: Lilith

text: The Dead Sea Scrolls contain one indisputable reference to Lilith in "Songs of the Sage" (4Q510–511) fragment 1:


title: Lilith

text: And I, the Instructor, proclaim His glorious splendour so as to frighten and to te[rrify] all the spirits of the destroying angels, spirits of the bastards, demons, Lilith, howlers, and [desert dwellers] ... and those which fall upon men without warning to lead them astray from a spirit of understanding and to make their heart and their ... desolate during the present dominion of wickedness and predetermined time of humiliations for the sons of lig[ht], by the guilt of the ages of [those] smitten by iniquity – not for eternal destruction, [bu]t for an era of humiliation for transgression.


title: Lilith

text: As with the Massoretic text of Isaiah 34:14, and therefore unlike the plural "liliyyot" (or "liliyyoth") in the Isaiah scroll 34:14, "lilit" in 4Q510 is singular, this liturgical text both cautions against the presence of supernatural malevolence and assumes familiarity with Lilith; distinct from the biblical text, however, this passage does not function under any socio-political agenda, but instead serves in the same capacity as An Exorcism (4Q560) and Songs to Disperse Demons (11Q11). The text is thus, to a community "deeply involved in the realm of demonology", an exorcism hymn.


title: Lilith

text: Joseph M. Baumgarten (1991) identified the unnamed woman of "The Seductress" (4Q184) as related to the female demon. However, John J. Collins regards this identification as "intriguing" but that it is "safe to say" that (4Q184) is based on the strange woman of Proverbs 2, 5, 7, 9:


title: Lilith

text: Lilith does not occur in the Mishnah. There are five references to Lilith in the Babylonian Talmud in Gemara on three separate Tractates of the Mishnah:


title: Lilith

text: The above statement by Hanina may be related to the belief that nocturnal emissions engendered the birth of demons:


title: Lilith

text: The Midrash Rabbah collection contains two references to Lilith. The first one is present in Genesis Rabbah 22:7 and 18:4: according to Rabbi Hiyya God proceeded to create a second Eve for Adam, after Lilith had to return to dust. However, to be exact the said passages do not employ the Hebrew word "lilith" itself and instead speak of "the first Eve" (Heb. "Chavvah ha-Rishonah", analogically to the phrase "Adam ha-Rishon", i.e. the first Adam). Although in the medieval Hebrew literature and folklore, especially that reflected on the protective amulets of various kinds, "Chavvah ha-Rishonah" was identified with Lilith, one should remain careful in transposing this equation to the Late Antiquity.


title: Lilith

text: The second mention of Lilith, this time explicit, is present in Numbers Rabbah 16:25. The midrash develops the story of Moses's plea after God expresses anger at the bad report of the spies. Moses responds to a threat by God that He will destroy the Israelite people. Moses pleads before God, that God should not be like Lilith who kills her own children. Moses said:[God,] do not do it [i.e. destroy the Israelite people], that the nations of the world may not regard you as a cruel Being and say: 'The Generation of the Flood came and He destroyed them, the Generation of the Separation came and He destroyed them, the Sodomites and the Egyptians came and He destroyed them, and these also, whom he called My son, My firstborn (Ex. IV, 22), He is now destroying! As that Lilith who, when she finds nothing else, turns upon her own children, so Because the Lord was not able to bring this people into the land... He hath slain them' (Num. XIV, 16)!


title: Lilith

text: An individual Lilith, along with Bagdana "king of the lilits", is one of the demons to feature prominently in protective spells in the eighty surviving Jewish occult incantation bowls from Sassanid Empire Babylon (4th–6th century AD) with influence from Iranian culture. These bowls were buried upside down below the structure of the house or on the land of the house, in order to trap the demon or demoness. Almost every house was found to have such protective bowls against demons and demonesses.


title: Lilith

text: The centre of the inside of the bowl depicts Lilith, or the male form, Lilit. Surrounding the image is writing in spiral form; the writing often begins at the centre and works its way to the edge. The writing is most commonly scripture or references to the Talmud. The incantation bowls which have been analysed, are inscribed in the following languages, Jewish Babylonian Aramaic, Syriac, Mandaic, Middle Persian, and Arabic. Some bowls are written in a false script which has no meaning.


title: Lilith

text: The correctly worded incantation bowl was capable of warding off Lilith or Lilit from the household. Lilith had the power to transform into a woman's physical features, seduce her husband, and conceive a child. However, Lilith would become hateful toward the children born of the husband and wife and would seek to kill them. Similarly, Lilit would transform into the physical features of the husband, seduce the wife, she would give birth to a child. It would become evident that the child was not fathered by the husband, and the child would be looked down on. Lilit would seek revenge on the family by killing the children born to the husband and wife.


title: Lilith

text: Key features of the depiction of Lilith or Lilit include the following. The figure is often depicted with arms and legs chained, indicating the control of the family over the demon(ess). The demon(ess) is depicted in a frontal position with the whole face showing. The eyes are very large, as well as the hands (if depicted). The demon(ess) is entirely static.


title: Lilith

text: One bowl contains the following inscription commissioned from a Jewish occultist to protect a woman called Rashnoi and her husband from Lilith:


title: Lilith

text: The pseudepigraphical 8th–10th centuries "Alphabet of Ben Sira" is considered to be the oldest form of the story of Lilith as Adam's first wife. Whether this particular tradition is older is not known. Scholars tend to date the Alphabet between the 8th and 10th centuries AD. The work has been characterized by some scholars as satirical, but Ginzberg concluded it was meant seriously.


title: Lilith

text: In the text an amulet is inscribed with the names of three angels (Senoy, Sansenoy, and Semangelof) and placed around the neck of newborn boys in order to protect them from the lilin until their circumcision. The amulets used against Lilith that were thought to derive from this tradition are, in fact, dated as being much older. The concept of Eve having a predecessor is not exclusive to the Alphabet, and is not a new concept, as it can be found in Genesis Rabbah. However, the idea that Lilith was the predecessor may be exclusive to the Alphabet.


title: Lilith

text: The idea in the text that Adam had a wife prior to Eve may have developed from an interpretation of the Book of Genesis and its dual creation accounts; while Genesis 2:22 describes God's creation of Eve from Adam's rib, an earlier passage, 1:27, already indicates that a woman had been made: "So God created man in his own image, in the image of God created he him; male and female created he them." The Alphabet text places Lilith's creation after God's words in Genesis 2:18 that "it is not good for man to be alone"; in this text God forms Lilith out of the clay from which he made Adam but she and Adam bicker. Lilith claims that since she and Adam were created in the same way they were equal and she refuses to submit to him:


title: Lilith

text: After God created Adam, who was alone, He said, "It is not good for man to be alone." He then created a woman for Adam, from the earth, as He had created Adam himself, and called her Lilith. Adam and Lilith immediately began to fight. She said, "I will not lie below," and he said, "I will not lie beneath you, but only on top. For you are fit only to be in the bottom position, while I am to be the superior one." Lilith responded, "We are equal to each other inasmuch as we were both created from the earth." But they would not listen to one another. When Lilith saw this, she pronounced the Ineffable Name and flew away into the air.


title: Lilith

text: Adam stood in prayer before his Creator: "Sovereign of the universe!" he said, "the woman you gave me has run away." At once, the Holy One, blessed be He, sent these three angels Senoy, Sansenoy, and Semangelof, to bring her back.


title: Lilith

text: Said the Holy One to Adam, "If she agrees to come back, what is made is good. If not, she must permit one hundred of her children to die every day." The angels left God and pursued Lilith, whom they overtook in the midst of the sea, in the mighty waters wherein the Egyptians were destined to drown. They told her God's word, but she did not wish to return. The angels said, "We shall drown you in the sea."


title: Lilith

text: "Leave me!' she said. "I was created only to cause sickness to infants. If the infant is male, I have dominion over him for eight days after his birth, and if female, for twenty days."


title: Lilith

text: When the angels heard Lilith's words, they insisted she go back. But she swore to them by the name of the living and eternal God: "Whenever I see you or your names or your forms in an amulet, I will have no power over that infant." She also agreed to have one hundred of her children die every day. Accordingly, every day one hundred demons perish, and for the same reason, we write the angels' names on the amulets of young children. When Lilith sees their names, she remembers her oath, and the child recovers.


title: Lilith

text: The background and purpose of "The Alphabet of Ben-Sira" is unclear. It is a collection of stories about heroes of the Bible and Talmud, it may have been a collection of folk-tales, a refutation of Christian, Karaite, or other separatist movements; its content seems so offensive to contemporary Jews that it was even suggested that it could be an anti-Jewish satire, although, in any case, the text was accepted by the Jewish mystics of medieval Germany.


title: Lilith

text: "The Alphabet of Ben-Sira" is the earliest surviving source of the story, and the conception that Lilith was Adam's first wife became only widely known with the 17th century "Lexicon Talmudicum" of German scholar Johannes Buxtorf.


title: Lilith

text: In this folk tradition that arose in the early Middle Ages Lilith, a dominant female demon, became identified with Asmodeus, King of Demons, as his queen. Asmodeus was already well known by this time because of the legends about him in the Talmud. Thus, the merging of Lilith and Asmodeus was inevitable. The second myth of Lilith grew to include legends about another world and by some accounts this other world existed side by side with this one, "Yenne Velt" is Yiddish for this described "Other World". In this case Asmodeus and Lilith were believed to procreate demonic offspring endlessly and spread chaos at every turn.


title: Lilith

text: Two primary characteristics are seen in these legends about Lilith: Lilith as the incarnation of lust, causing men to be led astray, and Lilith as a child-killing witch, who strangles helpless neonates. These two aspects of the Lilith legend seemed to have evolved separately; there is hardly a tale where she encompasses both roles. But the aspect of the witch-like role that Lilith plays broadens her archetype of the destructive side of witchcraft. Such stories are commonly found among Jewish folklore.


title: Lilith

text: Although the image of Lilith of the "Alphabet of Ben Sira" is unprecedented, some elements in her portrayal can be traced back to the talmudic and midrashic traditions that arose around Eve.


title: Lilith

text: First and foremost, the very introduction of Lilith to the creation story rests on the rabbinic myth, prompted by the two separate creation accounts in Genesis 1:1–2:25, that there were two original women. A way of resolving the apparent discrepancy between these two accounts was to assume that there must have been some other first woman, apart from the one later identified with Eve. The Rabbis, noting Adam's exclamation, "this time ("zot hapa‘am") [this is] bone of my bone and flesh of my flesh" (Genesis 2:23), took it as an intimation that there must already have been a "first time". According to Genesis rabbah 18:4, Adam was disgusted upon seeing the first woman full of "discharge and blood", and God had to provide him with another one. The subsequent creation is performed with adequate precautions: Adam is made to sleep, so as not to witness the process itself (Sanhedrin 39a), and Eve is adorned with fine jewellery (Genesis rabbah 18:1) and brought to Adam by the angels Gabriel and Michael (ibid. 18:3). However, nowhere do the rabbis specify what happened to the first woman, leaving the matter open for further speculation. This is the gap into which the later tradition of Lilith could fit.


title: Lilith

text: Second, this new woman is still met with harsh rabbinic allegations. Again playing on the Hebrew phrase "zot hapa‘am", Adam, according to the same midrash, declares: "it is she ["zot"] who is destined to strike the bell ["zog"] and to speak [in strife] against me, as you read, 'a golden bell ["pa‘amon"] and a pomegranate' [Exodus 28:34] ... it is she who will trouble me ["mefa‘amtani"] all night" (Genesis Rabbah 18:4). The first woman also becomes the object of accusations ascribed to Rabbi Joshua of Siknin, according to whom Eve, despite the divine efforts, turned out to be "swelled-headed, coquette, eavesdropper, gossip, prone to jealousy, light-fingered and gadabout" (Genesis Rabbah 18:2). A similar set of charges appears in Genesis Rabbah 17:8, according to which Eve's creation from Adam's rib rather than from the earth makes her inferior to Adam and never satisfied with anything.


title: Lilith

text: Third, and despite the terseness of the biblical text in this regard, the erotic iniquities attributed to Eve constitute a separate category of her shortcomings. Told in Genesis 3:16 that "your desire shall be for your husband", she is accused by the Rabbis of having an overdeveloped sexual drive (Genesis Rabbah 20:7) and constantly enticing Adam (Genesis Rabbah 23:5). However, in terms of textual popularity and dissemination, the motif of Eve copulating with the primeval serpent takes priority over her other sexual transgressions. Despite the rather unsettling picturesqueness of this account, it is conveyed in numerous places: Genesis Rabbah 18:6, and BT Sotah 9b, Shabbat 145b–146a and 156a, Yevamot 103b and Avodah Zarah 22b.


title: Lilith

text: Kabbalistic mysticism attempted to establish a more exact relationship between Lilith and God. With her major characteristics having been well developed by the end of the Talmudic period, after six centuries had elapsed between the Aramaic incantation texts that mention Lilith and the early Spanish Kabbalistic writings in the 13th century, she reappears, and her life history becomes known in greater mythological detail. Her creation is described in many alternative versions.


title: Lilith

text: One mentions her creation as being before Adam's, on the fifth day, because the "living creatures" with whose swarms God filled the waters included Lilith. A similar version, related to the earlier Talmudic passages, recounts how Lilith was fashioned with the same substance as Adam was, shortly before. A third alternative version states that God originally created Adam and Lilith in a manner that the female creature was contained in the male. Lilith's soul was lodged in the depths of the Great Abyss. When God called her, she joined Adam. After Adam's body was created a thousand souls from the Left (evil) side attempted to attach themselves to him. However, God drove them off. Adam was left lying as a body without a soul. Then a cloud descended and God commanded the earth to produce a living soul. This God breathed into Adam, who began to spring to life and his female was attached to his side. God separated the female from Adam's side. The female side was Lilith, whereupon she flew to the Cities of the Sea and attacked humankind.


title: Lilith

text: Yet another version claims that Lilith emerged as a divine entity that was born spontaneously, either out of the Great Supernal Abyss or out of the power of an aspect of God (the Gevurah of Din). This aspect of God was negative and punitive, as well as one of his ten attributes (Sefirot), at its lowest manifestation has an affinity with the realm of evil and it is out of this that Lilith merged with Samael.


title: Lilith

text: An alternative story links Lilith with the creation of luminaries. The "first light", which is the light of Mercy (one of the Sefirot), appeared on the first day of creation when God said "Let there be light". This light became hidden and the Holiness became surrounded by a husk of evil. "A husk (klippa) was created around the brain" and this husk spread and brought out another husk, which was Lilith.


title: Lilith

text: The first medieval source to depict Adam and Lilith in full was the Midrash A.B.K.I.R. (c. 10th century), which was followed by the Zohar and other Kabbalistic writings. Adam is said to be perfect until he recognises either his sin or Cain's fratricide that is the cause of bringing death into the world. He then separates from holy Eve, sleeps alone, and fasts for 130 years. During this time "Pizna", either an alternate name for Lilith or a daughter of hers, desires his beauty and seduces him against his will. She gives birth to multitudes of djinns and demons, the first of them being named Agrimas. However, they are defeated by Methuselah, who slays thousands of them with a holy sword and forces Agrimas to give him the names of the rest, after which he casts them away to the sea and the mountains.


title: Lilith

text: The mystical writing of two brothers Jacob and Isaac Hacohen, "Treatise on the Left Emanation", which predates the Zohar by a few decades, states that Samael and Lilith are in the shape of an androgynous being, double-faced, born out of the emanation of the Throne of Glory and corresponding in the spiritual realm to Adam and Eve, who were likewise born as a hermaphrodite. The two twin androgynous couples resembled each other and both "were like the image of Above"; that is, that they are reproduced in a visible form of an androgynous deity.


title: Lilith

text: 19. In answer to your question concerning Lilith, I shall explain to you the essence of the matter. Concerning this point there is a received tradition from the ancient Sages who made use of the Secret Knowledge of the Lesser Palaces, which is the manipulation of demons and a ladder by which one ascends to the prophetic levels. In this tradition it is made clear that Samael and Lilith were born as one, similar to the form of Adam and Eve who were also born as one, reflecting what is above. This is the account of Lilith which was received by the Sages in the Secret Knowledge of the Palaces.


title: Lilith

text: Another version that was also current among Kabbalistic circles in the Middle Ages establishes Lilith as the first of Samael's four wives: Lilith, Naamah, Eisheth, and Agrat bat Mahlat. Each of them are mothers of demons and have their own hosts and unclean spirits in no number. The marriage of archangel Samael and Lilith was arranged by Tanin'iver ("Blind Dragon"), who is the counterpart of "the dragon that is in the sea". Blind Dragon acts as an intermediary between Lilith and Samael:


title: Lilith

text: Blind Dragon rides Lilith the Sinful – may she be extirpated quickly in our days, Amen! – And this Blind Dragon brings about the union between Samael and Lilith. And just as "the Dragon that is in the sea" (Isa. 27:1) has no eyes, likewise Blind Dragon that is above, in the likeness of a spiritual form, is without eyes, that is to say, without colors... (Patai 81:458) Samael is called the Slant Serpent, and Lilith is called the Tortuous Serpent.


title: Lilith

text: The marriage of Samael and Lilith is known as the "Angel Satan" or the "Other God", but it was not allowed to last. To prevent Lilith and Samael's demonic children "Lilin" from filling the world, God castrated Samael. In many 17th century Kabbalistic books, this seems to be a reinterpretation of an old Talmudic myth where God castrated the male Leviathan and slew the female Leviathan in order to prevent them from mating and thereby destroying the Earth with their offspring. With Lilith being unable to fornicate with Samael anymore, she sought to couple with men who experience nocturnal emissions. A 15th or 16th century Kabbalah text states that God has "cooled" the female Leviathan, meaning that he has made Lilith infertile and she is a mere fornication.


title: Lilith

text: The "Treatise on the Left Emanation" also says that there are two Liliths, the lesser being married to the great demon Asmodeus.


title: Lilith

text: The Matron Lilith is the mate of Samael. Both of them were born at the same hour in the image of Adam and Eve, intertwined in each other. Asmodeus the great king of the demons has as a mate the Lesser (younger) Lilith, daughter of the king whose name is Qafsefoni. The name of his mate is Mehetabel daughter of Matred, and their daughter is Lilith.


title: Lilith

text: And the Serpent, the Woman of Harlotry, incited and seduced Eve through the husks of Light which in itself is holiness. And the Serpent seduced Holy Eve, and enough said for him who understands. And all this ruination came about because Adam the first man coupled with Eve while she was in her menstrual impurity – this is the filth and the impure seed of the Serpent who mounted Eve before Adam mounted her. Behold, here it is before you: because of the sins of Adam the first man all the things mentioned came into being. For Evil Lilith, when she saw the greatness of his corruption, became strong in her husks, and came to Adam against his will, and became hot from him and bore him many demons and spirits and Lilin. (Patai81:455f)


title: Lilith

text: She roams at night, and goes all about the world and makes sport with men and causes them to emit seed. In every place where a man sleeps alone in a house, she visits him and grabs him and attaches herself to him and has her desire from him, and bears from him. And she also afflicts him with sickness, and he knows it not, and all this takes place when the moon is on the wane.


title: Lilith

text: This passage may be related to the mention of Lilith in Talmud Shabbath 151b (see above), and also to Talmud Eruvin 18b where nocturnal emissions are connected with the begettal of demons.


title: Lilith

text: According to Rapahel Patai, older sources state clearly that after Lilith's Red Sea sojourn (mentioned also in Louis Ginzberg's "Legends of the Jews"), she returned to Adam and begat children from him by forcing herself upon him. Before doing so, she attaches herself to Cain and bears him numerous spirits and demons. In the Zohar, however, Lilith is said to have succeeded in begetting offspring from Adam even during their short-lived sexual experience. Lilith leaves Adam in Eden, as she is not a suitable helpmate for him. Gershom Scholem proposes that the author of the Zohar, Rabbi Moses de Leon, was aware of both the folk tradition of Lilith and another conflicting version, possibly older.


title: Lilith

text: The Zohar adds further that two female spirits instead of one, Lilith and Naamah, desired Adam and seduced him. The issue of these unions were demons and spirits called "the plagues of humankind", and the usual added explanation was that it was through Adam's own sin that Lilith overcame him against his will.


title: Lilith

text: A copy of Jean de Pauly's translation of the Zohar in the Ritman Library contains an inserted late 17th century printed Hebrew sheet for use in magical amulets where the prophet Elijah confronts Lilith.


title: Lilith

text: The sheet contains two texts within borders, which are amulets, one for a male ('lazakhar'), the other one for a female ('lanekevah'). The invocations mention Adam, Eve and Lilith, 'Chavah Rishonah' (the first Eve, who is identical with Lilith), also devils or angels: Sanoy, Sansinoy, Smangeluf, Shmari'el (the guardian) and Hasdi'el (the merciful). A few lines in Yiddish are followed by the dialogue between the prophet Elijah and Lilith when he met her with her host of demons to kill the mother and take her new-born child ('to drink her blood, suck her bones and eat her flesh'). She tells Elijah that she will lose her power if someone uses her secret names, which she reveals at the end: "lilith, abitu, abizu, hakash, avers hikpodu, ayalu, matrota ..."


title: Lilith

text: In other amulets, probably informed by "The Alphabet of Ben-Sira", she is Adam's first wife. (Yalqut Reubeni, Zohar 1:34b, 3:19)


title: Lilith

text: Charles Richardson's dictionary portion of the "Encyclopædia Metropolitana" appends to his etymological discussion of "lullaby" "a [manuscript] note written in a copy of Skinner" [i.e. Stephen Skinner's 1671 "Etymologicon Linguæ Anglicanæ"], which asserts that the word "lullaby" originates from "Lillu abi abi", a Hebrew incantation meaning "Lilith begone" recited by Jewish mothers over an infant's cradle. Richardson did not endorse the theory and modern lexicographers consider it a false etymology.


title: Lilith

text: Not so much an amulet as a ritual object for protection, the “Krasmesser” (or “Kreismesser”, circle knife) played a role in Jewish birth rituals in the area of Alsace, Switzerland and Southern Germany between the 16th and 20th century. The Krasmesser would be used by a midwife or by the husband to draw a magic circle around the pregnant or birthing woman to protect her from Lilith and the evil eye, which were considered to represent the greatest danger for children and pregnant women.


title: Lilith

text: Rabbi Naphtali Hirsch ben Elieser Treves described this custom as early as 1560, and later references to a knife or sword by the birthing bed by both Paul Christian Kirchner and Johann Christian Georg Bodenschatz indicate its continuance. A publication about birth customs by the Jewish Museum of Switzerland also includes oral accounts from 20th century Baden-Württemberg which likewise mention circling movements with a knife in order to protect a woman in childbirth.


title: Lilith

text: According to Siegmund Hurwitz the Talmudic Lilith is connected with the Greek Lamia, who, according to Hurwitz, likewise governed a class of child stealing lamia-demons. Lamia bore the title "child killer" and was feared for her malevolence, like Lilith. She has different conflicting origins and is described as having a human upper body from the waist up and a serpentine body from the waist down. One source states simply that she is a daughter of the goddess Hecate, another, that Lamia was subsequently cursed by the goddess Hera to have stillborn children because of her association with Zeus; alternatively, Hera slew all of Lamia's children (except Scylla) in anger that Lamia slept with her husband, Zeus. The grief caused Lamia to turn into a monster that took revenge on mothers by stealing their children and devouring them. Lamia had a vicious sexual appetite that matched her cannibalistic appetite for children. She was notorious for being a vampiric spirit and loved sucking men's blood. Her gift was the "mark of a Sibyl", a gift of second sight. Zeus was said to have given her the gift of sight. However, she was "cursed" to never be able to shut her eyes so that she would forever obsess over her dead children. Taking pity on Lamia, Zeus gave her the ability to remove and replace her eyes from their sockets.


title: Lilith

text: In Mandaean scriptures such as the "Ginza Rabba" and "Qolasta", liliths () are mentioned as inhabitants of the World of Darkness.


title: Lilith

text: The occult writer Ahmad al-Buni (d. 1225), in his "Sun of the Great Knowledge" (), mentions a demon called "the mother of children" (), a term also used "in one place".


title: Lilith

text: Folkloric traditions recorded around 1953 tell about a jinn called "Qarinah", who was rejected by Adam and mated with Iblis instead. She gave birth to a host of demons and became known as their mother. To take revenge on Adam, she pursues human children. As such, she would kill a pregnant mother's baby in the womb, causes impotence to men or attacks little children with illnesses. According to occult practises, she would be subject to the demon-king "Murrah al-Abyad", which appears to be another name for Iblis used in magical writings. Stories about Qarinah and Lilith merged in early Islam.


title: Lilith

text: Lilith's earliest appearance in the literature of the Romantic period (1789–1832) was in Goethe's 1808 work "".


title: Lilith

text: After Mephistopheles offers this warning to Faust, he then, quite ironically, encourages Faust to dance with "the Pretty Witch". Lilith and Faust engage in a short dialogue, where Lilith recounts the days spent in Eden.


title: Lilith

text: The Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood, which developed around 1848, were greatly influenced by Goethe's work on the theme of Lilith. In 1863, Dante Gabriel Rossetti of the Brotherhood began painting what would later be his first rendition of "Lady Lilith", a painting he expected to be his "best picture hitherto". Symbols appearing in the painting allude to the "femme fatale" reputation of the Romantic Lilith: poppies (death and cold) and white roses (sterile passion). Accompanying his "Lady Lilith" painting from 1866, Rossetti wrote a sonnet entitled "Lilith", which was first published in Swinburne's pamphlet-review (1868), "Notes on the Royal Academy Exhibition".


title: Lilith

text: The poem and the picture appeared together alongside Rossetti's painting "Sibylla Palmifera" and the sonnet "Soul's Beauty". In 1881, the "Lilith" sonnet was renamed ""Body's Beauty"" in order to contrast it and "Soul's Beauty". The two were placed sequentially in "The House of Life" collection (sonnets number 77 and 78).


title: Lilith

text: This is in accordance with Jewish folk tradition, which associates Lilith both with long hair (a symbol of dangerous feminine seductive power in Jewish culture), and with possessing women by entering them through mirrors.


title: Lilith

text: The Victorian poet Robert Browning re-envisioned Lilith in his poem "Adam, Lilith, and Eve". First published in 1883, the poem uses the traditional myths surrounding the triad of Adam, Eve, and Lilith. Browning depicts Lilith and Eve as being friendly and complicitous with each other, as they sit together on either side of Adam. Under the threat of death, Eve admits that she never loved Adam, while Lilith confesses that she always loved him:


title: Lilith

text: Browning focused on Lilith's emotional attributes, rather than that of her ancient demon predecessors.


title: Lilith

text: Scottish author George MacDonald also wrote a fantasy novel entitled "Lilith", first published in 1895. MacDonald employed the character of Lilith in service to a spiritual drama about sin and redemption, in which Lilith finds a hard-won salvation. Many of the traditional characteristics of Lilith mythology are present in the author's depiction: Long dark hair, pale skin, a hatred and fear of children and babies, and an obsession with gazing at herself in a mirror. MacDonald's Lilith also has vampiric qualities: she bites people and sucks their blood for sustenance.


title: Lilith

text: Australian poet and scholar Christopher John Brennan (1870–1932), included a section titled "Lilith" in his major work "Poems: 1913" (Sydney : G. B. Philip and Son, 1914). The "Lilith" section contains thirteen poems exploring the Lilith myth and is central to the meaning of the collection as a whole.


title: Lilith

text: C. L. Moore's 1940 story "Fruit of Knowledge" is written from Lilith's point of view. It is a re-telling of the Fall of Man as a love triangle between Lilith, Adam and Eve – with Eve's eating the forbidden fruit being in this version the result of misguided manipulations by the jealous Lilith, who had hoped to get her rival discredited and destroyed by God and thus regain Adam's love.


title: Lilith

text: British poet John Siddique's 2011 collection "Full Blood" has a suite of 11 poems called "The Tree of Life", which features Lilith as the divine feminine aspect of God. A number of the poems feature Lilith directly, including the piece "Unwritten" which deals with the spiritual problem of the feminine being removed by the scribes from "The Bible."


title: Lilith

text: Lilith is also mentioned in "The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe", by C.S.Lewis. The character Mr. Beaver ascribes the ancestry of the main antagonist, Jadis the White Witch, to Lilith.


title: Lilith

text: Lilith is a poem by Vladimir Nabokov, written in 1928. Many have connected it to Lolita, but Nabokov adamantly denies this: "Intelligent readers will abstain from examining this impersonal fantasy for any links with my later fiction."


title: Lilith

text: The depiction of Lilith in Romanticism continues to be popular among Wiccans and in other modern Occultism. A few magical orders dedicated to the undercurrent of Lilith, featuring initiations specifically related to the arcana of the "first mother", exist. Two organisations that use initiations and magic associated with Lilith are the Ordo Antichristianus Illuminati and the Order of Phosphorus. Lilith appears as a succubus in Aleister Crowley's "De Arte Magica." Lilith was also one of the middle names of Crowley's first child, Nuit Ma Ahathoor Hecate Sappho Jezebel Lilith Crowley (1904–1906), and Lilith is sometimes identified with Babalon in Thelemic writings. Many early occult writers that contributed to modern day Wicca expressed special reverence for Lilith. Charles Leland associated Aradia with Lilith: Aradia, says Leland, is Herodias, who was regarded in stregheria folklore as being associated with Diana as chief of the witches. Leland further notes that Herodias is a name that comes from west Asia, where it denoted an early form of Lilith.


title: Lilith

text: Gerald Gardner asserted that there was continuous historical worship of Lilith to present day, and that her name is sometimes given to the goddess being personified in the coven by the priestess. This idea was further attested by Doreen Valiente, who cited her as a presiding goddess of the Craft: "the personification of erotic dreams, the suppressed desire for delights". In some contemporary concepts, "Lilith" is viewed as the embodiment of the Goddess, a designation that is thought to be shared with what these faiths believe to be her counterparts: Inanna, Ishtar, Asherah, Anath, Anahita and Isis. According to one view, Lilith was originally a Sumerian, Babylonian, or Hebrew mother goddess of childbirth, children, women, and sexuality.


title: Lilith

text: Many theistic Satanists consider Lilith as a goddess. She is considered a goddess of independence by those Satanists and is often worshipped by women, but women are not the only people who worship her. Lilith is popular among theistic Satanists because of her association with Satan. Some Satanists believe that she is the wife of Satan and thus think of her as a mother figure. Others base their reverence for her on her history as a succubus and praise her as a sex goddess. A different approach to a Satanic Lilith holds that she was once a fertility and agricultural goddess.


title: Lilith

text: The western mystery tradition associates Lilith with the Qliphoth of kabbalah. Samael Aun Weor in The "Pistis Sophia Unveiled" writes that homosexuals are the "henchmen of Lilith". Likewise, women who undergo wilful abortion, and those who support this practice are "seen in the sphere of Lilith". Dion Fortune writes, "The Virgin Mary is reflected in Lilith", and that Lilith is the source of "lustful dreams".


title: Mesopotamia

text: Mesopotamia is a historical region of Western Asia situated within the Tigris–Euphrates river system, in the northern part of the Fertile Crescent. Today, Mesopotamia occupies modern Iraq. In the broader sense, the historical region included present-day Iraq and Kuwait and parts of present-day Iran, Syria and Turkey.


title: Mesopotamia

text: The Sumerians and Akkadians (including Assyrians and Babylonians) originating from different areas in present-day Iraq, dominated Mesopotamia from the beginning of written history () to the fall of Babylon in 539 BC, when it was conquered by the Achaemenid Empire. It fell to Alexander the Great in 332 BC, and after his death, it became part of the Greek Seleucid Empire. Later the Arameans dominated major parts of Mesopotamia ().


title: Mesopotamia

text: Mesopotamia is the site of the earliest developments of the Neolithic Revolution from around 10,000 BC. It has been identified as having "inspired some of the most important developments in human history, including the invention of the wheel, the planting of the first cereal crops, and the development of cursive script, mathematics, astronomy, and agriculture". It is recognised as the cradle of some of the world's earliest civilizations.


title: Mesopotamia

text: Around 150 BC, Mesopotamia was under the control of the Parthian Empire. It became a battleground between the Romans and Parthians, with western parts of the region coming under ephemeral Roman control. In 226 AD, the eastern regions of Mesopotamia fell to the Sassanid Persians. The division of the region between Roman (Byzantine from 395 AD) and Sassanid Empires lasted until the 7th century Muslim conquest of Persia of the Sasanian Empire and Muslim conquest of the Levant from Byzantines. A number of primarily neo-Assyrian and Christian native Mesopotamian states existed between the 1st century BC and 3rd century AD, including Adiabene, Osroene, and Hatra.


title: Mesopotamia

text: The regional toponym "Mesopotamia" (, '[land] between rivers'; or ; ; "(land) between the (two) rivers") comes from the ancient Greek root words (, 'middle') and (, 'river') and translates to '(land) between rivers', likely being a calque of the older Aramaic term, with the Aramaic term itself likely being a calque of the Akkadian "birit narim". It is used throughout the Greek Septuagint () to translate the Hebrew and Aramaic equivalent "Naharaim". An even earlier Greek usage of the name "Mesopotamia" is evident from "The Anabasis of Alexander", which was written in the late 2nd century AD but specifically refers to sources from the time of Alexander the Great. In the "Anabasis", Mesopotamia was used to designate the land east of the Euphrates in north Syria. The term "Ārām Nahrīn" () (, ) was used multiple times in the Old Testament of the Bible to describe "Aram between the (two) rivers".


title: Mesopotamia

text: The Akkadian term corresponded to a similar geographical concept. Later, the term "Mesopotamia" was more generally applied to all the lands between the Euphrates and the Tigris, thereby incorporating not only parts of Syria but also almost all of Iraq and southeastern Turkey. The neighbouring steppes to the west of the Euphrates and the western part of the Zagros Mountains are also often included under the wider term "Mesopotami"a.


title: Mesopotamia

text: A further distinction is usually made between "Northern" or "Upper Mesopotamia" and "Southern" or "Lower Mesopotamia". Upper Mesopotamia, also known as the "Jazira", is the area between the Euphrates and the Tigris from their sources down to Baghdad. Lower Mesopotamia is the area from Baghdad to the Persian Gulf and includes Kuwait and parts of western Iran.


title: Mesopotamia

text: In modern academic usage, the term "Mesopotamia" often also has a chronological connotation. It is usually used to designate the area until the Muslim conquests, with names like "Syria", "Jazira", and "Iraq" being used to describe the region after that date. It has been argued that these later euphemisms are Eurocentric terms attributed to the region in the midst of various 19th-century Western encroachments.


title: Mesopotamia

text: Mesopotamia encompasses the land between the Euphrates and Tigris rivers, both of which have their headwaters in the neighboring Armenian highlands. Both rivers are fed by numerous tributaries, and the entire river system drains a vast mountainous region. Overland routes in Mesopotamia usually follow the Euphrates because the banks of the Tigris are frequently steep and difficult. The climate of the region is semi-arid with a vast desert expanse in the north which gives way to a region of marshes, lagoons, mudflats, and reed banks in the south. In the extreme south, the Euphrates and the Tigris unite and empty into the Persian Gulf.


title: Mesopotamia

text: The arid environment ranges from the northern areas of rain-fed agriculture to the south where irrigation of agriculture is essential if a surplus energy returned on energy invested (EROEI) is to be obtained. This irrigation is aided by a high water table and by melting snows from the high peaks of the northern Zagros Mountains and from the Armenian Highlands, the source of the Tigris and Euphrates Rivers that give the region its name. The usefulness of irrigation depends upon the ability to mobilize sufficient labor for the construction and maintenance of canals, and this, from the earliest period, has assisted the development of urban settlements and centralized systems of political authority.


title: Mesopotamia

text: Agriculture throughout the region has been supplemented by nomadic pastoralism, where tent-dwelling nomads herded sheep and goats (and later camels) from the river pastures in the dry summer months, out into seasonal grazing lands on the desert fringe in the wet winter season. The area is generally lacking in building stone, precious metals, and timber, and so historically has relied upon long-distance trade of agricultural products to secure these items from outlying areas. In the marshlands to the south of the area, a complex water-borne fishing culture has existed since prehistoric times and has added to the cultural mix.


title: Mesopotamia

text: Periodic breakdowns in the cultural system have occurred for a number of reasons. The demands for labor has from time to time led to population increases that push the limits of the ecological carrying capacity, and should a period of climatic instability ensue, collapsing central government and declining populations can occur. Alternatively, military vulnerability to invasion from marginal hill tribes or nomadic pastoralists has led to periods of trade collapse and neglect of irrigation systems. Equally, centripetal tendencies amongst city-states have meant that central authority over the whole region, when imposed, has tended to be ephemeral, and localism has fragmented power into tribal or smaller regional units. These trends have continued to the present day in Iraq.


title: Mesopotamia

text: The prehistory of the Ancient Near East begins in the Lower Paleolithic period. Therein, writing emerged with a pictographic script, Proto-cuneiform, in the Uruk IV period (). The documented record of actual historical events — and the ancient history of lower Mesopotamia — commenced in the early-third millennium BC with cuneiform records of early dynastic kings. This entire history ends with either the arrival of the Achaemenid Empire in the late 6th century BC or with the Muslim conquest and the establishment of the Caliphate in the late 7th century AD, from which point the region came to be known as Iraq. In the long span of this period, Mesopotamia housed some of the world's most ancient highly developed, and socially complex states.


title: Mesopotamia

text: The region was one of the four riverine civilizations where writing was invented, along with the Nile valley in Ancient Egypt, the Indus Valley civilization in the Indian subcontinent, and the Yellow River in Ancient China. Mesopotamia housed historically important cities such as Uruk, Nippur, Nineveh, Assur and Babylon, as well as major territorial states such as the city of Eridu, the Akkadian kingdoms, the Third Dynasty of Ur, and the various Assyrian empires. Some of the important historical Mesopotamian leaders were Ur-Nammu (king of Ur), Sargon of Akkad (who established the Akkadian Empire), Hammurabi (who established the Old Babylonian state), Ashur-uballit I and Tiglath-Pileser I (who established the Assyrian Empire).


title: Mesopotamia

text: Scientists analysed DNA from the 8,000-year-old remains of early farmers found at an ancient graveyard in Germany. They compared the genetic signatures to those of modern populations and found similarities with the DNA of people living in today's Turkey and Iraq.


title: Mesopotamia

text: The earliest language written in Mesopotamia was Sumerian, an agglutinative language isolate. Along with Sumerian, Semitic languages were also spoken in early Mesopotamia. Subartuan, a language of the Zagros possibly related to the Hurro-Urartuan language family, is attested in personal names, rivers and mountains and in various crafts. Akkadian came to be the dominant language during the Akkadian Empire and the Assyrian empires, but Sumerian was retained for administrative, religious, literary and scientific purposes. Different varieties of Akkadian were used until the end of the Neo-Babylonian period. Old Aramaic, which had already become common in Mesopotamia, then became the official provincial administration language of first the Neo-Assyrian Empire, and then the Achaemenid Empire: the official lect is called Imperial Aramaic. Akkadian fell into disuse, but both it and Sumerian were still used in temples for some centuries. The last Akkadian texts date from the late 1st century AD.


title: Mesopotamia

text: Early in Mesopotamia's history (around the mid-4th millennium BC) cuneiform was invented for the Sumerian language. Cuneiform literally means "wedge-shaped", due to the triangular tip of the stylus used for impressing signs on wet clay. The standardized form of each cuneiform sign appears to have been developed from pictograms. The earliest texts (7 archaic tablets) come from the É, a temple dedicated to the goddess Inanna at Uruk, from a building labeled as Temple C by its excavators.


title: Mesopotamia

text: The early logographic system of cuneiform script took many years to master. Thus, only a limited number of individuals were hired as scribes to be trained in its use. It was not until the widespread use of a syllabic script was adopted under Sargon's rule that significant portions of the Mesopotamian population became literate. Massive archives of texts were recovered from the archaeological contexts of Old Babylonian scribal schools, through which literacy was disseminated.


title: Mesopotamia

text: Akkadian gradually replaced Sumerian as the spoken language of Mesopotamia somewhere around the turn of the 3rd and the 2nd millennium BC (the exact dating being a matter of debate), but Sumerian continued to be used as a sacred, ceremonial, literary, and scientific language in Mesopotamia until the 1st century AD.


title: Mesopotamia

text: Libraries were extant in towns and temples during the Babylonian Empire. An old Sumerian proverb averred that "he who would excel in the school of the scribes must rise with the dawn." Women as well as men learned to read and write, and for the Semitic Babylonians, this involved knowledge of the extinct Sumerian language, and a complicated and extensive syllabary.


title: Mesopotamia

text: A considerable amount of Babylonian literature was translated from Sumerian originals, and the language of religion and law long continued to be the old agglutinative language of Sumer. Vocabularies, grammars, and interlinear translations were compiled for the use of students, as well as commentaries on the older texts and explanations of obscure words and phrases. The characters of the syllabary were all arranged and named, and elaborate lists were drawn up.


title: Mesopotamia

text: Many Babylonian literary works are still studied today. One of the most famous of these was the Epic of Gilgamesh, in twelve books, translated from the original Sumerian by a certain Sîn-lēqi-unninni, and arranged upon an astronomical principle. Each division contains the story of a single adventure in the career of Gilgamesh. The whole story is a composite product, although it is probable that some of the stories are artificially attached to the central figure.