Page - 60 - in JRFM - Journal Religion Film Media, Volume 07/01

60 | Alisha Meininghaus www.jrfm.eu 2021, 7/1, 45–65 The illustration of the Virgo was possibly chosen for the amulets because of its location on the Zodiac Man, where it is traditionally assigned to the area in which the uterus is located. Similarly, the illustration of the Sagittarius is partly assigned to the pubic area. The Scorpio, which is more often assigned to the genitals on the Zodiac Man, may not have been used because of the need to use a male figure to visualize the sex of the child. In this case, one can speak of a transformation of the original medical function of the illustrations to an apotropaic function. This interpretation is supported by the fact that illustrations of the Zodiac Man can also be found in Jewish calendars from Fürth.37 We can therefore assume that the association of Virgo with the abdomen and of Sagittarius with the pubic area was known to the typesetters and readers. However, there are very few depictions of female bodies in the pictorial tradition of the Zodiac Man and therefore the zodi- ac signs were rarely explicitly related to female breasts, the womb, and the vulva. So far, a Zodiac Woman in Jewish sources is unknown to me.38 Ambivalent Forms of Representation: Adam and Eve Finally, a third possible interpretation can be noted, which refers to those amulets that depict the Virgo and the Sagittarius naked (fig. 4a). These instances can function as reference to Adam and Eve, who are called on twice in the amulet text, while in the same sentence Lilith is ordered out of the house. Their relevance in the context of the birth amulet stems from their fundamental opposition to Lilith. The earliest source with a detailed legend about Lilith is the Alphabet of Ben Sira. This Hebrew work is dated between the 7th and 10th centuries CE. In this narrative, God creates the first woman, Lilith, from the same dust as Adam, and only later the second woman, Eve, from Adam’s rib. Since Adam and Lilith are simultaneously created from the same material, Lilith refuses to lie under Adam during intercourse. In the en- suing argument, Lilith pronounces the name of God and flees. Upon Adam’s complaint, God sends three angels to bring her back. The angels find her at the Red Sea and threaten her, but Lilith refuses to return and swears to kill female children up until the 20th day after their birth and male children until the 8th day if she has the chance. However, if she sees an amulet with the names of the three angels, she will not do any harm. 37 See Rosenfeld 1989, 30–33 and fig. 3. 38 On the connection between the signs of the zodiac and the female body see Hübner 2013, 305–306.