In Ancient Texts
In Zoharistic Kabbalah, she is a queen of the demons and one of four angels of sacred prostitution, who mates with archangel Samael. Her fellow succubi are Lilith, Naamah, and Eisheth Zenunim. In the Rabbinic literature of Yalḳuṭ Ḥadash, on the eves of Wednesday and of the Sabbath, she is "the dancing roof-demon" who haunts the air with her chariot and her train of eighteen myriads of messengers of destruction. She dances while Lilith howls. She is also "the mistress of the sorceresses" who communicated magic secrets to Amemar, a Jewish sage.
According to the Kabbalah and the school of Rashba, Agrat Bat Mahlat mated with King David and bore a cambion son Asmodeus, king of demons. The spiritual intervention of Hanina ben Dosa and Rabbi Abaye curbed her malevolent powers over humans.
Some authors, such as Donald Tyson, refer to them as manifestations of Lilith. Agrat Bat Mahlat rules Salamanca (western quarter), Naamah rules Damascus (eastern quarter), while Lilith rules Rome (northern quarter). The southern quarter is controversial, since it is assigned to a country (Egypt) instead of to a city, and the name of the ruler is unclear, usually identified as Mahalat (the mother of Agrat?) or Rahab instead of Eisheth.
Read more about this topic: Agrat Bat Mahlat
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