Mesopotamian ghosts

Christopher Josiffe explores a scholarly and accessible study of beliefs about ghosts gleaned from Sumerian and Akkadian cuneiform inscriptions

The First Ghosts Most Ancient of Legacies Irving Finkel

Hodder & Stoughton 2021

Hb, 368pp, £25, ISBN 9781529303261

Dr Irving Finkel, curator of the British Museum’s collection of c.130,000 Mesopotamian clay tablets, here deploys his expertise in transliterating and translating Sumerian and Akkadian cuneiform inscriptions, demonstrating that a belief in the reality of ghosts is both ancient and – based on the extant scientific knowledge of the time – entirely rational.

Evidence of grave goods found in Upper Palæolithic burials (c.50,000 BC) demonstrates the great antiquity of the idea that some aspect of a buried human being would be going somewhere else. By logical reasoning, it then followed that this aspect of a person, if able to detach itself from the corpse and journey elsewhere, “can quite easily be expected to be capable of coming back”.

Finkel’s focus, though, is on the belief systems of the ancient Near East from 5,000 BC. He emphasises that these Mesopotamian peoples (Sumerians, who provide our earliest written evidence for such beliefs, and later, Babylonians) took it for granted that in the course of their everyday lives they might see, interact with or be victimised by ghosts.

Mesopotamian funeral writings give us some understanding of their specific ideas of death and the afterlife. The dead body was often interred beneath the floor of the family home, accompanied by grave goods thought necessary for the journey to and arrival at the Netherworld (like the ancient Greeks, Mesopotamians understood the afterlife to be located beneath the Earth). The family should periodically offer food and drink to the deceased, supplementing the meagre fare on offer in the Netherworld.

An etemmu (ghost) might return to the world of the living if improperly honoured – furnished with poor grave goods, or given insufficient libations thereafter. A multi-tablet incantation “book” of magic spells, Evil Demons, includes an extensive list of 62 types of ghosts that might be encountered, including unhappy or resentful individuals like the aforementioned dishonoured shades.

Another reason for an etemmu remaining on Earth was the manner of death – if sudden, untimely or unexpected. Dying unburied or without a grave was a terrible fate, often that of defeated enemy soldiers or executed criminals. Without a

They took it for granted that they might see, interact with or be victimised by ghosts

recognised burial place, how could relatives make offerings? Thus, no. 7: “A ghost who gets no scrap of offering”, or no. 9: “A ghost who gets no libation offering”.

Sometimes the categories appear to overlap. Compare no. 15: “A roaming ghost” with no. 16: “A roving ghost”, but the distinction could be important for diagnosing illnesses. Roving ghosts might cause pain in the cranium and temples, a dry palate, shortness of breath, constant depression and numerous other maladies.

Another compilation of tablets, If A City, lists different types of ghost sightings and what they presaged, distinguishing between an etemmu, the ghost of a family member, and a mitu, “dead man”, “stranger”. “If a ghost enters a man’s house the owner of the house will die”, for example, or “If a ghost enters a man’s house and constantly cries out, the mistress of the house will die”. In these cases the ghost is an unknown mitu, and therefore dangerous.

The Evil Demons incantation series contains an elaborate 99-line exorcism to dispel all manner of malicious mitu ghosts, including those “who constantly flicker like a flame”, “constantly moan like a badger before a sick person” or “who constantly terrify the sick person [name]”. Sufferers of various illnesses are recommended amulets, rituals or incantations to combat these malefic spirits.

Ghost trouble did not only manifest as physical illness. Unsettling and profoundly disturbing feelings could arise from being watched, followed or crowded by spirits. More distressing still were cases of possession whereby a ghost might literally invade a person’s body, often via the ear. Evidently, the role of exorcist also encompassed that of doctor or psychotherapist in ancient Mesopotamian society.

In contrast to these formulæ for dispelling unwanted ghosts, it was sometimes necessary to summon the dead. For necromancers, it was important to distinguish an etemmu (ghost) from an utukku (demon).

Another chapter explores the epic tale of Gilgamesh, Enkidu and the Netherworld, a 4,000-year-old piece of literature giving us valuable insights into Sumerian conceptions of the afterlife. Gilgamesh advises his friend Enkidu on how to behave discreetly in the Netherworld, and the protocol required should one encounter a dead relative: “Do not wear sandals on your feet! Do not shout… Do not kiss the wife you loved! … Do not beat the son you hated!” Causing offence by failing to observe these Netherworld rules could mean indefinite detention there.

Spirits of those who had led unsatisfying or unlucky lives on Earth are destined to re-enact their misfortunes down below. A man eaten by a lion still cries: “Oh my hand! Oh my foot!” A young man who didn’t make love to his wife weeps bitterly, forever plaiting a reed rope.

There are a good deal more riches from The First Ghosts that, given sufficient space, I should have liked to itemise; for instance, how the Mesopotamian cuneiform texts inform our understanding of biblical Hebrew in relation to accounts of the supernatural in the Old Testament. All I can do is urge readers to acquire this wonderful book, written in Finkel’s enthusiastic, accessible and witty prose, imparting a lifetime’s scholarship. ★★★★★