The first ghosts, the unfortunate afterlife in Mesopotamia

Regardless of beliefs, for thousands of years we have been accompanied by doubts about what awaits us after death and how it affects the living. The longing to be reunited with loved ones and the fear that death has not finished with our enemies can obsess us in search of precise answers. In Mesopotamia, as with Egypt, the Greeks and Romans, held a view of ghosts that coordinated with their worldview.

The netherworld

In the cosmology of the Mesopotamian peoples, there was a world below the subway freshwater rivers of apsu or absu. The Sumerians gave it various names that were transmitted to later languages, such as arali, irkalla or kukku. It was usually known simply as earth (Ki or Kur), netherworld (Ki-gal) or erṣetu in Akkadian. In the case of Kur, it was a word that was also used to refer to mountains, specifically the Zagros Mountains in present-day Iran. This was in keeping with other designations, such as "desert" or "land of no return," alluding to distant places from which there was no return. It would have been considered that in the mountains would be the entrance to this underworld, from where the Sun rose every morning, although in the stories it could be accessed through a hole in the ground that would lead to stairs to the gates of Ganzir, the palace of the goddess Ereškigal.

In cosmogony, the cosmos (An-ki) was a mountain rising from the primeval sea (Tiamat). The cosmos spawned Enlil, who confronted Tiamat and her sons. After his victory, Enlil separated the cosmos into heaven (An) and earth (Ki). Enlil retained dominion over the earth, while leaving the dominion of the heavens to his father An. After this, it is said that Ereškigal, who may have been a celestial goddess, was abducted by Kur as a reward. In this myth, Kur, as was the case with Tiamat, An and Ki, was a conscious entity. The one who sailed to Kur to rescue her was not Enlil, but Enki, god of the river waters and "lord of the abyss", since he took the dominion of Apsu, Tiamat's husband. Although it is said that from Kur they threw stones at the keel of his ship, its outcome is not told.

This confrontation against Kur is also carried out by Ninurta and his talking mace Sharur but, when he is victorious, the primeval sea that contained Kur advances through the land and rivers. He then places stones over Kur's corpse to successfully stop his advance, while he drifts the waters that were on the land into the Tigris. In a third version, Inanna is confronted by a different Kur, called "mountain Ebih," which is a district in northeastern Sumer. Inanna threatens to attack him unless he submits to her and glorifies her virtues, but Kur, who has terrorized the gods, ignores her. Despite An's advice not to fight him, Inanna attacks him anyway and rises victorious.

Afterlife

Kings and commoners alike rested irretrievably in Kur upon death, where an existence in darkness and dominated by apathy awaited them, feeding on dust and clay. Traditions changed, however, and the stories tell us details that add to the details of the afterlife. The twelfth tablet of the Gilgameš Epic tells us the story Gilgameš, Enkidu and the underworld. Although present as a continuation, it would serve rather to complete one of the earliest Sumerian history tablets, for in the Akkadian version Enkidu dies.

In this account, Enkidu offers to visit the underworld to collect some sticks and ball that had fallen down a hole in the underworld created by the gods, who were answering the prayers of the players for the dreadful game they were forced to play. Gilgameš warns him that he must go unnoticed, stripping himself of jewelry, perfumes and expressions of anger or joy, but Enkidu does not obey him. Therefore, Gilgameš laments and the god Ea (Enki) hears him, so Šamaš, god of the Sun, opens a portal for Enkidu to come out. We then learn two things. First, that once you enter, you cannot stay in the world of the living. Secondly, he describes to us the importance of having children, the more the better, so that they make offerings to the dead on a regular basis. Drink, food and oil would be consumed by the spirit of the deceased, who could visit our world to consume them and to propitiate and offer advice to their descendants. Once dead, childlessness was irremediable, as it describes how the genitals shriveled and no pleasure was felt. This was a common source of discomfort in young people who died before they could reproduce. Therefore, the unattended could wander our world bringing misfortune, nightmares or disease. This also occurred if they had not been buried with the proper rituals, so that those who drowned or died in the desert became souls in pain.

The importance of the rituals stemmed from the mythical origin of humans, who had been created from the mud and blood of the lesser god of knowledge Geshtu-E. Since this divine essence gave us the reason or consciousness (ṭēmu) that provided a spirit (Sumerian: gedim; Akkadian: eṭemmu) to the flesh, animals were considered to have no spirit. Since the abortions also had no consciousness and no name to call them by during rituals, they enjoyed a feast of syrup and gui on gold and silver tables. Similarly, the burned ascended to heaven with the smoke and did not live in Kur, although there are texts that indicate that there were probably nuances that varied these statements.

Not even the gods enjoy privileges

The underworld was ruled by Ereškigal and Nergal. It was the former who passed sentence and Geštinanna who recorded it on a tablet. Geštinanna was the testimony that not even the gods could escape from Kur. In both The Descent of Inanna/Ištar to the Underworld and in Enlil and Ninlil, the gods visit the underworld but, in order to leave it, they must find a substitute to take their place. In the case of Inanna/Ištar it is her lover Dumuzid, who had not mourned her death, as is also told in Dumuzid's Dream. In its sequel, Dumuzid's return, her sister Geštinanna, her mother Sirtur and Inanna mourn Dumuzid's death until a fly guides them to where Dumuzid is. Inanna then decrees that Dumuzid will spend half a year with Ereškigal and another half a year in heaven with her. This was reflected in the seasons, as was the case in the Greek account of the rapture of Persephone. An additional detail revealing that even the gods are not free from the conditions imposed on Kur is that, Inanna/Ištar's descent into the underworld, Inanna/Ištar must divest herself of her jewels at the seven entrances.

In addition to Geštinanna, who served in Kur in the dry months, there were other gods who acted at the command of Ereškigal. Ningiszida, consort of Geštinanna, was his steward; Pabilsag was the steward; Namtar was a messenger or minister; and Neti, the doorkeeper. In addition to these, demons were also associated with the underworld, such as the Gallu who took Dumuzid or the descendants of arali, who brought displeasure to mankind; gods such as Enmešarra, including dead gods, or the 600 Anunnakku, according to late biblical sources. Some humans, such as Gilgameš, became judges of the underworld, according to the Sumerian account.

Manifestations

Earthly ills

Demons could cause evils in humans, but they could also counteract them. Witches could also cast spells, but the typical calamities were caused by souls that could not find rest. One problem we have with the preserved sources is the limited view they give us of the mentality existing at the time, not only because of preservation problems, but also because they often record cases concerning royalty.

Ghosts can be classified according to the way they acted towards humans. They usually inflicted their harms by touching the affected person with their hand since, although they were impalpable, they could touch at will. The ghost's behavior was related to its death. Thus, those who died in the desert appeared continually in nightmares, for they needed water and food like a beggar a coin. Those who were drowned and burned could suffocate or provoke screams, respectively, in their victims. The burned could also render mute because qalû ("to burn") was homophonous with qâlu ("to be silenced"). Additionally, they could lose the will to live and not eat. The souls in sorrow that roamed the world affected the mind, both in mood and neurologically. Some attacked from behind, damaging his spine and killing him by preventing him from defecating. In several of these cases, they are vengeful ghosts that were victims of the patient and seek revenge, even when the patient is a family member. Sometimes, it is indicated that it is a double of the deceased who acts on the patient, provoking compulsive behaviors. Finally, ghosts could act in the name of a god who has linked them to a mortal.

In short, the ghosts took away the normality, the health and altered the way of acting of the affected person. They could even "steal his flesh," leaving him emaciated like a skeleton. However, the āšipu grouped symptoms together to dictate a diagnosis, as not all illnesses were caused by ghosts. Neither female fertility issues, intestinal (except gas and pains), respiratory (except shortness of breath), toothaches, skin, permanent paralysis or baldness were caused by ghosts. Phantom afflictions were not directly fatal and usually subsided with treatment.

Encounters

There is little indication of what to do in the event of hearing or seeing a ghost, but the Šumma ālu omens indicate that doing so could be a disaster for both the perceiver and his or her household and a protective ritual would be necessary. Based on this, ghosts could be silent or screaming; be visible or invisible; static or moving; known or unknown. To combat these encounters, the victim could also recite a series of words, which were also used if the person was interested in necromancy.

Sources

• Kramer, S. N. (1972). Sumerian mythology (Vol. 47). University of Pennsylvania Press.
• Black, J., & Green, A. (1992). Gods, Demons and Symbols. Ancient Mesopotamia: an Ilustrated Dictionary, London.
• Pu, M. (Ed.). (2009). Rethinking ghosts in world religions (Vol. 123). Brill.
• Bayliss, M. (1973). The cult of dead kin in Assyria and Babylonia. Iraq, 35(2), 115-125.
  
• Scurlock, J. (2005). Magico-medical means of treating ghost-induced illnesses in ancient Mesopotamia. Brill.