The Afterlife in Ancient Mesopotamia

 This paper originally written as a discussion paper with informal citation.

ASH-3200:  Ancient Near Eastern Societies

Dr. Tiffany Early-Spadoni

University of Central Florida

Atrahasis

The Afterlife in Ancient Mesopotamia

            The specifics of ancient Mesopotamians’ beliefs in the afterlife come down to us, not necessarily as direct texts that relate those ideas, but rather through analysis of various myths and their accompanying revisions and alternate versions, examples of which include the famed Epic of Gilgamesh and the Old Babylonian flood story, Atrahasis.  Similar to a few later cultures, the afterlife is often depicted as a dreary existence overall, though as we shall see, there were those who could experience joy.  However, there does not seem to have been a concept of obtaining a “heavenly reward” or “union with a god” type of existence after death.  Rather, the Mesopotamian afterlife seems to be more akin to the Greek idea of a bleak and rather unexciting eternity. 

            Ancient Mesopotamians did believe in the concept of a “soul,” or that part of an individual which continued after death.  As Joann Scurlock points out in Mortal and Immortal Souls, Ghosts and the (Restless) Dead in Ancient Mesopotamia, since the beginning of their written culture, these people expressed a belief in an immortal component to the human being (Scurlock, pg. 77).  She goes on to point out that in the Atrahasis, the so-called Babylonian flood story, man was created by a mixing of mundane clay with the flesh of the immortal gods, thereby creating an eoemmu for each person from the god’s flesh. (Scurlock, pg. 77).  Scurlock ascribes characteristics of this eoemmu as having similarities to our modern concept of a ghost.  Although, as she points out, there were several different types of ghosts, dependent upon different situations.  The Atrahasis gives two functions of the eoemmu:  to plead for the individual before the gods, and so that people will not forget the individual.

            Scurlock goes on to describe different customs and rituals that were used to keep the spirits appeased as well as different types of spirits that could form.  She points out that in the afterlife, the dead continued to feel hunger and thirst and were unable to satiate these desires on their own.  It was the responsibility of the family or temples to provide funerary offerings, lest the spirit become restless.  In addition to these food offerings, after death, the eoemmu was ritually removed from the body and placed within a lamp or statue, then transported to the burial place, which often was a tomb beneath the family dwelling.  If the spirit was not disturbed and offerings were provided after death, the dead could enjoy a restful, albeit gray and uneventful afterlife in the Netherworld.  There were other types of ghosts who did not enjoy rest after death, and these include the lilu, spirits of young men or women who never had the opportunity to get married, have sex, and birth children.  In their restlessness, they preyed upon young men and women of the opposite sex, often leading them to madness or even death (Scurlock, pg. 79).  Another restless spirit was the kubu.  Considered demons, they were the spirits of children dying before birth or very soon after birth.  They attacked infants and very young children.  These types of spirits were not given funerary offerings and were buried either in the walls of houses or in special cemeteries.  Their needs provided for by temples specifically designed for that purpose (Scurlock, pg. 79).  At various seasons throughout the year, festivals for the dead were held where families could provide offerings for the spirits, they could commune with the spirits, and cultic rituals were held to ensure that continuing rest of those who had already passed. 

            Similar to other beliefs, the Mesopotamian netherworld was conceived of as being obtainable only by a journey through gates.  In the Middle Babylonian Myth of Nergal and Ereshkigal, the netherworld is seen as being ruled over by Ereshkigal, goddess of the underworld.  Due to natural law, gods are not able to freely pass into and out of the netherworld, only messengers, and then only by ascribing to certain requirements.  At each gate, the keeper of the gate takes one item of apparel or equipment from the traveler.  The dead are held in the netherworld and cannot pass except by the release of Ereshkigal, which could happen on certain season days as described above, or if she desired to out of anger.  Ereshkigal, in anger, threatens to release the dead so that in their hunger they would feed on all the living (Gurney, Myth tablet, Col. V, lines 11-12).  When a messenger visits the netherworld, there are also a set of instructions given that should be followed.  In the Myth of Nergal and Ereshkigal, Nergal goes to visit the underworld.  He is given several instructions including not to eat of the food offered, not to drink of the drink that is offered, and not to bathe in the bath offered (Gurney, Myth tablet, Col II, lines 39-48).  Nergal is also instructed, that when Ereshkigal goes to take a bath and exposes her body, “do not life your eyes toward her in the manner of a man and woman” (Gurney, Myth tablet, Col. II, lines 46-48).  Nergal fulfills all the instructions except the last, and after lifting his eyes to see the unclothed Ereshkigal, they come into an embrace and spend six days in the bedchamber together. 

            These are not the only instructions we have regarding travelling to the netherworld.  In the various versions of the epic stories of Gilgamesh, we find Enkidu preparing to travel to the underworld to obtain items which fallen into the realm of the dead.  Gilgamesh prepares Enkidu by advising him not to wear clean garments, as he would be immediately recognized as being from another place; not to put on fine oil, as the spirits would surround the scent; not to throw sticks, for if any stick should strike a spirit, they would surround him; and not to hold a wooden stick, lest the spirits be insulted (Gilgamesh, version A, lines 184-198).  Enkidu is also given further instructions on things he should not do prior to leaving for his journey.  However, Enkidu somehow manages to do the exact opposite.  Prior to leaving, he does every item that he is warned not to do and upon traveling in the Netherworld, he again performs every act that Gilgamesh strictly forbid.  Enkidu is thus restrained in the Netherworld, but through the help of the gods, Gilgamesh is able to free him.  Upon being freed, and rejoining Gilgamesh, Enkidu is asked if he has seen several different peoples while in the underworld and how they are doing.  Sure enough, Enkidu has seen most of these spirits and most are described as simply being there, wiling away their time.  Some have an unenviable afterlife, like the leprous man who “twitches like an ox as the worms eat at him” (Gilgamesh, version A, lines 286-303).  And others have a better afterlife, such as the man with six sons who is as cheerful as a ploughman.  It seems that the afterlife for Mesopotamians is often a mundane continuation of the earthly life.