Rachel Steinberg
Blue
History
Albritton
Death in Mesopotamia
Everyone dies. It’s a fact of life. However, every culture, new or ancient has a different
way of dealing with death. Some have big services and mourn a death for days, while some just
have a simple ceremony and let go of their loved ones. In Ghana, instead of having a funeral,
the whole village gets together to celebrate the life of the deceased, with music and laughter.
Finish Opening
A funeral is a ceremony to commemorate or lay to rest the dead. In Mesopotamia,
funerals ranged from small ceremonies in one’s house to big services for the whole city to see.
Most services were simple and short and welcomed the deceased into the underworld. People
were usually buried with goods such as pottery, ornaments and food, so that they could have it
in the afterworld. There was no certain place for people to be buried. Some were buried
under the floorboards in their house, some in cemeteries, and some in giant tombs. However,
there were no tombstones to mark the deceased.
When a king died, however, it was a very different story. Although the court did as
much as they could to make sure a king didn’t die. For example, before a lunar eclipse, many
kings had died, because of “bad spirits” coming with the eclipse. So, once the court caught on,
they tried to do something about it. A king’s death was a very big deal. So, they would find a
peasant, whose life wouldn’t matter to anyone if he died, and dress him up as the king while
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the real king hid in seclusion. However, when the lunar eclipse came around, the king still died
and after a few years, that ritual stopped.
A funeral service for a king was a very important service for the king’s whole court. They
would go down to the king’s tomb and, out of respect for him and so that he wouldn’t be alone
in the afterworld they would all drink poison and die together. They would be buried where
they fell.
"To...the land of no return, Ishtar daughter of Sin was determined to go. To the dark
house, dwelling of Erkella'a God. To the house which those who enter cannot leave. On the
road where traveling is one way only. To the house where those who enter are deprived of
light. Where dust is their food, clay their bread. They see no light, they dwell in darkness. They
are clothed like birds with feathers. Over the door and bolt, dust has settled." This is a quote
from the Babylonian myth “Ishtar’s Descent into the Netherworld.” It describes the
Mesopotamian underworld perfectly. The Mesopotamians saw the underworld as a very dark
and gloomy place. The “winged spirits of the dead” were recognized as individuals and
everyone was doomed to permanent hunger and thirst unless someone offered them some
from earth. There was no preferential treatment in the afterworld. This means that no one
was treated better than anyone else. No king was treated better than a beggar. No beggar was
treated any better than a king.
The goddess of the underworld was called Ereshkigal. She was not the nicest goddess,
and ruled over the underworld from her palace, Kurnugi. Said to be clever and cunning, she
waited for spirits trying to escape her palace and got great pleasure in punishing them. We
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don’t know exactly what she looks like, however there is a picture of a goddess that is guessed
to be many different things, including Ereshkigal. She is called the “Queen
of the Night” and has drooping wings, which are associated with the
afterworld. Her family was made up of her father, Sin, her sister, Ishtar,
her offspring and servant, Namtar, otherwise known as the evil demon
Death. In earlier texts, her husband is noted as Ninazu
(Otherwise known as her son), however in later texts she is the wife of
“Queen of the Night”
Nergal. Ereshkigal should definitely be a demoness instead of a goddess.
http://abrahadabra.com/i
mages/ereshkigal01.jpg
Ereshkigal and Ishtar have an ongoing mutual hatred towards each other. This is shown
in the Babylonian myth “Ishtar’s Descent into the Netherworld”. In this story, Ishtar, the
Goddess of love and warm was summoned to go to the Underworld to visit her sister
Ereshkigal. When Ereshkigal heard about this, she decided to make a plan. At every gate
barring Ishtar from Kurnugi, she was demanded to take off a piece of clothing, until when she
reached her sister, she was completely naked, and lost all her powers. The stripping of the
goddess may have been symbolism of the stripping of the attributes and everyday luxuries of
the dead as they travel down into the dim, shady chambers of the Mesopotamian Afterworld.
"Mesopotamian [life] focused on the problems of this world and how to lead a good life
before dying." It is inevitable that death will always be a part of everyone’s life
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