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‘First Ghosts’ shows that spirits have always been with us

Tales of ghosts have existed for as long as we’ve thought about death.

February 17, 2024

Ghosts have a strong presence in modern culture. It’s not hard to find reports of spirit encounters, as well as poems and stories that include spooky visitors. Looking into history, it appears they’ve always been there. Ghosts appear in the works of Shakespeare, Virgil, and all the way back to ancient Greece.

In his book The First Ghosts: Most Ancient of Legacies, philologist Irving Finkel translates Cuneiform tablets to try to find out when the first writing about ghosts appeared, and to “breathe life into dry bones and install Mesopotamian ghosts firmly on the historical [ghost] map.”

There’s evidence that early humans (and our cousins the Neandertals), at least sometimes, buried their dead. Eventually, funerary rights were developed and incorporated. These included the addition of objects buried with the corpse, which could be tools or riches. First Ghosts posits that “burial with bits” assumes the belief that there’s some sort of survival after death, and that this leads to the belief the buried can “reasonably be expected to be capable of coming back”.

This perspective leads Finkel to place the first idea of ghosts in the Upper Paleolithic Age, around 50,000 B.C. Ghosts appear to have been with us since humans had an understanding of death. The author calls it “one clear component of basic Humanity.” With this understanding, it makes sense that the earliest written language, Cuneiform of the Sumerians and Babylonians in ancient Mesopotamia, contains the first references to ghosts. Cuneiform was primarily inscribed on clay tablets. Luckily for archeologists (and the rest of us), clay can last a long time.

"First Ghosts" cover

The belief in Mesopotamia was that the spirit of the dead travels to the netherworld. The netherworld was understood to be similar to the living world, but not as nice. The food was certainly better above. Kings and the powerful had more elaborate rites to prepare for this passage. There are many preparations to smooth the travel of the etemmu – the spirit, or ghost — as it journeys to the gates, and to retain its status once received.

According to First Ghosts, many Cuneiform writings regarding ghosts were like a manual. They contained spells, omens, and rituals concerned with different aspects of ghostly intervention. Of course, ghosts featured in literature, mythology, and even royal inscriptions can be found. Finkel primarily regards ghosts as the spirits of the deceased residing in the netherworld, not haunting the living.

For most common folks in Mesopotamia, the interment of deceased relatives was on their own property. The bodies were buried under their dwellings, in the walls, or very close by. Families were always near ghosts, and they were understood to be part of everyday life. Their presence (when detected) generally elicited more sympathy than fear. Most ghosts were familiar, and encounters were usually not eventful. Ghost visitations to our world were due to either disregard for their proper burial rites, or the manner in which they died. The former ghost is resentful, while the latter has unresolved “issues”.

Although many ghost encounters were benign, some were quite bad. Someone who had inadequate protection from his own personal deity could be possessed by a ghost. In that case, an exorcism ritual was needed. An appeal was made to the god Shamash (who’s responsible for ghosts that leave the netherworld) via recitation of chants that attempt to identify the spirit. If that didn’t work, the chants were repeated while cool water was spilled onto the skull of a dog.

First Ghosts recounts that spirits were also able to attack from outside (the body). Protection could be achieved by the recitation of incantations. Finkel translates directly and in full, the 99 lines of “Evil Demons” incantations, which describe bad ghosts and their actions as part of the ritual to expel them. Some of the lines are:

I adjure,

“Who constantly scratch like a wolf.”

‘Who constantly hid in crevices.”

“Who bare teeth before a sick person.”

“Who prowl in a river.”

There’s also an omen handbook, which describes the expected result of various ghost encounters. There are volumes of tablets describing ritual spells and incantations to deal with rogue spirits.

Ghosts in literature

According to First Ghosts, the treatment of spirits in narrative literature “represents a particular and peculiar perspective”. The depiction of the underworld was so bleak and unbearable that every spirit would seek escape. The occurrence of ghosts would be overwhelming, if that were the case.

The Descent of Inanna, a Sumerian poem from the second millennium B.C., starts with the descent into the underworld of Inanna, who is the goddess of love, war, and sex. Inanna ascends from the netherworld periodically, and resides in the living realm from midwinter to midsummer. In the story, a gardener witnesses the ascent of the “irresistible” goddess and describes her as “a lone traveling divine ghost”.

The Descent of Ishtar, written in Akkadian on seventh century tablets, is a truncated version of Inanna’s descent. First Ghosts posits that although there’s no cross translation of the two, an understanding of the first is needed to fill the gaps in the second.

The Sumerian story Gilgamesh, Enkidu, and the Netherworld was a tale recorded in 2,000 B.C., and was later translated into Akkadian and “tacked onto” the end of the Epic of Gilgamesh. In this story, Gilgamesh fashions an ekema (puck) and ellag (stick) from a tree he cut down for Inanna, for a game played in the street. After a day of bruising play with these items, the next morning Gilgamesh finds out that his ekema and ellag have been taken to the underworld. Gilgamesh weeps for the loss, and his lieutenant Enkidu volunteers to descend and retrieve the lost items.

Enkidu becomes trapped in the underworld and some godly intervention is needed for him to return. Upon his return, Gilgamesh interrogates Enkidu about the underworld, and Enkidu speaks of all the different types of drudgery and suffering the souls experience. There’s no further mention of Gilgamesh’s puck and stick.

Firsts Ghosts states that most of the non-narrative writing in Cuneiform deals with keeping a spirit in the underworld, or returning them there. There are, however, a few examples referencing necromancy (the raising of the deceased). Calling forward a ghost could be done to ask questions (as in what we know as a séance), or to ask for assent in a matter. In a letter from 699 B.C., Crown Prince Ashurbanipal writes that his mother, the dead queen, has voted for him to ascend the throne. We also have evidence of two necromancy manuals. One is from the time of Ashurbanipal, and one from 75 years after his death.

As The First Ghosts: Most Ancient of Legacies shows us, the belief in spirits has always been with us. It’s no surprise, then that stories and other writings have always reflected that belief.

Every February, to help celebrate Darwin Day, the Science section of AIPT cranks up the critical thinking for SKEPTICISM MONTH! Skepticism is an approach to evaluating claims that emphasizes evidence and applies the tools of science. All month we’ll be highlighting skepticism in pop culture, and skepticism *OF* pop culture.

AIPT Science is co-presented by AIPT and the New York City Skeptics.