Scurlock's Death and Afterlife
Apr 29, 2008 18:31:39 GMT -5
Post by us4-he2-gal2 on Apr 29, 2008 18:31:39 GMT -5
Thread Orientation: In reading through Sassons wonderful series "Civilizations of the Ancient Near East" , Vol. III has a wealth of perspective on Sumerian Religion and cult, presented by the very best names in the field. Among these, is Jo Ann Scurlock's 'Death and the Afterlife in Ancient Mesopotamian Thought' , which must draw from her earlier dissertation (turned book) 'Magical Means of Dealing with Ghosts' . As I plan to survey the latter work in a later post, this first article should clear the way nicely, so to speak.
On Burial Rites:
Scurlock: [Although heaven and hell were not pictured] "Still, there was a sort of existence after death, although if one wished to participate in it, it was absolutely neccesary that certain burial and mourning rites be properly performed.
Ideally, one would die surrounded by family and friends. One did not, however, necessarily die in one's own bed. Rather, the dying person seems to have been moved onto a special funerary bed, to the left of which was set a chair. This chair apparently served as a seat for the soul to sit after the recitation of a special formula had secured its release from the body. It also was a place where the soul could receive the first installment of the funerary offerings to whic family ghosts were entitled.
In prepertation for the burial, the body was washed and the mouth tied shut Then, the corpse was oiled and perfumed, dressed in clean clothing, and accompanied by as many personal items as the family could afford - weapons, toiletries, jewelery and the like. The amount expended on the dead by surviving relatives could readily be judged by others, since the body and the goods were laid out for public viewing a short time before the funeral."
Grave goods would also consist of traveling provisions for the dead who had to travel to the netherworld, and goods to propograte the favor and assistence of netherworld deities (for a classic example here see the Death of Ur-Nammu, ETCSL t.2.4.1.1)
I quote here a portion from Katz 2003 which has to due with a surviving funerary ritual dubbed "The Messanger and the Maiden", the spirit came to the funerary ritual, but not in person and is therefore refered as "messanger" in the text. It is also apparent from the rituals given in this work that a statue or figurine representing the deceased was imployed on the 'funerary' chair.
Maiden:
Scurlock continues:
" At least in the ceremonial mourning for the god Dumuzi, some of the vessels used to make offerings to the deceased were broken, torches and incense burned, all presumably with a view to protecting the living from contamination by the dead. "
On The Cult of the Dead:
The author offerings gleanings from the myth 'Gilgamesh, Enkidu and the Netherworld here' here, which are familiar observations, focusing cheifly on Enkidu's statements to Gilgamesh about what he'd witnessed in the Netherworld; that the man with one son "eats what is scraped out of cooking pots (and) crusts of bread which are thrown onto the street", while the man with sevon sons is as "a companion of the gods he sits on a chair and listens to music." From this we know that the ghost was thought to benefit from substantial offerings (7 sons) or suffer from lack thereof.
"In the cult of deceased royalty, offerings were made at new moon and full moon; for ordinary people, however, funeary offerings seem to have come due at the end of the month with an especially long celebration in the month of Abu (July/August). In the royal cult, a great variety of foodsutffs were offered; the faily ghosts of ordinary people could expect to recieve cold water, bread, hot broth, beer flavored with roasted grain, flour, oil, wine, honey and occasionally the rib section of a sacrificed animal. Such offerings might simply be laid out or, in the case of liquids, actually poured down a pipe laid in the earth for that purpose.
In order to ensure that the ghosts acutally recieved what was intended for them, it was customary to invoke their names while making offerings. A statue of the deceased could also serve to localize the spirit for funerary offerings. To the end, statues were sometimes manufactured in connection with a funeral...
..For most of the year, ghosts were shut up behind the gates of the netherworld and quietly recieved what was laid out or poured out for them by their relatives. Several times a year, however, they were allowed to leave their homes in the Netherworld and to come back for short visits. At the end of the legend of Ishtar's Descent to the netherworld, it is mentioned that not only does Dumuzi return every year but also the dead are to "come up and smell the incense" during Dumuzi's festivals (27-29 Du'uzu [June/July]). There was alsoa general return of the dead in the month of Abu (July/August), as we know from occasional references to ghostly activity in that month. In all probability, this festival also took place at the very end of the month, perhaps on 27-29 Abu....
[Festival of Ghosts/Necromancy]
..Other sources indicate that the end of the month og Abu provided a favorable oppurtunity to ask dead relatives to stop bothering their kin, to persuade them to take along evils as they returned to the Netherworld, and to consult them for supernatural adivce. Instructions accompanying necromantic incantations indicate that the favored method of consulting ghosts involved the preperation of an ointment. This salve- which might contain any one of a variety of ingrediants including such oddities as centipede dust, frog intestines, lion fat, and goose-bone marrow - was smeared on the practitioner's face in order to make the ghost visible to him so that he could converse freely with it. Alternatively, a salve might be rubbed on a figurine or skull that served as housing for the ghost. If the ointments failed in this rather dangerous pursuit, the practitioner was advised to perform a special type of apotopaic ritual (called in Sumerian NAM.BUR2.BI). For those interested in such consultations, professional ghost raisers were available and could be hired."
[For more Necromancy for further detail]
On Ghosts:
Noting the conventional wisdom regarding Mesopotamian ghosts (that is if a person is not buried properly, or does not recieve offerings, or died violently or before their span on earth was satisfied, they would become an angry ghost or demon), Scurlock moves on to special cases, firstly, the case of the ghost of the person who dies unmarried:
"Their fate was to join a special class of demons called the lilû (female lilitû, or more commonly ardat lil, or "lilû's girl"). Lilû and lilītu demons slipped through the windows into people's houses looking for victims to fill the role of husbands and wives who they never had...
..Unfriendly ghosts are described as pursuring, seizing, binding, or even physically abusing their victims; they did not however, need to confine themselves to victims' exterios, but could also get inside them via their ears. Ghosts might annoy people by making unwelcome appearences in their houses, by accosting them in the streets of the city, or by haunting their dreams...
[Dealing with Ghosts]
Even the most unhappy of specters could be rendered harmless with the appropriate magical treatment. Methods of dealing with bothersome ghosts include the tying of magic knots or the manufacture of other amulets, the smearing of magic ointments, the drinking of magic potions, the surrogate burial of a figurine representing the ghost, and the pouring of libations wile reciting incantations.
Offerings to strange ghosts (not including outfitting for figurines and travel provisions) usually consisted of various types of water, vinegar, watered beer, ashes, and breads or flour made from roasted grain, especially šigūšu flour. These offerings were considerably less expensive, as well as less appetizing, than those made to the family ghosts, which were in turn less expensive and less appetizing than those made to the gods invoked in ghost-expelling texts, a progression that reflects the relative desirability contact between men and these three classes of supernatural beings and the amount of benefit expected to flow from such contact.
[Rebirth?]
Given that the chances of a ghost acutally receiving the necceary funerary offerings in perpetuity is rather remote, there would soon have been more wretched beggars and angre ghosts than happy ancestors. Moreover, the dead would have dangerously outnumbered the living if there had not been a mechanism by which old souls were recycled as new human beings. Childbirth incantations describe the baby in the amniotic sac as a "boat" that the mother has loaded with precious substances (representing the child's gender) and that is sailed from the "quay of death" (namely, the netherworld) across the apsû (namely, the amniotic fluid) to the "quay of life" (that is, birth in the upperworld.)
Souls and Spirits:
For Scurlocks insight here, please refer to the Sisig Thread.
from: Death and the Afterlife in Ancient Mesopotamian Thought
by: Jo Ann Scurlock, 1995
On Burial Rites:
Scurlock: [Although heaven and hell were not pictured] "Still, there was a sort of existence after death, although if one wished to participate in it, it was absolutely neccesary that certain burial and mourning rites be properly performed.
Ideally, one would die surrounded by family and friends. One did not, however, necessarily die in one's own bed. Rather, the dying person seems to have been moved onto a special funerary bed, to the left of which was set a chair. This chair apparently served as a seat for the soul to sit after the recitation of a special formula had secured its release from the body. It also was a place where the soul could receive the first installment of the funerary offerings to whic family ghosts were entitled.
In prepertation for the burial, the body was washed and the mouth tied shut Then, the corpse was oiled and perfumed, dressed in clean clothing, and accompanied by as many personal items as the family could afford - weapons, toiletries, jewelery and the like. The amount expended on the dead by surviving relatives could readily be judged by others, since the body and the goods were laid out for public viewing a short time before the funeral."
Grave goods would also consist of traveling provisions for the dead who had to travel to the netherworld, and goods to propograte the favor and assistence of netherworld deities (for a classic example here see the Death of Ur-Nammu, ETCSL t.2.4.1.1)
I quote here a portion from Katz 2003 which has to due with a surviving funerary ritual dubbed "The Messanger and the Maiden", the spirit came to the funerary ritual, but not in person and is therefore refered as "messanger" in the text. It is also apparent from the rituals given in this work that a statue or figurine representing the deceased was imployed on the 'funerary' chair.
Maiden:
My messanger, he comes, yet he has not come; he comes yet he has not come
He has eyes but he cannot see.
He has mouth but he cannot converse.
My messanger who approaches came, he who approaches also came.
I placed bread and wiped it,
From a bowl whose strap had not been opened,
From a dish, its rim had not been soiled,
I poured waters, I poured to the ground, and he drank it.
With my good oil I anointed the figure.
With my new garment I dressed the chair.
The spirit has entered, the spirit has departed.
My messanger in the kur, in the midst of the kur he was whirling, he is lying (now in rest).
[/center]He has eyes but he cannot see.
He has mouth but he cannot converse.
My messanger who approaches came, he who approaches also came.
I placed bread and wiped it,
From a bowl whose strap had not been opened,
From a dish, its rim had not been soiled,
I poured waters, I poured to the ground, and he drank it.
With my good oil I anointed the figure.
With my new garment I dressed the chair.
The spirit has entered, the spirit has departed.
My messanger in the kur, in the midst of the kur he was whirling, he is lying (now in rest).
Scurlock continues:
" At least in the ceremonial mourning for the god Dumuzi, some of the vessels used to make offerings to the deceased were broken, torches and incense burned, all presumably with a view to protecting the living from contamination by the dead. "
On The Cult of the Dead:
The author offerings gleanings from the myth 'Gilgamesh, Enkidu and the Netherworld here' here, which are familiar observations, focusing cheifly on Enkidu's statements to Gilgamesh about what he'd witnessed in the Netherworld; that the man with one son "eats what is scraped out of cooking pots (and) crusts of bread which are thrown onto the street", while the man with sevon sons is as "a companion of the gods he sits on a chair and listens to music." From this we know that the ghost was thought to benefit from substantial offerings (7 sons) or suffer from lack thereof.
"In the cult of deceased royalty, offerings were made at new moon and full moon; for ordinary people, however, funeary offerings seem to have come due at the end of the month with an especially long celebration in the month of Abu (July/August). In the royal cult, a great variety of foodsutffs were offered; the faily ghosts of ordinary people could expect to recieve cold water, bread, hot broth, beer flavored with roasted grain, flour, oil, wine, honey and occasionally the rib section of a sacrificed animal. Such offerings might simply be laid out or, in the case of liquids, actually poured down a pipe laid in the earth for that purpose.
In order to ensure that the ghosts acutally recieved what was intended for them, it was customary to invoke their names while making offerings. A statue of the deceased could also serve to localize the spirit for funerary offerings. To the end, statues were sometimes manufactured in connection with a funeral...
..For most of the year, ghosts were shut up behind the gates of the netherworld and quietly recieved what was laid out or poured out for them by their relatives. Several times a year, however, they were allowed to leave their homes in the Netherworld and to come back for short visits. At the end of the legend of Ishtar's Descent to the netherworld, it is mentioned that not only does Dumuzi return every year but also the dead are to "come up and smell the incense" during Dumuzi's festivals (27-29 Du'uzu [June/July]). There was alsoa general return of the dead in the month of Abu (July/August), as we know from occasional references to ghostly activity in that month. In all probability, this festival also took place at the very end of the month, perhaps on 27-29 Abu....
[Festival of Ghosts/Necromancy]
..Other sources indicate that the end of the month og Abu provided a favorable oppurtunity to ask dead relatives to stop bothering their kin, to persuade them to take along evils as they returned to the Netherworld, and to consult them for supernatural adivce. Instructions accompanying necromantic incantations indicate that the favored method of consulting ghosts involved the preperation of an ointment. This salve- which might contain any one of a variety of ingrediants including such oddities as centipede dust, frog intestines, lion fat, and goose-bone marrow - was smeared on the practitioner's face in order to make the ghost visible to him so that he could converse freely with it. Alternatively, a salve might be rubbed on a figurine or skull that served as housing for the ghost. If the ointments failed in this rather dangerous pursuit, the practitioner was advised to perform a special type of apotopaic ritual (called in Sumerian NAM.BUR2.BI). For those interested in such consultations, professional ghost raisers were available and could be hired."
[For more Necromancy for further detail]
On Ghosts:
Noting the conventional wisdom regarding Mesopotamian ghosts (that is if a person is not buried properly, or does not recieve offerings, or died violently or before their span on earth was satisfied, they would become an angry ghost or demon), Scurlock moves on to special cases, firstly, the case of the ghost of the person who dies unmarried:
"Their fate was to join a special class of demons called the lilû (female lilitû, or more commonly ardat lil, or "lilû's girl"). Lilû and lilītu demons slipped through the windows into people's houses looking for victims to fill the role of husbands and wives who they never had...
..Unfriendly ghosts are described as pursuring, seizing, binding, or even physically abusing their victims; they did not however, need to confine themselves to victims' exterios, but could also get inside them via their ears. Ghosts might annoy people by making unwelcome appearences in their houses, by accosting them in the streets of the city, or by haunting their dreams...
[Dealing with Ghosts]
Even the most unhappy of specters could be rendered harmless with the appropriate magical treatment. Methods of dealing with bothersome ghosts include the tying of magic knots or the manufacture of other amulets, the smearing of magic ointments, the drinking of magic potions, the surrogate burial of a figurine representing the ghost, and the pouring of libations wile reciting incantations.
Offerings to strange ghosts (not including outfitting for figurines and travel provisions) usually consisted of various types of water, vinegar, watered beer, ashes, and breads or flour made from roasted grain, especially šigūšu flour. These offerings were considerably less expensive, as well as less appetizing, than those made to the family ghosts, which were in turn less expensive and less appetizing than those made to the gods invoked in ghost-expelling texts, a progression that reflects the relative desirability contact between men and these three classes of supernatural beings and the amount of benefit expected to flow from such contact.
[Rebirth?]
Given that the chances of a ghost acutally receiving the necceary funerary offerings in perpetuity is rather remote, there would soon have been more wretched beggars and angre ghosts than happy ancestors. Moreover, the dead would have dangerously outnumbered the living if there had not been a mechanism by which old souls were recycled as new human beings. Childbirth incantations describe the baby in the amniotic sac as a "boat" that the mother has loaded with precious substances (representing the child's gender) and that is sailed from the "quay of death" (namely, the netherworld) across the apsû (namely, the amniotic fluid) to the "quay of life" (that is, birth in the upperworld.)
Souls and Spirits:
For Scurlocks insight here, please refer to the Sisig Thread.