Overall Incorporeality

[us4-he2-gal2]

A number of threads on this board touch on the subject of Incorporeality, whether that refers to the spirit that remains after death, the breath (possibly the soul during life), or spirit aspects of deities/demons.
While these topics are still in progress, and maturing elsewhere on the board, I hope this thread may draw these subjects together, expand on them, and allow us to determine whether in addition to conceptual similarities, a broad religious principal might be observed here (and be defined in the process).

An example of this type of observation, is in the excerpts from Lapinkivi that Madness provided (reply#15 Vampire thread):
"That both zaqīqu (ghost, spirit, soul) and napištu (life) were conceived as moving air: wind, breeze or breath (coming from one’s throat). Due to its wind-like nature, the soul was depicted as a bird with wings."

My purpose with this first post is to begin that process, to provide a key for where the relevant articles are found, to add a resource or two, and to use typographically correct renderings of these words (in some cases, for the first time - see 'from fingers to forks'.) There are three items under discussion:



1. Sum. Zi/ Akk. Nipištu (Current on the Living soul thread)
ePSD:
zi [LIFE] (815x: ED IIIa, ED IIIb, Old Akkadian, Lagash II, Ur III, Early Old Babylonian, Old Babylonian) wr. zi; ši; ši-i "life" Akk. napištu

Lapinkivi's remarks ("breath (coming from one's throat")) and some of Katz comments (Living Soul thread, reply#4) suggest a spiritual aspect to the breath. The corresponding Akkadian napištu would appear to have 11 possible uses (CAD):
1. Life, vigor, vitality, good health
2. living beings
3. person, somebody (negated) nobody
4. capital case
5. personnel, persons of menial status, animals counted in a herd
6. body, self
7. breath
8. livelihood, provisions, sustenance
9. throat, neck
10. opening, air hole
11. neckerchief

It's so far a challenging task to analyze the overall use of the word zi, but I think mapping out its use in the literature, understanding the distinctions between the ePSD entries for zi, and acknowledging the signs behind these occurences, will probably be necessary in attempting to substantiate this subtle point. This process should be realized on the 'Living soul' thread as things move along.

A final reference to Katz on the subject (related to the quote from pg.198 on the above thread) reads:
p.235- "In the ancient Mesopotamian civilization the dead were buried with provisions. Funerary customs and written sources reflect a belief that human existence continued after the body had perished. This belief implies a duality in the composition of humankind, a temporary coexistence of two entities - body and soul. Accordingly, after death the soul leaves the body and departs for the netherworld, where all souls assemble and continue an animated existence as spirits, sustained on offerings from their kinsmen. Thus, death is a point in time following the last breath in which human nature is transformed from dualistic to a single-segment entity, and from one reality to another. For us, the first reality is actual and the second mythological. For the Sumerians, however, both realities were actual. The soul was actualized in the breath, which is as tangible as the wind, and, therefore, although unseen, it is a concrete physical entity."

As a side note, I notice Kramer in "The Sumerians" pg.258, refers to a myth:
"When Dumuzi is seized by demons, he pleads with Utu to transform him into a gazelle that he may "betake his soul" to his sister, the goddess Geshtinanna"

Though there is no reference, I believe this is Dumuzi's Dream, line 173, which etcsl have as:
238: "escaped with his life to the holy sheepfold, his sister's sheepfold"
238. amac kug amac nin9-na-ce3 zi-ni ba-ci-in-tum3

So zi-ni is interpreted as life at etcsl, yet referred to as soul by Kramer. Of course that doesn't mean much, on this rather isolated rendering, Kramer may just be loosely interpreting, in the sense of "save our souls".


2. Sum. Gidim and Sum. Im (Current on the Vampire thread, reply#15)
ePSD:
gidim [GHOST] (45x: ED IIIb, Ur III, Old Babylonian) wr. gidim; gidim2 "ghost" Akk. eţemmu

While ePSD gives many mentions of the occurrence of 1. gidim, there are no examples of 2. gidim2 (gi-dím) perhaps this variant is attested in materials not surveyed at ePSD (incantations for example.).

Update on the word Gidim:
This also calls in to question my quote of Hallorans explanation of this word, which as I reported in 'reply 15' reads:

"gidim(2,4,7): spirit, ghost (gig, 'to be sick', + dìm, 'sickness demon', or gi6, 'black', + dim4, 'to approach')."

What is above in brackets is a etymological suggestion by Halloran, as he explains:
"Following the definitions, the lexicon may indicate in a smaller font the constituent elements of words that in origin were compound words, if those elements were clear to me. Etymologies are a normal part of dictionary making, but etymologies are also the most subject to speculation."

So the suggestion of dim3 (dìm) here is speculative, via ePSD Ive seen the sign for dim3 is common to sickness demons such as dimme [(d)dìm-me], and dimea [(d)dìm-me-a] and also by itself means "corpse"
[dìm]. Yet the sign is also present in Hippopotamus [dim3-šah2] so, there would have to be more then just conceptual similarity to explain why Halloran proposes this as a element in the etymology of gidim/gidim2.


Im: for this concept I'm drawing exclusively from Katz 2003, though this only gives the barest detail. On textual references Katz gives is from a lament 'the messenger and the maiden' (pg.202)

line 48 transliteration-
im ì-ku4 -ku4 im bar-ra-è
line 48 translation-
The spirit has entered, the spirit has departed.

'the messenger and the maiden; is also available in:
S.N Kramer 1977 - "The GIR5 and the ki-sikil: A New Sumerian Elegy," in Essays on the Ancient Near East in Memory of J.J> Finkelstein, ed. M. de Jong, Hamden, 139-42
B. Alster 1986 - "Edin-na ú-sag̃-g̃á: Reconstruction, History and Interpretation of a Sumerian Cultic Lament," in Keilschriftliche Literaturen, eds. K. Hecker and W. Sommerfield, CRRAI XXXII, Berlin

I'm not currently able to locate the word im at ePSD, unless this is the entry for im[rain]. This would indicate there is not a 1 to 1 ratio with wind if thats the case, however the Akk. is given as šāru and if the hul is added to the sign, in imhul[wind], the interpretation becomes wind or more specifically "destructive wind." Still I'm not sure the Im[rain] entry corresponds to word/concept Katz refers to (she does of course say a "dead spirit is designated im "wind." pg.197)


3. Sum. Lil2 and Ki-sikil-lil2-la2 and Sum. Sisig - Akk. Zaqiqu (Current on the Vampire thread Reply 11-17)
ePSD:
lil [GHOST] (92x: Ur III, Old Babylonian) wr. lil2 "wind, breeze; ghost" Akk. zīqīqu
kisikil [WOMAN] (158x: ED IIIb, Ur III, Old Babylonian) wr. ki-sikil; lu2ki-sikil; mu-tin; mu-ti-in "young woman"* Akk. ardatu; batultu
[*see bottem of "1. young woman" for ki-sikil-lil2-la2]
sisig [BREEZE] (14x: Old Babylonian, unknown) wr. sig-sig; tumusi-si-ig; si-si-ga; sig3-sig3 "ghost?; storm; breeze, wind" Akk. mehû; zīqīqu?; šāru

Discussion on the Sisig thread has demonstrated scholarly connections between Sisig and Zaqiqu, and the above indicate posts indicate connections between Zaqiqu and lil2 and lil2 and ki-sikil-lil2-la2. Common to all would seem to be a conceptual ambiguity between wind and ghost, though I'm willing to admit this may be the unfinished stage of this study speaking. Still such an ambiguity or dual meaning, is fascinating especially when related to im/wind and to the living soul/breath.


Other Incorporeal topics:
- Lulil [Lú-lil] a name which Katz suggests as meaning 'man-spirit' (pg.205), although it doesnt appear to be written lil2
- Inana in relation to the soul, as Madness's Lapinkivi quotes touch on.

Ive added a Bibliographical Query for those who know a book or want to know a book which would assist on these matters.

[us4-he2-gal2]

An Update with Katz 2010

Hey enenuru:





I thought I'd write a quick update on the subject of incorporeal (or spiritual) notions in Mesopotamia. As is probably obvious by now, I like to obsess of these topics and so this thread was, a few years ago, an attempt to combine the various glimpses of the Mesopotamian spiritual concepts: ZI, LIL2, IM, and GIDIM.



Background information/

This week I have come across a new article by D. Katz, ""The Naked Soul: Deliberations on a Popular Theme" published in "Gazing in the Deep: Studies in honour of Tzvi Abusch" 2010. Interestingly, the author discusses these very same spiritual notions in combination, seeing as much of the material considered in this thread derived from Katz 2003 work this is unlikely to be coincidence. However like the above move to consider these idea's together, Katz is unable to detail precisely how all four notions may have fit together - I will sum parts of the article below in any case.



Now, besides the information and links on the above thread, one may refer to the festival of ghosts thread, see reply #7, for earlier examinations of Katz idea of living soul, some of her discussion on funerary rituals and an application of this to Cohen's festival of ghosts from the Death of Gilgamesh.




Discussing Funerary Rituals and Sacrifice lists/



Katz references again the third millennium administrative texts which record the offerings made on the funerals of Geme-Lama and Su-(d)Su-en, and these texts demonstrate that offerings were made during preceding days of mourning and to the ghost in the grave on the day of burial as well. In concurrence with the purpose of the ritual (to turn the hole in the ground into a gate to the netherworld) the author states "the dead soul was probably released from the body inside the grave.." and this she backs up with an observation of I. Winter, who suggested "that the preparation of the body for the passage to the netherworld was done inside the grave.." and this implies the corpse was laid in the grave a few hours before the release of the spirit.


The IM (again) - releasing the spirit (IM to GIDIM)/


While IM in Sumerian has in the majority of case the connotation of simple wind, Katz isolates 4 texts where the meaning of "dead soul" is clear: The administrative texts containing the list of offerings for the funerals of Shu-(d)Su'en and Tezenmama, and the literary rituals known as "The Messenger and the Maiden" and "Lulil and His Sister" ( published in Katz 2003). Katz refers now to the list of offerings for the funeral of Tezenmama, a daughter of Amar-Suen or Shulgi. The text is notable for its explicit reference to her IM:



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[x] fattened sheep on the day that the wind (im) of Tezenmama was caught (ud - ba-dab5-ba-a). The 1st day. 1 big goat for Ninsumuna, 2 fattened sheep on the day that the libation table of the gidim of Tezenmama was done. The 8th day.

_______






Here the author comments "the text implies that death is not the last breath, that the soul does not leave the body but gets imprisoned in it. This clarifies the instruction of the dead god Ashgi (Lu2-lil2) to his sister to release him.." It would seem that during the mourning ritual, 7 days, the deceased exists as a wind (IM) spirit, on the 8th the transformation to GIDIM has been made, a point marked by the transfer of the spirit to the Netherworld.


The Messenger and the Maiden/


Recapping: The messenger (the deceased) dies far away from home and was whirling in the mountains (as a wind) until his IM arrived for the ritual of the young women whose ritual allowed it to enter the netherworld. "Thus a spirit could escape the body, but without the ritual it could not enter the netherworld. The spirit roams in the world as a liminal, terrifying entity, but is dangerous mainly to its own neglectful family members."






Touching on LIL2 and the combination of the four spiritual concepts:





Lu2-lil2/


Translated "man-spirit" , Lu2-lil2 instructs his sister to call out "his
wind (IM) is released " and thereby his imprisoned soul would leave his body and enter the netherworld." Katz notes that in this text, the OB scribe has inserted an Akkadian gloss translating the Sumerian into Akkadian which reads "his wind has blown away" - interestingly, she suspects the reason is because the the scribe wanted to avoid confusion with the word IM which in most contexts means simply wind. In any case she notes that the meaning spirit is secured especially as "the Old Babylonian Sumerian literary texts express the ethereal quality of the dead soul by the term lil2."


Defining zi, lil2, im and gidim?/


Katz seems clearly to recognize the challenge of defining and fitting these incorporeal concepts into one coherent belief system, and perhaps inspired by the instance of the name Lu2-lil2, gives a brief discussion on these concepts together, which nonetheless contains a good deal of ambiguity. I certainly appreciate this discussion of course lil2 is a complex problem and how it fits into the puzzle is also complex (and its definition as "ethereal spirit" alone won't quite solve the problem of course). Katz tell us then:



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Similar to the transformation from im to gidim upon the entrance to the netherworld, the change from a living to a dead soul is also found in Sumerian Terminology. The living human being has zi "life," "soul" and his breath is usually zi or zi-pag (pa-ag = "nostril?," "to puff"). The Sumerian term that conveys the ethereal quality of the ghost is lil2, which is used for persons as well as places. The dead god Ashgi is called lu2-lil2, not lu2-im, and the sheepfold of Dumuzi has turned into lil2 (DD:260). In essence, im is moving air.

Therefore, im is zi devoid of emotional and intellectual properties. This interpretation means that at the moment of death zi is transformed into im...

________________




She concludes: "The fine differentiation between zi, lil2, im and gidim emerges from the Sumerian texts and seems to be lost after the Old Babylonian period... In the bilingual texts gidim is a general definition for ghosts, which suggests that while the traditional procedure of the ritual was preserved faithfully, its components lost some of their original meaning in the course of time."








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Still to come... A working model of Mesopotamian spirituality?