Ghosts In Ancient Culture

Ghostology has a long and vivid history. Ghosts were first heard of in the sixteenth century until now. The word “ghost” originated from an ancient term, “gast”, in the evolved modern German language. As time went on, “ghost” became a significant for the disembodied spirit of a deceased person. The people of the ancient time where culturally brought with the understanding that the soul of a human's being survived bodily death and deserved a kind of sustenance in the afterlife based on the kind of life they had lived on earth, how their remains were burried, and how they were remembered by the living. The belief of the afterlife varied according to different cultures, but the constants were that such a realm existed that it been governed by …show more content…
The appearance of the deceased was considered as a misfortune even if it was of a loved one. This understanding was so prevalent that ghost stories could be found with very similar themes, in the ancient cultures of Mesopotamia, Egypt, China, and India. Many books have written stories and theories about Ghosts but they forget to analysis the real role ghosts have played in influencing culture. Ghosts have really played a role in influencing culture throughout the ancient world, despite the belief that Ghosts don’t …show more content…
The land of the living was given names such as; Irkalla, the realm beneath the earth which was mostly known as the “land of no return”, where the souls of the dead dwelt in a dreary darkness, fed off dirt, and sipped from mud puddles. The Mesopotamian culture believed that this existence was the final end for all living, and it was ruled by the dark Queen Ereshkigal. No Ghost was allowed to live the Irkalla for any reason, not even a goddess. This is proven in the poem The Descent Inanna, the Queen of Heaven, Inanna Must find a substitute to take her place once she ascends back to the world of the living, this kind of dispensation, was however given to ghosts who needed to complete some kind of mission. The Mesopotamian people believed that for ghosts to appear, they manifested themselves in some kind of sickness among the living. According to the Scholar Robert D. Biggs, he says that the dead especially dead relatives might trouble the living, particularly if the family obligations to supply offerings were neglected. “Ghosts are more likely to return to trouble the living were by they die unnatural death or were not properly buried” (Robert). The doctors of Mesopotamia known as the “Aus and Asipu” used spells that would placate the ghosts, but before the treatment, the doctor could tell the person to first confess all his or her sins that they could call the Ghost from the world