DEATH IN MESOPOTAMIA
| DEATH IN MESOPOTAMIA. BURIAL CUSTOMS OF THE 19th AND 18th CENTURIES BC |
Death is the source and cradle of culture - so Jan Assmann begins his brilliant book Death and the Underworld in Ancient Egypt. He poses a thesis which, in the simplest terms, boils down to the fact that awareness of one's own mortality has pushed man to create culture. Accustomed to shape the reality around himself, he can’t penetrate the mystery of death, but does not agree with the fact of the absolute end. Powerless toward destiny, the man creates religious and philosophical ideas that rationalizethe world. Appalling in his existence is not only the vision of the inevitability of death, but also the anxiety associated with annihilation. Standing in the face of the incomprehensible, he establishes for himself an area of functioning between the almighty caste of gods, and the world of animals and plants deprived of awareness of its own death. [1] Unable to ignore death, the human being creates concepts for the continuation of life in another dimension.
Every culture proposes a world order, in which death signifies only a transition to another reality, but the vision of this reality is different. According to Assmann, dominate two currents: the first presupposes the continuity of existence through rebirth, the second condemns the deceased to life as a ghost. The first model offers not only the continuation of life free of fear of annihilation. Crossing the threshold of death one trespasses into a better life. Such a concept is in effect in ancient Egypt, and the Amarna reform goes even further bringing out the view that there are no two worlds: this one here and the other there. The world is one, hereand nowwith the sun above it. The dead dwell their graves, their shadows are out in the daytime, and they return to their place with dusk. Christian doctrine also assumes that life on Earth is only a transitional stage: death carries liberation from anxiety, resurrection after the Last Judgment, and eternal life in Heaven. In our culture, the nature of the human being is twofold, consisting of a mortal body and an immortal soul. The soul contains a divine element capable of doing the miracle of being reunited with the body and returning to life. In the premise, we condone the inevitability of partial annihilation, without losing the hope of a successful vision of eternal life - free from fear of death and the worries of earthly existence. Mesopotamian beliefs fall within the second current and define the afterlife as the land of shadows: the dead is condemned to eternal existence and, under no circumstances, can leave this land.
To Kurnugi, land of [no return],
Ishtar daughter of Sin was [determined] to go;
The daughter of Sin was determined to go
To the dark house, dwelling of Erkalla’s god,
To the house which those who enter cannot leave,
On the road where travelling is one-way only, (…). [2]
(The Descent of Ishtar to the Underworld, 1-6)
That netherworld does not offer prospects for a further and better life, nor does it mean annihilation: but it clearly sets the end hereand the absolute necessity of passing there. Immortality is conceived as a privilege of not dying - which is synonymous with eternal life on Earth. Beliefs do not exclude the achievement of in such a way understood immortality, and there are known magical ways, which should to provide this state to the human being. The myths of Gilgamesh and the Herb of Immortality, Adapa and the Southwind say about it, but all efforts, despite the support of the god, or the fulfillment of necessary conditions, such as getting the herb of life by Gilgamesh, end the same way – immortality remains a dream that can’t be realized. The only exception is Utnapishtim, the prototype of the Hebrew Noah. His gods have bestowed upon him immortality in recognition of merits he put to save the human race against the destruction of the Deluge. But the hero must live in seclusion, on the island separated from ordinary mortals by the sea filled with water of death. The privilege of watching the light, our hero has paid for with bitter loneliness.
Death in Mesopotamia signifies the necessity of moving the spirit into a realm of the shadows, which appears as the negative reflection of Earth of the living beings. Jean Bottéro, a major Assyriologist, best defines this phenomenon: In the domain of Death and Underworld there is a basic conviction, which anyway “precedes” and permeates the mythological thought that Death puts an end to everything that is good, clear, cheerful, joyful, motivated, reassuring, and happy in our existence. [3]
“Let there be a spirit from the god’s flesh.
Let it proclaim living (man) as its sign,
So that this be not forgotten let there be a spirit.”
(…)
From the flesh of the god [there was] a spirit.
It proclaimed living (man) as its sign,
And so that this be not forgotten [there was] a spirit. [4]
(Atrahasis, I, 215-21, 228-237)
Eṭemmu is, as Hockmann convincingly argues, the lasting after death personality of the deceased. [5] Nevertheless, it exists as a shadow enslaved by the circumstances: on the one hand, it is not allowed to leave the Land without Return; on the other it appears as a completely material being and feels needs that it can’t satisfy on its own. The existence conditions of eṭemmuare determined by three elements: burial, kind of death, and services – offerings from living relatives. We observe here a mental construction, where a man, while building the image of the underworld and obliging the environment to preserve his person in memory, does not accept the annihilation in the biological and social sense. In this configuration, important are family ties that do not cease after death. Death thus appears as a social integration phenomenon on many levels because, as we will have the opportunity to see, on the relatives falls the obligation to maintain ties with eṭemmu. Any negligence which they commit may adversely affect the whole community. Finally, the deceased is fused with a community of other dead belonging to a family forming a non-described collective of ancestors. [6] Beside the sphere of beliefs, death implies burial and all associated physical (grave) and ritual (regular offerings) setting. All this complicated process can be reconstructed not only on the basis of the message contained in the texts, but also on the material acquired from excavation works.
IMAGINATION OF DEATH AND UNDERWORLD
Regardless of the vision of the future of man after death, every culture creates a picture of his new and mysterious place of residence. The motif of continuation of life is a deeply rooted element of belief, and consequently influences social behavior and the sphere of customs. The Mesopotamian Universe had a vertical and bipolar dimension: it was conceived as a large ball divided into two symmetrical hemispheres. The upper represented Heaven, the lower Hell. Between them, in the sweet waters of Apsu, rested the land inhabited by the living, and just below it in the lower hemisphere was the kingdom of the dead. [7] It was called the Land of No Return, Irkallu, Arallu, Kutu.
There were two entrances to the land of the dead: the first was in the western desert, where every evening the sun god Shamash went down to the underworld, to return to the east; the second was the grave. These two passages, allowing entry into the underground, nowhere in the texts are synchronized, therefore they should not be combined. The second road was only accessible to the dead. The first could be run by the living, primarily the gods – about this way of entrance to the Underworld, we learn from the myths The Descent of Ishtar to the Underworld and Nergal and Ereshkigal: the road through seven gates guarded by Bidu guards led to the land of the dead (another version of this name is Nedu, which means "Open!").
From the story The Descent of Ishtar to the Underworld, we learn how Ishtar, sister of Ereshkigal, decides to deprive the Lady of the Underworld of power, and how she gets into there. While crossing sequent gates she is forced to donate her insignia and clothing, what, as the Guardian explained, belongs to the procedure being obligatory for all. In the well-known Mesopotamian literature, this is the only testimony of such conduct towards those arriving in Irkallu. Following this path, one might think that the deceased, while crossing the gates was successively deprived of ornamentation and robes, and that the presence of grave goods in the graves was due to the necessity dictated by requirements of the underground deities. However, the myth of Nergal and Ereshkigal moves away these suppositions. In the Guardian's assertion, there is a trick: while providing Ishtar with the standard of such conduct, he weakens her vigilance, as a result she stands naked and defenseless in front of the Lady of the Underground. She manages to return from the land of the dead, provided that she will send another deity to her place. She sends Dumuzi there, her spouse, but because in his absence the fields cease to bring crops and the herds to breed, she negotiates a treaty, under which Dumuzi spends part of the year in the Underworld, and shares a part with Ishtar. Then, in the Underworld, he is replaced by his sister Geshtinanna, because according to the law, the number of dead must match. The only deity that get out from the realm of shades was Nergal, but he returned there due to feelings for Ereshkigal.
Would the custom of depriving the deceased of robes and belongings belong to the constant ritual, and would be a condition for entering into the Underworld, the deceased should take care of the appropriate grave goods. As far the burials of wealthy people are richly equipped, archaeological material does not contain so many objects that could be linked to the fact of going through seven gates. And what’s more, we do not deal with material implicating the suppositions about the existence of a customary regularity, which we observe e.g. in the Egyptian culture, where the deceased knows the Underworld and is properly prepared to enter there, or in the Greek religion, where before the funeral, in the mouth of a dead person placed was a coin intended for paying to Charon.
There is also a version by which, to reach Irkallu, the dead person had to cross the Hubur River with a guide called Humuttabal. His name was "quick, take me there," and as can be supposed would be an archetype of the Greek Charon. From the text The Babylonian Theodicy follows that there was even a saying related to death:
Our fathers in fact give up and go the way of death
It is an old saying that they cross the river Hubur. [8]
(The Babylonian Theodicy, I, 16-17)
The only example, when the spirit of the deceased manages to meet with the living comes from the myth of Gilgamesh, and precisely from the passage describing how the greed of the Underworld puts an end to his friendship with Enkidu. A misadventure makes that Gilgamesh drops into Underworld his pukkuand mikku (interpreted as musical instruments). His friend offers to bring them, but is "caught up by the Underworld" and must be considered dead. Gilgamesh spares no strength to get comrade out of trouble, he appeals to the gods, but only Ea will show some understanding. He will command Nergal to allow Enkidu's ghost to leave through a hole dug out in the ground, and to tell the friend about rules in force in the Land without Return.
These myths give an idea of the organization of the underground world. Two gods held power there: Ereshkigal - Lady of the Underworld and her husband Nergal. For the first time this couple appeared as husband and wife in religious texts from the Old Babylonian period, where they were called Enlil and Ninlil of the underground world. Both were responsible for many of the lesser deities, who guard the world of the dead and protect the living from the catastrophic consequences of their return to the earth. Justice is represented there by Shamash, the supreme judge of the gods. He examined the relationships between the living and the dead, punishing the spirits, who for no reason disquieted the living and tried that those being solitary and forgotten were given the funeral offerings. At the same time, he was guarding the correctness of the burial and burial rites.
The notion of images of Death and of the demons, we obtain also from the text Underworld Vision of an Assyrian Prince:
Death had the head of a dragon, his hands were human and his feet [...] (...)
Humut-tabal, the ferryman of the underworld, had an Anzû head, his four hands and feet [...] (...)
Bidu (Nedu), the porter of the underworld, had a lion’s head, and human hands, his feet were those of a bird. [9]
(Underworld Vision of an Assyrian Prince, r. 3, 4, 7)
And such a pessimistic vision of existence in the Underworld presents to Gilgamesh Enkidu:
[He bound] my arms like (the wings of a bird,
to lead me captive to the house of darkness, the seat of Irkalla:
to the house which those who enter cannot leave,
on the journey whose way cannot be retraced;
to the house whose residents are deprived of light,
Where dust is their sustenance, their food clay.
They are clad like birds in coats of feathers,
and they cannot see light but dwell in darkness. [10]
(Gilgamesh Epic, VII, 183-190)
Eţemmu, although it manifests itself in the form of the ghost of a dead, can’t function without real attachment in the present - the element that binds it to reality is the skeleton. In conceptual terms, Mesopotamians are not capable of abstract thinking. They do not comprehend the phenomenon of death as the ultimate annihilation, and construct a picture of what of the Man will survive, from his body, from his corpse. They assume, undoubtedly, based on experience that these will be bones (eṣemtu), which in their imagination are the essence of the Living. [11] Without them is not possible to get into the realm of shades and to be connected with the ancestors. Therefore, Mesopotamian ceremonial excludes corpse cremation and cares for the burial of the integral body. By contrast, following the literal understanding of things, fate of the ghost depended on the offerings brought by the relatives. Consequently, considerable importance was attributed to the number of offspring. This illustrates the conversation between Gilgamesh and Enkidu’s spirit:
‘Did you see him who had one son?’
‘I saw him.’
‘How does he fare?’
‘He weeps bitterly at the wooden peg which was driven into his wall.’
‘Did you see him who had two sons?’
‘I saw him.’
‘How does he fare?’
‘He sits on a couple of bricks, eating bread." (...)
‘Did you see him who had seven sons?’
‘I saw him.’
‘How does he fare?’
‘As a companion of the gods, he sits on a throne and listens to judgments.’ (…)
‘Did you see the spirit of him who has no funerary offerings?’
‘I saw him.’
‘How does he fare?’
‘He eats the scraps and the crumbs ...... tossed out in the street.”
‘Did you see him hit by a ship’s board (when diving)?’
‘How does he fare?’
‘“Alas, my mother!" the man cries to her, as he pulls out the ship’s board [...]’
‘Did you see my little stillborn children who never knew existence?’
‘I saw them.’
‘How do they fare?’
‘They play at a table of gold and silver, laden with honey and ghee.’
‘Did you see him who died […]?’
‘I saw him.’
‘How does he fare?
‘He lies on a bed of the gods.’
‘Did you see the one who was set on fire?’
‘I did not see him. His spirit is not about. His smoke went up to the sky.’ [12]
(Gilgamesh, Enkidu and the Underworld, 254-257, 266-7, 292-303)
The basic condition in order the ghost of a deceased could get into Irkallu was the burial. The duty to celebrate a funeral rested on family members, especially the eldest son, who inherited a proportionally greater part of his father's assets than younger siblings. In case the deceased had no children, other relatives - brothers and sisters of him - were obliged to provide the burial and to celebrate the rituals. In the second millennium BC persons deprived of their family often entered into adoption agreements, in which, in return for the transfer of property, they were guaranteed that the adopted person will take care of the burial, will carry out the funeral rituals and will cultivate the ancestor veneration. [13]
The dead, who had many sons were in better situation: more persons brought them offerings, and in consequence, cared about their existence in the underworld. Thanks to the living, existence of the deceased in the Underworld was bearable, and if relatives turned out to be caring and generous - comfortable. Only unborn children enjoyed special considerations and could function without caring about support from living family members. The situation of the dead, who did not have a guardian or someone who would care for their existence in Irkallu, was dramatic. They wandered around the great plain of the Underworld choking on clay and dust. Those who were not buried, was waiting the worst fate - wandering around steppe and feeding on food scraps. It was believed that the wandering ghost, especially one neglected by the loved ones, transforms into a malicious demon capable of causing people to be mad and ill. What is more, the spirit, whom worship was neglected, could have had a fatal impact on the living. To ward off evil spirits, used were magical formulas - judging from their content, practiced were rituals addressed to spirits, including anonymous ones. [14]
Particular circumstances of death and the burial-related adventures aroused terror and confusion. We have a letter from the governor of Qattunan, Bahdi-Līm, who found himself in an extremely awkward position. In his subordinate area, king Qarni-Līm, no less than the right hand of the great Zimri-Līm of Mari, the ruler of northern Mesopotamia, was murdered. To make matters worse, the deceased was dismembered by severing his head. Bahdi-Līm worried himself for the safety of the local residents, because the head was found, but missing the rest of the body. Should the burial of the head be enough to protect the population against the attacks of malicious eṭemmu? Besides, the burial of the king requires increased efforts. And that the matter is beyond his competence, he asks for help Zimri-Līm, his superior in the legal and those related to worship matters, in such a way reporting this event:
J’ai donne des orders en bonne et due forme à Yaqqim-Addu and à Zimrî-Addu de faire le tour [des villages] et ils ont fait la tour sans retrouver son cadavre. En outre, j’ai entendu dire ceci: “on a envelope son cadaver dans des lignes et on a l’abandonné au Ḫabur. À present, je n’ai pas trouvé son cadaver et sa tête se trouvé à Qaṭṭunân. Sa tête doit-elle être enterré? Et dans quelle ville doit-elle être enterrée? L’endroit où elle sera enterrée sera-t-il à l’extérieur ou à l’intérieur de la ville? Lorsque nous l’enterrons, l’enterrerons-nous de la façon détournée? Tous sont à l’affût de se que je vais faire. Que mon seigneur m’écrive ce qu’il doit en être. [15]
(ARM VI, 37)
It can be assumed that the problems of related nature have often caused unrest in the minds of local communities.
On the family of the deceased rested not only the obligation of making a funeral, but also of bringing regular offerings at the burial site. Consequently, the desecration of the grave was considered one of the worst offenses that could be allowed. On the one hand, devastation of burials destroyed the place of offering sacrifices to ancestors and thus deprived them of eternal means of living. On the other hand, through the annihilation of mortal remains, eţemmucould be completely and definitively destroyed. The Assyrian rulers did not hesitate to reach for such extreme solutions to the opponents. Ashurbanipal reports how he settled matters with them:
I have laid waste, destroyed and exposed to the sun the tombs of their most ancient and most recent sovereigns, who did not fear my sovereigns Assur and Ishtar, and who troubled my forefathers. I have taken their bones to Assyria. I have imposed unquietness on their spirits, and I have deprived them of offerings of food and the libation of water. [16]
Admittedly, the texts do not mention that the little ones were going for such extreme behaviors, but from the relatives' point of view, it is safest to bury the body under the floor of the house and this type of burial was often practiced. It made it easier to keep in touch with the deceased, but it also gave birth to a number of serious complications, even in case of necessity to sell the real property or to give it up for a debt. The law regulated such situations: the debtors could redeem the property for half the market price. In case of moving, the mortal remains of the deceased were also to be taken. Losing the chance of patrimony recovery brought scandal into the family, so people threatened with losing the home in which the ancestors were buried would mobilize the entire family to accumulate adequate amounts. A certain Akatiya writes to her brother:
“Prends tout l’argent qui pourrait tomber dans tes mains et viens avec (cet) argent; libère (de toute obligation) les esprits de nos anc^estres at ‘le front de la maison; de notre père car il y va de ton renom! Un homme malvillent ne doit pas mal agir vis-à-vis de la maison do notre père” . [17]
In difficult situation are the spirits of ancestors of merchants from Kanesh. Merchants leave Ashur for years, leaving their homes under the care of their wives, but the latter do not have the authority to practice the kispumrituals. They often complain that the dead disquiet them in their sleep. Spirits have also this characteristic that they communicate different things, such as the future. Understanding them, helps women who are struggling with the interpretation of dreams. The meaning of these messages is very different and, as evidenced by the letters, the cause may also be their badly conduct. Women living in Ashur address one of the family members with such words:
‘Ici (à Aššur), nous consultons les oniromancienes, les devineresses et les esprits; le dieu Aššur ne cesse de prévenir: tu aimes (trop) ‘argent et mépris ta vie! Ne peux-tu faire Plaisir au dieu Aššur dans la Ville (d’Aššur)? S’il te plait, dès que tu auras pris connaissance de (cette) letter, viens, rends visite au dieu Aššur et sauve ta vie!’ [18]
It is important for us today to realize that relationships with the ancestral spirits are not limited to sporadic rituals done out of fear. They belong to the everyday of the Mesopotamians. The deceased relatives, in their own way, are constantly present in family life. Dreams with their participation require interpretation and consultation with specialists. Unfortunate investments and debts undermine their safety in the Underworld and put a shadow on the honor of the family. Concerned to the same extent with their financial condition, as with the possibility of losing the graves of ancestors, and consequently the inability to use the support of dead relatives. Not to mention the miseries that the latter can bring.
DEATH AND FUNERAL
Descent from this world was an important event in the life of the family and, as may be expected, the community. Bypassing the events of violent death, a man passes away in carefully planned circumstances. Dying in Mesopotamia fits into the anthropological model of transition ritual: the transitional phase when the individual is still part of the community, the phase of social exclusion and the reintegration phase - when the deceased returns to the public but his position changes. Here we have the features typical for the first phase: the participation of members of the community in the ritual of "last breath". With this moment, we go to the phase of exclusion. It covers the period between giving up the spirit and it reaching Irkallu. The offering sacrifice to eţemmu, as the ancestral spirit, corresponds to the third phase.
The dying person is surrounded by loving ones, who have already taken the appropriate steps to give adequate setting to the parting. Nobody hides from him the preparations, it is followed by a ritual vigil at the dying:
The family is assembled to bend down (from grief) before the time,
Te in-laws stand darkly.
My brothers are drenched in their blood as ecstatic,
My sisters sprinkle pressed oil on me. [19]
(A Prayer to Marduk, 9’-12’)
My grave was waiting, and my funeral paraphernalia ready,
Before I had died lamentation for me was finished. [20]
(The Righteous Sufferer, II, 114-15)
As far as the generalizations are concerned, it seems that during the vigil there appeared professional mourners, the sick person was washed, the feast and the burial place were prepared. After releasing the last breath, the corpse was subjected to special preparation. The dead man's eyelids were painted with antimony, and all holes in the body were covered with shells, pearls, silver or gold plates. The alternative was to cover the face of the dead with linen fabric.
(…) he felt his heart, but it was not beating any more.
He covered (his) friend(veiling) his face like a bride, [21]
(Gilgamesh Epic, VIII, 58-59)
The treatments were supposed to prevent the penetration of bad powers from the nether world into the body. Interestingly, in the same way proceeded has been with newborns. Therefore, the conception of death can be interpreted as a rebirth in the new reality. The anointed corpses were dressed in clean garments and put on were ornaments. Such costume stood out the persons going to the Underworld - both from among the living, who at the mourning time wore rags, and also from among the deceased, staying there for a long time. This is referred to in a later version of the Gilgamesh epic: when Enkidu went to the Land without Return, Gilgamesh gave him instructions to protect him from being recognized as a deceased newcomer and thus enable him to return to the earth.
“If [ you are going to descend] to the Netherworld,
[you should pay heed to] my instructions!
[You must not dress in] a clean garment,
they will identify you as a stranger!
You must not anoint yourself with sweet oil from a flask,
at the smell of it they will gather around you!
You must not hurl a throwstick at the Netherworld,
those struck by the throwstick will surround you!
You must not carry a staff in your hand,
the shades tremble before you!
You must not wear sandals on your feet,
You must not make a noise in the Netherworld!
You must not kiss the wife you love,
you must not strike the wife you hate,
you must not kiss the son you love,
you must not kiss the son you hate,
the outcry of the Netherworld will size you.” [22]
(Gilgamesh Epic, XII, 11-27)
Enkidu disregarded the advice of the friend, violated all recommendations and was "caught by the Underworld". Thus, the quoted fragment describes, how the deceased should look like while going to Irkallu. Interestingly, the recommendations on preservation mean that the deceased not only hopes to meet his loved ones, but also expresses the emotions he has had on the earth. The corpse was laid on a bier padded with a clean fabric. Next to it, on the left side was a chair - depending on the period, it could also be statues or steles. Probably to this element of rituals refers a fragment describing Gilgamesh's plans for Enkidu's burial:
‘Forgemaster! [Lapidary! Coppersmith! Goldsmith! Jeweller!
Make my friend, […]’ he fashioned a statue of his friend:
The limbs of my friend [are of …]; your eyebrows are of lapis lazuli,
Your chest of gold, your body [is of … ] [23]
(Gilgamesh Epic, VIII, 67-72)
It was believed that after reading the special release formula, the soul of the deceased sat down on the chair. At that time, a funeral sacrifice was offered for the first time. The soul was not the sole beneficiary of the offerings; at that time sacrifices were also brought to Ereshkigal, the Annunaki deities, and the spirits of the ancestors. This was supposed to provide a dead friendly reception in the Underworld. [24] It was believed that the soul, until the burial, and approval of the correct conducting of the rites, stayed near the earth’s crust. The chair, or its substitutes, was the temporary headquarters of the spirit and its representation in this world. [25]
The funeral celebrations of king have dragged on for days. After Gilgamesh's death in the lamentations, we read:
(…)the plunderer of many countries has lain down and is never to rise again […]
He who climbed the mountains has lain down and is never to rise again.
He has lain down on his death-bed and is never to rise again.
He has lain down on couch and is never to rise again.
Unable to stand up, unable to sit down, he laments,
Unable to eat, unable to drink he laments. [26]
(The Death of Gilgamesh, segment A, 11-16)
The events that followed after death and the accompanying rites gave an opportunity to emphasize the importance of the deceased, which he enjoyed in his lifetime. The higher the social position, the higher were the expectations for the splendor of the ceremony, the greater were the financial expenses for the grave and the rituals associated with the posthumous cult.
From the moment of death to the end of the funeral, the family was obliged to show sorrow. A sign of mourning was their appearance full of abnegation: the relatives of a deceased put aside adornments, were dressing clothes of sack fabric, walking unwashed and untidy. Demonstration of despair encompassed a variety of behaviors such as tousling hair, sprinkling ashes, smudging with dung, self-mutilation and tearing clothes. We are dealing with a code that signals the presence of death. At the same time, the inmates symbolically protected themselves from the bad influence of the deceased by resorting to a change in appearance - by definition being a denial of the standards obligatory at dressing the corpses. As Enkidu enters the realm of the shadows, looking like newcomers, so they do everything to distinguish themselves from the deceased. Death rituals exclude close ones of the deceased from participation in the life of the community - by communing with death and complicity in the ritual of passage, they pose a potential threat to it. [27]
Good habit required to hire professional mourners, both men and women, to mourn the deceased. Judging from the texts, the lead of the lament was entrusted to the gala/kalupriest, so-called priest-mourner. It is interesting that he appears in women's robes and that the dealt him out food rations, are being recorded on the women's side. It is believed that this clothing protected him from the fatal effects of death. Especially vulnerable was the fertility of women, so only a woman after menopause could become a professional mourner. [28]
The leading theme of the lamentation was of course the deceased person. Despair was expressed by the abandoned loved ones and friends, and the songs were of various forms. The galapriest idealizes in these songs the image of the deceased and its relationship with his associates. The touching dialogue between a certain Assyrian and his wife, deceased after giving birth, brings a picture of unwavering happiness and attachment:
“Why are you cast adrift like a boat in the midst of the stream, your rungs broken, your ropes cut off? Why, your face veiled, do you cross the river of Assur?"
" How could I not be cast adrift, my ropes not be cut? On the day I bore fruit, how happy I was! I was happy; happy was my husband. On the day the labor pains, my face became darkened, on the day I gave birth my eyes became clouded. With my hands opened (in supplication), I prayed to Belet-ili, (saying): ‘You are the mother of those who give birth, save my life!’ (But) when Belet-ili heard me, she veiled her face (saying): ‘[...] why do you keep praying to me?’ [... In] those days (when) I was with my husband, (when) I lived with him, who was my lover, death slunk stealthily into my bedroom. He made me leave my house; he separated me from my husband (and) set my feet to a country from which I will never come back”. [29]
Gilgamesh, in turn, wants to preserve for his posterity a picture of the friend as a fearless hero and a devoted companion:
“Hear me, O young men, Hear [me!]
Hear me, O elders of [the populous city, Uruk], hear me!
I shell mourn Enkidu, my friend
Like a professional mourning woman, I shall lament bitterly.
The axe at my side, in which my arm trusted,
the sword of my belt, the shield in front of me,
My festive garment, the girdle of my delight;
[...]
We (it was) who joined forces and climbed the [uplands,]
seized the Bull of Heaven and [killed it,]
destroyed Humbaba, who [dwelt in Cedar] Forest.
Now what sleep is it that has seized [you?]
You have become unconscious and cannot hear [me!]” [30]
(Gilgamesh Epic, VIII, 42-48, 52-56)
The hero remains inconsolable and emphasizes the enormity of the losses through a series of sublime and honorable expressions he uses toward Enkidu, and by recalling the glorious memories of the adventures they have shared. While reading the last two sentences of this passage one can get the impression that Gilgamesh does not fully understand what and why has happened to his friend. Death he calls a "dream," which corresponds most closely to funeral texts, where the dead is said to "fall asleep" (ṣalâlu) at the moment of death. [31]
The expression of grief and at the same time farewell to the deceased were also feasts. The body attached to the chair accompanied the relatives in a solemn meal. The stone carvings depicting the dead rulers show them sitting on a decorative chair with a cup in their hand.
The body of the deceased, as we could see, is actively used in the farewell rites. It is difficult to determine to what extent the bodies were manipulated, but apart from the participation in the feast, it can be assumed that they remained exposed at home, as did grave goods. [32] The text from the epic of Gilgamesh suggests that the funeral was waited seven days after the death:
My friend Enkidu whom I love so deeply, who with me went through every danger,
the doom of mankind overtook him, for six days and seven nights I wept over him.
I did not give him up for burial, until a maggot fell from his nostril. [33]
(Gilgamesh Epic, XII, 56-60)
It seems that such a long delay in burial may have been due to fears of burying a living person - the first signs of decay gave confidence that it would not happen. Nevertheless, the letters from Mari concerning the circumstances of death and burial are in contradiction with such an assumption. These sources indicate that the dead, with some exceptions, were buried the next day.
Les trois fils de Bataḫrum, le […] viennent de mourir, tou ensemble. Le premier jour, ils ont été maladies et Bataḫrum m’q envoyé un message pour (avoir) un devin; je lui ai alors envoyé un devin. Le deuxième jour, à la tombée de la nuit, il sont morts, tout ensamble. Après une nuit sur le lit, on les a fait sortir et on les enterrés. [34]
(ARM XXVI/1, 280, 5-13)
This is also confirmed by the so-called death certificates and funerals – a type of administrative documents. It is considered that they were used to determine the number of employees on the farm, what allowed to determine the quantity of food rations. [35]
Depuis le 12 de mois iii, Bettâ est morte; on l’a enterrée le 13. Le 13/iii/Samsudiatana a(= year 11). [36]
(Edinburgh, 19, 1-10)
From one of the texts from Kaneš, concerning the settlement of the burial costs of an Assyrian woman, Ištar-lamassi, it appears that the rituals covered two days - which would correspond to the thesis of a quick burial. During the two-day rite of mourning and proper feast, 13 beer jugs and four sheep were consumed. All together it was 20 shekels of silver - the equivalent of 20 sheep. [37] Sometimes, however, it was necessary to wait for the funeral - people were not buried on holy days and under particular conditions. For the period of construction of the temple Eninu, Gudea forbade funerals for fear of violating sacrum of the place:
Aucune houe ne fut utilisée dans le cimetière de la ville, aucun cadavre ne fut enterré, aucungalane joua de harpe ni ne fit retenir de lamentation, aucune plereuse ne se lamenta(…). [38]
(Gudea, Statue B, col. V, 1-4)
Depositing the body to the grave was the final stage of the funeral. To the gala priest conducting the rituals it was left to inform the god Shamash that the ceremony proceeded in a proper way and the spirit found its peace:
The petitioner is careful to point out to Utu that the various aspects of the burial have been executed properly, i.e. the relatives and friends of the deceased are mourning over him, the gifts have been presented to Utu and his heir, the priests in the netherworld have given the proper offerings, the netherworld rites, whatever that might involve, have been executed and finally the galapriest has fulfilled his funeral functions. [39]
The priest was paid with food: bread, beer or grain. More affluent families could afford to hire musicians and professional mourners, who also received pay in the form of food.
An important element of the rites was bringing the deceased gifts into the grave. They usually consisted of vessels which, according to written sources, were filled with meat, beer, barley, fish, dates or yogurt. It also appears from the texts that sometimes donations were made to the graves for the deities of the underground world, perhaps to gain their favor. Gifts for the deity of the underworld took to the grave among others, Gilgamesh (Death of Gilgamesh) and Ur-Namma (Death of Ur-Namma and his descent to the Underworld). Upon the submission of the deceased into the earth, came a period of mourning, as shown in the Mari texts, seven days. The bath meant a symbolic act of purification, ended mourning, and meant a return to normal life.
THE VENERATION OF THE DEAD AND OF THE ANCESTORS
The closure of the grave did not mean breaking ties with the deceased. To maintain them assured the kispumritual. In the funeral context kispummeans the sacrifices brought to the spirit of the dead during the funeral, but not only. It is well known that this term also covers rituals held at the grave. These offerings, in a sense, can be seen as commensalism - joint meals with the dead.
The person responsible for taking care of the soul was called pāqidu - this was usually done by a relative of the deceased. His duties included performing kispum, performing libations by pouring water (mȇ nakȗ), and uttering the name of the deceased (šuma zakāru). The most frequent duties of the pāqidu were attributed to the oldest son. This was not exclusively a male domain, as is shown by a testament text from Susa (from the Old Babylonian period), from which it appears that the daughter would be responsible for performing the kispum ritual.
Angesichts seines Todesschicksals den Klumpen von der Vorder- und Rückseite zerbrach er. Und Narubtu, seiner Tochter gab er (ihn) (und er sagte:) Während ich lebe, wirst du mir Brot geben. Nachdem ich gestorben bin, wirst du mir die “Totenpflege” ausführen. [40]
Since these obligations are one of the conditions in the adoption agreements, they are assumed to be inherited. For example, in the Middle Bronze Age text, it is said that the adopted person after the death of the adoptive person should celebrate for her the cult.
As long as Ina-Uruk-rišat (the adopter) lives, Etirtum (the adoptee) shall revere her; when Ina-uruk-rišat dies, Etirtum, her daughter, shall pour water for her. [41]
(BE XIV, 40, ll. 11-15)
During the Old Babylonian period, the direct recipient of the kispumwas the father of the donor. In the case of private kispum, the name of the last deceased was mentioned in the kispumin honor of a member of the royal family. The cult secured the survival of all the dead, including those whose existence had blurred in memory over time. In the sources, there are different dates for performing kispum. Often with the offerings for the dead is connected the month abu (literally "father, ancestor") or ajjaru. [42] The ritual was most often celebrated on the day of new moon. There is a document, in which the sender asks his brother to send garlic, onions and several types of fish and asks:
“Während des ganzen Jahres für die “Totenplege” des Neumondtages im Haus deines Vaters, was werde ich geben?” [43]
It should therefore be assumed that kispumwas celebrated throughout the year during the days of the new moon. In Mari, the kispumwas celebrated on the 1st and the 16th of the month. It seems that this, how often the ritual was performed, depended, first of all, on the affluence and position of the deceased's family. Royal family members were allowed to make kispumtwice a month (in the day of the new and the full moon). In addition, members of the family gathered for a ritual meal to seek advice from dead ancestors and deities of the Underworld. [44]
In frame of the kispum offerings for the dead, the most common were water, bread, flour, wine, oil, hot bouillon, beer seasoned with roasted grain, honey, sometimes also meat. In the text CT 45, 99, from the Old Babylonian period, listed is a much richer set of offerings that can be divided into three categories: food (flour, dates, bread, beer, etc.), daily life articles (bowls, leather articles, etc.) and adornments (earrings, diadems, shoulder straps, bracelets). [45]
The quantity and variety indicates that these meals were actually eaten during the feast accompanying kispum. Perhaps the sacrifice itself had a character of libation, and individual bites were put/thrown in front of the grave. Or the remnants of the meal were treated as a sacrifice. It is difficult to imagine that all this food was so left in front of the grave. The customary location of the burials, that is, in the homestead of a residential home, facilitated such meetings, in such conditions it was easier to gather in the family circle and to eat a ceremonial meal that fulfilled the ritual requirements. However, it should be noted that these rules do not belong to the rigid ones. The less fortunate people sacrificed and consumed modest meals - such as those eaten on a daily basis, i.e. bread, onions, cereals. This did neither detract from the value of the offering nor reduced the status of the ritual itself.
The above evidence of efforts made to ensure the posthumous cult clearly shows how the future existence in the Underworld gave the people rise to great concern. The only hope for a passable life after death, seemed to be in offerings made by the loved ones in the form of kispum ritual. The deceased was so basically dependent on his surviving relatives. At the same time, it was thought that theeţemmuof the deceased could support the living members of the family, who had asked for help. Also known is a text, where the praying man asks his ancestor to pray to Gilgamesh and Shamash on behalf of the suffering person. In another one, the son asks the deceased father to carry away his sin. [46] Thus, the worship of the dead ancestors had a triple purpose: to improve their fate in the Underworld and to hope for the care of spirits over living family members and to intercede with the gods in their affairs. In the beginning of the second millennium BC we observe an intensified development of the home cult, whose tangible evidence is the setting of ornamental altars in the main premises of houses, e.g. in Ur. Not by chance, chamber tombs, which cover the remains of dead ancestors, were often placed under the floor of the same room. In the texts, we encounter also mentions of images of the ancestors, who were inherited after the death of the father by the eldest son, together with the obligation to perform the worship of the deceased.
FOOTNOTES
[1] Assmann 2001, 17-28.
[2] Dalley 1990, 155.
[3] Dans la domaine de la Mort et de ‘Au-delà la seule conviction profonde qui d’allieurs a »précédé« et imprégné toute l’elaboration mythologique, c’était que le Trépas deveit metre un terme à tout ce qu’il y a de positif,
de lumineaux, de bruyant, de joyeux, d’actif, de réeconfortant et d’heureux dans notre existence. Bottéro 1980, 43.
[4] Lambert – Millard 1969, 59.
[5] Hockmann 2010, 14.
[6] Hockmann 2010, 25.
[7] Bottéro 1980, 29-30.
[8] Lambert 1960, 71.
[9] Livingstone 1989, 71-72.
[10] George 2004, 645.
[11] Bottéro 1980, 27-28.
[12] Black et al., 2004, 37-39.
[13] Bayliss 1973, 116-120.
[14] KAR 227, col. III 8-24 i 27-50; LKA No. 89, translated by Ebeling 1931, 131-132.
[15] Charpin 2008, 74.
[16] Fiorina 1985, 62.
[17] Kt k/93 74: 37-42. Michel 2008, 190.
[18] TC 1 5: 4-17. Michel 2008, 193.
[19] Ugaritica 5, no. 162, Oshima 2011, 209.
[20] Lambert 1960, 46.
[21] George 2004, 655.
[22] George 2004, 729.
[23] George 2004, 657.
[24] Tsukimoto 1985, 84.
[25] Scurlock 2002, 1-4.
[26] Electronic Corpus of Sumerian Literature. The death of Gilgamesh; A version from Nibru. http://etcsl.orinst.ox.ac.uk/section1/tr1813.htm(consulted on June 27th, 2019).
[27] Hertz 2007, 70-71.
[28] Cohen 2005, 55
[29] Reiner 1985, 86-89.
[30] George 2003, 655.
[31] Bottéro 1980, 28.
[32] Łyczkowska 1998, 46.
[33] George 2003, 681.
[34] Charpin 2008, 71.
[35] Whiting 1990, 570 n. 92.
[36] Charpin 2008, 72.
[37] Veenhof 2008, 112.
[38] Charpin 2008, 73, n. 22.
[39] YBC 9875: 41-46, Cohen 1977, 2.
[40] MDP 23, 285: 10-16, Tsukimoto 1985, 53.
[41] Bayliss 1973, 120.
[42] TLB 1, 92: 32-38,Tsukimoto 1985, 46.
[43] CT 43, 106: 17-19, Tsukimoto 1985, 47.
[44] Bottéro 1980, 38.
[45] Tsukimoto 1980, 129-135.
[46] Skaist 1980, 126-127.
| LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS |
| AJA | American Journal of Archaeology: The Journal of the Archaeological Institute of America (Boston, Concord, Princeton). |
| ARM | Archives royales de Mari (Paris). |
| CT | Cuneiform Texts from Babylonian Tablets in the British Museum (London). |
| HC | The Law Code of Hammurabi of Babylon (Kitchen, Lawrence 2011, vol. 1, 109-186). |
| KAR I | E. Ebeling, Keilschrifttexte aus Assur religiösen Inhalts I/ (=WVDOG 28), Leipzig 1919. |
| KAR I | E. Ebeling, Keilschrifttexte aus Assur religiösen Inhalts II (=WVDOG 34), Leipzig 1923. |
| LKA | E. Ebeling, Literarische Keilschrifttexte aus Assur, Berlin 1953. |
| YBC | Yale Babylonian Collection. |
| YOS | Yale Oriental Series, Babylonian texts. |
| WVDOG | Wissenschaftlische Veröffentlischungen der Deutschen Orient-Gesellschaft, (Leipzig, Berlin, Wiesbaden. |
| ZA | Zeitschrift für Assyriologie und Vorderasiatische Archäologie (Berlin). |
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AVAILABLE ON THE INTERNET
Cassin, E., 1990. Le mort : valeur et représentation en Mésopotamie ancienne, in: Gnoli, G., Vernant, J-P., Le mort, les morts dans les sociétés anciennes, Paris, 355-372
https://books.openedition.org/editionsmsh/7774