Ishtar's army of the dead

Wɔfrɛ no bio: Descent of Ishtar, Ishtar's threat

Tete nsɛm ne anansesɛmAwufoɔ a wɔnantewTete wiase

The oldest surviving reference to the dead rising to eat the living is a threat, not a story. In the Akkadian Descent of Ishtar the goddess, refused entry to the underworld, promises to release its inhabitants on the world above, and in the Epic of Gilgamesh she repeats the threat to get her way in heaven. The dead never actually rise in either text. The idea itself, a mass of hungry corpses overwhelming the living, was nevertheless already familiar some three thousand years ago.1 2 3

Fa ko

Wɔdii kan kyerɛw

1000 ansa na Kristo

The Akkadian Descent of Ishtar, known from early first-millennium BC tablets found at Nineveh and Assur; the threat also appears in the Epic of Gilgamesh

Mfiase

Mesopotamian (Akkadian)

Iraq

Deɛ ɛde ba

Ɛfoforɔ

The goddess threatens to break open the underworld and let its dead out.

Sɛnea wobɛdane bi

The dead would be released by the goddess; the text notes they do not return by their own choice.

Ɛberɛ bɛn na ɛdii kan puee?

Tete wiase Mfinimfini Mmerɛ 1500 kɔsi 1899 1900 kɔsi 1967 1968 kɔsi 1999 2000 kɔsi 2009 2010 kɔsi ɛnnɛ

1000 ansa na Kristo

The Akkadian Descent of Ishtar, known from early first-millennium BC tablets found at Nineveh and Assur; the threat also appears in the Epic of Gilgamesh

nhwehwɛmu nsɛm

Deɛ fibea no ka

At the gate of the underworld Ishtar threatens to smash the door and raise the dead to devour the living1 2 3

She warns that the dead will then outnumber the living1 2 3

In Gilgamesh she makes the same threat to her father Anu to obtain the Bull of Heaven1 2 3

The Descent of Ishtar runs to 138 lines and was among the first Akkadian literary texts translated in modern times1 2 3

Historians of horror cite the passage as the earliest written image of the flesh-eating dead1 2 3

Fibea

Asɛm biara a ɛwɔ krataafa yi so fi saa fibea yi mu, na yɛde yɛn ankasa nsɛm na akyerɛw. Wohunuu mfomsoɔ bi? Ka kyerɛ yɛn wɔ [email protected].

Ma dɔm no aduane. Dawurubɔ nni hɔ, trackers nni hɔ, onipa baako na ɔtua ho ka. Akyɛdeɛ ma ɛkɔ so wɔ intanɛt so.Ma akyɛdeɛ

Berɛ koro: Tete wiase

Erichtho's reanimated soldierRoman (literary), 61

PhilinnionAncient Greek, 150

The corpse of ThelyphronRoman (literary), 170

BouplagosAncient Greek / Roman, 150

Lugnano child burialLate Roman (Italy), 450

PolykritosAncient Greek, 150