Ishtar's army of the dead

Maqaa biraa: Descent of Ishtar, Ishtar's threat

Seenaa aadaa fi afoolaDu'aa ka'eAddunyaa durii

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

Lolsiisi

Yeroo jalqabaaf kan galmeeffame

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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

Ka'umsa

Mesopotamian (Akkadian)

Iraaq

Maaltu isa fida

Kan biroo

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

Akkamitti isa taata

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

Yoom jalqaba mul'ate?

Addunyaa durii Jaarraa Gidduugaleessaa 1500 hanga 1899 1900 hanga 1967 1968 hanga 1999 2000 hanga 2009 2010 hanga har'aa

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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

yaadannoo dirree

Maddoonni maal jedhu

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

Maddoota

Dhugaan fuula kana irra jiru hundi maddoota kana irraa dhufe, jechoota keenyaan barreeffame. Dogoggora argitee? [email protected] irratti nutti himi.

Tuuta nyaachisi. Beeksisa hin jiru, hordoftuun hin jiru, nama tokkoon kaffalama. Gumaachi toora irra akka turu godha.Gumaacha kenni

Bara wal fakkaataa: Addunyaa durii

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