Ishtar's army of the dead

E boetse e bitswa: Descent of Ishtar, Ishtar's threat

Ditshomo le dinonwaneBafu ba tsohilengLefatshe la boholoholo

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

Di lwantshe

E ngotswe ka lekgetlo la pele

1000 pele ho Kreste

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

Tshimoloho

Mesopotamian (Akkadian)

Iraq

Se e bakang

Tse ding

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

Kamoo o fetohang e nngwe ya tsona kateng

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

E hlahile neng ka lekgetlo la pele?

Lefatshe la boholoholo Mehla e Bohareng 1500 ho isa 1899 1900 ho isa 1967 1968 ho isa 1999 2000 ho isa 2009 2010 ho fihlela kajeno

1000 pele ho Kreste

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

dinoutu tsa patlisiso

Seo mehlodi e se buang

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

Mehlodi

Ntlha e nngwe le e nngwe leqepheng lena e tswa mehloding ena, e ngotswe ka mantswe a rona. O bone phoso? Re bolelle ho [email protected].

Fepa letshwele. Ha ho dipapatso, ha ho disebedisi tsa ho latela, e lefellwa ke motho a le mong. Tjhelete ya teboho e e boloka inthaneteng.Fana ka tjhelete ya teboho

Mehla e tshwanang: Lefatshe la boholoholo

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