Ishtar's army of the dead

Ikwabizwa ngokuba: Descent of Ishtar, Ishtar's threat

Iintsomi zemveli namabali amanduloIvuswe ekufeniIhlabathi lamandulo

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

Yiphose edabini

Yabhalwa okokuqala

1000 BC

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

Imvelaphi

Mesopotamian (Akkadian)

IIraq

Oko kuyibangelayo

Okunye

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

Indlela umntu aba yiyo ngayo

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

Yavela nini okokuqala?

Ihlabathi lamandulo Amaxesha Aphakathi 1500 ukuya ku-1899 1900 ukuya ku-1967 1968 ukuya ku-1999 2000 ukuya ku-2009 2010 ukuza kuthi ga namhlanje

1000 BC

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

amanqaku ophando

Oko kuthethwa yimithombo

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

Imithombo

Yonke inyaniso ekweli phepha ivela kule mithombo, ibhalwe ngamazwi ethu. Ubone impazamo? Sixelele ku-[email protected].

Yondla umkhosi. Akukho zintengiso, akukho zilandeli, ihlawulelwa ngumntu omnye. Ithiphu iyigcina ikwi-intanethi.Shiya ithiphu

Ixesha elinye: Ihlabathi lamandulo

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