A 3,500-YEAR-OLD GHOST IMAGE:

Babylonian ghost tablet. Photograph British Museum, from the internet.

I know, I know it isn’t really rock art – it’s a Babylonian clay tablet, but a 3,500 year old picture of a ghost is so cool I just could not resist.

Babylonian ghost tablet - enhanced. Photograph British Museum, from the internet.

A Babylonian clay tablet which had been on a shelf in the collections for the British Museum’s Middle Eastern department for decades was recently decoded and this discovery was made. The text on one side of the tablet was spells for a ritual to exorcise ghosts, and on the other side the curator found a previously unknown illustration of the rite. “The ghost tablet, for example, had never been displayed to the public, and no one had translated its text. Nor had anyone noticed the hidden ghostly image on the reverse side of the clay tablet, either. That side appears blank until it’s viewed under a light at just the right angle, when the image of the ghost seems to leap out at the viewer.” (Smith 2021) Any rock art enthusiast is aware of the sometimes requirement for extreme side-lighting to bring out shallow engravings.

“Irving Finkel, the curator of the British Museum’s Middle Eastern department and a specialist in cuneiform, the angular writing system of the ancient Babylonian civilization, recently translated the text of a ritual, which had remained unread and ignored since the British Museum acquired the tablet in the 1800s. At that time, museums across Europe were in a rush to stockpile Babylonian artifacts, and curators would often pay local people to loot clay and stone tablets, along with other artifacts, from archaeological sites in what is now Iraq. Most of those items arrived with little or no information about their context and ended up in storage. The ghost tablet, for example, had never been displayed to the public, and no one had translated its text. Nor had anyone noticed the hidden ghostly image on the reverse side of the clay tablet, either. That side appears blank until it’s viewed under a light at just the right angle, when the image of the ghost seems to leap out at the viewer.” (Smith 2021)

Dr. Irving Finkel, photograph Dale Cherry, 2014.

The tablet was found broken, “at least half of it is missing. But the object still holds carefully detailed instructions on getting rid of pesky ghosts. The directions call for the exorcist to make figurines of a man and woman; prepare two vessels of beer; and, at sunrise, speak the ritual words calling on the Mesopotamian god Shamash , who was responsible for bringing ghosts to the underworld. Finkel says the idea was to transfer the ghost into one of the figurines.” (Gershon 2021)

The illustration on the obverse side of the tablet shows a figure that Finkel identified as female leading the ghost away to the underworld. Finkel stated that the “absolutely spectacular object from antiquity had been overlooked until now. ‘It’s obviously a male ghost and he’s miserable. You can imagine a tall, thin, bearded ghost hanging about the house did get on people’s nerves. The final analysis was that what this ghost needed was a lover’ he said.” (Alberge 2021) Thus, supposedly, the female figurine.

So, the inference is that the ghost was in desperate need of a female companion. “He is shown walking with his arms outstretched, his wrists tied by a rope held by the female, while an accompanying text details a ritual that would dispatch them happily to the underworld.” (Alberge 2021)

It seems remarkable to me that the Babylonians had such a detailed and lengthy rite to exorcise ghosts, as if this were a very common problem. “You dress the man in an everyday shift and equip him with travel provisions. You wrap the woman in four red garments and clothe her in a purple cloth. You give her a golden brooch. You equip her fully with bed, chair, mat, and towel; you give her a comb and a flask. At sunrise towards the sun you make the ritual arrangements and set up two carnelian vessels of beer. You set in place a special vessel and set up a juniper censer with juniper. You draw the curtains like that of the diviner. You draw them in position and say as follows, Shamash[god of the sun and judge of the underworld by of the underworld by night].” (Alberg 2021) And finish with the warning  "do not look behind you." (Alberg 2021)

Having to put up with such a plethora of ghosts could lead to serious problems. “In Mesopotamia, souls could return as ghosts that manifested themselves as sickness among the living. Doctors called on those suffering from these kinds of illness to confess any sins that may have summoned the dead before treating them with spells to placate the ghosts.” (Gershon 2021)

Now where am I going to get two carnelian vessels?

NOTE: The images in this posting were retrieved from the internet with a search for public domain photographs. If any of these images are not intended to be public domain, I apologize, and will happily provide the picture credits if the owner will contact me with them. For further information on these reports you should read the original reports at the sites listed below.

REFERENCES:

Alberge, Dalya, 2021, Figures of Babylon: oldest drawing of a ghost found in British Museum vault, 16 October 2021, https://theguardian.com/culture

Gershon, Livia, 2021, 3,500-Year-Old Babylonian Tablet May Contain Earliest Known Depiction of a Ghost, 22 October 2021, https://www.smithsonianmag.com

Smith, Kiona N., 2021, This is the world’s oldest image of a ghost, Arstechnica.com, https://arstechnica.com/science/2021/10/this-is-the-world’s-oldest-image-of-a-ghost