Ishtar's army of the dead

Sidoo kale loo yaqaan: Descent of Ishtar, Ishtar's threat

Khuraafaad iyo ugaarsiDhintayAdduunka hore

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

⚔️ Dagaal geli

Markii ugu horreysay ee la diiwaangeliyay

1000 Ciise ka hor

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

Asal

Mesopotamian (Akkadian)

Ciraaq

Waxa sababa

Kale

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

Sida aad mid u noqotid

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

Goorma ayuu markii ugu horreysay soo baxay?

Adduunka hore

Qarniyadii dhexe

1500 ilaa 1899

1900 ilaa 1967

1968 ilaa 1999

2000 ilaa 2009

2010 ilaa maanta

1000 Ciise ka hor

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

qoraallada goobta

Waxa ilaha yidhaahdaan

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

Ilaha

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Isla xilligaas: Adduunka hore

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