| Gidim:
The gidim (akkadian etemmu) is, first of all, the spirit of a
dead person, living in the underworld, who must be propitiated and revered.
The condition of such spirits is not, in general, happy, and regular
funerary offerings of food and drink must be made to them. If not fed,
they can become restless and liable to haunt the living. The gidim
is also, then, the ghost who returns from the underworld to persecute the
living. Especially those who had died violent deaths were likely to be
unsettled in the underworld and to return to 'seize' living persons.
They might enter the body through the ear. magic could be employed
against them.
Necromancy, the deliberate raising of
ghosts, was known and practiced in Babylonia. Questions about the
future could be put to a ghost raised in this way, although it was
recognized that this was a very dangerous activity, since a ritual exists to
counteract the ill effects caused by practicing necromancy.
Ghosts were also thought to be able to
cause some diseases. Qāt
etemmi (literally 'hand of the ghost') seems to have been a more or less
psychological illness. On the other hand, sibit etemmi
('seizure by the ghost') appears to have had definite physical symptoms.
(r)
Resource List - all entries are taken verbatim from the
original source:
(r) "Gods, Demons, and Symbols of
Ancient Mesopotamia. An Illustrated Dictionary." Jeremy Black
and Anthony Green. University of Texas Press, Austin. ©1992
|
