Since today is Halloween, we will probably be seeing lots of small children dressed as zombies wandering out and about later tonight. You may be surprised to learn, however, that zombie legends are nearly as ancient as writing itself and the earliest references to them come from some of the oldest literature known to man.
The earliest clear reference to zombies comes from the Akkadian epic Ishtar’s Descent into the Netherworld, which is based on an earlier, much more detailed Sumerian original about the goddess Inanna. In both versions, the goddess in question descends to the underworld and pounds on the gates, demanding to be let in. A gatekeeper comes to answer her knocking. The Akkadian version never states the gatekeeper’s name, but the Sumerian version calls him Neti. In the Akkadian version, Ishtar threatens (as translated by Stephanie Dalley):
If you do not open the gate for me to come in,
I shall smash the door and shatter the bolt,
I shall smash the doorpost and overturn the doors,
I shall raise up the dead and they shall eat the living:
And the dead shall outnumber the living!
In the Epic of Gilgamesh, Ishtar makes a similar, but not as descriptive threat to her father Anu:
If you don’t give me the Bull of Heaven,
I shall strike (?) [
I shall set my face towards the infernal regions,
I shall raise up the dead, and they will eat the living,
I shall make the dead outnumber the living!
ABOVE: The Burney Relief, also known as the Queen of Night Relief, is an Old Babylonian relief carving dated to between 1800 and 1750 B.C. It probably depicts either Ishtar or her older sister Ereshkigal, the queen of the underworld.
In these passages, we find all the essential elements of the modern zombie: dead corpses that feed on the flesh of the living and kill simply due to their sheer numbers rather than through any special skills or abilities.
The concept of a zombie, therefore, is as old as humanity, and probably stems from the natural fear of rotting corpses because, in ancient times, if a person had died of a contagious illness, his or her corpse might still be infected and could possible spread the contagion to those touching it.
The etymology of the modern word “zombie,” however, has a bizarre and complex history that many have not heard. In the Kimbundu language of West African, nzambi is a generic word meaning “deity.” Slaves captured from West Africa and taken to Haiti developed their own syncretic folk religion known as voodoo, which combined elements of their native west African religion with Spanish Catholicism.
In voodoo, Baron Samedi is the loa, or spirit, who rules the dead. It is believed that the corpses of those who behave well in life will be allowed to decompose in the ground while their souls are sent to a mystical paradise known as “Guinea.” If a person offends Baron Samedi, however, then Baron Samedi will not allow his or her corpse to decompose and, instead, he or she will be turned into a zombie, which can either be a reanimated corpse without a soul or a soul trapped in this world without a body to reside in.
This goes along with voodoo teachings, which hold that the body and the soul are two separate halves of a person’s being. In Haitian folklore, it is said that a person can cure a zombie by feeding it salt, which will allow the person to attain salvation and be sent to Guinea.
The word zombie entered into popular English usage in 1929 after the horror novel The Magic Island by W.B. Seabrook was published. The book was about an American who travels to Haiti and witnesses voodoo practitioners raising the dead as zombies.
Ironically, the modern concept of a zombie largely stems from George A. Romero’s horror film Night of the Living Dead, which never actually used the word “zombie” once; instead, it referred to the eponymous “living dead” as “ghouls.” It was only later that fans of the movie applied the word zombie to the undead monsters appearing in it.
Interestingly, the word ghoul comes from Arabic ghūl, which is, in turn, derived from the ancient Sumerian word gallu, which referred to a class of demons residing in the underworld whose primary purpose was to snatch hapless mortals and drag them down into the underworld to be tortured.
ABOVE: Persian manuscript illustration depicting ghouls preparing for battle
In Inanna’s Descent into the Underworld, after Inanna eventually escapes the underworld, she is pursued by a horde of gallu demons, demanding that someone else must be sent back to the underworld as her replacement. First, they attempt to claim her hairdresser Shara, but Inanna stops them. Next, they try to snatch her sukkal, or personal attendant, Ninshubur, but Inanna prevents them once again.
Finally, they find Inanna’s husband, Dumuzid sitting on his throne dressed in lavish clothes, totally unconcerned by Inanna’s recent death. In her fury, Inanna orders the gallu to take him. The gallu pursue Dumuzid, but he prays to Inanna’s twin brother Utu, the god of the sun, to save him. Utu transforms Dumuzid into a gazelle, allowing him to escape. Dumuzid seeks refuge in the house of his sister Geshtinanna, the goddess of fertility and agriculture.
Dumuzid hides, but the gallu burst in, demanding to know where he is. Geshtinanna refuses to reveal her brother’s location, even after the gallu brutally torture her, but the gallu go next door and ask an unnamed “friend” of Dumuzid for his location; he tells them right away, without torture. The gallu find Dumuzid and drag him down to the underworld, where he is tortured brutally.
ABOVE: This ancient Sumerian cylinder seal impression depicts gallu demons torturing the god Dumuzid in the underworld.
Ultimately, however, the story does have a somewhat happy ending; Inanna, later regretting her decision to let the gallu take Dumuzid, decrees that he will spend only half the year in the underworld and that he will spend the other half of the year in heaven with her. While Dumuzid is in heaven, his sister Geshtinanna takes his place in the underworld, resulting in the cycle of the seasons.
So we also have, perhaps, the original version of the story of Demeter and Persephone?
Long ago I read that there are only a few stories in the world, and all the others are variations or retellings. Maybe it’s true.
The story of Inanna and Dumuzid is actually thought to have inspired the Greek story of Aphrodite and Adonis. I have not found a reliable source linking it to the story of Persephone, but Samuel Noah Kramer does compare a Sumerian myth involving the abduction of Ereshkigal to the Greek story of Persephone in his book Sumerian Mythology. Nonetheless, since the 1980s, in part due to the writings of Walter Burkert, it has become generally accepted among classical scholars that ancient Greek religion was heavily influenced by religions of the ancient Near East. I only told the very end of the Inanna story here. The whole story is actually much, much longer and more elaborate; the Sumerians had a whole cycle of poems dealing with Inanna. I am planning to write more about the Inanna and Dumuzid myth in a future article.
Great work.