According to Herodotus the Babylonians “buried their dead in honey, and had funeral lamentations like the Egyptians".[261] The custom of preserving the body in this manner does not appear to have been an ancient one, and may have resulted from cultural contact with the Nile valley during the late Assyrian period.  So long as the bones were undisturbed, the spirit was supposed to be assured of rest in the Underworld.  This archaic belief was widespread, and finds an echo in the quaint lines over Shakespeare’s grave in Stratford church:—­

    Good friend, for Jesus’ sake forbeare
    To dig the dust enclosed heare;
    Blest be the man that spares these stones,
    And curst be he that moves my bones.

In Babylonia the return of the spirits of the dead was greatly dreaded.  Ishtar once uttered the terrible threat:  “I will cause the dead to rise; they will then eat and live.  The dead will be more numerous than the living.”  When a foreign country was invaded, it was a common custom to break open the tombs and scatter the bones they contained.  Probably it was believed, when such acts of vandalism were committed, that the offended spirits would plague their kinsfolk.  Ghosts always haunted the homes they once lived in, and were as malignant as demons.  It is significant to find in this connection that the bodies of enemies who were slain in battle were not given decent burial, but mutilated and left for birds and beasts of prey to devour.

The demons that plagued the dead might also attack the living.  A fragmentary narrative, which used to be referred to as the “Cuthean Legend of Creation",[262] and has been shown by Mr. L.W.  King to have no connection with the struggle between Merodach and the dragon,[263] deals with a war waged by an ancient king against a horde of evil spirits, led by “the lord of heights, lord of the Anunaki (earth spirits)”.  Some of the supernatural warriors had bodies like birds; others had “raven faces”, and all had been “suckled by Tiamat”.

For three years the king sent out great armies to attack the demons, but “none returned alive”.  Then he decided to go forth himself to save his country from destruction.  So he prepared for the conflict, and took the precaution of performing elaborate and therefore costly religious rites so as to secure the co-operation of the gods.  His expedition was successful, for he routed the supernatural army.  On his return home, he recorded his great victory on tablets which were placed in the shrine of Nergal at Cuthah.

This myth may be an echo of Nergal’s raid against Eresh-ki-gal.  Or, being associated with Cuthah, it may have been composed to encourage burial in that city’s sacred cemetery, which had been cleared by the famous old king of the evil demons which tormented the dead and made seasonal attacks against the living.

CHAPTER X.

BUILDINGS AND LAWS AND CUSTOMS OF BABYLON