Could You Survive The Mesopotamian Underworld?

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The Mesopotamian concept of the underworld, or simply ‘life after death’, differed depending on the time period or the region one might’ve found themselves in. Indeed, there was no all encompassing book that detailed the rules or the features of what lurked on ‘the other side’ and there was no fundamental belief that determined whether a person might burn in the netherworld or live forever in the heavens. Naturally, when we think about the myriad of cultures from the Sumerians, Babylonians, Akkadians and Assyrians, there’s bound to be some ideas that were not congruent with each other, which meant that what might’ve been true for one group of people in the ancient times, might not have been the case for another group some thousand years later.

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★ Chapters ★

0:00 Intro
2:08 Underworld In Mythology: Atrahasis
3:33 Underworld In Mythology: Epic of Gilgamesh
4:36 Underworld In Mythology: Gilgamesh, Enkidu and the Netherworld
13:33 Underworld In Mythology: Inanna’s Descent ToThe Netherworld
19:42 Etemmu
22:41 Location of the Underworld
25:18 Ereshkigal
19:28 Places of Interest In The Duat
27:57 Conclusion

💡 TOPICS IN THIS VIDEO 💡
– Mesopotamian History
– Mesopotamian Mythology
– Underworld
– Netherworld
– Demons
– Gods and Goddesses

📚 Sources and Further Reading 📚

– The Book of The Dead
– The Devil’s Atlas – Edward Brooke-Hitching
– The Egyptian Myths – Garry J Shaw
– Atrahasis
– Epic of Gilgamesh
– Gilgamesh, The Life of a Poem – Michael Schmidt
– Inanna’s Descent To The Underworld

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Laura Giraud (https://www.artstation.com/jacknorisk)
Karlo Lottersberger (https://www.artstation.com/karlottersberger)
Iro Pagis (youtube.com/channel/UCDD4xya53Dfz5W3S…)

🎬 Animation by
Michael Merc (https://www.youtube.com/c/MercenaryCamp)

🎶 Music by
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Derek/Brandon Fietcher: https://bit.ly/3e8gJw7​​

🔎HASHTAGS
#Netherworld
#Mythology
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32 thoughts on “Could You Survive The Mesopotamian Underworld?”

  2. It's pretty curious how many pagan cultures critized christianity for having an horrible after-life for those who didn't follow God's rules. Maybe they should have revised their own mithology before saying that…

    Reply

  5. Ereshkigal: "You will have to eat something if you do not want to die again in a more painful way…"
    Me: "Don't worry, honey. My mouth will treat you gently…" 😉
    Ereshkigal: Proceeds to slowly dismember me

    Reply

  7. It seems like the underworld is like a grave based on the conditions of your dead body but your consciousness still continuous to exist regardless. Think of it, a man with a lot of sons can have people visiting their graves, tending to it and leaving offerings like breed, water wine etc. If you are burned and ashes gone with the wind you might have no one to give offerings to your grave. You die sick and people might think you are cursed. You get no proper burrial so you eat whatever comes to your grave. You die in war and lose your right to see your mother and father maybe because you killed someone else's. I get why stillborns gets a good after life because situation is already grimm enough. Reminds me of Norse Hel or Japanese Yomi, ancient people seems to view death as much more horrible thing. It is kind of brutal, you still "live" to a lesser degree unable to die but as a wise man once said " Life is cruel. Why should the afterlife be any different?"

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  10. Thanks, I totally adore your content! :))

    In spiritual self-initiation can help to be able to navigate the underworld(s)- ideally while alive.
    There are many types of underworlds, in the grander scheme of things, the underworld represents the unconscious aspects of the Cosmic Mind –
    The Cosmic Mind ultimately is what we ultimately are – all the gods and demons and angels being archetypal thought patterns with potential representing potentials we ourselves can integrate in terms of skills, wisdom and abilities. Some of them can involve how to transcend the causes of death and detriment, or learning to work with the weapons of the gods, or their tools, and more.

    From the trumpets of the apocalypse, and more..;

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  22. Considering how in tune Mesopotamian peoples were with agrarian life then its no surprise that the underworld would have been so materialistic and demanding. Same goes for Egypt. I guess more emphasis was placed on spiritual enlightenment the more you travelled into the Far East or in Europe, also in Africa.

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  25. Is Kerr (Kur) and the "Mountains of Mashu" the same thing when you see them talking about them in ancient texts? Like in the "Epic of Gilgamesh" when he travels east to the Mountains of Mashu and there enters into a tunnel that leads him into the underworld.

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  28. how sad to think that many souls would find themselves dirty and starving, unable to die, wandering around some dusty cave system for eternity, even if they never did anything wrong in life. Brutal.

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