s quite naked, and earth is being
heaped over them; this is a specimen of mound burial.

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 route