Irving Finkel On The First Ghosts

Video Description

Watch this full podcast episode where Anthony Delany and Maddy Pelling talk with Irving Finkel about the first ghost, going all the way back to ancient Mesopotamia. The earliest evidence of human belief in ghosts comes from 5,000 years ago in Mesopotamia. Who were these first ghosts? What was the underworld they lived in like? What do these most ancient ghosts tell us about today? Maddy and Anthony's guest today, Irving Finkel, Assistant Keeper of Ancient Mesopotamian script, languages and cultures in the Department of the Middle East in the British Museum and author of 'The First Ghosts: Most Ancient of Legacies' 0:00 - The Descent of Ishtar 2:25 - How To Become a Mesopotamian Expert 9:33 - Spells, Witches & The Paranormal on Ancient Tablets 16:25 - The World's First Ghost Story 28:52 - A Journey Into The Mesopotamian Underworld 42:26 - Stripped Naked: A Goddess at the Gates of The Underworld Edited by Anna Brant. Produced by Charlotte Long and Freddy Chick. Sign up to History Hit for hundreds of hours of original documentaries, with a new release every week and ad-free podcasts. Sign up at https://www.historyhit.com/subscribe. You can take part in our listener survey here. All music from Epidemic Sounds. After Dark: Myths, Misdeeds & the Paranormal is a History Hit podcast.