etemmu

In Mesopotamian religion, the etemmu refers to the ghost or spirit of a deceased person. This concept is tied to the belief that humans were created from clay mixed with the blood and flesh of a slain god. Consequently, a divine element, the etemmu, was thought to reside within humans and survive death, leading to a shadowy afterlife in the underworld.12

Mesopotamians held a grim view of death, often seeing it as a consequence of sin. Unlike Egyptians, they did not preserve bodies. The afterlife offered no hope of salvation, and the dead were feared, with offerings made to appease them and prevent them from harming the living. The etemmu was believed to be part of human beings, and it was this originally divine part that was thought to survive death.21