Lightnews — Scholar-powered news

SASA Inspires @sasainspires.bsky.social · 20h

➡️ For more on the Book of the Dead, see here: www.britishmuseum.org/blog/what-bo... & arce.org/resource/boo...

What is a Book of the Dead?

John Taylor expands on one of the popular and fascinating object The Ancient Egyptian Book of the Dead.

www.britishmuseum.org

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SASA Inspires @sasainspires.bsky.social · 20h

💀 These spells were necessary to survive the various hazards the dead may encounter, such as dangerous animals, insects, demons, or gods, before meeting the panel of judgment. If the deceased experiences a second death, their soul is extinguished!

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SASA Inspires @sasainspires.bsky.social · 20h

💀 The first version of this “book”, the “Pyramid Texts”, was written inside royal tombs during the Old Kingdom period. Later, during the New Kingdom period, the “Coffin Texts” version became accessible to wealthy Egyptians. Over time, it was distributed more widely in papyrus scrolls.

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SASA Inspires @sasainspires.bsky.social · 20h

💀 Ancient Egyptians believed that the afterlife began with a hazardous journey that could cause the death of the soul before the dead could join the gods. The “Book of the Dead” inscriptions served as a survival manual full of spells of protection and guidance - for those who could afford it.

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SASA Inspires @sasainspires.bsky.social · 20h

➡️ For more on the Zapotec Underworld, see here: www.smithsonianmag.com/smart-news/z...

Archaeologists Discover Entrance to the Zapotec Underworld Beneath a Church in Mexico

New scans of the site have confirmed the existence of an "underground labyrinth"

www.smithsonianmag.com

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SASA Inspires @sasainspires.bsky.social · 20h

💀 Currently, there are no remaining entrances to the tunnel system, as in the 16th century, Spanish missionaries built a church on top of the main entrance to the labyrinth. This was supposedly done intentionally by the Spanish, as missionaries found the tunnels to be very unsettling.

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SASA Inspires @sasainspires.bsky.social · 20h

💀 Historical accounts claim that the tunnels were used for rituals and ceremonies to honor the dead. Recently, archaeologists have been able to confirm that this underground labyrinth does exist, thanks to a number of geophysical scanning technologies!

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SASA Inspires @sasainspires.bsky.social · 20h

💀 According to local legend, the Zapotecs, an ancient indigenous society, created a network of tunnels around a naturally formed cavern that they believed to be the entrance to the underworld. They called this labyrinth “Lyobaa”, which means “place of rest”.

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SASA Inspires @sasainspires.bsky.social · 20h

💀 These are the ruins of the ancient city of Milta, located in the current-day Oaxaca, Mexico! But it’s not the ruins of the city that are currently of interest, but rather the extensive tunnel system below the ruins that one ancient indigenous group believed to be the entrance to the underworld!

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SASA Inspires @sasainspires.bsky.social · 3d

➡️ For more on Hecate, see here: worldhistoryedu.com/hecate-birth...

Hecate: Greek Goddess of Witchcraft, Sorcery and Magic - World History Edu

Here is a quick look at the origin, family, symbols, depictions, and powers of Hecate – the Greek goddess of witchcraft, necromancy, and magic.

worldhistoryedu.com

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SASA Inspires @sasainspires.bsky.social · 3d

🔥Hecate may predate several of the Olympians historically, as many scholars suspect she was first worshipped in modern-day Turkey, before being adopted into the Greek pantheon. As goddess of magic, Hecate had many cults throughout the Mediterranean, including one in Athens.

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SASA Inspires @sasainspires.bsky.social · 3d

🔥 In Hesiod’s Theogony, Hecate is given unique honors, and it is said that Zeus respected her above all. Her other notable appearance in ancient literature is in the Homeric Hymn to Demeter, where she helps Demeter figure out that Hades kidnapped her daughter Persephone.

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SASA Inspires @sasainspires.bsky.social · 3d

🔥She is the torch bearer, the one by the crossroads, the triple goddess. She is Hecate, the Greek goddess of magic. Hecate sometimes has three faces, letting her see the past, present, and future. She holds two torches, which she uses to help travelers find their way home at night.

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SASA Inspires @sasainspires.bsky.social · 5d

🌙 Regardless of how accurate to Egyptian mythology it is, Moon Knight is an awesome hero who has battled gods, monsters, mercenaries, vampires for some reason, and his own mind.

➡️ For more on Khonsu see here: ancientegyptonline.co.uk/khonsu/

Khonsu | Ancient Egypt Online

ancientegyptonline.co.uk

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SASA Inspires @sasainspires.bsky.social · 5d

🌙 Marvel got a few things wrong. First, his name is usually spelled “Khonsu”. His personality is also different. His early myths depict him as evil, but over time he became a kinder deity. Marvel’s Khonshu has the opposite arc. At first he was nice, then later writers made him more antagonistic.

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SASA Inspires @sasainspires.bsky.social · 5d

🌙 Created as a villain for “Werewolf by Night,” Moon Knight, aka Marc Spector’s, origin is told in his 1980 solo series. Marc was a mercenary who was left for dead after trying to protect civilians. Marc was resurrected by the Egyptian moon god Khonshu, and became his champion.

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SASA Inspires @sasainspires.bsky.social · 5d

🌙 He is the fist of Khonshu, the knight of vengeance, the protector of the night’s travelers. He is Moon Knight.

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SASA Inspires @sasainspires.bsky.social · 6d

👻 Spirits can serve as a haunting reminder that our time on this planet is short. And the word spirit’s etymological origins come from something just as fleeting and just as intangible.

➡️ For more on the word spirit, see here: csmt.uchicago.edu/glossary2004... & www.etymonline.com/word/spirit

spirit

csmt.uchicago.edu

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SASA Inspires @sasainspires.bsky.social · 6d

👻 Spirit comes from the Latin word “spiritus”, meaning breath. Which makes sense, considering every breath taken is as incorporeal as a ghost. Alternatively, the definition of “spiritus” has also been compared to the “breath of life”, a Biblical concept used to describe humanity's personhood.

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SASA Inspires @sasainspires.bsky.social · 8d

👻Sometimes ghouls are demons, sometimes djinn, sometimes undead, and apparently sometimes college students. One thing all depictions of ghouls have in common is that they love eating flesh.

➡️ For more on Ghouls, see here: www.ebsco.com/research-sta...

Ghoul (mythical creature) | Research Starters | EBSCO Research

<p>A ghoul is a mythical creature rooted in Arabic folklore, traditionally depicted as a malevolent being that dwells near graveyards and desolate places, consuming the flesh of both the living and th...

www.ebsco.com

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SASA Inspires @sasainspires.bsky.social · 8d

👻 This creature traveled to Europe with the first French translation of “One Thousand and One Arabian Nights”, though this translation made ghouls more interested in feeding on corpses than live creatures. The European version went on to inspire “Night of the Living Dead”.

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SASA Inspires @sasainspires.bsky.social · 8d

👻 Though Tokyo Ghoul does not dive into the origins of these flesh-eating creatures, they are part of an ancient Mesopotamian mythology. Once called “gallu”, the story migrated out of Mesopotamia, and these creatures eventually got a new name: “ghul”, which means “to seize” in Arabic.

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SASA Inspires @sasainspires.bsky.social · 8d

👻 Monsters hide among us. But where do they really come from? Tokyo Ghoul follows Ken Kaneki, a college student who becomes part ghoul after being attacked by one and receiving some of her organs in a surgery. Kaneki has to balance his human life with his new desire to eat flesh.

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SASA Inspires @sasainspires.bsky.social · 8d

Image © The Trustees of the British Museum
➡️ For more on Roman Epitaphs, see here: www.britishmuseum.org/collection/o... & loeb-art-center.vassarspaces.net/exhibitions/...

epitaph plaque | British Museum

Marble epitaph plaque with a verse inscription for a dog called Margarita ('Pearl'), written from the perspective of the deceased dog.

www.britishmuseum.org

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SASA Inspires @sasainspires.bsky.social · 8d

💀 These grave inscriptions are also a reminder of how many of our customs are similar to those of the ancient world. There’s great importance in honoring and respecting the dead, including little blurbs on tombstones. A lot of what we know about the ancient world pertains to the dead and death.

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