Feasting with the Dead

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Cultures across the ages have held different views about the afterlife and what happens to the human body and soul after death. A scene from an Egyptian tomb reenacting parts of the Book of the Dead or an episode from Greek mythology, such as Cerberus guarding the entrance to Hades, comes to mind. While we no longer think that we must be mummified or memorize spells to safely overcome obstacles in the underworld or that we need a coin to pay Charon the boatman to cross the rivers Styx and Acheron in order to enter Hades, some ancient burial customs persist to this day (even if our reasoning has shifted). For example, we still bury treasured items with our loved ones, lay flowers on their graves and—in some cultures—feast with the dead.

In Remembrance of Me: Feasting with the Dead in the Ancient Middle East, a new exhibit at the Oriental Institute of the University of Chicago, explores the ancient Near Eastern practice of feasting with the dead, a facet of ancestor veneration. The featured artifact—and driving force behind the creation of the exhibit—is the Katumuwa Stele, a basalt slab set up as a funerary monument for a man named Katumuwa who lived more than 2,700 years ago in the Iron Age city of Sam’al. Standing more than 3 feet tall, the stele was discovered in 2008 by a University of Chicago-led excavation at the site of Zincirli (ancient Sam’al) in southeastern Turkey.

The stele includes a scene with Katumuwa and an inscription with detailed instructions concerning feasts to be held after Katumuwa’s death. The well-preserved Aramaic inscription reads:

I am Katumuwa, servant of Panamuwa, who commissioned for myself (this) stele while still living. I placed it in my eternal chamber and established a feast (at) this chamber: a bull for Hadad Qarpatalli, a ram for NGD/R ṢWD/RN, a ram for Šamš, a ram for Hadad of the Vineyards, a ram for Kubaba, and a ram for my “soul” that (will be) in this stele. Henceforth, whoever of my sons or of the sons of anybody (else) should come into possession of this chamber, let him take from the best (produce) of this vineyard (as) a (presentation)-offering year by year. He is also to perform the slaughter (prescribed above) in (proximity to) my “soul” and is to apportion for me a haunch.¹

Not only does Katumuwa include detailed instructions for feasts to be carried out in front of this stele, but he also states that his soul will reside in the stele itself and take part in the feast.

By performing these specified feasts, Katumuwa’s descendants were caring for his “soul” and keeping his memory alive. Virginia R. Herrmann, one of the exhibit’s cocurators, explains the reasoning behind Katumuwa’s inscription:

He knew the realm of the dead could be a cruel and lonely place, but he had hopes of a blessed afterlife in the company of the gods. But for this happy fate, the essential thing was not to be forgotten by the living, especially your own family … These common practices express a widespread belief in a reciprocal relationship between the living and dead members 022 of a family that continued long after the funeral was over … Remembrance and reverence toward forebears provided a fundamental component of identity for the living: Who are you without your ancestors? As breaking bread together strengthens people’s connections in life, so too feasting with the ancestors is an effective way of remaining connected to the past. On the other side of the divide, who were you if you are forgotten by your descendants?²

People who had the financial resources did everything possible to make sure that they would not be forgotten by the living—like Katumuwa who made a lasting stone monument for this purpose.

Evidence of feasting with the dead has been found throughout the Levant, Mesopotamia and Egypt. The exhibit suggests this practice may even explain what was meant by the Biblical commandment to “Honor your father and your mother, that your days may be long” (Exodus 20:12).

In Remembrance of Me concludes with a section of “Contemporary Commemorations” that highlights modern artifacts used in feasting with the dead. In festivals such as the Día de los Muertos in Mexico and the Qingming Festival in China, people still feast with the dead, believing that a relationship can be maintained with loved ones beyond the grave.

Accompanying this exhibit is an informative, beautifully illustrated catalog by editors Virginia R. Herrmann and J. David Schloen, In Remembrance of Me: Feasting with the Dead in the Ancient Middle East (Chicago: The Oriental Institute of the University of Chicago, 2014). The catalog provides more information about the Katumuwa Stele and includes articles by top scholars that investigate different aspects of feasting with the dead in the ancient Near East. This catalog can be purchased—or downloaded for free at http://oi.uchicago.edu/research/pubs/catalog/oimp37.html.—M.S.

Cultures across the ages have held different views about the afterlife and what happens to the human body and soul after death. A scene from an Egyptian tomb reenacting parts of the Book of the Dead or an episode from Greek mythology, such as Cerberus guarding the entrance to Hades, comes to mind. While we no longer think that we must be mummified or memorize spells to safely overcome obstacles in the underworld or that we need a coin to pay Charon the boatman to cross the rivers Styx and Acheron in order to enter Hades, some ancient burial […]