The First Ghosts

The First Ghosts PDF Author: Irving Finkel
Publisher: Hodder & Stoughton
ISBN: 1529303273
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 358

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Book Description
'It's enthralling stuff, mixing the scholarly with the accessible and placing storytelling right at the heart of the human experience.' - History Revealed 'A fascinating journey' - Yorkshire Post 'Marvellous...Finkel is an expert in Mesopotamian cultures at the British Museum, and is one of the most clever, and nicest, of people it has ever been my pleasure to encounter...A fascinating journey' - The Scotsman There are few things more in common across cultures than the belief in ghosts. Ghosts inhabit something of the very essence of what it is to be human. Whether we personally 'believe' or not, we are all aware of ghosts and the rich mythologies and rituals surrounding them. They have inspired, fascinated and frightened us for centuries - yet most of us are only familiar with the vengeful apparitions of Shakespeare, or the ghastly spectres haunting the pages of 19th century gothic literature. But their origins are much, much older... The First Ghosts: Most Ancient of Legacies takes us back to the very beginning. A world-renowned authority on cuneiform, the form of writing on clay tablets which dates back to 3400BC, Irving Finkel has embarked upon an ancient ghost hunt, scouring these tablets to unlock the secrets of the Sumerians, Babylonians and Assyrians to breathe new life into the first ghost stories ever written. In The First Ghosts, he uncovers an extraordinarily rich seam of ancient spirit wisdom which has remained hidden for nearly 4000 years, covering practical details of how to live with ghosts, how to get rid of them and bring them back, and how to avoid becoming one, as well as exploring more philosophical questions: what are ghosts, why does the idea of them remain so powerful despite the lack of concrete evidence, and what do they tell us about being human?

The First Ghosts

The First Ghosts PDF Author: Irving Finkel
Publisher: Hodder & Stoughton
ISBN: 1529303273
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 358

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Book Description
'It's enthralling stuff, mixing the scholarly with the accessible and placing storytelling right at the heart of the human experience.' - History Revealed 'A fascinating journey' - Yorkshire Post 'Marvellous...Finkel is an expert in Mesopotamian cultures at the British Museum, and is one of the most clever, and nicest, of people it has ever been my pleasure to encounter...A fascinating journey' - The Scotsman There are few things more in common across cultures than the belief in ghosts. Ghosts inhabit something of the very essence of what it is to be human. Whether we personally 'believe' or not, we are all aware of ghosts and the rich mythologies and rituals surrounding them. They have inspired, fascinated and frightened us for centuries - yet most of us are only familiar with the vengeful apparitions of Shakespeare, or the ghastly spectres haunting the pages of 19th century gothic literature. But their origins are much, much older... The First Ghosts: Most Ancient of Legacies takes us back to the very beginning. A world-renowned authority on cuneiform, the form of writing on clay tablets which dates back to 3400BC, Irving Finkel has embarked upon an ancient ghost hunt, scouring these tablets to unlock the secrets of the Sumerians, Babylonians and Assyrians to breathe new life into the first ghost stories ever written. In The First Ghosts, he uncovers an extraordinarily rich seam of ancient spirit wisdom which has remained hidden for nearly 4000 years, covering practical details of how to live with ghosts, how to get rid of them and bring them back, and how to avoid becoming one, as well as exploring more philosophical questions: what are ghosts, why does the idea of them remain so powerful despite the lack of concrete evidence, and what do they tell us about being human?

Haunted Greece and Rome

Haunted Greece and Rome PDF Author: Debbie Felton
Publisher: University of Texas Press
ISBN: 0292789246
Category : Literary Criticism
Languages : en
Pages : 170

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Book Description
Stories of ghostly spirits who return to this world to warn of danger, to prophesy, to take revenge, to request proper burial, or to comfort the living fascinated people in ancient times just as they do today. In this innovative, interdisciplinary study, the author combines a modern folkloric perspective with literary analysis of ghost stories from classical antiquity to shed new light on the stories' folk roots. The author begins by examining ancient Greek and Roman beliefs about death and the departed and the various kinds of ghost stories which arose from these beliefs. She then focuses on the longer stories of Plautus, Pliny, and Lucian, which concern haunted houses. Her analysis illuminates the oral and literary transmission and adaptation of folkloric motifs and the development of the ghost story as a literary form. In her concluding chapter, the author also traces the influence of ancient ghost stories on modern ghost story writers, a topic that will interest all readers and scholars of tales of hauntings.

Greek and Roman Ghost Stories

Greek and Roman Ghost Stories PDF Author: Lacy Collison-Morley
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category : Ghosts
Languages : en
Pages : 100

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Book Description


Ancient City Hauntings

Ancient City Hauntings PDF Author: Dave Lapham
Publisher: Pineapple Press Inc
ISBN: 1561643076
Category : Body, Mind & Spirit
Languages : en
Pages : 194

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Book Description
St. Augustine is Americas oldest city--and perhaps its most haunted. David Lapham's first volume, Ghosts of St. Augustine, has proven very popular. Enjoy another twenty-five hair-raising stories from the ethereal shadows of the Ancient City's murky past. Why is St. Augustine so ghost-ridden, so filled with spirits? Since the release of Ghosts of St. Augustine, the Ancient City has been the subject of numerous television documentaries and paranormal investigations. Ghost tours have burgeoned. Few have been disappointed in their quests for supernatural experiences. Come walk again with Dave Lapham through the dark, enduring streets of St. Augustine and shiver in the ice-cold pockets of air that smother you in the black of night. Listen to the gentle lapping of the water along the bay front and the distant murmurs of French sailors being slaughtered on the river. Come visit the Oldest House, the Old Jail, Ripleys, the Oldest School House, and all the many haunted B&Bs and other establishments that harbor wandering souls and spirits from ancient times. Chill to the ghosts you'll find in the Pumpkin Church, the Casa de La Paz and Casa de Sueños. Meet the warriors of Moultrie Creek, the ghost of the old Spanish Washer Woman, and the ghosts of the Minorcans. You'll encounter dogs and demons, herbal creations, and even ghost magnets.

Ancient Ghost Stories

Ancient Ghost Stories PDF Author:
Publisher: Simon and Schuster
ISBN: 1804175994
Category : Fiction
Languages : en
Pages : 128

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Book Description
Ghosts and apparitions abound across the peoples of the early civilisations, from the Ancient Egyptians, the Babylonians, Greeks, Romans and the Vikings too. Phantoms of the dead, warning apparitions and necromancy – there are many stories of ghosts to be found in the retold literature of ancient peoples: ‘Khonsemhab and the Ghost’ and ‘The Adventure of Setne Khamwas with the Mummies’, both from Ancient Egypt; ‘Philinnion and Machates’ from Ancient Rome; spirits featured in Homer’s Odyssey, from Ancient Greece; tales of Babylonian demons and the netherworld; and stories of fire apparitions from Japan. The Vikings too had their fair share of ghosts, such as crop up in the 13th-century Icelandic Laxdaela Saga. These stories are all brought together in this new collection for an intriguing insight into the spirit world of early cultures. FLAME TREE 451: From myth to mystery, the supernatural to horror, fantasy and science fiction, Flame Tree 451 offers a healthy diet of werewolves and mechanical men, blood-lusty vampires, dastardly villains, mad scientists, secret worlds, lost civilizations and escapist fantasies. Discover a storehouse of tales gathered specifically for the reader of the fantastic.

Medieval Ghost Stories

Medieval Ghost Stories PDF Author: Andrew Joynes
Publisher: Boydell & Brewer
ISBN: 1843832690
Category : Biography & Autobiography
Languages : en
Pages : 232

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Book Description
"Medieval Ghost Stories" is a collection of ghostly occurrences from the eighth to the fourteenth centuries; they have been found in monastic chronicles and preaching manuals, in sagas and heroic poetry, and in medieval romances. In a religious age, the tales bore a peculiar freight of spooks and spirituality which can still make hair stand on end; unfailingly, these stories give a fascinating and moving glimpse into the medieval mind. Look only at the accounts of Richard Rowntree's stillborn child, glimpsed by his father tangled in swaddling clothes on the road to Santiago, or the sly habits of water sprites resting as goblets and golden rings on the surface of the river, just out of reach...

Lore of the Ghost

Lore of the Ghost PDF Author: Brian Haughton
Publisher: Red Wheel/Weiser
ISBN: 1601639600
Category : Body, Mind & Spirit
Languages : en
Pages : 192

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Book Description
Lore of the Ghost is an original and thought-provoking exploration of the numerous categories of ghosts and hauntings throughout the world. It discusses the possible motives for each type of haunting? from phantom white ladies and spectral black dogs to haunted highways and ghostly vehicles—what they represent, why they occur, and their possible functions.

Ancient Haunts

Ancient Haunts PDF Author: E G Swain
Publisher:
ISBN: 1616460334
Category : Fiction
Languages : en
Pages : 220

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Book Description
I doubt there's a technical word for a collection of ghost stories, but in this case it is a delight. In the tradition of M. R. James (or at least the influence), these two collections are worth a close look by any enthusiast of supernatural fiction. Stoneground Ghost Tales relate the strange experiences of Mr. Batchel, Vicar of the Parish. Tedious Brief Tales focuses on strange and haunted doings at Jesus College (Cambridge) from centuries past.

Chinese Ghost Stories - Strange Stories from a Chinese Studio

Chinese Ghost Stories - Strange Stories from a Chinese Studio PDF Author: Songling Pu
Publisher:
ISBN: 9781927077375
Category : Fiction
Languages : en
Pages : 564

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Book Description
Chinese Ghost Stories - Strange Stories from a Chinese Studio, is a collection of 164 Classical Chinese stories compiled by Pu Songling. These hair-raising tales focus on the everyday life of commoners and their interaction ghosts, fox spirits, immortals, demons and other spirits. Pu Songling used the supernatural and the unexplainable to illustrate his ideas of society and government. Through the stories he criticized the corruption and injustice in society and sympathized with the poor. With the embedded Confucian-styled moral standards and Taoist principles this collection of supernatural stories. Dating back to the Qing dynasty, its earliest publication date is given as 1740. Since then, many of the critically lauded stories have been adapted for other media such as film and television. Long considered of true classic of Chinese literature, this second edition of Herbert Giles translation, with over 600 footnotes of backstory, provides a fascinating glimpse into the daily life of the Chinese in the time period, while tantalizing the reader with tales of the supernatural.

Haunting Experiences

Haunting Experiences PDF Author: Diane Goldstein
Publisher: University Press of Colorado
ISBN: 0874216818
Category : Social Science
Languages : en
Pages : 282

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Book Description
Ghosts and other supernatural phenomena are widely represented throughout modern culture. They can be found in any number of entertainment, commercial, and other contexts, but popular media or commodified representations of ghosts can be quite different from the beliefs people hold about them, based on tradition or direct experience. Personal belief and cultural tradition on the one hand, and popular and commercial representation on the other, nevertheless continually feed each other. They frequently share space in how people think about the supernatural. In Haunting Experiences, three well-known folklorists seek to broaden the discussion of ghost lore by examining it from a variety of angles in various modern contexts. Diane E. Goldstein, Sylvia Ann Grider, and Jeannie Banks Thomas take ghosts seriously, as they draw on contemporary scholarship that emphasizes both the basis of belief in experience (rather than mere fantasy) and the usefulness of ghost stories. They look closely at the narrative role of such lore in matters such as socialization and gender. And they unravel the complex mix of mass media, commodification, and popular culture that today puts old spirits into new contexts.