Religious Thought, Theology and Philosophy of Religion Commons^™

A Journey Into The Land Of No Return: Death Attitudes And Perceptions Of Death And Afterlife In Ancient Near Eastern Literature, Leah Whitehead Craig

Mahurin Honors College Capstone Experience/Thesis Projects

Using Adrian Tomer and Grafton Eliason's Comprehensive Model of Death Anxiety, this paper analyzes literature of the Ancient Near East in order to discover death attitudes of the authors and the culture. This paper will examine works from four languages of the Ancient Near East, and therefore four cultures: Sumerian, Akkadian, Ugaritic, and Hebrew language groups. Texts are examined in English translation, with the exception of some passages in the Hebrew chapter. Images of death and afterlife, particularly regarding the underworld, are described. Tomer and Eliason's model is used to analyze the images to determine death attitudes of the authors …