Four thousand years before anyone worried about being watched online, the people of ancient Mesopotamia believed something far worse: that a goddess named Belet-Seri had been recording every single thing they said and did, every day of their lives and that when they died, she would read it all aloud.

Tonight, for Halloween, we descend into Irkalla, the Mesopotamian land of no return, to meet the "Lady of the Steppe," scribe of the underworld court of Ereshkigal. Who was she? Whose daughter, whose sister, whose wife? Why did a civilization obsessed with omens, ghosts, and proper burial fear a goddess who never raised a weapon, never cursed a soul, and simply... wrote? Grab a candle. She's already writing this down.

References:

1. Asher-Greve, J. M., & Westenholz, J. G. (2013). Goddesses in Context: On Divine Powers, Roles, Relationships, and Gender in Mesopotamian Textual and Visual Sources. Academic Press Fribourg / Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht Göttingen.
2. Krul, J. (2018). The Revival of the Anu Cult and the Nocturnal Fire Ceremony at Late Babylonian Uruk. Brill.
3. Katz, D. (2003). The Image of the Netherworld in the Sumerian Sources. CDL Press.
4. Brisch, N. (2019). "Geštinanna/Belet-ṣeri (goddess)." Ancient Mesopotamian Gods and Goddesses, Oracc and the UK Higher Education Academy. Available at: oracc.museum.upenn.edu/amgg
5. Epic of Gilgamesh, Tablet VII (Enkidu's dream of the underworld) multiple translations, including Andrew George's The Epic of Gilgamesh (Penguin Classics).
6. Udug-hul incantation series (Old Babylonian exorcism texts) referenced via Krul (2018) and Katz (2003).
7. Wikipedia contributors, "Belet-Seri" and "Geshtinanna," Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia
8. Black, J., Green, A., & Rickards, T. (1992). Gods, Demons and Symbols of Ancient Mesopotamia: An Illustrated Dictionary. British Museum Press.