Ghosts, of course, were not the prerogative of human beings royal or rich. In writing this book, the greatest reward has come in following the ghost lives of the humbler inhabitants of ancient Mesopotamia, as far as possible the normal townsfolk. For them, ghosts of the dead were part of life, and to set the scene we must consider the houses of the living as well as the graves of the departed, for the two are closely intertwined.
