We encounter here an example of the very human capacity to combine parallel beliefs, complementary or contradictory as they may be, whose function is shared and whose reality is supported by ritual, without apparent difficulty. Passages in cuneiform leave us in no doubt that sliding into interrupted or erratic offering service was a fatal mistake vis-à-vis the equanimity of the dead, to the point that they would likely make an appearance in the house, where, not meeting with satisfaction, they would become clamorous and troublesome.
