The First Ghosts: A rich history of ancient ghosts and ghost stories from the British Museum curator

by Irving Finkel

At the same time, its very name, Well of Generation, implies that the deep Babylonian belief (for which see Afterword) that the spirits of the dead remained in the Netherworld until, one at a time, they were required to give life to a new baby child, was shared also by the pre-Hebrew Canaanites.