The oldest image of a ghost was found on a 3,500-year-old Babylonian tablet

The world's oldest ghost drawing has been found in the gloomy cellars of the British Museum. This is reported by The Guardian.

The British Museum has discovered in its cellars the world's earliest ghost drawing, which was applied to an ancient 3,500-year-old Babylonian clay tablet.

The figure shows the ghost of a man with his hands tied with a rope, who is led by a woman by a rope. A lonely spirit, whom his mistress leads to the afterlife and eternal bliss.

According to the data, half of the tablet is missing, and the remaining half is small enough to fit in a human palm.

The other side of the tablet contains instructions on what to do if the ghost continues to haunt any person. To do this, you need to make figures of a man and a woman.

In fact, the tablet presents an exorcist's guide to getting rid of unwanted ghosts, referring to a specific ailment that brought them back to the world of the living — in this case, a ghost in urgent need of a companion. The ghost is represented walking with his hands tied with a rope held by a woman, and the accompanying text describes the ceremony of sending the spirit to the underworld.

The curator of the Middle East Department of the British Museum, Dr. Irving Finkel, noticed that the clay tablet had previously been incorrectly deciphered. The drawing was skipped because the ghost becomes visible only when viewed from above and in bright light.

According to Finkel, the tablet was part of the magic library in the exorcist's house or in some temple.