Editing Ghost (section)

===Classical Antiquity===
{{further|Shade (mythology)|Magic in the Greco-Roman world}}

====Archaic and Classical Greece====
[[File:Klytaimnestra Erinyes Louvre Cp710.jpg|thumb|Apulian red-figure [[bell krater]] depicting the ghost of [[Clytemnestra]] waking the [[Erinyes]], date unknown]]

Ghosts appeared in [[Homer]]'s ''[[Odyssey]]'' and ''[[Iliad]]'', in which they were described as vanishing "as a vapor, gibbering and whining into the earth". Homer's ghosts had little interaction with the world of the living. Periodically they were called upon to provide advice or prophecy, but they do not appear to be particularly feared. Ghosts in the classical world often appeared in the form of vapor or smoke, but at other times they were described as being substantial, appearing as they had been at the time of death, complete with the wounds that killed them.<ref>Finucane, pp. 4, 16</ref>

By the 5th century BC, [[classical Greece|classical Greek]] ghosts had become haunting, frightening creatures who could work to either good or evil purposes. The spirit of the dead was believed to hover near the resting place of the corpse, and cemeteries were places the living avoided. The dead were to be ritually mourned through public ceremony, sacrifice, and libations, or else they might return to haunt their families. The ancient Greeks held annual feasts to honor and placate the spirits of the dead, to which the family ghosts were invited, and after which they were "firmly invited to leave until the same time next year."<ref>Finucane, pp. 8–11</ref>

The 5th-century BC play ''[[Oresteia]]'' includes an appearance of the ghost of [[Clytemnestra]], one of the first ghosts to appear in a work of fiction.<ref>{{Cite journal|last1=Trousdell|first1=Richard|title=Tragedy and Transformation: The Oresteia of Aeschylus|journal=Jung Journal|volume=2|issue=3|pages=5–38|jstor=10.1525/jung.2008.2.3.5|doi=10.1525/jung.2008.2.3.5|year=2008|s2cid=170372385}}</ref>

====Roman Empire and Late Antiquity====
[[File:Athenodorus - The Greek Stoic Philosopher Athenodorus Rents a Haunted House.jpg|thumb|left|''[[Athenodoros Cananites|Athenodorus]] and the Ghost'', by [[Henry Justice Ford]], {{Circa|1900}}]]
The [[ancient Rome|ancient Romans]] believed a ghost could be used to exact revenge on an enemy by scratching a curse on a piece of lead or pottery and placing it into a grave.<ref>Finucane, pg 12</ref>

[[Plutarch]], in the 1st century AD, described the haunting of the baths at [[Chaeronea]] by the ghost of a murdered man. The ghost's loud and frightful groans caused the people of the town to seal up the doors of the building.<ref>Finucane, pg 13</ref> Another celebrated account of a haunted house from the ancient classical world is given by [[Pliny the Younger]] ({{circa|50 AD}}).<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.siu.edu/news/ghosts.html |title=Classical ghost stories |last=Jaehnig |first=K.C. |date=1999-03-11 |publisher= Southern Illinois University |archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20070908171955/http://www.siu.edu/news/ghosts.html |access-date=2007-09-19 |archive-date= September 8, 2007}}</ref> Pliny describes the haunting of a house in [[Athens]], which was bought by the [[Stoicism|Stoic]] philosopher [[Athenodorus Cananites|Athenodorus]], who lived about 100 years before Pliny. Knowing that the house was supposedly haunted, Athenodorus intentionally set up his writing desk in the room where the apparition was said to appear and sat there writing until late at night when he was disturbed by a ghost bound in chains. He followed the ghost outside where it indicated a spot on the ground. When Athenodorus later excavated the area, a shackled skeleton was unearthed. The haunting ceased when the skeleton was given a proper reburial.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.bartleby.com/9/4/1083.html |title=LXXXIII. To Sura |author=Pliny the Younger |website=bartleby.com |access-date=2007-09-19 |archive-date=2007-10-12 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20071012164531/http://bartleby.com/9/4/1083.html |url-status=live }}</ref> The writers [[Plautus]] and [[Lucian]] also wrote stories about haunted houses.

In the [[New Testament]], according to [[Gospel of Luke|Luke]] 24:37–39,<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=luke+24%3A37-39|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180926031745/https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=luke+24%3A37-39|archive-date=26 September 2018|title=Luke 24:37-39 - They were startled and frightened, - Bible Gateway|date=26 September 2018}}</ref> following his [[resurrection of Jesus|resurrection]], [[Jesus]] was forced to persuade the [[Twelve Apostles|Disciples]] that he was not a ghost (some versions of the Bible, such as the KJV and NKJV, use the term "spirit"). Similarly, Jesus' followers at first believed he was a ghost (spirit) when they saw him [[Jesus walking on water|walking on water]].

One of the first persons to express disbelief in ghosts was [[Lucian of Samosata]] in the 2nd century AD. In his satirical novel ''[[Lover of Lies|The Lover of Lies]]'' ({{circa}} 150 AD), he relates how [[Democritus]] "the learned man from [[Abdera, Thrace|Abdera]] in [[Thrace]]" lived in a tomb outside the [[city gate]]s to prove that cemeteries were not haunted by the spirits of the departed. Lucian relates how he persisted in his disbelief despite [[practical joke]]s perpetrated by "some young men of Abdera" who dressed up in black robes with skull masks to frighten him.<ref>"The Doubter" by Lucian in Roger Lancelyn Green (1970) ''Thirteen Uncanny Tales''. London, Dent: 14–21; and Finucane, pg 26.</ref> This account by Lucian notes something about the popular classical expectation of how a ghost should look.

In the 5th century AD, the Christian priest [[Constantius of Lyon]] recorded an instance of the recurring theme of the improperly buried dead who come back to haunt the living, and who can only cease their haunting when their bones have been discovered and properly reburied.<ref>F. R. Hoare, ''The Western Fathers'', Sheed & Ward: New York, 1954, pp. 294–5.</ref>