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61-451: By extension, the word "ghoul" is also used in a derogatory sense to refer to a person who delights in the macabre or whose occupation directly involves death, such as a gravedigger or graverobber . Ghoul is from the Arabic غُول ( ghūl ), from غَالَ ( ghāla ) ' to seize ' . In Arabic, the term is also sometimes used to describe a greedy or gluttonous individual. The term

122-441: A hyena . It lures unwary people into the desert wastes or abandoned places to slay and devour them. The creature also preys on young children, drinks blood, steals coins, and eats the dead, then taking the form of the person most recently eaten. One of the narratives identified a ghoul named Ghul-e Biyaban, a particularly monstrous character believed to be inhabiting the wilderness of Afghanistan and Iran . Al-Dimashqi describes

183-482: A dance to the grave . Of the numerous examples painted or sculptured on the walls of cloisters or church yards through medieval Europe , few remain except in woodcuts and engravings . The theme continued to inspire artists and musicians long after the medieval period, Schubert's string quartet Death and the Maiden (1824) being one example, and Camille Saint-Saëns ' tone poem Danse macabre, op. 40 (1847). In

244-622: A deep understanding of historical change, tracing current conditions to the unfolding of events over generations and centuries. He perceived the significance of interstate relations and of the interaction of Muslims and Hindus in the various states of the subcontinent. He described previous rulers in China , underlined the importance of the revolt by Huang Chao in the late Tang dynasty , and mentioned, though less detailed than for India, Chinese beliefs. His brief portrayal of Southeast Asia stands out for its degree of accuracy and clarity. He surveyed

305-484: A devil, might decide to convert to Islam . The ghoul could appear in male and female shape, but usually appeared female to lure male travelers to devour them. Al-Masudi reports that on his journey to Syria , Umar slew a ghoul with his sword. According to History of the Prophets and Kings , the rebellious ( maradatuhum ) among the devils and the ghouls have been chased away to the deserts and mountains and valleys

366-706: A diverse and varied collection of peoples. He noted their independent attitude, the absence of a strong central authority among them and their paganism . He was very well informed on Rus trade with the Byzantines and on the competence of the Rus in sailing merchant vessels and warships. He was aware that the Black Sea and the Caspian Sea are two separate bodies of water. Al-Masʿudi was also very well informed about Byzantine affairs , even internal political events and

427-464: A draft version from 947 is extant. Al-Masʿudi in his Tanbīh states that the revised edition of Murūj al-dhahab contained 365 chapters. Al-Masʿudi lived at a time when books were available and cheap. Major cities like Baghdad had large public libraries and many individuals, such as as-Suli, a friend of Mas‘udi's, had private libraries, often containing thousands of volumes. Early in the Abbasid era

488-472: A form of the Morality , a dramatic dialogue between Death and his victims in every station of life, ending in a dance off the stage. The origin of the peculiar form the allegory has taken has also been found in the dancing skeletons on late Roman sarcophagi and mural paintings at Cumae or Pompeii , and a false connection has been traced with the fresco Trionfo della Morte ("Triumph of Death"), painted by

549-408: A long time ago. A ghoul is said to have stolen dates from the house of Abu Ayyub al-Ansari . When she was caught, she told him that reciting Ayat Al-Kursi will protect his house from devils and other misfortune. In return for this information, he released her. Muhammad told him that the ghoul spoke the truth, although she is a liar. Other Muslim scholars, like Abī al-Sheikh al-Aşbahânī, describe

610-572: A sa trace Et a la fosse les adresse . The more usual explanation is based on the Latin name, Machabaeorum chorea ("Dance of the Maccabees "). The seven tortured brothers, with their mother and Eleazar ( 2 Maccabees 6 and 7) are prominent figures in the dramatic dialogues. Other connections have been suggested, as for example with St. Macarius the Great , an Egyptian Coptic monk and hermit who

671-430: A short story by H. P. Lovecraft , ghouls are members of a subterranean race. Their diet of dead human flesh mutated them into bestial humanoids able to carry on intelligent conversations with the living. The story has ghouls set underground with ghoul tunnels that connect ancient human ruins with deep underworlds. Lovecraft hints that the ghouls emerge in subway tunnels to feed on train wreck victims. Lovecraft's vision of

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732-472: Is an important early source for the study of Russian history and the history of Ukraine . Again, while he may have read such earlier Arabic authors as Ibn Khordadbeh , Ibn al-Faqih , ibn Rustah and Ibn Fadlan , al-Mas'udi presented most of his material based on his personal observations and contacts made while traveling. He informed the Arabic reader that the Rus were more than just a few traders. They were

793-407: Is called ghulah . A source identified the Arabic ghoul as a female creature who is sometimes called Mother Ghoul ( ʾUmm Ghulah ) or a relational term such as Aunt Ghoul. She is portrayed in many tales luring hapless characters, who are usually men, into her home where she can eat them. Some state that a ghoul is a desert-dwelling, shapeshifting demon that can assume the guise of an animal, especially

854-522: Is derived from Sumerian ' gal5-lá' , which was originally a term for a policeman (Katz 2003: 127-135). The word ghoul entered the English tradition and was further identified as a grave-robbing creature that feeds on dead bodies and children. In the West , ghouls have no specific shape and have been described by Edgar Allan Poe as "neither man nor woman... neither brute nor human." In " Pickman's Model ",

915-452: Is known of his means and funding of his extensive travels within and beyond the lands of Islam, and it has been speculated that like many travelers he was involved in trade. Towards the end of The Meadows of Gold, al-Masʿudi wrote: The information we have gathered here is the fruit of long years of research and painful efforts of our voyages and journeys across the East and the West, and of

976-621: Is known to have met Abu Zayd al-Sirafi on the coast of the Persian Gulf and received information on China from him. He presumably gathered information on Byzantium from the Byzantine admiral, Leo of Tripoli , a convert-to-Islam whom he met in Syria where his last years were divided between there and Egypt . In Egypt he found a copy of a Frankish king list from Clovis to Louis IV that had been written by an Andalusian bishop. Little

1037-480: Is known. Born in Baghdad , he was descended from Abdullah Ibn Mas'ud , a companion of Islamic prophet Muhammad . It is believed that he was a member of Banu Hudhayl tribe of Arabs. Al-Masudi mentions a number of scholar associates he encountered during his journeys: Al-Mas'udi's travels actually occupied most of his life from at least 903/915 CE to very near the end of his life. His journeys took him to most of

1098-615: Is to be identified with the figure pointing to the decaying corpses in the fresco Trionfo della Morte ("Triumph of Death") painted by the Italian Renaissance artist Buonamico Buffalmacco , according to the Italian art historian Giorgio Vasari ; or with the Arabic word maqābir (مقابر, plural of maqbara ) which means "cemeteries". A related suggestion has been made that the word originates in Hebrew mqbr meaning "from

1159-835: The Assyrians , Babylonians , Egyptians and Persians among others. He is also the only Arab historian to refer (albeit indirectly) to the kingdom of Urartu , when he speaks about the wars between the Assyrians (led by the legendary Queen Semiramis ) and Armenians (led by Ara the Beautiful ). Al-Masʿudi was aware of the influence of ancient Babylon on Persia. He had access to a wealth of translations by scholars such as ibn al-Muqaffa from Middle Persian into Arabic. In his travels, he also personally consulted Persian scholars and Zoroastrian priests. He thus had access to much material, factual and mythical. Like other Arabic historians, he

1220-545: The Italian Renaissance artist Buonamico Buffalmacco ( c.  1330s–1350 , disputed), and currently preserved in the Campo Santo of Pisa . The etymology of the word "macabre" is uncertain. According to Gaston Paris , French scholar of Romance studies , it first occurs in the form "macabree" in a poem, Respit de la mort (1376), written by the medieval Burgundian chronicler Jean Le Fèvre de Saint-Remy : Je fis de Macabree la dance , Qui toute gent maine

1281-551: The Macedonian dynasty that produced Alexander the Great . He is aware that there were kings before this, but is unclear on their names and reigns. He also seems unfamiliar with such additional aspects of Greek political life as Athenian democratic institutions. The same holds for Rome prior to Caesar . However, he is the earliest extant Arabic author to mention the Roman founding myth of Romulus and Remus . In al-Masʿudi's view

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1342-768: The Persian provinces, Armenia , Georgia and other region of the Caspian Sea ; as well as to Arabia , Syria and Egypt. He also travelled to the Indus Valley , and other parts of India, especially the western coast; and he voyaged more than once to East Africa. He also sailed on the Indian Ocean, the Red Sea, the Mediterranean and the Caspian. Al-Masʿudi may have reached Sri Lanka and China although he

1403-558: The allegorical representation of the ever-present and universal power of death, known in German as Totentanz and later in English as the Dance of the Dead . The typical form which the allegory takes is that of a series of images in which Death appears, either as a dancing skeleton or as a shrunken shrouded corpse, to people representing every age and condition of life, and leads them all in

1464-472: The shayatin continued to rise to the heavens, but were burned by comets. If these comets didn't burn them to death, they were deformed and driven to insanity. They then fell to the deserts and were doomed to roam the earth as ghouls. In one hadith it is said, lonely travelers can escape a ghoul's attack by repeating the adhan (call to prayer). When reciting the Throne Verse , a ghoul, in contrast to

1525-420: The "ghoulish" appearance as they age past adulthood. The fate of the replaced human children is not entirely clear but Pickman offers a clue in the form of a painting depicting mature ghouls as they encourage a human child while it cannibalizes a corpse. This version of the ghoul appears in stories by authors such as Neil Gaiman , Brian Lumley , and Guillermo del Toro . Macabre In works of art ,

1586-546: The 20th century, Ingmar Bergman 's 1957 film The Seventh Seal has a personified Death, and could thus count as macabre. The origin of this allegory in painting and sculpture is disputed. It occurs as early as the 14th century, and has often been attributed to the overpowering consciousness of the presence of death due to the Black Death and the miseries of the Hundred Years' War . It has also been attributed to

1647-497: The Byzantines, that al-Mas'udi wrote shortly before his death. Ernest Renan compared al-Masʿudi to the second century A.D. Greek geographer Pausanias , while others compared him to the Roman writer Pliny the Elder . Even before al-Masʿudi's work was available in a European languages, orientalists had compared him to Herodotus , the ancient Greek historian called "The Father of History." Some early commentators on al-Masudi indicate

1708-613: The Caliphate, had less to say about the Byzantine Empire than al-Mas'udi. He also described the geography of many lands beyond the Abbasid Caliphate , as well as the customs and religious beliefs of many peoples. His normal inquiries of travelers and extensive reading of previous writers were supplemented in the case of India with his personal experiences in the western part of the subcontinent. He demonstrates

1769-554: The Christian religion appeared in Byzantium and the centres of learning were eliminated, their vestiges effaced and the edifice of Greek learning was obliterated. Everything the ancient Greeks had brought to light vanished, and the discoveries of the ancients were altered beyond recognition. He mentions meeting influential jurists and cites the work of others and indicates training in jurisprudence. According to al-Subki , al-Mas'udi

1830-707: The North. Al-Masʿudi’s global interest included Africa. He was well aware of peoples in the eastern portion of the continent (mentioning interesting details of the Zanj , for example). He mentioned that one of the most dangerous routes to travel is to the land of the Zanj, "I have sailed on many seas, but I do not know of one more dangerous than that of Zanj", also saying that several captains that he had sailed with drowned. He knows less of West Africa , though he names such contemporary states as Zagawa , Kawkaw and Ghana . He described

1891-463: The Quran ( tafsir ) conjectured that the ghouls might be burned jinn or devils. Accordingly, the jinn and shayatin (devils) once had access to the heavens, where they eavesdropped, and returned to Earth to pass hidden knowledge to the soothsayers . When Jesus was born, three heavenly spheres were forbidden to them. With the arrival of Muhammad , the other four were forbidden. The marid among

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1952-821: The Roman writer Petronius , author of the Satyricon (late 1st century CE), and the Numidian writer Apuleius , author of The Golden Ass (late 2nd century AD). Outstanding instances of macabre themes in English literature include the works of John Webster , Robert Louis Stevenson , Mervyn Peake , Charles Dickens , Roald Dahl , Thomas Hardy , and Cyril Tourneur . In American literature , authors whose work feature this quality include Edgar Allan Poe , H. P. Lovecraft , and Stephen King . The word has gained its significance from its use in French as la danse macabre for

2013-489: The adjective macabre ( US : / m ə ˈ k ɑː b / or UK : / m ə ˈ k ɑː b r ə / ; French: [makabʁ] ) means "having the quality of having a grim or ghastly atmosphere". The macabre works to emphasize the details and symbols of death . The term also refers to works particularly gruesome in nature. Early traces of macabre can be found in Ancient Greek and Latin writers such as

2074-549: The art of papermaking was brought to the Islamic world by Chinese prisoners after the battle of Talas and most large towns and cities had paper mills. Available cheap writing material contributed to the lively intellectual life. Al-Mas'udi often refers readers to his other books, assuming their availability. The high literacy and vigor of the Islamic world with its rich cultural heritage of Greek philosophy, Persian literature, Indian mathematics, contrasted with that of Europe, when

2135-479: The author of the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle was writing. Islamic Abbasid society of al-Masʿudi's world manifested a knowledge seeking, perceptive analytical attitude and scholarly-minded people associated naturally in this highly civilized atmosphere. Al-Mas'udi was a pupil, or junior colleague, of prominent intellectuals, including the philologists al-Zajjaj, Ibn Duraid , Niftawayh and ibn Anbari. He

2196-427: The ghoul as a kind of female jinn that was able to change its shape and appear to travelers in the wilderness to delude and harm. Although there is an ancient Mesopotamian demonic entity known as ' Gallu ', it is unlikely that it is connected to the origins of the Arabic ghoul. The Gallu was an Akkadian demon of the underworld responsible for the abduction of the vegetation god Dumuzid to the realm of death. The name

2257-520: The ghoul as cave-dwelling animals who only leave at night and avoid the light of the sun. They would eat both humans and animals. In a Syrian folktale, The Woodcutter's Wealthy Sister , which was adapted into a animated story in the series Britannica's Tales Around the World , a poor, arrogant and spiteful woodcutter encounters a beautiful, wealthy princess who claims to be his long-lost sister, even though he had no sisters at all. The woodcutter accepts

2318-472: The ghoul, shared by associated authors Clark Ashton-Smith and Robert E. Howard , has heavily influenced the collective idea of the ghoul in American culture. Ghouls as described by Lovecraft are dog-faced and hideous creatures but not necessarily malicious. Though their primary (perhaps only) food source is human flesh, they do not seek out or hunt living people. They are able to travel back and forth through

2379-720: The grave". Al-Masudi al-Masʿūdī (full name Abū al-Ḥasan ʿAlī ibn al-Ḥusayn ibn ʿAlī al-Masʿūdī , أبو الحسن علي بن الحسين بن علي المسعودي ), c.  896 –956, was a historian , geographer and traveler . He is sometimes referred to as the " Herodotus of the Arabs". A polymath and prolific author of over twenty works on theology, history (Islamic and universal), geography , natural science and philosophy , his celebrated magnum opus The Meadows of Gold ( Murūj al-Dhahab ) combines universal history with scientific geography , social commentary and biography. Apart from what al-Mas'udi writes of himself little

2440-542: The greatest contribution of the Greeks was philosophy. He was aware of the progression of Greek philosophy from the pre-Socratics onward. He also was keenly interested in the earlier events of the Arabian peninsula. He recognized that Arabia had a long and rich history. He also was well-aware of the mixture of interesting facts in pre-Islamic times, in myths and controversial details from competing tribes and even referred to

2501-600: The human concerns of their officials and ordinary subjects. One of the more interesting passages is the account of the symposium held at the home of Harun al-Rashid 's famous vizier Yahya the Barmakid on the topic of love. A dozen leading thinkers provide their definition of love and then a thirteenth, a Magian judge, speaks at greater length on that theme. Kitāb al-Tanbīh wa’l-Ishrāf ( كتاب التنبیه والأشراف ), ‘Book of Admonition and Revision’; an abridged Murūj al-Dhahab , about one-fifth its length, containing new material on

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2562-740: The influence of religious antagonisms. The Sunni scholar Ibn Hajar wrote: "[al-Mas'udi's] books are imprecise because he was a Shi‘a, a Muʿtazili .". Adh-Dhahabi believed he espoused heretical Mu'tazili doctrine. However, according to Al-Subki al-Mas'udi was a student of ibn Surayj, the leading scholar of the Shafi'ite school. Al-Subki claimed he found al-Mas'udi's notes of ibn Surayj's lectures. Al-Mas'udi also met Shafi'ites during his stay in Egypt. He also met Zahirites in Baghdad and Aleppo such as Ibn Jabir and Niftawayh; modern scholarship leans toward

2623-403: The medical work of Galen , with Ptolemaic astronomy , with the geographical work of Marinus and with the studies of Islamic geographers and astronomers. In The Meadows of Gold, al-Mas'udi wrote his famous condemnation of revelation over reason: The sciences were financially supported, honoured everywhere, universally pursued; they were like tall edifices supported by strong foundations. Then

2684-484: The meeting of al-Mansur and a blind poet unaware of the identity of his distinguished interlocutor. The poet on two separate occasions recites praise poems for the defeated Umayyads to the Abbasid caliph; al-Mansur good naturedly rewards him. There is the tale (p. 28 ff.) of the arrow that landed at al-Mansur’s feet with verses inscribed in each of the three feathers and along the shaft causing him to investigate

2745-468: The mysterious princess's invitation to bring him, his abused wife and their numerous children to her palace to live in luxury. However, the wife discovers that the "princess" is in fact a female ghoul (simply referred to as a "monster" in the Britannica adaptation) who is planning to eat the woodcutter and his family. After narrowly escaping the ghoul's attempts to eat them, the wife and her children flee

2806-526: The palace in the night and leave the woodcutter to be devoured by the ghoul. It was not until Antoine Galland translated One Thousand and One Nights into French that the Western concept of ghouls was introduced into European society. Galland depicted the ghoul as a monstrous creature that dwelled in cemeteries, feasting upon corpses. Ghouls are not mentioned in the Quran , but in hadith . Exegetes of

2867-434: The relations of African states with each other and with Islam. He provided material on the cultures and beliefs of non-Islamic Africans. In general his surviving works reveal an intensely curious mind, a universalist eagerly acquiring as extensive a background of the entire world as possible. Al-Masʿudi describes Sistan, Iran, in 947 AD: " ... is the land of winds and sand. There the wind drives mills and raises water from

2928-453: The similarity between some of this material and the legendary and story telling contributions of some Middle Persian and Indian books to the Thousand and One Nights . Ahmad Shboul notes that al-Mas'udi is distinguished above his contemporaries for the extent of his interest in and coverage of the non-Islamic lands and peoples of his day. Other authors, even Christians writing in Arabic in

2989-559: The streams, whereby gardens are irrigated. There is in the world, and God alone knows it, no place where more frequent use is made of the winds" Lunde and Stone have provided the English reader with a fluent translation of some three-quarters of al-Masʿudi's material on the Abbasids from the Murūj al-dhahab . This is in the form of more than two hundred passages, many of these containing amusing and informative anecdotes. The very first one recounts

3050-600: The unfolding of palace coups. He recorded the effect of the westward migration of various tribes upon the Byzantines, especially the invading Bulgars . He spoke of Byzantine relations with western Europe. And, of course, he was attentively interested in Byzantine-Islamic relations. One example of al-Masʿudi's influence on Muslim knowledge of the Byzantine world is that the use of the name Istanbul (in place of Constantinople ) can be traced to his writings during

3111-642: The unjust imprisonment of a distinguished notable from Hamadan. There is the story of the singer Harun al-Rashid asks to keep singing until the caliph falls asleep. Then a handsome young man arrives, snatches the lute from the singer's hand and shows him how it really should be done. On awakening Harun is told of this and suggests his singer had a supernatural visitation. Al-Mas'udi quotes the lines (five in English) of this remarkable song. These anecdotes provide glimpses of other aspects of these prominent people, sharing, actually, greater realization of their humanity and

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3172-654: The use of the phrases "I am going Downtown" or "I am going into the City" by those who live near say Chicago or London respectively. He has some knowledge of other peoples of eastern and western Europe, even far away Britain and Anglo-Saxon England . He names it, though he is sketchy about it. He knows Paris as the Frankish capital. He obtained a copy of a list of Frankish rulers from Clovis to his own time. He makes several references to people interpreted as Vikings , described by him as Majus, they came to Al-Andalus from

3233-461: The various nations that lie beyond the regions of Islam . The author of this work compares himself to a man who, having found pearls of all kinds and colours, gathers them together into a necklace and makes them into an ornament that its possessor guards with great care. My aim has been to trace the lands and the histories of many peoples, and I have no other. We know that al-Masʿudi wrote a revised edition of Murūj al-dhahab in 956 CE; however, only

3294-554: The vast areas inhabited by Turkic peoples , commenting on what had been the extensive authority of the Khaqan , though this was no longer the case by al-Mas'udi's time. He conveyed the great diversity of Turkic peoples, including the distinction between sedentary and nomadic Turks. He spoke of the significance of the Khazars and provided much fresh material on them. His account of the Rus

3355-469: The wall of sleep. This is demonstrated in Lovecraft's " The Dream Quest of Unknown Kadath " in which Randolph Carter encounters Pickman in the dream world after his complete transition into a mature ghoul. Ghouls in this vein are also changelings in the traditional way. The ghoul parent abducts a human infant and replaces it with one of its own. Ghouls appear entirely human as children but begin to take on

3416-566: The year 947, centuries before the eventual Ottoman use of this term. He writes that the Greeks (i.e. the Byzantines of the tenth century) call it "the City" ( bulin in the Arabic script , which lacks the letter p: so Greek polin ); "and when they wish to express that it is the capital of the Empire because of its greatness they say Istan Bulin. They do not call it Constantinople. It is only Arabs who so designate it". A present-day analogy would be

3477-511: Was a student of Ibn Surayj, the leading scholar of the Shafi'ite school. Al-Subki claimed he found al-Mas'udi's notes of Ibn Surayj's lectures. Al-Mas'udi also met Shafi'ites during his stay in Egypt. He met Zahirites in Baghdad and Aleppo such as Ibn Jabir and Niftawayh; modern scholarship leans toward the view that al-Mas'udi was an adherent of the latter school. Al-Masʿudi knew leading Mu'tazilites , including al-Jubba, al-Nawbakhti, ibn Abdak al-Jurjani and Abu'l-Qasim al-Balkhi al-Ka'bi. He

3538-571: Was acquainted with famous poets, including Kashajim, whom he probably met in Aleppo . He was well read in philosophy, the works of al-Kindi and al-Razi , the Aristotelian thought of al-Farabi and the Platonic writings. It is probable that al-Masʿudi met al-Razi and al-Farabi, but only a meeting with al-Farabi’s pupil Yahya ibn Adi, of whom he spoke highly, is recorded. He was familiar with

3599-410: Was also well acquainted with previous Mu'tazilite literature. His reasoning, his phraseology, and his expressed high esteem for Mu'tazilities could suggest that he was one of their number. However, Shboul points out that his extant works do not specifically state that he was. Al-Mas'udi included the history of the ancient civilizations that had occupied the land upon which Islam later spread. He mentions

3660-473: Was first used in English literature in 1786 in William Beckford 's Orientalist novel Vathek , which describes the ghūl of Arabic folklore. This definition of the ghoul has persisted until modern times with ghouls appearing in popular culture . In Arabic folklore, the ghul is said to dwell in cemeteries and other uninhabited places. A male ghoul is referred to as ghul while the female

3721-516: Was unclear on the Achaemenid dynasty , though he knew of Kurush ( Cyrus the Great ). He was much clearer on the more recent dynasties and his estimation of the time between Alexander the Great and Ardashir is much more accurately depicted than it is in al-Tabari . His wide-ranging interests included the Greeks and the Romans. Again, like other Arabic historians, he was unclear on Greece before

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