When researching the origin of the zombies, I only saw results showing its term and stories being used in just the recent few centuries. I was not satisfied with this knowing all the different beliefs and stories shared as far back as during ancient Greek civilizations. So, I then searched for, “did the ancient Greek’s have a zombie story” and sure enough found evidence that they had ideas and stories of zombies back then as well. I found on https://www.archaeology.org/news/3432-zombie-sicily-greek-living-dead that archaeologist Carrie Weaver found that Ancient Greeks believed that certain dead bodies could reanimate. While continuing this google search, I found a web page from a university that I decided to use, http://anthropology.msu.edu/anp264-ss13/2013/04/25/history-of-zombies/. On this web page, it showed evidence was found that measures were made to prevent the dead from rising as zombies from ancient Syria. It says that graves were dug up and the heads were crushed and separated to prevent reanimating. The word itself originated in about the 8th century. The word zombie itself seems to have originated from the Kongo words nzambi and zonbi meaning ‘spirit of the dead’. It was observed as meaning a person that died and was brought back to life without speech or free will.
As for the reason zombies are associated with the apocalypse, it seems like it can only be answered by opinions backed by facts. after searching, “why zombies could cause an apocalypse” I found several useful websites. One is https://mysteriousuniverse.org/2018/05/could-a-zombie-apocalypse-really-happen/. I found within the article that a plausible current disease that’s symptoms cause zombie-like symptoms. Rabies is the deadly disease that resembles zombies because of increased aggression, agitation, and delirium that can spread through saliva and biting. I found these symptoms on https://www.cdc.gov/rabies/symptoms/index.html and https://www.mayoclinic.org/diseases-conditions/rabies/symptoms-causes/syc-20351821. Because zombie symptoms urge its host to spread the virus subconsciously similarly to rabies, I believe many of us could see it as causing overwhelming apocalypse. We are faced everyday with disease, viruses, and infections. But the only one of those that encourages the victim to spread its virus to other people violently is the zombie infection or similarly rabies. A virus that causes humans to act to spread it aggressively could spread at an apocalyptic rate.
Nick's Apocalyptic Ideas 