Transmigration of the soul, especially its reincarnation after death.
Faiths and philosophies the world over have entertained prospects of some existence beyond the grave (perhaps in metempsychosis, the transmigration of souls), and belief in ghosts, shades or the wandering spirits of lost souls has been ubiquitous. Any culture crediting supernatural powers is likely to entertain an afterlife of sorts. But this Christian identification of the self with a 'separate soul' which transcended the flesh was especially indebted to theosophies rooted in the Eastern Mediterranean.