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The Nekromanteion (Greek: Νεκρομαντεῖον) was an ancient Greek temple of necromancy devoted to Hades and Persephone. According to tradition, it was located on the banks of the Acheron river in Epirus, near the ancient city of Ephyra. This site was believed by devotees to be the door to Hades, the realm of the dead.
The word necromancy is adapted from Late Latin necromantia: a loan word from the post-Classical Greek νεκρομαντεία (nekromanteía, or 'divination through a dead body'), a compound of Ancient Greek νεκρός (nekrós, or 'dead body') and μαντεία (manteía, or 'divination').
The Shade of Tiresias Appearing to Odysseus during the Sacrifice (c. 1780-85), painting by Johann Heinrich Füssli, showing a scene from Book Eleven of the Odyssey. In ancient Greek cult-practice and literature, a nekyia or nekya (Ancient Greek: νέκυια, νεκυία; νεκύα) is a "rite by which ghosts were called up and questioned about the future," i.e., necromancy.
Famous examples of katabases in Greek mythology include Orpheus, who enters the underworld in order to bring Eurydice back to the world of the living, and Odysseus, who seeks to consult with the prophet Tiresias for knowledge. In Roman mythology, Aeneas seeks out his father Anchises to learn of prophecies of his fate and that of the Roman Empire.
The Greek word κήρ means "the goddess of death" or "doom" [2] [3] and appears as a proper noun in the singular and plural as Κήρ and Κῆρες to refer to divinities. Homer uses Κῆρες in the phrase κήρες θανάτοιο, "Keres of death". By extension the word may mean "plague, disease" and in prose "blemish or defect".
Nilsson, Martin P., Greek Popular Religion, 1940. See the discussion of the Thargelia in the chapter “Rural Customs and Festivals.” Ogden, Daniel, The Crooked Kings of Ancient Greece London 1997, pp. 15–46. Parker, Robert, Miasma, Pollution and Purification in Early Greek Religion. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1983, pp. 24–26, 257-280.
In Roman literature, Erichtho (from Ancient Greek: Ἐριχθώ) is a legendary Thessalian witch who appears in several literary works. She is noted for her horrifying appearance and her impious ways. Her first major role was in the Roman poet Lucan's epic Pharsalia, which details Caesar's Civil War.
In Scandinavia, Norse mythology personified death in the shape of Hel, the goddess of death and ruler over the realm of the same name, where she received a portion of the dead. [9] In the times of the Black Plague, Death would often be depicted as an old woman known by the name of Pesta, meaning "plague hag", wearing a black hood. She would go ...