In 1958, the Greek archaeologist Sotirios Dakaris discovered the remains of several buildings on a hill in Epirus, in northwestern Greece, which seemed to correspond to the descriptions that Homer and Herodotus had made of the Nekromanteion, the oracle of the dead .
The complex, located near the Acheron, one of the rivers that flowed through the underworld , according to Greek mythology, was dedicated to the underground god Hades and his consort Persephone, and consisted of a ziggurat-like structure and several secondary chambers.
Although the ruins date from the 4th century BC. C., Mycenaean tombs from the 14th century BC have been found in the area. To this place, in which legend placed the gates of hell, pilgrims from all over the Hellenic world came to consult the spirits, who supposedly had the gift of predicting the future and granting favors . To do this, they had to follow a very specific ceremony.
The traveler who came to the oracle had to train physically and mentally to communicate with the ancestors, according to archaeologist Sotirios Dakaris. After entering the temple, he was led to the preparation chambers. There, in almost total darkness, he ate typical foods of funeral banquets, such as wine, honey, raw beans, and hallucinogenic mushrooms, and listened to stories about the underworld told by his priest-guide .
In the nearby rooms, he received purifying baths and participated in magical ceremonies. Then he would spend weeks in complete isolation, after which he had to slaughter a sheep. Thus, he was able to access the labyrinth, a sacred path that led him to an anteroom where libations – spilling of liquors – were made in honor of Hades and Persephone.
Behind her, was the most sacred point of the enclosure, where she could supposedly contact the dead. In addition to taking advantage of their mental predisposition, the priests appeared to be specters : apparently they wore dark clothes and even used cranes to levitate around the room.
Image: Evilemperorzorg via Wikimedia / GNU / CC
