Nekyomanteia: Ancient Greek Oracles of the Dead

Discover the shadowy caves through which the ancient Greeks entered the Underworld and sought prophecies from the dead!

Mixing vessel with Odysseus summoning the ghosts from the Underworld. South Italian, made in Lucania, 390-380 BCE. Image via Wikicommons

The ancient Greeks believed that their souls would travel to a place known as ‘The Underworld’ when they died. This realm appears in many myths, some notable ones being the stories of Orpheus and Eurydice as well as the Twelve Labors of Heracles, which both depict mortals attempting to enter the Underworld and escape with their lives. This journey usually does not end well for mortals. It is the realm of the dead after all! 

However, there is evidence of certain places in the ancient Greek world that were used to enter the Underworld in order to receive prophetic messages from the dead. These oracles were known as Nekyomanteia, which translates to “prophecy-place of the dead”. 

Lake Avernus in Cumae was thought to be one of the locations of a ancient Nekyomanteia. Image via Wikicommons

Nekyomanteia were caves through which visitors would enter the Underworld, or perhaps a liminal space between the realms where the living and the dead could meet. Nekyomanteia, as well as the areas surrounding them, would often share topographical similarities with the Underworld, such as marshes, lakes, caves and natural gasses. The caves especially evoked the dark subterranean environment of the Underworld. Many sites thought to be Nekyomanteia produce natural CO2 gas which scholars believe may have had hallucinatory effects on visitors, possibly explaining their interactions with the dead. A Nekyomanteion located around Lake Avernus in Cumae was described by the ancient Greek geographer Strabo as being surrounded by dense forest which covered the area in shadows. Strabo described the cave as vaporous and said that birds flying over the area would often drop dead into the nearby lake because of the deadly gas that rose from the cave. The dark and deadly environment would have fueled its association with the Underworld and the superstitions of those who visited it. The lake’s name ‘Avernus’ is notably derived from the Greek word aornos, meaning ‘birdless’. Avernus is also where Aeneas is said to have made his descent into the Underworld in Virgil’s Aeneid.

Descriptions of the Acheron Nekyomanteion, located in Thesprotia (now Preveza), tell us more about the rituals that were performed within Nekyomanteia. In the Odyssey, Odysseus makes his descent into the Underworld through what is thought to be the Acheron Nekyomanteia. In the text, Odysseus is instructed by Circe to pour out a libation for the dead in the form of milk, wine, water, barley, and honey, then to sacrifice a ram and to make prayers to Hades and Persephone, all of which results in the summoning of ghosts from his past. In a fragmentary play by Aeschylus, Odysseus is instructed to pour out the blood of an animal into the lake to appease the dead. During excavations of a site thought to be the Acheron nekyomanteion the remains of various animals were discovered, giving merit to the descriptions of blood offerings being made to the dead and the Underworld gods.

Notably, the Acheron Nekyomanteion appears in the fourth entry of Rick Riordan’s ‘Heroes of Olympus’ series of fantasy novels: ‘The House of Hades’, which is the name used to describe the oracle in The Odyssey.

Until next time,

λεῖος πλόος!

Written by Daniel Gooley

Hellenic Museum Volunteer

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