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In Greek poetry, a nekyia (ἡ νέκυια) refers to a journey to the Underworld. Such episodes figure in the mythic corpus of Heracles, Theseus and Orpheus as well as the most familiar nekyia, that narrated in the 11th book of the Odyssey, which describes the descent of Odysseus to the underworld. Odysseus descends to the world of the dead in order to consult the soul of the priest and prophet Teiresias about the means to return home to Ithaca. He sacrifices a lamb into a pit in order to let Teiresias drink from its blood. Furthermore, he meets and talks to the souls of dead heroes. The Nekyia of the Odyssey reflects customs, and beliefs belonging to the cult of Necromancy, that is the consultation of the dead as a means of divination. Extensive remains of what was probably the most important Temple of Necromancy (Nekromanteion) are situated in an archaeological site on a hill overviewing the river Acheron in northwestern Greece. This site is also known as Nekyiomanteion.
Vergil narrated the descent to Hades of his epic hero, Aeneas. The Harrowing of Hell in the Christian tradition is a nekyia of Christ, and Dante's Inferno is also in essence a nekyia, though Dante's knowledge of Greek mythology was at second hand, through Latin sources like Dictys and Dares.
Nekyia is also a popular name assumed by numerous art projects and performance or music groups.
See also
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- This page was last modified on 29 November 2008, at 21:33.
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