In Herodotus’s account, Periander sent a delegation to ‘Thesprotia on the Acheron river’ to propitiate his dead wife and her spirit then appeared before the envoys and spoke to them. A nekuomanteion or ‘Oracle of the Dead’ on the Acheron river was already operational by the 6th century BC, when it was consulted by Periander, Tyrant of Corinth. In a dream-like episode, Odysseus is told about the cave by the witch Circe, who instructs him in the rites to be performed to invoke spirits of the dead into a shallow trench and make them speak. Homer makes no mention of an established oracle of any kind. Following Odysseus, other mortals were credited with similar exploits: Theseus was said to have descended through the Acherusian plain to Hades, and Lucian’s Menippus also passed it on his way back from the netherworld. A gloomy place where Odysseus performed his invocation of the dead. The tunnel system at Baia, should it prove to be the lost Oracle of the Dead said to be in the region, far exceeds the grandeur of them all.Ī place in Thesprotia known as Cheimerion, where the Rivers Cocytos, Acheron and Pyriphlegethon flow into Lake Acheron had been believed to be the entrance to the netherworld since Homer’s day. None of the four sites identified on this page are very similar and the location of one is now lost. The labours of Hercules are comparatively late, attributed by the Greeks to an epic poem, now lost, written by Peisander in about 600 BC.
The tale of Orpheus rescuing his wife Euridyce from the underworld is another ready source of myth and legend.Įvents in Homer’s Odyssey and the labours of Hercules, where he is to capture the guardian dog of the Underworld, Cerberus, also provides mythical material. Hades was later also called Plouto, in Latin Pluto, (The Wealthy One) and for this reason sites are sometimes referred to as Ploutonions. What the sites have in common attached to them today are predictably enough the Greek mythical legends of Persephone’s abduction to the underworld by its God, Hades (the Unseen). The gases themselves are said to provide intoxication which may well have induced changes in consciousness of the Sybil presiding over events. From cellar crypt to cave to stone structure over a fissure where ‘mephitic’ toxic gases escape. The various sites identified as Oracles of the Dead differ widely in their presentation. This is discussed in more detail on its own web page.
The site in the Phlegraean Fields of Campania, Italy, is the subject of this website, traditionally said to be at the side of Lake Avernus, but this has never been identified and is probably anecdotal. Why should anyone not be happy about this? Hades, Charon and the Minotaur have their own reasons to wish Hercules to be stopped.Five sites are thought to have been Oracle of the Dead sites. His passion for construction work was growing day by day presenting to Hellas new wonders.
It turns out that our strong hero is an amazing builder capable of implementing any challenging project. Hercules decided to fulfil that request and started working. They needed his strength to build an enormous statue of great Helios, their god and protector. The noble citizens of Rhodes called brave Hercules for help.
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