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    Ancient Necromancy Fact or Fiction PDF

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    MANTIC PERSPECTIVES: ORACLES, PROPHECY AND PERFORMANCE Initiated by ‘Wlodzimierz Staniowski Edited by Krzysztof Bielawski Jan Bremmer ei rnin [ANCIENT NECROMANCY: FACT OR FICTION? ‘Necromancy was a mode of ivination that, fora longtime, dew eiy a moderate measure of interest from.’ in the last few dec site, however, more studles of necromancy have appeared than Jnune entze previous century. Recent interest in the topic has c- {cided with the increased popularity of studies in ancient magic, anti is, therefore, not surprising to find a whole book dedicat: ‘ite necromancy, viz, Daniel Ogden’ Greek ané Roman Neromat- ys Now even he must have realised thata book Tengt study was “ih Hopier, reacties ofp ee Meter a enna. aE Bear 939), 28 Comet eae ie) at Ek, Dds, Tet Coc of ges Od sara 72,27 un ag nt Mapes te rc-taman Wold (London 0 Ne a a: etn. aman Nema Prineton 220): Be vert atc tue ie Yor od Lon 293), 786 6. aN, oe rat raormamce:Reamanc) and» Sng hod on br, Su ra rete sen 20s) 2-81. boon, anc it Dit saan te ce," oop cmon Beton 20 ecrman nt ale eal tau Nee dens) pW. se, Tange Dea: Landicape se ee ek enh Oriani (2010 9-40 overdoing things, as he noted atthe beginning of his analysis: “Mere islitle in any of our felds of evidence - arguably even none oft tha, when pressed, can be taken to document directly any speciticistorical performance of necromancy in antiquity. There fs, then, 2 sense in which this is less a history of necromancy it self in antiquity, than a history of ancien ideas, beliefs, an pre dices about i’ exl-exl), Speaking in football terms, one must say that Ogden put the allright in font of the goal and that, sooner or later, somebody would kick the ballin. Indeed, ina se. vere but clear review, ritz Graf argued that: the main problem isthe concept af necomancy itself with it heavy fudeo-christian overtones: i aot very tefl fo an un derstanding ofthe ancent evidence that connect deceased fa ‘mane and oaculat power. Language shows that Creeks conceived ‘of methods, places, apd persons who would del wih and even raw propels rom estes dead. The meaning the Grckterm, exoouavil speaks forse butts are, Irae, and pole fea, ass Cero’ sey, which denigrates Appivs Cla ‘usar an adepof almovt criminal Creek hocuspocus Earlier, but scillrae, are yoreyiny,vewoyaveciy, ad goyonopntov athe aces whete souls oul be plaatd (aot asked abou thefts) 2nd ojayoyo! asthe specialists who deal with retest soul, {reeks thus know of persons who aimed olay ghows and of a propriate places ap for this in the common imagination, there ‘existed alo ris (ce Ase’ Pesae and Cer attack on 9p us Claudiu); but they were etiely Stional ~ and diferent fom ‘jie stesat the outset the Nea that wereony ater led ‘ecromancy. The modern asaitions of necorancy ae manifest. Jnche literary polis ony, Dut they ae relevant 3 bet, and rather deleterious to out understanding of Homer, Aechyss, Herodotus Pelander> 1 F.C Casal o9006 9-60, 1 have quoted Graf in full ere, as he clearly sets out his ie as, which f may summarize as fllows: a the term "necromancy’ {smisleading, ait carries Judaeo-Christian overtones; 2) earlier mentions of necromancy donot concern divination via the dead ‘but placation of the dead; (3) modern assoclations are manifest In titerary polemics onl, and () reports of necromantle rites are ‘wholly tional. It sno wonder, then, thatthe latest discussion ‘fnectomancy by Sarah les Johnston states: must be empha sized tat, inspite of the fact thatthe Greeks and Romans Liked tothink (he ales) about necromancy, they seldom or never prac teed t+ “There can be ite doubt that Graf rightly criticises Ogden for exaggerating the impertance of ancient ecromancy. Yetone may tiso wonder IfGraf himself, in turn, doesnot overstate his own Casein some of the points he makes. {will therefore take afesh took at the evidence by concentrating on the four main points of is argument jzolated above. Let us start with the question fof terminology, First, sis important to realise that ‘necroman- Cy isa modern, somewhat generic term referring to a group of (sometimes alleged) ancient practices, tn fact, there area least four emic Greek and Roman terms which ae all subsumed under ‘our etic term "necromancy’, namely Greek pschaggia,ekromantei, rekymanteia and Latin necyomanteia and siomanta. Moreover, each term has its own history. The oldes of ther is sychagigl and its practitioners, thepsehegeo, are attested as early as Aeschylus. ‘Necomantea isthe itl of a mime of aberiu (105-43 8), which ‘appeats tobe a Latinied form ofthe Creek feminine noun rely ‘mantel prophecy of the dead» But the other terms ll postdate the beginning ofthe Christian era. This fact alone should already “bho, ave ian, 67 Tie concason shift away fom Jann er erly, Los ules, London 999.8 °C pansy Dement began Cambeg 10 3. lereusto the face that we are dealing with changing ideas andlor bractices regarding what we nowadays call necromancy” Ouéen dedicates quite afew pages to the psychagogues, but without any chronological diferentiation. Al testimonies are thrown together from the eary classical age to late antiquity, This Will not do later ideas cleary influenced the reporting of eat exbeliefs and practices. fact, we have very litle erly evidence about hele activities Yeti is obvious thatthe psychagogues were considered tobe able to conjure up soul of the dead ftom the un- erworid But what does the term mean exacty? At first, Ithought ‘that psychagigos* ike paidegous, evokes the image ofthe domest- ‘ation ofa horse by the leading rein, agSgeus. But there realy is ‘no evidence that the ancients saw the souls of the dead a an un "uly lt, which makes the explanation less plausible, But Greek ‘agen can also mean ‘transport by sea/over water? and would ‘suggest that, originally, psychegdges meant soul-transporter, as fn fragment of Sophoctes'satyr drama Cerberus Charon says: ‘omly those who have died psychagigountai (3272 Radi) her at ‘horitative commentary onthe Bis Nan Dunbar translates the Uile of Aeschylus’ pay, Paychagégel with “Ihe Ghost Raisers but ‘this wrongly introduces the modern idea of spooky phenomena.» 6 Opien, CeeandRone Neca. 9580. 26 Calame, Chana ang Wome ie aint (asham an London sen {SCE Cara nami, “These erin ames andthe Cesk Lc, regs hei ae 8207, 296) a 2, ops. "N.Dur, tbe oO ps7 ‘is for goss in ani, se V. Zang, Eats cope ici ‘espn de mortises tect pa . Ft, hse ee Ress stares acs oniay (ast 9) ot, Rese ‘Samia Rn, dae Se tat meses a 220 DO. tag, witha ncaa edtmes Woe Os 200 Na al ATU ft agencies rue pa ‘Segments Care ese However, our evidence doesnot allow us to say with Graf that ‘the main task ofthe psychagogue wast pacate restless souls. In Aeschylus’ Persians King Darius, who is hard a restless sou, is ‘conjured up ftom his tomb with ‘psyenagogic wale (667). Similar- 1y, when Admetus sees Alesis, he wonders ihe seesa ghost rom ‘the underworld, but Heracles assures his host that he i ‘guest fiend nota paychagogue (Eur. Alc. 1128)" and that Aleestis isnot ‘restless soul. The contemporary presence of religious specialists ‘that were abe to bring the sous of the dead up from the under. word Is also suggested by Empedocles’ promis toe pupil Pausa- ‘las that he willbe abe“to lead up from Hades the menos of & dead ‘man’ (9281 bx), hardly surprising as the climax of his magical wicks, ‘Te reference tothe walls In Aeschylus’ Persians perhaps sug- ‘ests that words and sounds were more important for these spe. slalists than specific rituals, eventhough we ae trated to several "tual details in the Pesins nd in a fragment of Aeschylis satyt «rama Tye Psyehogogues r *"273a Radt), which was situated neat lake, probably Lake avernus in allan Cumae, The personnel of Sts local oracie of the dead were actually cae prychagioin fact, ‘the connection between psypepiga and waters also apparent fom ‘the words of Charon inthe already quoted fragment of Sophocles, Indeed, ehe importance of word is supported by the fact that by ‘the ate fifth century nc the verb psychagdgein was metaphorically 1: Nae loth reference sesso tals in Bu. 9 Kan "Pern tio, Te Necrmsny ithe Pa of iyo: oe "i, mune, “The ication of Dis In Aes Rene’ Cass ‘nme om spp nae tgs a a ‘um Gum Fg (tng a8) woo Spiel F yh ase "35 Fo 70 spn aber fe ay wth Payee al: Cee he 157 Did Se. stab u,b: Path opel se ‘ye ah 6) chm Ales. Po. SevvnsonYrg. am ov Rnteg,he ‘cai rms Nees ua 12528459 3 pe, cht ‘used for people who begulledthelraudience with thelr words and teachings, whereas in later Creek it developed into the meaning ‘ro entertain’. Thus, i Aristophanes’ Bids (1559-55). Socrates py- haga, evokes the souls of men’, near lake, a passage hardly to bbe disconnected from Aeschylus satyr drama, as was seen after ‘the latter's fist publication in 1978," The term Is repeatedly used {in Plato (Phaed.263a, 271¢) and Isocrates (Nic. 49; Evagt. 10) for charming an audience with words, but ii also used for beguil- ing people with music, spectacles and sculptures. Asa metaphor itis probably older than ite fire occurrence 4143, the date of the ‘lds, since in the Clouds (9) of 425 a, the inhabitant of Socrates’ romistéian are called peyehai soph, “wise souls Its metaphor- ‘calurage may well have been invented by Gorgias." Evidenty, the ‘metaphor became so powerful that the learned Byzantine bishop Eustatius fle it necessary to refer to necromancy withthe ex: pression nelyomantiépsyhagiia.” ‘Having looked atthe psychagogues, let us now turn tl ‘manta, the verbal ancestor of our term “necromancy’. The Hist ‘thing to note is that instances of the term are surprisingly late In the latter half of the second century ao the Egyptian astolo- ser Prolemy (Ter, 4.4.10) mentions vexpopavres xa Baysdvov oynonod(Aetomartes a datmona know). This is our first at ‘tested passage with a term related to nekzomaneia. The actual "Socates Panis hs 55 ans 67), De ult an Ser seen Stas Soa ‘Smee Soe Aagstin ot. eth tr dere ln say Fora Bs export Eos ohare dato ats) 90-0. Ws," led Trpesiy npc ety bk) Paetmatnd Fy {id gy) ca ih thas oon Tepanir Sy Dunbaron Aas AW Tanne apa Oxad 209, "Se Dodson case A.W, lane 009) 273 nts 1 banathar on 23390985. ‘oun does not occur before Eusebius’ AgalnstHieocles (392.20) ce- 4 305 aD, where he seems to quote Hierocles himself as using ‘the word, Subsequenty, we find it in Christian fourth-century autors, such as Chrysostom (om in Math. 57.403), and in the Pseudo-Clementine Homilies (1.5.2, 4), where the novelty of the ‘erm is still apparent, asthe latter author speaks of the so-called rekromanti’ efits this late date that aeromantia ie not found {in Latin before the early thrd-century in Porphirio (on Hor. Zp. 5.pr.3)" Lactantius (Di Ist. 2.26.1), the Peeudo-Clementine Re- ‘ogntons(2.13,15)and Servius (on Aen 3.67; 6.207, 149). Inthe last two cass the addtional term siamantia also appears, to whic Iwill return shortly, ‘mn Hesychius (v 269), aetvomantla sa gloss that explains ney mane, and tials the lates attested occurrence ofthis term. ‘Nekyomantia, on the other hand, a8 aterm forthe practice of con. sulting the dead, frst occurs in the Latinised form ncyomentea to Opler CeantRon Neca 183-90, ‘sys, played a big role in the depictions of necromantic activ fties. infact, even the scene inthe Odyssey snot based on actual necromancy (a i was widely practised actoss the ancient Nest Ease) but isa literary bricolage that is particularly based on Hit. ‘ie purification rituals, in which deities of the underwor, not ‘the dead, are summoned up.« Now it seems reasonable to assume that before the consultations ofthe dead in necromantc oracles People had to perform certain rituals, indeed, Crantor (fr sab Mette) mentions a sacrifice preceding the consultation. However, ‘hat is all tha can be said with any certainty about the perfor, ‘mance of rituals outside literary depictions, ‘The rare mentions ofthe oracles ofthe dead and their concom- sant rituals can probably be explained bythe fact that even the ‘ost famous ones never acquired the same fame as those of Del Por Dodoma, Another reason may have been the fat that death and pollution wer closely combined in Greek beliefs and practic: s. the latter would be one of the reasons that, even in the ea ‘est time periods, private necromancy and nectomancers were ‘considered disreputable. Tis is well argued by Matthew Dickieon (oly a7} Topper Atma eepngim en ets ea ‘mtv and Rekichen yates Neonates itinerant nk oma i ‘rg and Gating ps) ats: BB. Sha oeds er et ay sea aga rence cen ae aan As dh Mieke) ance ageand ita ow eden op) 99a a Sone “srmorsorgung,Teecyelnten und Nebsaate Blocks sod meee sche Pept stoma to ea Bee, el Tot jets men nin ar Ue (obager ae ee ‘Aso, Tew kl in necomancy i, tpl dl ees ‘elamma/aabseigen hinlnoet esp Seine," ene ds yeas Lh bethticher ee Uo) eM Ws ek efi ed she bass of the already quoted line in Euripides Alesis. Plato sbhorred all private religious activities, and in his Laws (0.909) Ine even proposed solitary confinement for ie fr those who ‘ool many of the living by pretending to charm the souls of the dead (pnyehagigen. Yet we may wonder if this sentiment was shared {nthe whol ofthe Greek world, asin early fourth-century Dodo ‘naa group of people asked the oracle: should they really consult Doris the psychi" We would love to know what the oracle ‘moughit ofthe competition, but, a susually the case with Dodo- na, an answer has no survived. ‘Now the Creek terminology regarding consulting and placat ing the dead suggests the consultation of nekyes or pyehal, both fof which are terms forthe dead in Homer, if n different ways “tue neyes in the underworld are always mentioned in che plural, winereas psych can alto be said of an individual soul ofthe dead, ‘Yetthey have in common that they refer to the more oes imma terial manifestations ofthe dead, They are no more than, to use related terms, stl, “shades or el, “image-like phancoms and {tis no wonder, then, that Servis calls necromancy with souls dani shades stomanta, This Homeric practice, as he observes, has toe differentiate from the ncromantia as practised by the Roman poet Lucan inthe frst century a, Thisisa perceptive observation, ‘which has not received quite the attention it deserves. Indeed, when we survey our material from Homer to late an- ‘ugulty we can seea clear dividing line around the time of Cicero. Before the middle ofthe fist century ac we donot hear af necro- smancy with corpses or buman sacrifices, but with Cero we enter ‘ii, ian Magny, Heras ai called pany in Ea ssSoueannich anda agaawich negative conotains Pee there edition af the quan by 87 Chistes "Magi the cau theso odon DR aan ls, Be Wo Ae Ma Setpngen ton teat Elio, cs Cond amg the et rats Ord 0 aE «anew era Iti especially i Latin poetry of the second half of the first century ac that we start wo find an abundance of references 9 rcromancy with corpses. These ae stil limited tothe world of twitches and magicians, butin the Ris century aD emperors such ts Tiberius levelled the charge of necromancy against aristocrats nd, in turn, historians such a Piny and Suetonius against the femperor. Scenes of necromancy now became de rigueur in Flav SInepics although they were all much more restrained in their ‘descriptions than the gruesome Seneca in his Oedius oF the ever ‘more gruesome Lucan, who in his Phas (6.429-830) surpassed others in the lurldness of his scenes. ‘Lucan took his inspiration from a historical anecdote, whch fs recounted by Piny (NH 7.78) a8 follows. During Sextus Pom peius resistance against the forces of Caesar, his troops captured ' caesaran supporter, Cabienss, Sextus ordered him tobe killed, land ne was taken away tothe beach where his throat was sit. Yet he didnot die immediately, but atthe end of the day he told mes ‘sengers of Sextus that he had been sen back ftom the underworld, tbinfers, to declare thatthe Pornpelan cause was the Just one.” tuucan transforms this scene with an image of the witch Ericth, sn yan at a eg okt a Pe ‘Bankfregp9 toe “ eri Te an 2.8 Ne iy. 6 1 Sut Ne 4 swaps ald Prt, "Marat mel dict arth Tepid dea mete sone i aes Hacc 09 88) MD 790) 133 lie. Role, Dende i distant 98) lec, “Tiersen Sn Panes des Su alia me 13398) Seah RParkey,‘hthon ngrente and Thema Cones The S39. Tegel ine tcc ine ea oA. Augustalis) pn nd ise "unum Ee Ofed sso ete vo My, MH 3.930 conc be senda, "y Fors ald aan Samapa, nse, 9-8. who embodies everything that was despised and feared by contem- Porarysocety. Among the corpses onthe battlefield she searched {or one whose lungs were stil intact so that he was able to speak. Having found a suitable corpse she dragged itt her cave, opened and filed it with hoe blood. After the necessary spells the sol ier nally evived and duly gave his prophecies. In the end, being drugged again, he obliginly climbed upon the pyre the witch had prepared for him. Unlike other authors, Lucan clearly knew something about ‘magic as twas being practised, not jus from literary models. For example, before Erictho began her long invocation ofthe infer nal powers, ‘she started to utter sounds that at first were confused and discordant, jarring and allen, weird, not Ike the speech of ‘human, Barking of dogs, wol's howl, the dismal notes of the plalntive wis that mope by day and of those that screech inthe Right time" (6686-9, tt. P, Widdows). The same use of animals we find in the magical papyri of Egypt, where a magician uses the sounds of birds (FGM xut.a39). Silay, when Erctho's first ‘nvocation failed, she uttered threats tothe Furies (750), threats ‘that we aso find inthe magical papyri(PGM :t.50-5,1v.1035-46). Finally, Erictho purportedly used the bodies of children, young boys oreriminals condemned tothe galows. tis precisely these categories, the ae and batharata, which frequently recur in de- scriptions of magic, since the Greeks and Romans believed that 4 Wut, De dewang der Nlemanson In tac Ptlis Rat lassi sas 44 Lowa Ova slp gis de a laa ican ie a (iy), to-a: Rs Crd ace’ Ekin MWh eae Hams a hs exer met 9 4 M.oteak edt as ran oF cea, age vend, nan yw chm ol lina sea lo ak Bch ‘hey didnot receive a proper place inthe hereafter and therefore «ould be more easily called up.» t seems clear, then, that Lacan ‘was well acquainted with genuine magical texts, Yet it would take some time before this literature made an {impact onthe Greek world, In the Roman period, Egypt became a great name in magic, the realty of which is supported by the ‘hundreds of pels found on papyr.» Amongst these magical pac tees, necromancy ocupied an important postion, Out oldest ex. amples Apion, who in the earlier ist century ab boasted that he had conjured up shades ofthe dead to ask about Homers parents and biethplace." Towards the end of that century, we have Mhes- salus who travelled to Thebes where a priest asked him whether ‘he wanted ro converse with the soul af some dead person ot with 8 god.» Around the same time the pupils ofthe Persian sage 6 Wasik, oan, vin Anse 8) ‘tad eh ipsa race Works te Spry New fee E sehr rena (Apso Reg Pps tasers oh ‘ne a nd acon th sop esa cope Dili view of anne apes. anf ee innaman typ and the remo the Cats ape a Rneeing nd Schl festabinghage Coden yy ores os sale ‘nga. teeter Boba: atin ogc on psn {ips tani ats0 Deke Magenta me Sin no, Fe Aon seat cen. Damen, “Te nda A andthe inpudenc of Do AS ot asin sar ta Roe ey ts aio tau Cel ny iene ee, ine i lk Ney eon 23-38: Anlng. Some Rear o8 Spl soar tr Gay igadd now he npran nm ere nk or ssn Thay a2 ed, He. Mth Mes te llr (ein 136 forthe athingaphy, ne mom cay) Fetapre sr ‘is pai tah Pech tata sd comer 12 Sih aye ey iden 7 Teen. Despre (incon pat a Die magico Mapas, nes Ue ge Setting so ‘Ostanes summoned this sage in a temple in Memphis,/and in the already mentioned Jannes and jambs we find James bringing up “the idolon ofhis brother Jannes from Hades' to answer questions = ‘an interesting example is also presented by the publication, ear Jy last century, ofa thid-century papyrus ftom the conclusion of| Book xvi of Julius africanus’ Kestal withthe necromantic scene of the O4ysey(01.34-43, 4850), elaborated with a kind of magical Jhymn, According tothe author, Homer or the Piststratids had left ‘out he hymn As the hymn mentions not only Jaweh and Abraxas, bur also the ancient Egyptian gods Anubis, Ptah, Phe for Re) and Nephtho, the author evidently thought necessary to "update? omer with contemporary magical material in order to make the assage more interesting this readers. 'm the Pseudo-Clementine Holes and Regions, both dating ‘rom the mid-fourth century but inthis case going back to their Source, the early thirdcentury so-called Crundichift* Clemens is profoundly disturbed by the problem ofthe tou’ immortality. He decides to travel to Egypt, nd to find a magician, and persuade ‘nim with large bribes to call wpa sou, the so-called necromancy, Pretending t inquire about some business, And the inquiry shall 1 ilerand comort,emagertny, 2a. Shee Melenitn A omar foun sa us Ascot he ese ey Sota ee spits inn enn aa cna nd Mca et disap tie Deen bee oe 59:52 at sts tsp Middren sons ao Yoishng ess 2 othe completed tery bythe Ped Cet, sr set, Pardo Clemens: Ter, Bates acs ators and Mage olen, he befor the purpose of learning whether the soul is immortal (.s) ‘Taese passages show that the Idea of conjuring up a soul of the ‘ead for questions had along life, wel into the tied century, We stil find the practice mentioned in the late thed-centuty Eayp. ‘dan astrological handbook (Ps, Manetho, Ape. 4.21), Atthe same time, though, we can see necomantic claims be- coming more grandiose. In his Metamorphoses (228), Apuleius in twoduces the Egyptian () ropheta Zatehlas who can conjure up 8 shade from the underworid but aleo bring his corpse to life. the already mentioned Pseudo-Clemetines, Clemens” conversing withthe soul ofa dead person is combined with the more grog some variant in the case of Simon Magus, which equally must go ‘back to the Gundscrift eventhough itis slighty differently rela. in the Homilies and the Receptions. Simon Magus not only ‘a tonishes the whole city every day, by making shades and ghosts appear in the midst of the marketplace; and when he wake abroad, statues move, and many shadows go before him. which, be says, are souls of the dead (4.4), Dut he also explains nec Tomancy: have’, sa Simon, ‘made the sul ofa boy, pure, vio Jently slain and invoked by secret agjurations, to assist me, and it oes all that command.’ Bur, said, “is it posible fora soul to 4o these things” He answered: would have you know this, that the soul of man holds the next place ater Cod, when once it set ‘ree ftom the darkness of his body. And immediately it acquires rescence: that i why iis invoked for necromancy’ (R213), The ‘epiction of necromancy in Lucian’ Laversof es (.), where a Hy. Perborean magus conjures up a man who had already been dead {ot seven months, can be seen, atone evel, as a mockery of such claims, ‘tthe same time, wealso notice another shift. Whereas Greek ‘ecromancy in the Archaic and Classical sources was concerned with conjuring up souls inorder to find out something abou theit fate of to placate them, we now hear of corpses and skulls that become the medium fr divination, ass wel attested in the mag- Jcal papyr, mone ofthe most famous of them, a papyrus of the Bibliothaque Nationale, we find various spells connected with ‘ecromancy. To give an idea of the content ofthese spells, twill ‘quote from one with the tle ‘Spell of attraction of King Pitys over any sul cup.® His pryerf petition to Hi’ {all upon yo, lod Helios, an your aly angels on this dy. in ‘his very hour: Preserve me, NN, foram THENOR. and you ate oly angels, guardians ofthe ARDIMALECH. And ORORO MUS [REN NEPHO'ADONA! AUEBOTHI ABATHARAY THOBEUA SOUL: [MAISOULMAITH ROUTREROUTEN OPHREOPHR! OLCHAMAOTH ‘OUTE SOUTEATH MONTRO ELAT CHOUMIOL LATHOTH OTH ETH, 1g you, lod Helios, ar me NW and grant me power ove the spirit of this man whe did a violent death, fom whose tnt "ol thi) so chat may hep him with me, NN as helper and avenger for whatever busines cave ro hin (POM WV aga 5, TEN. ONal ‘And the papyrus proceeds with: 1 yu (Apollos) go ite the hallow ofthe east to the land ‘ofthe dead, send this ghost dino tute)

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