nekromanteia

Nekromanteia is the practice of communicating with the dead, often for purposes of divination, guidance, or obtaining hidden knowledge. The term derives from Greek nekros, "dead," and manteia, "divination." In English, the practice is commonly rendered as necromancy.

Historically, nekromanteia appears in ancient Greek magical literature and in Hellenistic and Roman contexts. In the Greek magical papyri, rites describe summoning a deceased person or spirit to obtain information, predict events, or influence the living world. Similar traditions exist in broader Mediterranean and Near Eastern syncretisms, sometimes invoking chthonic deities such as Hades or Hermes Psychopompos.

Practices varied, but common elements include ritual invocations, offerings or sacrifices, the use of tombs or burial imagery, incantations, sigils, and special tablets or words of power. The practitioner might seek revelations from a dead person, compel a spirit to disclose secrets or aid in a task, or retrieve lost objects; results were often interpreted through dreams or oracular signs.

Reception and interpretation: In antiquity, nekromanteia drew suspicion and controversy among philosophers, priests, and authorities. By late antiquity and in medieval Christian sources, necromancy was condemned as dangerous sorcery and linked to demonic influence. Modern scholarship treats nekromanteia as a diverse set of ritual-technical practices within ancient magic rather than a single doctrine.

Legacy: The concept persists in studies of ancient magic and in contemporary occultism, where discussions of necromancy distinguish between communication with the dead, ancestor ritual, and other forms of spirit work.