Greek and Roman Necromancy

by Daniel Ogden

In classical antiquity, there was much interest in necromancy--the consultation of the dead for divination. People could seek knowledge from the dead by sleeping on tombs, visiting oracles, and attempting to reanimate corpses and skulls. Ranging over many of the lands in which Greek and Roman civilizations flourished, including Egypt, from the Greek archaic period through the late Roman empire, this book is the first comprehensive survey of the subject ever published in any language.


Daniel Ogden surveys the places, performers, and techniques of necromancy as well as the reasons for turning to it. He investigates the cave-based sites of oracles of the dead at Heracleia Pontica and Tainaron, as well as the oracles at the Acheron and Avernus, which probably consisted of lakeside precincts. He argues that the Acheron oracle has been long misidentified, and considers in detail the traditions attached to each site. Readers meet the personnel--real or imagined--of ancient ghosts, zombies, the earliest vampires, evocators, sorcerers, shamans, Persian magi, Chaldaeans, Egyptians, Roman emperors, and witches from Circe to Medea. Ogden explains the technologies used to evocate or reanimate the dead and to compel them to disgorge their secrets. He concludes by examining ancient beliefs about ghosts and their wisdom--beliefs that underpinned and justified the practice of necromancy.


The first of its kind and filled with information, this volume will be of central importance to those interested in the rapidly expanding, inherently fascinating, and intellectually exciting subjects of ghosts and magic in antiquity.

Genres: History, Nonfiction, Occult, Witchcraft, Mythology, Ancient History, Religion

320 pages, Paperback

First published December 1, 2001

About the author

Professor of Ancient History; Honorary Research Fellow, UNISA



Principal research areas:

(1) traditional narratives in antiquity;

(2) Greek religion;

(3) Macedonian and Hellenistic Dynasties.

Reviews

[Mateusz · Rating 5 out of 5]

Excellent well-researched resource with a robust bibliography, and well-construed manner of presentation. From a personal perspective, dealing with skia and eidola, as well as all sorts of variety of the dead (or shadowside) of human and non-human origins on a day to day basis, reading a book on ancient necromancy with my undead yet ethereal companions was a pure pleasure.

I've read it both as an informative academic study, and gathered some hints for practice - prepared my own Melikraton for the day of the dead (All Saints Day), and invited my shadely friends for a bening feast of compassion and soothing. I would add some personal revelations to the book an answer some questions gladly, but as a whole - with a scholarly flair - that was a wonderful read.

I can't wait to get my hands on 'Drakon' by the same author.

[Drew Harris · Rating 4 out of 5]

If you don't have a background in Greek and Roman stories (I didn't), a lot of the references won't scan, but the details on necromancy are invaluable. You'll get everything from ritual ingredients to the step-by-step procedure of sending a binding-curse to an emperor. Highly recommend for anyone interested in tracking the fictional archetype of necromancers through history (there are dozens of us!).

[Lindsey Jo · Rating 4 out of 5]

Had to skip around a bit as a beginner, but interesting and enlightening.

[bubble butt book lover · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book was a very useful and well researched resource. While I wasn’t pre se expecting a step by step on how the Ancient Romans and Greeks went about doing their necromantic rituals, I was certainly nore than delighted to see one, as a pagan myself.

Although I don’t recommend any beginner pagans even attempting any necromancy, researching and learning more is always encouraged, and I would say that this book is a great place to start, as it uses what we know to be legitimate resources, rather than something someone on witchtok made up. As there’s so much misinformation especially surrounding greek and roman paganism, it was nice to see something that wasn’t, even if that is because it’s probably meant to be something more historical than religious.

Thank you Daniel Ogden, for writing such a great book and helping us to better understand the way that Greeks and Romans thought about death and the dead.

[Michael Klein · Rating 4 out of 5]

I was not expecting a play-by-play manual for how the ancients literally raised the dead. This book is extremely granular and sourced. Perhaps the ancients really did converse with the dead, but because we no longer do sacrifice, we no longer can interact with the dead.... Also, the glossary of words in this book in priceless... the ancients had a "mancy" for everything!

[Katerina Sarpione · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a sublime example of how scholarly books can contain a ton of well researched, greatly structured and very helpful scholarly information and still appeal to the general reader. Daniel Ogden's book is not only a staple for everyone interested in the topic, because of its contents, but it is also a great resource for further research. This book is timeless!

[Venetia · Rating 5 out of 5]

Wonderful. A brilliant book on necromancy that covers virtually everything and was extremely helpful while I was writing an essay on the role of necromancy in Greek religion. A fascinating read with lots of helpful insights and conclusions.

[Gulnar · Rating 5 out of 5]

Brilliantly written and well referenced, this book is detailed enough to sate your desire for knowledge, yet simple enough that's understandable - and enjoyable - without being a history expert. Truly a masterpiece.

[Brian · Rating 4 out of 5]

My eyes tend to glaze over when I read about antiquity, but this was actually quite entertaining and informative.

[Tecre · Rating 5 out of 5]

I'm not a fan of the way multiple references are often packed inside one annotation but miles better to deal with than endnotes

[Milo Rhys · Rating 4 out of 5]

An excellent deep-dive into the thought processes of how death and prophecy functioned in Greece and Rome, both in a mythological and a practical context.

[Shannon Knight · Rating 5 out of 5]

Very detailed and informative. This is a re-read for me.

[Moros Heksenmeester · Rating 5 out of 5]

Before I started to read the book I was skeptic about a historian investigating a topic most people don't dare to think about. After reading the book I'm rethinking some personal experiences from my own life. The title says Greek and Roman but the focus is on the Greek necromancers with their rituals, and the influences that came with the interaction between Romans, Egyptians and Persians. The information was gathered by comparing written history, unwritten history, poems and science-fiction of the period while visiting the main necromantic ritual locations which he describes in full detail. Because of this there are an awful lot of references on each page and words of the languages to explain. This makes the book hard to read but for the truly interested the filtered information may give new insights missed when reading the original sources. Clearly the book is not for those who never read about the Greek deities or history and expect ready to use rituals. It's for those who want to raise their awareness towards the paranormal side of an ancient culture.

[Dagny · Rating 4 out of 5]

Largely for historians/academics, but skipping a few chapters I found some really fascinating information about how the ancient Greeks and Romans concieved of death. The author has a knack for making such a dynamic topic as death, the underworld and living practioners of death-divining seem dry at times. However, his methodology is excellent, and luckily the juiciness of the subject matter tends to compensate for his occasional dullness. As someone who's not a scholar but with a keen interest in Greek and Roman mythology, I'm really glad I read it!

[Mau · Rating 5 out of 5]

And excellent, informative and sometimes grisly account of the practices of Necromancy during the Greek and Roman religious period.

[Joseph Kavajecz · Rating 5 out of 5]

Excellent reference in term of actual content.

[Amanda · Rating 5 out of 5]

I read this book for my undergraduate senior thesis and it was incredibly helpful. Ogden knows his stuff.