SAILING TO HADES: THE NECROMANTEION OF EPHYRA
By Ruth Kozak
The boat cuts a silent swathe through the jade coloured
water of the narrow river. I imagine crocodiles lurking in the shallows. And
surely those tangled boughs that dip into the murky surface shelter coiled
serpents ready to strike. I spot several turtles basking in the morning sun on
a submerged log. We cruise the narrow waterway under drooping boughs of willows,
the muddy banks thick with a hedge of tall sedge. Black and emerald dragonflies
dart over the water. The scene reminds me of a trip I once took in the bayous of
Louisiana. But though there may well have been crocodiles here in by-gone times,
and undoubtedly there are snakes among the reeds, this is a river in Greece.
I am on a slow-moving motor launch sailing up the
mysterious Acheron River, symbolized in Greek myth as the River Styx. There are
no corpses aboard this boat, their eyes sealed shut with gold coins. The ferry
man is not Charon, but a jovial old salt, Captain Kostas, who has kept the
passengers entertained as he navigated the boat up the river from the port of
Parga. I am on my way to visit the Oracle of the Dead, the Necromanteion, a
mystical sanctuary that the ancient Greeks believed to be the entrance to the
Underworld. Hades!
 Captain Kostas moors the boat by a reedy embankment from
where the passengers must walk two kilometres to the site. I trudge up the
gravel road, through the corn fields to the small village of Messopotamo. On a
hillside behind the village, protected by cyclopeon walls and an inner circuit
of polygonal masonry, dark passageways lead to the mouth of an underground
cavern which was believed to be the entrance to the realm of Hades and
Persephone. Ancients came here to consult the souls of the dead who, on leaving
their bodies, acquired knowledge of the future.
 The Necromaneteion near the beautiful town of Parga on
Greece’s west coast, belonged to the ancient Bronze Age city of Ephyra, the
ruins of which are located nearby. The site had been inhabited since Mycenaean
times judging from the finding of several shards and a bronze sword dating to
the 13th c. BC. The labyrinth and buildings, which include store rooms, priests
lodgings, dormitories, baths and a courtyard, were discovered in 1958.
The Necromanteion was the most famous sanctuary of its kind
in antiquity. Many pilgrims visited there including Odysseus, who attempted to
conjure Achilles’ ghost. The ancients believed that a persons’ soul was immortal
after its freedom from the body, and that a mortal’s contact with the dead, with
a view to predict the future, demanded special sacrifices and rituals. Offerings
of milk, honey and the blood of sacrificed animals were made in the hope of
conjuring the spirits of the departed.
The pilgrims were subjected to three stages of physical and
spiritual tests during which they were isolated in the dark rooms of the Oracle.
Obliged to follow a special diet of beans and various hallucinogenic
substances, they prepared to meet the souls of the dead.
After several days of magical rituals, prayers,
invocations, and questioning by the priests, the supplicants were led down the
dark smoke-filled corridor of the labyrinth to the entranceway of Hades, having
faith that the apparitions of the dead would appear to them. An underground
vault, thought to be the dark palace of Persephone and Hades, was the meeting
place of the dead and the living.
I descend into the cold, musty crypt by a narrow stairway.
The chamber is carved in the rock with 15 stone arches supporting the roof. It
dates to the end of the 4th century. It is here that the pilgrims were believed
to have communed with the dead. As I stood in the gloom of the stone cavern I
try to conjure a few ghosts of my own. It is an eerie place, not impossible to
imagine how the pilgrims, disoriented and under the influence of potions, could
be fooled into believing the Dead were really there communicating with them.
 During Roman times, in 167 BC, the Oracle was proven to be
a hoax when pulleys were discovered in the chamber, which apparently had been
used to hoist up the priests who simulated the departed and answered the
questions of the pilgrims. The walk through the hallucinogenic smoke of the
labyrinth, the isolation and rituals they had performed during their stay,
prepared them for accepting the appearance of the ‘dead’ person as ‘real’.
After this discovery, the Necromanteion was destroyed and lay hidden until it
was excavated in 1958 and restored by the Archaeological Society of Athens.
 After visiting Hades, I board the launch again to return to
Parga, cruising downriver to the Acheron delta, then out to the open sea. A
brisk wind has blown up and Captain Kostas navigates the boat through the choppy
water sailing precariously close to the rocky shoreline. Great jagged rocks loom
out of the sea like giant sea monster’s teeth. The limestone cliffs are riddled
with caves where pirate ships used to hide.
We sail past secluded coves with dazzling turquoise water,
stopping to anchor at one of the pristine white-sand beaches, to spend the
afternoon luxuriating in Paradise until it is time to board again and head back
to Parga. The trip to Hades is a chance to experience a seance ancient style.
An excellent day’s outing all for 7.50 Euros.
WHERE TO GO:
The Necromanteion is open from November - March Daily 8.00am - 3.00 pm
July - October, Daily 8.00am - 9.00 pm
Admission (not included in cruise) 2 Euros; 1 Euro for seniors and children
Tickets can be purchased at the port in Parga for the cruise up the Acheron
(7.50 Euros) and the site can also be reached by car on the Preveza road to
Messopotamo.
Guided tours by bus also operate from Parga.
WHERE TO STAY (In Parga)
During July/August accommodation is tight but domatios can be found on the
hill near the Kastro, ranging from 35 - 50 Euros. Domatio owners will usually
meet the buses and offer their lodgings. I found an exceptional self-contained
suite in this way for just 35 Euros a day.
There are also three camp sites nearby.
HOW TO GET THERE
There are buses from Athens (a seven hour journey, three times a day) 24.50
Euros The bus depot in Parga is located up the hill from the port.
Parga is 53 km. north of Preveza
PHOTO CREDITS: W. Ruth Kozak
http://travelthroughhistory.blogspot.com
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