The sacred area, being
used as a cemetery before the archaeological excavation, is the most
ancient part of the oracle. One makes access to it through a labyrinth.
As it can be noted from the map in the left panel, the area is composed
by a big central hall, place designated for the meeting with the dead,
and by two side aisles, in their turn divided into three rooms, symmetric
with respect to the central hall. Vertically, below the central hall, an
equal sided hall develops, accessible through a modern iron staircase.
That was considered the house of Pluto and Persephone and was not accessibile
to ancient times pilgrims.
The floor
of the sacred area
Ritual vessels in the
"West Slope" style, unguentaria and lekythoi (end of 3rd cent. a.C. to
167 a.C.)
photo from publication in reference
1 of bibliography
Plates in the "West
Slope" style, with incised and painted decoration; the ears of corn and
ivy leaves are chthonic symbols of fertility (end of 3rd cent. a.C. to
167 a.C.).
photo from publication in
reference 1 of bibliography
Amphoriskos e skiphos
in the "West Slope" style, with three relief heads of Dionysus-Hades on
the base (end of 3rd cent. a.C. to 167 a.C.)
photo from publication in reference
1 of bibliography
The floor of the sacred area was covered by
a deep layer (about 50 cm) of hundreds of broken vessels, comprising
water jars, amphoras, jugs, bowls and small lekythoi which once contained
offerings, as well as lamps and smaller vases, like unguentaria, askoi,
phialidia, plates and rhyta, often with painted and incised decoration
in the style known as "West Slope" (from the site where similar ones were
found in the west slope of Athens Acropolis). Vessels
were being broken as part of a ritual which took place within the sacred
area. The finds can be seen at the Archaeological Museum of Ioannina (see
the photo of one of the showcases). Besides the above mentioned
objects more others have been found, belonging to the second layer which
formed by the collapse of the top floor; they include: blackish pots and
plates, locks, keys, wide-headed nails, fishing harpoons, as well as certain
"Epirotean" coins and coins from other Greek cities.
The floor of the sacred
area, as well as those of the side aisles, were once coated with red soil.
The sacred area (white background in the map)
is divided into three aisles extending south to north, a central one, in
which pilgrims used to gather for their meeting with the dead, and two
side ones, tripartite and accessible by means of doors, simmetric
with respect to the central hall axis. Below the central aisle, a subterranean
hall develops of equal surface and orientation, to be considered
the house of the Hades gods.
photo from publication in
reference 1 of bibliography The photo "a"
shows the central aisle of the sacred area of the Nekromanteion. On the
left side a door opens which gives access to the left side aisle, in front
of which, poorly visible in the photo, there is the access to the right
side aisle. In the background the wall by which the dead ghosts appeared.
The
sacred area of the Nekromanteion
(area
4)
The planimetry in the
left panel (l.p.) of the screen is displayed using the natural orientation,
top=North. By clicking on the "anchor icones" in the l.p., it is possible,
by means of the photoes "a",
"b", "c",
"d", "e"
to get information on the sacred area under the visual angles suggested
by the icones themselves. Clicking on the remaining "sensitive" area of
the l.p. (marked with the numbers 1
÷ 5 and with the letter K)
it is possible to get information on the rest of area 4.
For the descent into the Hades click on the figure 4.
Warning!! Working
at full screen is recommended, as the left panel is blocked.
To continue the visit
and pass to the house of Hades, you are requested to click on the link
"Go on", on the
top of the planimetry in the l.p. .
The photo "b",
taken from the top, shows in the foreground the central room of the right
side aisle of the oracle, and in the middle the access door to the room
"K".
The photo "c"
shows the access door to the left side aisle of the oracle.
photo from publication in
reference 1 of bibliography
The photo "d"
shows the central room of the left side aisle. The door in full light,
in the middle of the photo, allows the access to the central aisle. It
is possible to note, near the corner, a millstone for cereal and
oyster shell grinding. The walls were calcinated by the fire set by the
Romans.
photo from publication in
reference 1 of bibliography
The photo "e" shows
the northern room of the "sacred area" left side aisle and the access door
to the central room of the above mentioned aisle.
Both side aisles were being used to store
pilgrim offers (broadbeans, wheat, barley and lupines) in large jars. Piles
of cereals and sulphur (used, according to Homer,
for the purification rites), accumulated in the various rooms, burnt with
the fire. The temperature of the fire turned out to be so great that the
wall surfaces were calcinated; moreover baked bricks from the walls and
vases were vetrified. Carbonized cereals have been recovered and
can be seen at the Archaeological Museum of Ioannina (see
image).
The excavation in left side aisle brought
to light various objects, among which, pots of clay, small and big vats,
beautiful tiny idols of Persephone, a dog belonging to a pot handle, iron
rings, chains, primitive axes, iron shovels and saws, spades, swords, bridles
of horses, a trident, trivets, javelin spears, arrows, lamps made of clay,
retrogressive hand-mills with heavy and hard stone pack-saddles or bells,
similar to those found in Pompei, saws for cutting big trees, and other
objects of iron and small round sticks in natural earthy colors, similar
to those used by artisans of the lithic era.
photo from publication in
reference 1 of bibliography Eastern
aisle
The photo shows 22 iron weights recovered
in the area "K " (the northern room in the
right side aisle), each weighing from 6 to 10,5 kg which probably served
as counterweights for a dead image lifting device, whose gears have been
recovered inside the sacred area (in the position marked with the figure
"2" in the l.p.).
Beyond the above mentioned objects the archaeologists
recovered, in the eastern aisle, tiny idols of clay, quarryman tools, square
pieces of iron used as coins in old time, oblong adzes, iron wedges, hammers,
doubleheaded nails from doors and other things of iron of unknown use,
a handle belonging to a vessel of clay, bearing the name “DAMOKRATES”,
as well as beautiful pots with the seal “LYS”, a basin of marble, a small
caldron of copper, two big balls made of flint which had been sent by the
enemies catapults to destroy the second floor, javelins, and a lot of plates
and pots stored in a room.
N°
2
On the left of the above figure, two bronze
ratches which prevented reversing of a lifting device wheel; on the right,
one more gear belonging to the same device. All the gears have been found
by the northern wall of the central aisle of the sacred area together with
a mass of iron chariot wheels (may be symbol of the Hades lord chariot)
and a large bronze cauldron. It is supposed that the lifting device was
operated from the top or rather from a cavity opened in the upper part
of the external wall, today lost together with the second floor of the
sanctuary. Concealed in the cavity, people from the staff could operate
the device, lift the dead image and give voice to the meeting with the
dead. The meeting surely had to sound more realistic because of the physical
and mental state of the pilgrims who used to join the sacred area proved
by days in confinement, passed in prayer, subjected to a special diet.
The photo shows the carbonized rests of the
offerings found inside the vases belonging to the side aisles of the sacred
area of the Nekromanteion.
back
to photo "E"
N°1
In the position marked by the figure "1"
there's a heap formed by the apotropaic stones cast by pilgrims to ward
off evil influences. Stone throwing was just part of a rite celebrated
at the entrance of the sacred area which included pouring libations to
the gods of Hades, Pluto and Persephone, and breaking of pots containing
alphita. During the rite, priests would never cease invoking the spirits
of the dead and, according to Luciano (Menippus 9 ff.), "nocturnal
Hecate (the triple looking goddess, lunar, terrestrial, chthonian) and
dread Persephoneia" and muttering outlandish and meaningless names and
polysyllabic words.
N°3
Stone staircase, 1 meter high, with three
steps. Uncertain use .
The photo shows one of the cabinets of the
Archaeological Museum of Ioannina with some of the finds from the archaeological
excavation of the Nekromanteion.
