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Necromancy or nigromancy is a form of magic involving communication with the deceased – either by summoning their spirit as an apparition or raising them bodily – for the purpose of divination, imparting the means to foretell future events or discover hidden knowledge, or to use the deceased as a weapon, as the term may sometimes be used in a more general sense to refer to black magic or witchcraft. The word "necromancy" is adapted from Late Latin ''necromantia'', itself borrowed from post-Classical Greek νεκρομαντεία (''nekromanteía''), a compound of Ancient Greek νεκρός (''nekrós''), "dead body", and μαντεία (''manteía''), "prophecy or divination"; this compound form was first used by Origen of Alexandria in the 3rd century BC. The Classical Greek term was ἡ νέκυια (''nekyia''), from the episode of the ''Odyssey'' in which Odysseus visits the realm of the dead and νεκρομαντεία in Hellenistic Greek, rendered as ''necromantīa'' in Latin, and as ''necromancy'' in 17th-century English.〔(necyomancy, ''n.'' ), ''OED''.〕 == Antiquity == (詳細はshamanism, which calls upon spirits such as the ghosts of ancestors. Classical necromancers addressed the dead in "a mixture of high-pitch squeaking and low droning", comparable to the trance-state mutterings of shamans.〔Luck, p. 12.〕 Necromancy was prevalent throughout Western antiquity with records of its practice in Babylon, Egypt, Greece, and Rome. In his ''Geographica'', Strabo refers to νεκρομαντία (''nekromantia''), or "diviners by the dead", as the foremost practitioners of divination among the people of Persia,〔Strabo. ''Geography'', (Book XVI, Chapter 2, Section 39 ).〕 and it is believed to have also been widespread among the peoples of Chaldea (particularly the Sabians, or "star-worshipers"), Etruria, and Babylonia. The Babylonian necromancers were called ''manzazuu'' or ''sha'etemmu'', and the spirits they raised were called ''etemmu''. The oldest literary account of necromancy is found in Homer’s ''Odyssey''.〔Johnson, p. 808.〕〔Ruickbie, p. 24.〕 Under the direction of Circe, a powerful sorceress, Odysseus travels to the underworld (''katabasis'') in order to gain insight about his impending voyage home by raising the spirits of the dead through the use of spells which Circe has taught him. He wishes to invoke and question the shade of Tiresias in particular; however, he is unable to summon the seer's spirit without the assistance of others. The ''Odysseys passages contain many descriptive references to necromantic rituals: rites must be performed around a pit with fire during nocturnal hours, and Odysseus has to follow a specific recipe, which includes the blood of sacrificial animals, to concoct a libation for the ghosts to drink while he recites prayers to both the ghosts and gods of the underworld.〔Homer. ''Odyssey'', (Book X, Lines 10–11 ), and (Book XI ).〕 Practices such as these, varying from the mundane to the grotesque, were commonly associated with necromancy. Rituals could be quite elaborate, involving magic circles, wands, talismans, and incantations. The necromancer might also surround himself with morbid aspects of death, which often included wearing the deceased's clothing and consuming foods that symbolized lifelessness and decay such as unleavened black bread and unfermented grape juice. Some necromancers even went so far as to take part in the mutilation and consumption of corpses.〔Guiley, p. 215.〕 These ceremonies could carry on for hours, days, or even weeks, leading up to the eventual summoning of spirits. Frequently they were performed in places of interment or other melancholy venues that suited specific guidelines of the necromancer. Additionally, necromancers preferred to summon the recently departed based on the premise that their revelations were spoken more clearly. This timeframe was usually limited to the twelve months following the death of the physical body; once this period elapsed, necromancers would evoke the deceased’s ghostly spirit instead.〔Lewis, p. 201.〕 While some cultures considered the knowledge of the dead to be unlimited, ancient Greeks and Romans believed that individual shades knew only certain things. The apparent value of their counsel may have been based on things they knew in life or knowledge they acquired after death. Ovid writes in his ''Metamorphoses'' of a marketplace in the underworld where the dead convene to exchange news and gossip.〔Luck, p. 13.〕〔Ovid. ''Metamorphoses'', Book IV, Fable VII, Lines 440–464.〕 There are also several references to necromancers – called "bone-conjurers" among Jews of the later Hellenistic period〔Luck, p. 57.〕 – in the Bible. The Book of Deuteronomy (18:9–12〔''cf.'' ''Tanakh, Torah, Devarim'' 18:9–12.〕) explicitly warns the Israelites against engaging in the Canaanite practice of divination from the dead: Though Mosaic Law prescribed the death penalty to practitioners of necromancy (Leviticus 20:27〔''cf.'' ''Tanakh, Torah, Vayikra'' 20:27.〕), this warning was not always heeded. One of the foremost examples is when King Saul had the Witch of Endor invoke the Spirit of Samuel, a judge and prophet, from Sheol using a ritual conjuring pit (1 Samuel 28:3–25〔''cf.'' (''Tanakh, Nevi'im, Shmu'el Aleph'' 28:3–25 ).〕). However, the so-called witch was shocked at the presence of the real spirit of Samuel for in I Sam 28:12 it says, "when the woman saw Samuel, she cried out in a loud voice." Samuel questioned his reawakening asking, "Why hast thou disquieted me?" Saul did not receive a death penalty (his being the highest authority in the land) but he did receive it from God himself as prophesied by Samuel during that conjuration. Some Christian writers later rejected the idea that humans could bring back the spirits of the dead and interpreted such shades as disguised demons instead, thus conflating necromancy with demon summoning. Caesarius of Arles entreats his audience to put no stock in any demons or gods other than the Christian God, even if the working of spells appears to provide benefit. He states that demons only act with divine permission and are permitted by God to test Christian people. Caesarius does not condemn man here; he only states that the art of necromancy exists, although it is prohibited by the Bible.〔Kors & Peters, p. 48.〕 On the other hand, some Christians believe that necromancy is real (along with other facets of the occult "magic") but God has not suffered Christians to deal with those spirits (Deuteronomy 18:14). 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Necromancy」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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