The Kingdom of the Dead — The Nekuia: Odysseus consults the shades

Book 11 of The Odyssey by Homer

"We went down to our ship at the water's edge and launched her into the sacred sea. We set up the mast, spread the sail, and took the sheep aboard, and then we ourselves embarked, weeping and shedding bitter tears. Circe sent a fair wind behind the ship, a good companion that filled the sail, and we sat still and let the wind and the helmsman take us on our way. The sun set and all the ways grew dark, and at length we reached the deep-flowing stream of Ocean and the frontiers of the world, where the Cimmerians dwell, wrapped in mist and cloud. The sun never shines upon that wretched people, neither when he climbs the starry sky nor when he turns back from heaven to earth, but a dreadful night is spread over them eternally. There we beached our ship and took out the sheep and walked along the shore of Ocean until we came to the place Circe had described."

"Perimedes and Eurylochus held the victims while I dug a trench a cubit each way. I poured libations to the dead — first with milk and honey, then with sweet wine, and then with water. I sprinkled white barley meal over all, and I prayed earnestly to the shades of the dead, vowing that when I returned to Ithaca I would sacrifice my best heifer and heap a pyre with fine things, and to Tiresias alone I would offer a jet-black ram, the finest in my flock. When I had made my prayers and vows, I cut the throats of the sheep over the trench and let the dark blood flow. Then the ghosts came swarming up from Erebus — brides and youths and toil-worn old men, tender maidens still nursing their first sorrow, and many men slain in battle with their armour still upon them. They gathered round the trench from every side with a dreadful cry, and pale fear seized me."

"The first shade to come forward was that of Elpenor, our companion who had not yet been buried. In our haste to leave Circe's island he had climbed to the roof of her house to sleep off his wine, and when he woke at the sound of our departure he had fallen from the roof and broken his neck. He wept and begged me to go back and give him proper burial, to burn his body with his armour and heap a mound for him on the grey sea's shore, and to plant his oar upon the barrow so that men in times to come would know his story. I promised him that all these things should be done."