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The historian Strabo (Strabo, xvi. 2, 39, νεκρομαντεις) refers to necromancy as the principal form of divination amongst the people of Persia; and it is believed to also have been widespread amongst the peoples of Chaldea (particularly amongst the Sabians or star-worshippers), Etruria and Babylonia. The Babylonian necromancers themselves were called Manzazuu or Sha'etemmu and the spirits they raised were called Etemmu.
In the Odyssey (XI), Ulysses makes a voyage to Hades, the Underworld, and raises the spirits of the dead using spells which he had learnt from Circe. His intention was to invoke the shade of TiresiasIn Greek mythology, Tiresias was a blind prophet, the son of the shepherd Everes and the nymph Chariclo. Tiresias was a priest of Zeus, and as a young man he encountered two snakes mating and hit them with a stick. He was then transformed into a woman., but he was unable to summon it alone without the accompaniment of others.
There are also many references to necromancy in the BibleThe Bible (From Greek βιβλια biblia meaning "books", which in turn is derived from βυβλος byblos meaning "papyrus", from the ancient Phoenician city of Byblos which exported papyrus). The Book of DeuteronomyDeuteronomy is the fifth book of the Hebrew Bible, also the fifth book of the Christian Old Testament. Its Hebrew name is Devarim ("words"), which comes from the opening phrase "Eleh ha-devarim" ("These are the words. Origin of name The English name, "Deu (XVIII 9–12) explicitly warns the Israelites against the Canaanite practice of divination from the dead. This warning was not always heeded: King Saul asked the Witch of Endorfrontispiece to Sadducismus Triumphatus by Joseph Glanvill In the Hebrew Bible, the Witch of Endor of the First book of Samuel, chapter 28:4-25, was a witch, a woman "who possesses a talisman," through which she called up the ghost of the recently decease to invoke the shade of SamuelIn the Old Testament, Samuel or Shmu'el "Name/Heard of God", Standard Hebrew #X160;muel Tiberian Hebrew #X160;muel is a leader of ancient Israel. His story is told in the Bible in the books of Samuel. Birth and early years The peculiar circumstances conne, for example, and there are many other notable evocations of the dead within the Bible. Some might argue that Jesus Christ's raising of LazarusJesus, painting by the Swedish artist Karl Isakson (c. 1920) Lazarus is a proper name referring to a character of the Bible. The name has also appeared in modern day literature, science fiction, and computer programing software. Bible In the New Testament from the dead was a prima facie case of necromancy.
Norse mythology also contains examples of necromancy, such as the scene in the Voluspa in which Odin summons a seeress from the dead to tell him of the future. In Grogaldr, the first part of Svipdagsmál, the hero Svipdag summons his dead volva mother, Groa, to cast spells for him.The 17th century Rosicrucian Robert Fludd describes Goetic necromancy as consisting of "diabolical commerce with unclean spirits, in rites of criminal curiosity, in illicit songs and invocations and in the evocation of the souls of the dead".
Modern séances, channeling and Spiritualism verge on necromancy when the invoked spirits are asked to reveal future events.
Necromancy may also be dressed up as sciomancy , a branch of theurgic magic.
Necromancy is extensively practised in voodoo.