07-17-2023 Necromancy in caves of Roman Jerusalem.
From 1920 until 2016, more than one hundred Lucerns (oil lamps) were found in the karst caves of Te'omim, as well as vessels, coins, spearheads and other weapons. The lamps seemed to have been deliberately placed in cracks and gaps in the walls, even those that were difficult to access, which did not seem logical if their intention was to illuminate. Shortly after, they found three human skulls, two of them wedged in a crevice, and the third freestanding, surrounded by lamps.
But these skulls were not part of burials, since no other human parts were found. This led archaeologists and researchers to consider that they were not looking at objects used simply for defense or to illuminate the place, but rather that they were looking at the remains of possible necromantic rituals, as Eitan Klein and Boaz Zissu have recently explained in the article Oil Lamps, Spearheads and Skulls: Possible Evidence of Necromancy during Late Antiquity in the Te'omim Cave, Judean Hills (Hardvard Theologocal Issues, Cambridge University Press).
The cave narrows a little, eventually giving rise to a 50x70 meter cavity. It is known that the cave was visited with some frequency by different communities since the Bronze Age, as it was considered a sacred place, in contact with the underworld, since there are water currents inside, all of which is a deeply rooted belief. and repeated among Mediterranean polytheistic religions. Although today water runs through the cracks, it is known that containers had been placed to collect the water that dripped from fissures and stalactics. For this reason, they consider that the cave could have been used as a nekyomanteion/nekromanteion, that is, as an Oracle of the dead. This was an occult but common practice in ancient times, at least until Constantine II's formal ban on Christianity.
It is believed that the lanterns were used, along with the collected water, to divine through the games of lights (lampadomancy), or for the gods and spirits to manifest themselves in the flames.
The weapons (an ax head and daggers) belong to the Bronze Age, it is also thought that their use was to defend themselves from spirits, something that is recorded on several occasions in classical literature. Metals, specifically iron and bronze, were believed to scare away and frighten spirits.
The skulls, for their part, were used as part of necromancy rituals, understood as those in which the help of the dead is requested to obtain something or make bindings. Human sacrifices have been proposed for the invocation, as well as to carry out threats to the spirits on the skulls (for example, blinding them, muting them, binding them...). However, human sacrifices were more common among the Celts and Thracians and these , with Roman rule, had stopped that practice. What was common and simpler was the plundering of tombs.
In Judaism, this type of rituals and connections with the caves were considered idolatry, so it could be assumed that the practitioners were Greeks, Romans, or from oriental peoples, or at least, their beliefs would be imbued by these cultures.
Archaeological research continues, waiting to discover new objects in the various crevices and small chambers of the Te'omim cave, now with this new approach.
We leave here some of the sources of the news, as well as the article in OpenAccess for those who like to read it in full.
Pietro Viktor Carracedo Ahumada - pietrocarracedo@gmail.com
