Geographical Reality or Literary Fantasy: The Tainaron nekuomanteion as a Natural Deathscape

Abstract

This article redefines the dualism of nekuomanteia’s real and imagined topographies via a novel analysis of the tertium quid that is “natural deathscapes.” This framework is applied to the case study of the nekuomanteion at Tainaron. Comparison between the literary descriptions and the archaeological record reveals numerous anomalies within this landscape’s presentation, including an imaginary grove, spring, and impossible localizations. While traditional analyses explain away such matters as the result of poetic license or tradition, this approach cannot account for all identifiable inconsistencies. Thus, the site’s identification as a natural deathscape, a place associated with death / the dead and imbued with multifaceted sociocultural meanings, serves as a tertium quid that coalesces the site’s real and imagined topographies into a holistic landscape. Within this paradigm of spatial syncretism, particular attention is paid to the interaction of sociocultural functions inherent within the processes of landscape creation and eschatological reflection.