Sagae Thessalae (The Witches of Thessaly) is a short story by Apuleius, written in the mid-2nd Century AD. It comes from the only complete Roman novel that still survives, called Asinus Aureus (The Golden Ass).
The novel is narrated by Lucius, who is travelling through Northern Greece, where he is invited to a banquet. At this banquet, he is asked his opinions of Thessaly, and answers saying that whilst he is impressed by the area, he worries about the stories of the witches of Thessaly, who are said to bite the body parts of corpses and use them as ingredients in their spells. After sharing this, he is pointed in the direction of one of the other guests, who has suffered from this whilst still alive. This man is Thelyphron, who then tells Lucius his story.
Imagined image of Apuleius [4th century]
Whilst travelling in Thessaly, Thelyphron was in need of money, and heard an old man advertising for someone to guard a corpse from witches. Doubting the truthfulness of the man in his warning of the witches, Thelyphron took the job, but was victim to a spell cast by the witches, causing him to fall asleep during the night. The following morning, all appears fine with the body, and the corpse’s widow is accused of murdering him in order to be with her lover. As a way of proving this, a necromancer, Zatchlas, is brought in to reanimate the corpse and ask him what happened.
Necromancy from the Greek ‘νεκρός’, [dead], and ‘μαντεία’, [divination], is the art of summoning dead spirits, or reanimating dead bodies, and was practised to various levels in the ancient world. In Sagae Thessalae, Zatchlas is an Egyptian prophet, said to be the best at reanimating corpses. Ancient Egypt is often associated with the practice of magical arts, particularly those relating to the dead, and Apuleius shows this through this being where Zatchlas is from. In the story, necromancy is vital in revealing the truth of what happened, especially as even our narrator, Thelyphron, is unaware of what transpired, prior to being told by the corpse.
The practice of necromancy is thought to have come about as an offshoot of shamanism, where spirits (such as the ghosts of ancestors) are summoned. It was an illegal ritual in Ancient Greece, but there is evidence to suggest that whilst this was the case, necromancy was still practised in secret. Ancient Greeks believed that once dead, a person’s soul would travel to the Underworld through openings in the earth. Spirits of the dead were believed to have abilities foreign to the living, including the ability to see the future. Because of this, temples were erected for Ancient Greeks to both receive prophecies and practice necromancy. Whilst necromancy was practiced in the ancient world, many people believed it was better to leave the dead in peace, rather than reanimating them.
Tara
Comments