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Published online by Cambridge University Press: 17 June 2025
Homer is in a sense the bedrock of Greek culture. Greeks are brought up in the charms of mythical narration, whose resonances are then gradually transformed through the cognitive channel of history, archeological findings, and geographical location. Exposition to the Homeric Epics starts early in the form of brief story-like adaptations in elementary school, modern Greek translations in high school, and study in the original of classical Greek and Latin texts in the Humanities Departments at the university. I still remember with fondness the reading and the analysis of these distant texts by our erudite classics professor in the oak-paneled amphitheatre and my dread when I had to recite extracts from Homer and Virgil as part of the oral exam at the end of the year. Then came my exposition to European literary modernity when I pursued my higher studies and research in contemporary literature and theatre abroad. Inevitably, the earlier tense experience with the classics softened in the course of years, filtered into sweet memory and resting com-fortably—albeit half-forgotten—at the back of my mind.
It was almost by miracle that I rediscovered this hidden treasure some 40 years later. After an exhaustive academic year, protracting well into the summer, we decided to take a week off in mid-September to enjoy the still warm Ionian Sea on the coast of Epirus in western Greece. Among the region's attractions was a visit by boat up the Acheron River to the Oracle of the Dead (Nekromanteion), both well-known sites from antiquity. The prospect of the visit was a real thrill for me because it meant a double journey back in the time machine: the first as a walk down my personal memory lane and the second as a speculative return to practices and experiences of antiquity related to the underworld.
I decided to take the trip as a totally physical experience and leave any intellectual research for later. The boat was of medium size, accommodating a small group of 10–15 passengers of mixed age and origin. We actually boarded at the mouth of Acheron, heading up to its springs.
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