Aornum (
Ancient Greek
Ancient Greek (, ; ) includes the forms of the Greek language used in ancient Greece and the classical antiquity, ancient world from around 1500 BC to 300 BC. It is often roughly divided into the following periods: Mycenaean Greek (), Greek ...
: ) was an
oracle
An oracle is a person or thing considered to provide insight, wise counsel or prophetic predictions, most notably including precognition of the future, inspired by deities. If done through occultic means, it is a form of divination.
Descript ...
in
Ancient Greece
Ancient Greece () was a northeastern Mediterranean civilization, existing from the Greek Dark Ages of the 12th–9th centuries BC to the end of classical antiquity (), that comprised a loose collection of culturally and linguistically r ...
, located in
Thesprotia in a cave called Charonium () which gave forth poisonous vapours. The name of the cave, "
Charon's Cave", reflects the belief that it was an entrance for
Hades
Hades (; , , later ), in the ancient Greek religion and Greek mythology, mythology, is the god of the dead and the king of the Greek underworld, underworld, with which his name became synonymous. Hades was the eldest son of Cronus and Rhea ...
, the Greek
underworld
The underworld, also known as the netherworld or hell, is the supernatural world of the dead in various religious traditions and myths, located below the world of the living. Chthonic is the technical adjective for things of the underworld.
...
. In a version of the myth,
Orpheus travels to Aornum to recover his wife,
Eurydice, from Hades.
Pausanias, Description of Greece, Boeotia9.30.1
Others have said that his wife died before him, and that for her sake he came to Aornum in Thesprotis, where of old was an oracle of the dead. He thought, they say, that the soul of Eurydice followed him, but turning round he lost her. The Thracians say that such nightingales as nest on the grave of Orpheus sing more sweetly and louder than others.
See also
* Leibethra
* Pimpleia
* Yomotsu Hirasaka
References
External links
Greek Mythology Link, Orpheus
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Classical oracles
Death in Greek mythology
Geography of ancient Epirus
Places in Greek mythology
Orpheus
Thesprotia