The Nekyomanteion of the Acheron

"Topography": The Oracle of the Dead, ancient Nekyomanteion or Necromanteion (nekys, nekros = dead person), stands on the north bank of the Acheron river in the Nomos of Preveza, western Epirus. In ancient times the sanctuary came under Thesprotia, the territory inhabited by the Thesprotians; these were one of the first Greek tribes to settle in Epirus, in about 2000 BC, and they occupied a large part of the region. As a result of population movements by the Northwest Greek tribes and the establishment of the Molossians and other groups in eastern Epirus in the 12th c. BC, the Thesprotians gradually found themselves confined to western Epirus, where their natural boundaries comprised the Kalamas (ancient Thyamis) and Louros (ancient Aphas) rivers, the Ambracian Gulf and the Ionian Sea. After the breakaway in about 400 BC of the Cassopaeans, who inhabited Cassopaea, the country between the Acheron river and the Ambracian Gulf, Thesprotia was reduced to the area extending southwards from the Kalamas river as far as the Acheron, and the Necromanteion belonged to the Thesprotians.