Near Mesopotamos in Epirus, northwestern Greece, a low hill holds a stone complex long identified as the Nekyomanteion, or oracle of the dead, associated with the Acheron. The name belongs to a powerful ancient landscape: rivers, marshes and a vanished lake that Greek tradition connected with the route to Hades. The archaeological remains are real; whether this particular building was the famous oracle is a question that scholars continue to examine.
In the Odyssey, Odysseus travels to the realm of the dead to consult the prophet Tiresias. Later Greek and Roman descriptions associated the Acheron region with entrances to the underworld and with rituals for communicating with the dead. The Hellenic Heritage guide links the site to the meeting of the Acheron, Kokytos and Pyriphlegethon beside Lake Acherousia. That lake was drained in the 1950s, changing a wetland landscape whose ancient geography had helped sustain the stories.
