As the crow flies, Te’omim Cave is about 53 km or 33 miles from the Temple Mount. IF this is evidence of necromancy practiced in the Roman period (c.200 AD), why should we assume these were not Jews -- who else lived there? It's less than two miles from the legendary Samson's birthplace, Zorah. This was definitely Canaanite Horon's land, several centuries later. The continuation of local (Jewish!) folkloric practice is the best and most reasonable explanation for what's found in the cave.
Horon means ‘cave’; Beth-Horon is House-of-the-Cave. The Jewish Abyss is Sheol, described as a cold, dark, damp place (i.e. a watery cave); Canaanite Horon is the obvious chthonic god of this realm. If Te’omim Cave was in fact a nekyomanteion and believed to be a ‘portal to the Underworld’ -- as these archaeologists have rightly concluded, I think --, then this begs the question: to which other deity/angel/power were these votive offerings made in a , c.200 AD? Name names! * One would suspect Azazel, too. Baal Zeboul/Horon has been discussed before. Nearby Beth Shemesh probably worshipped Shamash/Śameš, solar & underworld deity, associated w/ the Great Serpent, father of Bel/Horon, etc.
* See Herbert González Zymla, La iconografía de Thanatos, el dios muerte en el arte griego, y la percepción de lo macabro desde la sensibilidad clásica [2021]: "For Jewish thinkers, Azrael (cited as 'Azra' and mentioned in the 2 Esdras {c.95 AD}, written by a descendant of Aaron, scribe of the Second Temple of Jerusalem) went up to paradise without having gone through death and, for that reason, he can help men in their difficult journey to the afterlife when they die, although it is important to note that for the Jews there are another 15 different angels of death with unique attributions."
Where else is He lurking? And under what names? Semitic Horon was a god of reptiles and serpents generally; the Alexandrian Agathodaimon is linked to Horon early in the Ptolemaic Period. Agathodaimon was associated w/ Egyptian gods Shay or Sobek, yet also the Egyptian god Kneph/Chnuphis c.100 BC, and probably by the 1st C AD, Agathodaimon had become the Gnostic Demiurge under yet other Powers. Therefore we may reasonably presume that 'Horon' had largely disappeared in Egypt by the 4th C. BC, fully syncretized earlier and already called by other mystifying names. But what about in Palestine?
Justin Martyr's 1st Apololgy mentions necromancy c.155 AD, about the same time; he lived +100 miles north, but in the same region. Do we imagine that Justin's "necromancy" was something completely different, uniquely peculiar and therefore irrelevant? No, he may have died in Rome, but the mantic specialists he references were a dynamic part of the world he grew up in: evidence at Te’omim Cave even a century or two later would be proof of that. I see nothing to suggest this 'pagan' necromancy near Zorah would have been imported. On the contrary, if Choronu/Horon of KTU 1.100 (Ugarit, c.800-600 BC) is somehow connected to a 'Chronos' mentioned by Philo Judaeus (c.25 AD, regarding myth at least a century older) or Philo of Byblos (c.135 AD, regarding myth at least two centuries older), the persistence and pervasiveness of this Semitic deity is phenomenal. Quite simply, Horon resided in this Underworld and is often considered a god of sorcery: the obvious candidate, here.
Justin Martyr:
19. necromancy should convince people that the soul lives on after death 1 Apology 18 "For let even necromancy, and the divinations you practise by immaculate children, and the evoking of departed human souls, and those who are called among the magi, Dream-senders and Assistant-spirits (Familiars), and all that is done by those who are skilled in such matters—let these persuade you that even after death souls are in a state of sensation."
3. νεκυομαντεῖαι μὲν γὰρ καὶ αἱ ἀδιαφθόρων παίδων ἐποπτεύσεις καὶ ψυχῶν ἀνθρωπίνων κλήσεις καὶ οἱ λεγόμενοι παρὰ τοῖς μάγοις ὀνειροπομποὶ καὶ πάρεδροι καὶ τὰ γινόμενα ὑπὸ τῶν ταῦτα εἰδότων πεισάτωσαν ὑμᾶς, ὅτι καὶ μετὰ θάνατον ἐν αἰσθήσει εἰσὶν αἱ ψυχαί, 4. καὶ οἱ ψυχαῖς ἀποθανόντων λαμβανόμενοι καὶ ῥιπτούμενοι ἄνθρωποι, οὓς δαιμονιολήπτους καὶ μαινομένους καλοῦσι πάντες, ...
3. For also necromantic and boy-oracles, and summonings of human spirits, and those of the so-called Magoi -- the 'dream-senders' and 'supernatural assistants' -- and all done by those skilled to persuade in such matters ...
3. For also necromantic and boy-oracles, and summonings of human spirits, and those of the so-called Magoi -- the 'dream-senders' and 'supernatural assistants' -- and all done by those skilled to persuade in such matters ...
I read this as a short list of mantic specialities: the Jewish use of boy-oracles was one method, necromantic oracles another. There's no reason to assume all Magoi were "necromantists" but some who employed 'Dream-Senders and Supernatural Assistants' (demons!) probably were, by context or method.
Awhile back, I posted a long OP focused on the Asaphim -- the 'Enchanters' (Epaoidous) from the Bible -- although several classes of Semitic magicians may have overlapped in practice. Again: I'm not insisting all "enchanters" (seen and misunderstood by outsiders) were necromancers, but it's likely that at least some were. It may be -- well, I think it's more probable than not -- that Mekasphim (= mekaššfım/mecaššfım = מכשפים, Mecasphim, Mekasphim, Machspim, Mechaschephim) were the true culprits of Te’omim Cave.billd89 wrote: ↑Fri Feb 11, 2022 9:11 am Resurrection Myth:
In other threads I have outlined how Philo claimed that the (Judeo-Egyptian) A. A.s practiced "rebirth". Furthermore, Palingenesia, Metempsychosis, etc. is also described in the (Hellenistic Egyptian) Corpus Hermeticum. Even Dr. Carl Jung expressly describes Jesus as a Therapeut, from ancient & modern sources which claim Jesus went to Egypt to learn/develop these occult arts.
1) Emperor Julian calls 'sleeping in the tombs' an old trick of the Jewish enchanters.
2) Julian identifies the Apostles as enchanters of the guild (i.e. Therapeutae), in the lineage reported by Isaiah.
3) Philo reports the Therapeutae practiced divination, esp. 'divine, lucid dreaming.'
So Jesus 'dead' in the tomb 3 days, then 'resurrecting' definitely exhibits mantic ritual, magical operations (followed by yet more miracles). This may be 'historical' rather than 'mythicist' since we may presume that such feats were in fact 'performed'.
See J. Fabre d'Envieu, Le Livre du Prophète Daniel traduit d'après le texte hébreu, araméen et grec, Vol. 2 [1890], pp.112-3:
The mekaššfım (מכשפים) were probably a particular type of enchanter. St. Jerome translates this term as malefici; he believes they used sacrificial victims' blood in their magical operations and that they used corpses to ascertain the future. {Giovanni Stefano Menochio, c.1648, Jacobus Tirinus, c.1645, and Hugo Grotius, c.1640} imagine those evoking souls of the dead by their enchantments were necromancers. According to George von Lengerke, [1835] this term means ‘magician’. In Syriac the root kašaf means ‘to whisper, to speak in a low voice’. Therefore, the original meaning of mekaššfım would indicate 'men who spoke low while reciting mysterious words'. In Arabic, kašaf means detexit, denudavit future {=disclosed, uncovered the future}; and in this case, mekaššfım would designate ‘revelators of future things’.
Necromantic oracles. Whether we fully accept a hostile critic's opinion or not, we still must beware any conflation which blurs distinct mantic specialities across the Roman Empire. Yet supposedly Judaean accounts of Jesus' miraculous 'raising the dead' would also suggest a practical Jewish necromancy in Palestine, no? Inconvenient truths, again.
billd89 wrote: ↑Wed Feb 09, 2022 2:50 pm Emperor Julian (c.330 AD) was well-informed on the matter, and he reported the Apostles (c.50 AD?) practiced "enchantment" with dream incubations at Jewish religious sites (esp. caves), something referenced at Isaiah 65:4 (c.165 BC). Philo Judaeus refers to the importance of dream-interpretation for the Jewish Therapeutae (c.25 AD), later associated with the Magharians ('cave-librarians').
....
While Julian the Apostate only alludes to Judeo-Egyptian Mysteries here, his telling accusation (c.362 AD) against Jewish-Christians practicing dream incubation at religious sites has profound implications. To explain the Apostles’ healing magic (i.e. Jewish “enchantment”) and arguably reveal their ancient origins, Julian cites Isaiah 65:4. On this key passage, note Franz Delitzsch, Biblical Commentary on the Prophecies of Isaiah Vol.2 [1866?/ 1884], p.477: “‘N'tsurim may refer to the mysteries celebrated in natural caves and artificial crypts’. An account of such mysteries is given by Chwolsohn in his' Die Ssabier und der Ssabismus,' Vol.2 [1856]. pp.332.” (Palestinian or Egyptian Jewish Mystery-Cults is exactly our topic: what were the Therapeuts’ methods, in their unspoken folk-healing practices?) By τῆς μαγγανείας ταύτης καὶ βδελυρίας τὰ ἐργαστήρια {the enchantment by this notorious and abhorrent guild}, Jesus’ Disciples practiced an “ancient” black art familiar to the 'ashâpı̂ym (Judeo-? Egyptian enchanters). If the Apostles were enchanters of this ancient Jewish guild (c.40 AD) across the Diaspora, then they were – in all probability – either ‘Therapeuts’ themselves or rivals of said contemporary cult(s). The Jewish basis is stated, the Alexandrian origin assumed.
This topic is devoted to NECROMANCY in Palestine, or Semitic/Diaspora Necromancy (100 BC-500 AD) in general. The Hauron-Serapis angle is not to be ignored, obviously.
Bonus Prize: