In
ancient Greek cult-practice and literature, a
nekyia is a "rite by which ghosts were called up and questioned about the future," i.e.,
necromancy. A
nekyia is not necessarily the same thing as a
katabasis. While they both afford the opportunity to converse with the dead, only a
katabasis is the actual, physical journey to the
underworld undertaken by several heroes in Greek and Roman myth.