Cross-posting my Map of the Fortnight entry:
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Ruled By The Dead - The Mysterious Thanatocracy of Nelos
“There is an island in the west known as Nelos, whose inhabitants have a most peculiar method of choosing their rulers. It is said that in ancient times, the Nelogians received an oracle which told them their land would remain rich and prosperous as long as none among the living were to rule it. After much thought, their priests gathered all the people of the island together and chose six men by lot. It was declared that these men were now dead - their property was given to their heirs, and their wives were free to remarry. The men were then swathed in gray robes, given masks to hide their faces, and shoes with very thick soles, the purpose of this being to completely disguise their identity. Then they were led away. Three of the six were chosen to be rulers of the island for the next three years, serving as judges and generals, and deciding all laws between them, while the other three were hidden away, only to be brought forth if one of the ruling three were to truly die and need replacement. For if any of the dead men were to reveal his face in public, he would be put to death at once. At the end of the three years, the six men were released, and could not be held to account for anything they had done while dead. Then a new lot of six were chosen to rule for the next three years. This is why Nelos is known as the thanatocracy, for it is ruled by the dead.”
This is what Herodotus wrote, but it is not the only reference to Nelos among the Greeks. Many have drawn a connection between the strange customs of the Nelogians and Odysseus’s visit to the Land of the Dead, also said to lie in the west. There is also a play by Aristophanes, The Nelogians, of which unfortunately only a few fragments survive - it seems to involve a Greek visiting the island who is chosen as one of the thanatocrats, and the absurd schemes he concocts in his efforts to escape Nelos. The Roman writer Cicero of the late Republican period seems to have been familiar with the story told by Herodotus - in one of his speeches, he mentions the “Nelossians” who “being averse to the accumulation of power by any one man, and thus choosing their rulers for a term of service accord them no honors while they reign, nor recognition for their deeds afterwards.” Nor were the ancients the only ones to take the Nelogians as an example - in one of his letters, expressing frustration about the inaction of the Continental Congress, John Adams wrote “I cannot help but be reminded of the Inhabitants of ancient Nelos, who went to such Great Lengths to avoid being placed in Positions of Responsibility that they were ruled by a Jury of Dead Men.”
But despite the many references to its peculiar government, there has been much scholarly debate over where Nelos was located, or if it even existed. Some have proposed Sardinia or Corsica, one or more of the Balearic Isles, the Canaries, or even Britain, West Africa, or the Americas. However, in recent years, attention has been focused on Malta. Between the fourth and the first millennium BC, the island was home to a unique megalith-building culture, and at some of the later megalith sites, archeologists have discovered depictions of robed and veiled figures that call to mind Herodotus’s descriptions. The culture seems to have been on the decline when the Phoenicians arrived around 700 BC, possibly due to an extended period of drought. Any survivors may have been assimilated by the newcomers. Phoenician records are sparse, but a recent discovery at an excavation in Tyre appears to describe a ship having reached “MLTH in NLJ.” This suggests a possible link between Nelos and the island that would one day be called Malta, whose name comes from the Phoenician word meleth, meaning “safe haven.”
Did a few traces of the lost megalithic culture survive to inspire Herodotus and Aristophanes? Or were they drawing on tales passed down from Homeric-era contacts with the island that remain unsubstantiated by the archeological record? Or was Nelos as fictional as Plato’s Atlantis? No one can say for sure, but perhaps future discoveries will shed more light on this enigmatic civilization.
