Entrance to Hades

[RJB]

From 4-15 National Geographic:

 

Italian archaeologists working at the Greco-Roman site of ancient Hierapolis (modern-day Pamukkale)[/url=http://whc.unesco.org/en/list/485] in Turkey have uncovered that city's gate to the underworld. Pilgrims from around the classical world came to Hierapolis to bathe in its hot springs and worship at the Ploutonion—a temple precinct built over a cave and underground thermal area.

 

By tracing the path of the hot springs through the ancient site, the team from the University of Salento, led by Francesco D'Andria[/url=https://www.unisalento.it/web/guest/scheda_personale?p_p_id=SchedaUtentePortlet_WAR_SchedaUtentePortlet5121&p_p_lifecycle=0&idDipendente=475&struts_action=/SchedaUtentePortlet/view], uncovered the entrance to the cave. An engraved dedication to Pluto above the entrance has confirmed the identification of the gate.

 

 

The ancient Greek geographer Strabo, who recorded tales of his travels[/url=http://archive.org/stream/geographyofstrab01strarich#page/n9/mode/2up] in Asia Minor in the final years B.C., mentions the "singular properties" of the Ploutonion, saying "it is an opening of sufficient size to admit a man, but there is a descent to a great depth ... [The] space is filled with a cloudy and dark vapor, so dense that the bottom can scarcely be discerned ... Animals which enter ... die instantly. Even bulls, when brought within it, fall down and are taken out dead. We have ourselves thrown in sparrows, which immediately fell down lifeless."

 

 

The eunuch priests of Pluto would prove their power by entering the gassy cleft and coming out alive (presumably by holding their breath and taking advantage of known pockets of safe air within the cave), while birds that flew too close were often felled by the poison. During the modern excavations, dead birds at the site helped convince the archaeological team they'd found the Ploutonion's actual "gate to hell."

 

 

Future excavations will focus on the upper precinct, where they expect to find a massive temple to Pluto.