March 22, 2013 4:48pm
A site believed to be a portal to the underworld of Greco-Roman religion has been found in what is now modern-day Turkey.
A team of Italian archaeologists said it has found the historical Gate to the Underworld of the ancient Phrygian city Hierapolis, ANSAmed.info reported.
"The discovery was made by a mission under Francesco D'Andria from the University of Salento, which is in charge of the excavations in the Greco-Roman city. The ruins of the city are near the modern-day Pamukkale in Turkey," ANSAmed.info said.
D'Andria told ANSAmed he managed to find the site by studying literature from the period and tracing the route of a thermal spring to a cave.
He also cited stories by travelers that bulls were sacrificed to Pluto before pilgrimages into the Plutonium, and priests led the animals to the entrance to a cave.
The cave had fumes that fatally suffocated the animals.
Before this, excavations in Hierapolis started as early as 1957, with an Italian mission under Paolo Verzone from the Turin Polytechnic.
Greco-Roman mythology and tradition indicate the "Gate to the Underworld" - or Pluto's Gate - was the entrance point to hell.
"Both Cicero and Greek geographer Strabus referred to the Hierapolis Plutonium in their writings, and both had visited it," ANSAmed said. — TJD, GMA News
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Topic: Gate to hell found in ancient ruins (Read 469 times)