The mystery of the gates of hell in Turkey/@historicalish
The mystery surrounding the "Gateway to Hell" in Turkey has finally been solved, after thousands of years the place was shrouded in folklore and strange stories. The Plutonion in Hierapolis, also known as the "Gate of Pluto", the Gate of Hades or the "Gate to Hell", was discovered in 1965 by Italian archaeologists, when according to ancient Roman tradition - the cave on the site serves as an entrance to Hell. why? Because everyone who dared to pass through the mouth of the cave met his death there.
The ancient Greek myth according to which the "breath of Hades" will kill anyone who passes through the "Gateway to Hell" has received a scientific explanation showing exactly why animals that pass through it are found dead. The ancient Greeks and Romans believed that the mysterious stone cave under the Hierapolis temple was a gateway to hell, where Hades, the god of the underworld, riches and the depths of the earth, awaited them.
In 2013 the place was investigated again by Italian archaeologists led by Francesco D'Andrea, professor of archeology at the University of Salento, and they reached surprising conclusions. The gate is actually a small cave, big enough for one person to pass through, beyond which there is a staircase leading down to a carbon dioxide gas reservoir. The deadly gas leaks from a deep crack in the rock through which a strong stream of hot water passes. The animals' exposure to this deadly gas results in their death within minutes.
The Romans believed that the gas was sent by Pluto to the underworld, when the ancient Greek geographer and historian Starbonus explained in his 2,000-year-old book, Geography, how it worked: This one is so full of vapors and mists that you can hardly see the ground. All the animals that enter the plutonium find their death immediately. Those who are led to it, fall and die there, and they immediately breathe their last."
The only ones who survived the entrance to the cave were the "Gali", eunuch priests who descended into the plutonium for the purpose of making sacrifices. Because carbon dioxide is heavier than air, it settles in depressions in the ground - and therefore the priests were not harmed by it. The crowd concluded that they were immune to the gas thanks to "divine protection", but the researchers claimed that it was the height of the priests that helped them survive on the spot - as the gas only reached a height that was significantly lower than them.
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At the time the priests sold birds and other animals to visitors so they could see how deadly the closed area was. Visitors could for a fee ask questions of the oracle of Pluto - which served as a significant source of income for the temple. Archaeological evidence shows that the altar was used by the "Gali" priests until the 4th century AD, when 200 years later the site was destroyed by the Christians and the cave entrance was damaged by earthquakes in the area.
In 2018, a team of researchers led by Prof. Hardy Panz, a geologist from the German University of Duisburg-Essen who specializes in volcanic activities, carried out a series of tests, mainly testing the carbon dioxide levels at the site. The professor came to the conclusion that the phenomenon occurs due to active activity under the cave floor, as they had previously concluded, and that a deep crack results in the emission of large amounts of carbon dioxide stored in the cave area.
In the tests, it was found that the gas inside the cave is so thick that it forms a kind of lake about 40 cm deep. The professor also claims that the most dangerous time to enter the cave is when the carbon dioxide levels rise at sunset. At the time of the highest concentration of the poisonous gas, a person He who breathes the air can find his death in just one minute. He added that at the time the "Gali" priests used to lead their victims inside, usually oxen and goats - and remain standing on high stones to avoid breathing the dangerous gas - which shows that they too knew that death was not really Because of the "breath of Hades" but because of gases at the bottom of the cave.