Archaeologists Find A Classic Entrance To Hell

In ancient Greece and Rome, gods were part of daily life—so much so, in fact, that they could steal your daughter or lover, help you win a war, or cure your illness. Some legendary heroes even visited the realm of the god of the underworld, who was called Hades by the Greeks and Pluto by the Romans.

But where could you go to enter the underworld? Mount Olympus was a real mountain on the Greek mainland; presumably you could visit the home of the gods if you hiked up high enough. And if you went far enough the other way, amid the active geology of the Mediterranean and its many volcanoes, a few sulfurous openings in the Earth promised access to the underworld.

Now Italian archaeologists working at the Greco-Roman site of ancient Hierapolis (modern-day Pamukkale) 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.