The "gate to hell" was found in Turkey by Italian archaeologists.
The gate also known as Pluto's Gate or Ploutonion in Greek, Plutonium in Latin, was found in the ancient Phrygian city of Hierapolis, which is now called Pamukkale. Ancient sources said the cave was filled with legal vapors and was known as the portal to the underworld in Greek and Roman mythology.
"This space is full of a vapor so misty and dense that one can scarcely see the ground. Any animal that passes inside meets instant death," the Greek geographer Strabo (64/63 BC -- about 24 AD) wrote, according to Fox."I threw in sparrows and they immediately breathed their last and fell," he added.
At a conference on Italian archaeology, archaelogists announced that the team led by Francesco D'Andria, professor of classic archaeology at the University of Salento, discovered the gate.
D'Andria worked at the World Heritage Site of Hierapolis for several years. In 2011, he claimed to discover the tomb of Saint Philip, one of the 12 apostles of Jesus Christ.
Hierapolis is home to popular sacred hot springs which often draw in tourists as they're believed to have healing properties.
"We found the Plutonium by reconstructing the route of a thermal spring. Indeed, Pamukkale' springs, which produce the famous white travertine terraces originate from this cave," D'Andria told Discovery News.
Once the site was excavated and ruins from possible earthquakes were cleared, archaeologists were able to find things like Ionic semi columns. One of them was inscribed with a dedication to the underworld gods like Pluto and Kore.
D'Andria and his team also found the remains of a temple, a pool and steps above the cave which seem to fit the descriptions mentioned by ancient sources.
"People could watch the sacred rites from these steps, but they could not get to the area near the opening. Only the priests could stand in front of the portal," D'Andria said.
Animals were known to have died near the cave, which D'Andria also found evidence of near the site.
"We could see the cave's lethal properties during the excavation. Several birds died as they tried to get close to the warm opening, instantly killed by the carbon dioxide fumes," D'Andria said.
"This is an exceptional discovery as it confirms and clarifies the information we have from the ancient literary and historic sources," Alister Filippini, a researcher in Roman history at the Universities of Palermo, Italy, and Cologne, Germany, told Discovery News.
D'Andria said the site was full functional until the 4th century AD and was visited during the following two centuries as a pilgrimage location for the last pagan intellectuals of the Late Antiquity.
The site was destroyed by the Christians in the 6th century AD and earthquakes may have added to the destruction. D'Andria is working to digitally reconstruct the site.
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