PHOTOS: "Gate to Hell" found in Turkey?


A "gate to hell" has been discovered by archaeologists in ruins in southwestern Turkey according to Discovery News reported on Monday, Apr. 1, 2013. Known as Pluto's Gate - Ploutonion in Greek, Plutonium in Latin - the cave was often celebrated as a portal to the underworld. That's of course, through Greco-Roman mythology and tradition.
Historic sources located the "gate to hell" site in the ancient Phrygian city of Hierapolis, which is now known as Pamukkale. The opening of the gate to hell in Turkey was described as filled with lethal mephitic vapors.
“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.
“I threw in sparrows and they immediately breathed their last and fell,” he added.

At a conference on Italian archaeology in Istanbul, Turkey in March, the finding was made by a team led by professor Francesco D'Andria. He is a professort of classic archaeology at the University of Salento.
The Hellenistic city of Hierapolis grew into a flourishing Roman city complete with a theater, temples, and a popular sacred hot springs that was 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.
D'Andria told Discovery News that he and his team are currently working on the digital reconstruction of the site known as the gate to hell in Turkey.