Hierapolis Plutonium

About

A fissure at the foot of the Temple of Apollo that vents carbon dioxide heavy enough to kill sparrows and bulls on contact, worshipped as a literal gate to the underworld of Pluto and Kore. Strabo, writing before 24 CE, described throwing sparrows in and watching them drop dead while the eunuch priests of Cybele walked through unharmed. Pilgrims and sacrificial bulls kept coming until the 4th century CE, long after it was already ancient in 117 CE.

What happened here

You come with a question, and the form of the question matters as much as the answer. There is a fee, a preliminary sacrifice, and a wait — sometimes days, sometimes only on certain days of the year. The consultation itself is controlled: the enquirer rarely meets the speaker directly, and the response arrives through an intermediary, in verse or in writing, and often ambiguously enough to survive being wrong. Cities consult about colonies, wars and plagues; individuals about marriage, illness, travel and lost property. The sanctuary grows rich on the gifts of those whose answers came out well. Sceptics are common and say so openly. By this century several famous oracles are quieter than they were, and people notice.

In ancient writing

• Strabo, Geography 13.4.14

  Describes the Plutonium's lethal vapor, killing sparrows and bulls thrown in while priests of Cybele entered unharmed.

Sources

• https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ploutonion_at_Hierapolis
• https://arkeonews.net/plutos-gate-to-hell-in-hierapolis/

Nearby

Hierapolis Temple of Apollo

49 m

Hierapolis Nymphaeum of the Tritons

329 m

Hierapolis Theatre

355 m

Hierapolis Necropolis

456 m

Hierapolis Frontinus Gate

483 m

Hierapolis Agora

554 m