The Entrance to Hell - The Taenarus Gateway - Cape Matapan cave

Cape Matapan Cave is the entrance to hell, as well as the exit. The re-opening of the two-way portal to damnation. Before there was one god left standing, before the Spartans, before human history was written, the cave of Cape Matapan has been known as a portal to Hell.

The most famous passage to the underworld is the river Acheron, beginning in the living world in the north of Greece. To cross this river the dead must have a coin placed on their lips or under their tongue, with which to pay the ferryman. Those who cannot pay are stranded between realms of the living and the dead. But there is also a "back door" to hell. If you are walking south in Greece, the farthest you can go, is the peninsula, of Cape Matapan.

The Spartans considered this hallowed ground. At the tip of the peninsula, they constructed a holy temple to the sea god Poseidon. Inside the temple was the death oracle, where the faithful would speak with dead ancestors. The devotee would first be fed a meal, mixed with a narcotic compound. Then he was allowed to ask his question, and the dead would answer through the spoken word of the priest or priestess.

The cave lies at sea level, directly below the ruins of Poseidon's temple. In the face of the cliff, it shares the salt water of the Mediterranean Sea. It is accessible to visitors by boat alone. The legends confirm this... the underworld can be reached only by boat. Inside the cave stalactites hang far above, but some of the stalagmites are treacherously hidden beneath the level of the water. Since the beginning of history the cavern has been identified as the entrance to hell.

In the beginning, the kingdoms of Earth were divided between three brothers. Zeus became god of heaven. Poseidon received the ocean. And Hades inherited the underworld, to which come the souls of the dead in the shape of their former bodies.

Heracles was promised immortality by the gods in exchange for 12 labours. His last labour was to capture Cerberus, guardian of the palace of Hades, and to drag the monster into daylight. Cerberus was the original "Hell Hound", a dog having three heads with a serpent for a tail.

Heracles entered the underworld through Cape Matapan Cave. Hades would allow him to take the vicious canine if no weapon was used. Of three heads, Heracles could barely wrap his arms around the neck in the middle, but it was enough to drag the hound out of the cave into the sun. After satisfying the terms of his contract he returned the dog to its home.

Orpheus was a legendary musician, thought by many historians to have been a real person. His music could charm all living things, even stones. Orpheus married Eurydice. On the day of their wedding, she fell into a nest of vipers and suffered a fatal bite. He made a journey to Cape Matapan Cave to rescue his bride.

The dog Cerberus tried to attack him, but Orpheus quieted the beast by playing his lyre. Hades agreed to allow Eurydice to return with him to the living, on one condition: that he walk in front of her, and not look back until they both set foot in the upper world. For three days he led Eurydice through dark marshes. Three more days they traveled by boat. Finally the bow of his skiff broke the sea. He turned immediately to look at her, forgetting that her end of the boat was still inside the cave. She died in his arms, this time for eternity.

The Spartans believed that Poseidon sometimes demanded human sacrifice to ensure the door to hell stayed closed. The offering would be slain at midnight in an open field, so the blood of the victim would seep into the earth as a gift to Hades.

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