Cehennemağzi Mağarası

Cehennemagzi Cave - Cehennem Ağzı Mağaraları - Entrance to Hell - Heracles Cave - Akheron Caves

Useful Information

Location:	Süleymanlar, Cehennem Ağzı Mağaraları Sk. No:21, 67300 Ereğli/Zonguldak. Karadeniz Ereğli. Follow Istikbal Cd or Istasion Cd north, where they meet turn right into Cehennem Ağzı Mağaraları Sk. (41.291561, 31.410884)
Open:	All year Tue-Sun 8:30-17:30. [2024]
Fee:	Adults EUR 3. [2024]
Classification:	Gateway to Hell Zonguldak Coal Geopark
Light:	Incandescent
Dimension:	L=85 m.
Guided tours:	self guided. V=26,853/a [2016]
Photography:	allowed
Accessibility:	no
Bibliography:	H. Aytekin, R. Baldık, N. Çelebi, B. Ataksor, M. Taşdelen, G. Kopuz (2006): Radon measurements in the caves of Zonguldak (Turkey) Radiation Protection Dosimetry, Volume 118, Issue 1, April 2006, Pages 117–121, DOI online
Address:	Cehennem Ağzı Mağaraları Sk, Süleymanlar, Cehennem Ağzı Mağaraları Sk. No:21, 67300 Ereğli/Zonguldak, Tel: +90-372-323-45-57. Zonguldak Cehennemağzi Caves, Uzunmehmet Mahallesi, Cehennem Ağzı Mağaraları Sk. 59 A, 67300, Tel: +90-372-323-45-57.
As far as we know this information was accurate when it was published (see years in brackets), but may have changed since then. Please check rates and details directly with the companies in question if you need more recent info.

History

1998	developed for the public.
2001	caves opened to the public.

Description

Cehennemağzi Mağarası is an ancient quarry, where the volcanoclastic rocks were quarried already during antiquity. They were used for buildings and probably roads and bridges. Due to the age there are now speleothems like stalactites and stalagmites, which have formed over the last 2,000 years. The quarries followed the rock layer with the best quality, and so the chambers are wide and deep, but have a certain height which was the thickness of this layer. The floors are flat as well as the ceilings, even the walls are flat as they are artificial. The square columns were left untouched, so they would hold the ceiling, a method which is known as room and pillar mining. But there are also some sections with irregular form, it's possible that natural caves were found during the quarrying, probably blister caves.

The road to the caves follows a small valley, the valley of ancient Acheron. It is also called Valley of the Infidels after an old legend. During Byzantine times a Christian resurrection cult used the caves, which were regarded as Infidels, hence the name. It is not just a legend, as a floor mosaic in the first cave may be seen as evidence of their existence. The caves are thought to be an important prophecy center of the first age and a place of worship for the first Christianity. And the obvious conclusion is that the quarries were already abandoned at this time.

Cehennemağzi Mağarası is actually a sequence of three quarries, the name Cehennemağzi Mağarası is the name of the whole site as well as the name of the second quarry. The first quarry is called Kilise Mağarası (Church Cave) which is a huge entrance chamber with a portal 18 m wide and 4 m high. It is called church cave, because, according to legend, it was used by early Christians for secret masses while the Christian religion was still forbidden. The legend also tells that the sarcophagus of St. Nicholas was once in this cave. There is also a mosaic decorated with plant and geometric motifs on the floor of the first section.

Cehennemağzi Mağarası or Koca Yusuf Mağarası or Dımdım Mağarası is reached down a narrow staircase in a cleft. It leads down into a dark, 60 m long, 8-24 m wide, and 10 m high chamber with an underground lake and paintings on the walls. This is the actual entrance to the underworld, the name Cehennemağzi or Cehennem Ağzı means Entrance to Hell. It is named after a legend in the old greek mythological text called Anabasis, written by Xenophon. He describes that Cerberus, the three-headed dog which guards the entrance to the Hades, lives in a cave outside Ereğli near Kavakderesi. Herakles aka Hercules, the powerful demigod, entered the underworld through this cave. This is the reason why it is also named Hercules Cave or Specus Hercules.

And finally, Ayazma Mağarası (Holy Water Cave) is a small cave with a lake inside. The water was considered holy or in Greek hagia (holy) and ma (water). Haya ma became the turkish word Ayazma, hence the name. The quarry served as a water cistern for the first and second caves.

The caves are located in the city Ereğli, the former Heraclea Pontica, at the northern rim of the historic city center. To find the cave, follow Cehennem Ağzı Mağaraları Sk from the place where Istasyon Cd. and Istikbal Cd. meet. The city Heraclea Pontica is a Greek colony on the Anatolian Black Sea coast, at the mouth of the river Lycus. It was founded around 560 BC and named after Heracles. It was the birthplace of the philosopher Heraclides Ponticus.