Category: Historic

Where is the tomb of Alexander the Great, one of the most successful rulers and military strategists of all time? He was only 33-years-old when he died in Babylon in 323 BC.

Alexander the Great

Alexander the Great was born in Pella in 356 BC. He was the son of King Philip II of Macedonia and the student of the great Greek Philosopher Aristotle. He had his first military victory when he was only 16-years-old. Despite his obvious strengths as a king’s son, Philip and Alexander had a falling out when Philip chose a new wife of Macedonian birth. There was talk of producing a “legitimate” heir. This angered Alexander and he and his mother were exiled.

Nonetheless, Alexander became king when his father was assassinated during his daughter’s wedding. He was 20-years-old. By the time he was 26-years-old, he had conquered the Persian Empire.

Body Laid in Memphis, Egypt

He said before his death that he was leaving his kingdom to “the strongest.” If he had wanted his empire to exist in peace after his death, he chose the wrong words. His men took this to mean that the strongest of them would take the place of Alexander. This naturally led to fighting.

Amidst all of the bickering, plans for the burial of the king were being made, which they also argued about. Plans were made and changed several times. Ultimately, Ptolemy I Soter hijacked the body in 321 BCE before its transfer to Aegea and laid Alexander’s remains to rest in Memphis, Egypt.

The Coffin

According to Diodorus Siculus in Book XVIII:

[blockquote align=”none” author=”Diodorus Siculus, Book XVIII”]First, they prepared a coffin of the proper size for the body, made of hammered gold, and the space about the body they filled with spices such as could make the body sweet-smelling and incorruptible. Upon this chest there had been placed a cover of gold, matching it to a nicety, and fitting about its upper rim. Over this was laid a magnificent purple robe embroidered with gold, beside which they placed the arms of the deceased, wishing the design of the whole to be in harmony with his accomplishments.[/blockquote]

Revered in Death

Because of Alexander’s great success in life, brought about by his tenacity and daring, he was greatly revered in death. This is how we know where his tomb was in certain places at certain times. There are records of such people as Julius Caesar, Cleopatra, and Caligula (who may have had his breastplate stolen out of his sarcophagus) visiting his tomb. We also know that Alexander the Great’s body may have been placed in a golden sarcophagus.

Either Ptolemy I Soter or his son Philadelphus moved Alexander’s body to a new tomb in Alexandria in the late 4th or early 3rd Century BCE. The tomb was placed in a Mausoleum and reported to still exist in 274 BCE.

The tomb in Alexandria was replaced with another by Ptolemy Philopator around 215 BC. Philopator had a mausoleum erected in the center of Alexandria. In it, he placed some of his ancestors and Alexander the Great.

There is a record of Alexander the Great’s golden sarcophagus being melted down and sold in 89 BC. It was replaced by a glass sarcophagus.

The last definite record we have of the tomb of Alexander the Great dates to roughly 215 AD, when Caracella visited the tomb.

A Period of Turmoil

War came to Alexandria during the 3rd century. The city was attacked and ransacked repeatedly over the course of many years. It is possible that the tomb of Alexander the Great was destroyed, partially destroyed and/or robbed at this time.

Mother Nature and Christianity

If the tomb remained standing after these events, as some accounts suggest, then it is likely that it was destroyed during the famous earthquake and tsunami that struck Alexandria in 365 AD.

If by some chance the tomb or the corpse survived the tsunami, it is likely that the tomb was lost around 400 AD when the Christians began demanding that pagans cease to worship false gods. As Alexander the Great was worshipped in his death, he would have been a prime candidate for destruction. If the revered king’s body and tomb were still intact at this time, they may not have stood a chance against the Christians.

Rising sea levels may also have a hand in hiding the tomb. According to National Geographic, the sea level around Alexandria has risen upwards of 12 feet since Alexander’s death.

No Further Trace

After this time period, there is no reference to the location of Alexander the Great’s tomb. To this day, no trace of any of his three tombs has been found. His sarcophagus, body, or any of the relics supposedly buried with him have never been found. If his tomb had been looted, we may stand a chance of finding these things elsewhere than Alexandria. If it was destroyed by the massive tsunami that presumably took other treasures with it, chances are we will never find any trace of it.

The Final Location

The general consensus, and most likely truth, is that the tomb of Alexander the Great is in the center of Alexandria, Egypt. Several scholars have deduced the tomb is somewhere in the area of what was Canopic Street, now known as Horreya Avenue.

There have been claims that Alexander’s tomb may be found elsewhere and that there is evidence for such. However, the evidence that it was in Alexandria when it was either destroyed or looted beyond recognition is overwhelming by comparison.

Nonetheless, we must conclude at this point that the fate of the tomb of Alexander the Great is unknowable as it stands.

The biblical cities of Sodom and Gomorrah are synonymous with sin and divine punishment. According to Genesis 18-19, God destroyed them with a rain of sulfur and fire. The Old Testament is chock full of geographical and historical details of the twin cities, before and after their destruction. However, historians and archaeologists debate both the veracity and locations of these fabled ruins.

The Dead Sea and the Cities of the Plain

Reference to the two cities appears throughout the Old Testament, but Genesis chapters 14 through 19 offer the region’s lengthiest descriptions. Sodom and Gomorrah were only two of many kingdoms around the Jordan River valley and the Dead Sea region, also called the Valley of Siddim. The so-called cities of the plain were Sodom, Gomorrah, Zoar, Admah, and Zeboiim. According to Genesis 14.10, before the destruction, “the Valley of Siddim was full of bitumen pits; as the kings of Sodom and Gomorrah fled, some fell into them, and the rest fled to the hill country.” This passage introduces critical geographical features of note in the search for these ruined cities.

Men of the City of Sodom

The real story of Sodom and Gomorrah surrounds a bargain between the patriarch Abraham and the Lord God. In Genesis 18, the Lord recognized the wickedness growing in the land but promised Abraham that if ten righteous people were found in Sodom, He would not destroy the city. The angels sent by the Lord received hospitality from Lot upon entering the city but were set upon thereafter by a mob of wicked men: “both young and old, all the people to the last man, surrounded the house; and they called to Lot, ‘Where are the men who came to you tonight? Bring them out to us, so that we may know them’.” (Gen. 19:4-5).

Sins of the Sodomites

Biblical scholars debate the actual crime of the men of Sodom, who sought to “know” (Hebrew: yada) Lot’s visitors. Hospitality to strangers, as Lot showed, was a preeminent virtue of ancient civilizations. When the people of Sodom broke this convention, Lot tried to spare his visitors by offering the mob his two virgin daughters instead. Whether the crime of the Sodomites was sexual immorality or a violent denial of hospitality remains debated. In either case, God’s punishment was now certain for Sodom and its twin city.

Destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah

The angels of the Lord told Lot of the imminent destruction, warning him not to “stop anywhere in the Plain; flee to the hills,” and not to look back upon the ruin.

Then the Lord rained on Sodom and Gomorrah sulfur and fire from the Lord out of heaven; and he overthrew those cities, and all the Plain, and all the inhabitants of the cities, and what grew on the ground… Abraham went early in the morning to the place where he stood before the Lord; and he looked down toward Sodom and Gomorrah and toward all the land of the Plain and saw the smoke of the land going up like the smoke of a furnace (Genesis 19:24-25; 27).

Gathering his family, Lot arrived at the city of Zoar when the sulfur and fire rained down from the heavens. Famously, his wife did gaze toward the disaster and became a pillar of salt.

Historical Clues

In the Septuagint, the earliest books of the Old Testament, we garner some clues of the location and context of these lost cities. Abraham is thought to have lived during the Third Dynasty of Ur, around 2100 BCE. This timeline is critical, as the Middle Eastern climate in 2100 BCE was cooler and wetter. Areas now dominated by desert were hospitable to agriculture and ground cover. The Jordanian plain would have boasted numerous cities, but which were the real Sodom and Gomorrah?

Natural Disaster

Putting aside the prospect of divine destruction, scientists and archaeologists continue to search for a natural explanation for the destruction of the cities, attentive to the physical evidence from the plain of Jordan. Many mythological traditions are born from natural disasters, rendered into parables focusing on divine retribution. The Greeks called this an etiology, a story that explains the cause of some natural feature or event. This may be the case in the destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah.

Earthquake

Prone to major earthquakes, the region may have suffered twin catastrophes. An earthquake would have devastated mudbrick buildings, as seen in the 2003 destruction of the Iranian city of Bam. Earthquakes also release horrific secondary forces. Earthquakes can literally liquefy the ground, causing the cities to collapse or sink. Landslides from the northern hills could have buried the cities. Finally, a seismic activity could have caused an explosive release of gasses from the ground. The bitumen deposits of the region, particularly in the southern Jordanian valley, could have poisoned both the soil and the air. Abraham’s view of the smoke coming off the land like a furnace in Genesis 19 lends some credence to this theory.

Related: Where was the Garden of Eden

Finding the Cities: Archaeological Theories.

Biblical archaeologists have scoured the Jordanian plains and the region around the Dead Sea for nearly two centuries, seeking out these cities’ ruins. Scholars have proposed both northern and southern locations.

Tall el-Hammam 

Close to the mouth of the River Jordan, northeast of the Dead Sea, archaeologist Dr. Steven Collins has worked at Tall el-Hammam since 2005. A massive Bronze-Age city, Collins’ excavations have revealed features expected of the Bronze Age (circa 3500-1500 BCE), such as massive city walls, palace and temple complexes. Some pottery and cuneiform tablets from the site were fired and vitrified, covered in a glassy coating. The discovery of zircon crystals on the site, present only in environments of intense heat, led Collins to propose that an exploding meteor slammed into the site around 1700 BCE. However, some archaeologists and geologists reject Collins’ theories based on the late destruction date and the absence of a crater or impact site.

Bab edh-Dhra and Numeria

On the shallow, southeastern shore of the Dead Sea, the sites of Bab edh-Dhra and Numeria have also been pronounced as the twin cities of Sodom and Gomorrah. Many early Bronze Age cities are found in the southern region, typically smaller than the site at Tall el-Hammam. The southern theory closely adheres to the geographical descriptions in Genesis, as these sites are found in proximity to sulfur-rich bitumen and petroleum deposits. Skepticism surrounds this proposal as well. Numeria is considered too small to fit the description of Gomorrah. Secondly, both the chronology and absence of a dual destruction fail to match the biblical evidence.

Conclusion

The fertile climate of the Middle Bronze Age and the geographical advantages of settlement in the Dead Sea region clearly supported many cities in the Biblical era. Locating the remains of Sodom and Gomorrah, though, relies upon careful analysis of too few clues in Genesis. Many towns rose and fell across the Middle East during the Bronze Age, whether through human intervention or natural disaster. Archaeologists and historians will continue their search to locate the famously smote cities of Sodom and Gomorrah in the site-rich Jordanian valley.

In 1957, Homer H. Dubs, the author of A Roman City in China, made a controversial proposal about the lost Roman legion of Marcus Crassus. He believed that around 50 BCE, the soldiers ended up as prisoners of war. Eventually, they became mercenary soldiers for the Han Chinese who gave the Romans land in the Gansu province. There, the Romans founded a city called Lijien (also Liqian or Lijian), the word that the Chinese used for legion. Some of the people who live in Lijien — today, “Zhelaizhai” — have Caucasian features. Consequently, Dubs believed that the residents of Zhelaizhai may be the descendants of the lost Roman legion in China.

These Uyghur girls are genetically similar to a few residents of Liqian, today’s ZhelaiZhai. Public domain.

Marcus Crassus and His Legion of Roman Soldiers

In 53 BCE, a humiliating defeat for a Roman army set off a chain of events. Consequently, this may have led to the furthest eastward expansion of the Roman Empire’s military and cultural influence. The defeat took place at the Battle of Carrhae, located in eastern Turkey, where the Roman fought against 10,000 Parthian archers against seven Roman legions led by Marcus Licinius Crassus.

Prior to this battle, Crassus had amassed a degree of fame after he defeated Spartacus’ rebellion in 71 BCE. However, his success would not last. Despite his prior conquests, many people questioned his military leadership. The leader’s inexperience became apparent the day he led 45,000 soldiers into battle against the very prepared and mobile Parthian cavalry in Carrhae, now known today as Harran, Turkey.

By nightfall, the battle was all but over. The Parthians beheaded Crassus’ son and killed 20,000 Roman soldiers. While the two sides were negotiating an end to the fight, the Parthians captured Crassus and also beheaded him. Approximately 15,000 Roman soldiers managed to escape, but 10,000 others became prisoners.

What Happened to the Lost Roman Legion?

The fate of the 10,000 captured Legionnaires remained a mystery. They became known as the Lost Roman Legion. In 20 BCE, under Caesar Augustus, negotiations regarding the return of these soldiers only compounded the mystery.

The Parthians stated there were no prisoners to repatriate. However, Paul Brummell, the author of Turkmenistan, says that the Parthians moved many prisoners from the Battle of Carrhae eastward to Merv, Turkmenistan, where they used the fighters against invasions.

Lijian — Legion?

Chinese records indicate that in 36 BCE at the Battle of Zhizhi, the Han captured the Xiongnu, led by Zhizhi Changyu in Central Asia, in a place known today as Dzhambul, Uzbekistan, in 36 BCE.

Chen Tang, one of the Han generals who fought the Xiongnu, recorded fighting soldiers who used the yu lin zhen, fish scale, formation. This tactic of tightly squared units utilized shields for the first row to cover their body. The following rows covered their heads. However, the Roman legions used this strategy throughout the empire and called it the testudo (tortoise shell).

Roman Testudo tortoise shell formation. CC 2.0 Neil Carey.

Charles Hucker proposed that the Roman legionaries may have been amongst the Xiongnu soldiers. Following the Battle of Zhizhi, the Han possibly captured over a thousand prisoners. Emperor Yuandi established a new county called Lijian (Liqian) or Li-jien, which, according to Hucker, is a name that reflects the Roman legion.

The Theory of Liqian

As the story goes, the Han victors were highly impressed by the skills of the soldiers. Therefore, they moved them further east to the new outpost of Liqian (Li-Chien) in the Gansu province. From there, the mercenary soldiers helped the Han Chinese defend against Tibetan raids.

A map of China’s Han Empire available during this same period showed a county named Liqian. According to Fan Ye’s 5th century “Hou Han Shu”, Liqian was what the Chinese called the Roman Empire.

Zhelaizhai residents with European characteristics.

Archaeological Findings

Archaeologists now believe Liqian became present-day Zhelaizhai, China. Excavations in Zhelaizhai unearthed a trunk with stakes, which the Romans commonly used to build fortifications. Additionally, they found Roman coins and pottery.

Evidence shows that the people of Zhelaizhai had lined the ancient streets with tree trunks. This was a uniquely Roman practice. Also, at least one Roman helmet with Chinese lettering puzzled researchers, and a strange passion exists for bulls. However, neighboring cities do not.

Arguments Against the Lost Roman Legion in Liqian Theory

• The fish-scale formation was known to China, which had been using the strategy during the first millennium BCE. (Yuan: 2018).
• Indo-Europeans had spread out into Central Asia well before the Imperial Roman period. The Tarim mummies of Xinjiang, China, are just one example of this.
• Celtic mercenary soldiers fought in Central Asia and Asia in Turkey, Judea, Syria, and against the Seleucid Empire pre-imperial Rome. (Listverse). 

DNA Tests in Zhelaizhai

A 2005 DNA analysis of residents in Zhelaizhai indicates that approximately 56 percent have genetic sequences similar to Europeans. However, the analysis did not determine that they derived from Southern Europe, as experts would expect if they originated in Italy. On the contrary, their DNA was similar to that of the Uygurs of the Xinjiang Province of Western China, who possess Northern European ancestry (Khan).

Another study from 2007 determined that according to paternal (Y) lineage DNA, the people of Zhelaizhai are not descendants of Romans. Instead, they are very similar, genetically, to Han Chinese with a small amount of Mongolian aspect. Scientists indicated that a complete study of mtDNA (maternal lineage) is necessary to complete the assessment.

Although the locals of Zhelaizhai have, in their minds, accepted the idea that they originate from the lost Roman legion in China, it appears that the evidence so far indicates that they do not.

In 1968, British newspaper The Sunday Times sponsored the first ever round-the-world yacht race. Guaranteed excellent publicity from the paper, nine contestants enlisted, drawn by the glamor of winning such a race, as well as the £5,000 prize for the fastest time (as much as $120,000 today).

Competitors could start the race at any point between 1 June and 31 October 1968. One such competitor, who set off on the very last day, was Donald Crowhurst.

An Ambitious Man

Donald Crowhurst was not a professional sailor but had some knowledge and experience about sailing. He was an inventor and electronics engineer, and hoped to use this to his advantage during the race.

To aid in his navigation, he created a radio-direction finder that he named “Navicator” and he would make the attempt in a very unusual boat design, a trimaran called the Teignmouth Electron. Trimarans could theoretically travel much faster than monohull boats, but had not been tested on such a grueling expedition.

Crowhurst hoped to stabilize his business with the publicity and money that he would get by winning this race, but the upfront costs were steep. To take part, he raised financing from some businessmen and mortgaged his home as well.

This allowed him to finish work on the Teignmouth Electron which he had constructed specially for the voyage. The boat-builder promised Crowhurst that the boat would be speedy but warned about stability issues in heavy seas.

But on the first sea trial of the boat, a few noticeable problems came up. The deadline was rapidly approaching and it wasn’t possible for Crowhurst to equip new parts and repair the vessel properly to make it ready for the race.

He only had two ways and was faced with a dire choice: either sail and take part in the race with a doubtful boat, or give up to face bankruptcy and humiliation. Crowhurst, fatefully, took the first option, setting sail in a boat untested in either design or practice.

The Race Begins!

Just like the boat wasn’t ready, the weather wasn’t favorable for the race as well. Clare, Crowhurst’s wife, suggested to him not to take part in it, as there was a great risk. But as she saw Crowhurst sobbing with the thought of humiliation, she and their four kids tried to make Crowhurst believe he could do anything. They didn’t want him to regret the thought of giving up.

On 31st October 1968, the weather miraculously calmed and gave Crowhurst his opportunity to start the voyage. Crowhurst kissed the forehead of each of his children and asked the elder ones to take care of their mother, and launched the Teignmouth Electron.

Soon after the race began, Crowhurst observed that the boat was already leaking like a sieve. And he realized right at that moment that this boat wouldn’t be able to take the blow from 30 or 40-foot (9 – 12 m) waves in the Southern Ocean, writing in the logs that the ship would probably sink once it entered heavy seas.

Trapped and with no options left, Crowhurst started to come up with a plan! He didn’t want to give up and live with humiliation forever, he would rather cheat than lose.

The Crooked Plan of Donald Crowhurst

GPS didn’t exist back then, and so the only way of checking the position of the boats after the race was through a review of the logbooks and the charts carried on each boat. Donald Crowhurst intended to use this to his advantage, saving his boat and completing the race.

Therefore, he started sending radio messages to the organizers giving false positions. He charted a false course down into the south Atlantic, and then, fearing his transmissions might give him away, he then disconnected the radio contact completely off the coast of Brazil.

Even these waters were too much for the Teignmouth Electron. His boat was so damaged at one point that he had to stop at a fishing port in Argentina to make some necessary repairs.

Crowhurst’s plan was to maintain two logbooks, one for his real journey and one for his fictitious race experience. The pressure of keeping two logbooks would have been extreme, and was made worse when he realized that his fictitious log wouldn’t be justifiable at close scrutiny if he won the race.

The logbooks would need to contain weather conditions during the course of his voyage. Crowhurst had no idea what the weather was like where he was supposed to be, and the fictitious log reflects some of this in its hazy descriptions.

Claiming to be making good time, Crowhurst wandered in the Atlantic until, finally, his made-up voyage started to catch up to his actual position. At this point the race leader was Nigel Tetley, who was making excellent time. Crowhurst intended to let Tetley win, with himself coming second to avoid much of the log-book scrutiny.

In May 1969, Donald finally turned back for home. But again he had miscalculated, as his apparent pace panicked Tetley. Forced to race at breakneck speed to keep up with Crowhurst’s apparent pace, Tetley’s boat failed and he capsized.

This meant Crowhurst was now far in the lead and on course to get the £5,000 prize for being the fastest competitor. With this victory he felt sure his cheating would be exposed.

After 243 days at sea, Crowhurst made his last entry in his logbook on 1st July 1969. He wrote, “It is finished, It is finished. It is the mercy.” And that was the last anyone heard of Donald Crowhurst.

Lost at Sea

12 days after his last logbook entry, the Teignmouth Electron was found drifting in the ocean. There was no sign of Donald Crowhurst. It was believed that he had jumped off the boat with his fictitious logbook, leaving behind the actual one on the deck by way of confessing his sins.

Crowhurst’s wife maintained that he would never commit suicide, but the evidence of the logbook was telling. He had hoped to become a British folk hero who conquered the seas, but in the end his sin was that of pride.

And so his life ended, trapped by his lies. Here was a man who believed he could sail across the world but couldn’t even make it past the Atlantic, and who believed he could fool the world, but ultimately left nothing behind but his confessional logbook.

Around the 8th century BCE, the Euboean Greeks founded the settlement of Cumae close to Lake Avernus just west of Naples, Italy. The lake is an extinct crater that sits in an enormous caldera called the Phlegraean Fields. Abundant fumaroles and geothermal hot springs dot this dramatically volcanic zone and inspired dark religious beliefs. Avernus Lake became an important place of pagan ritual and worship and is famous for its rich mythology describing chthonic gods, oracles, and sacrifices. Virgil made it famous in the Aeneid. But it was really the Greeks who first associated it with infernal elements. For them, it was a doorway to the underworld of Hades where all dead souls dwelled.

About the Lake

Lying close to the Mediterranean coast, Lake Avernus has a circumference of nearly two miles and reaches a depth of 213 feet. Green slopes, once thick with cypress woods, rise from their base up to a height of 360 feet. Views from the rim of the volcano include the Tyrrhenian sea with its islands of Capri and Ischia. The name Avernus (Latin) stems from Aornos, meaning without birds in Greek, for the belief that toxic gases rose from the lake and kept all the birds away.

Lake Avernus Mythology

Ancient Greeks and Romans associated all of nature with their pantheons of gods. Thunder and lightning meant that Zeus was on a rampage. Rough, deadly seas and earthquakes resulted from an angry Poseidon. Therefore, it seems natural that a region with fumaroles and hellish gas emissions from the hot ground could be interpreted as a portal to Hades.

In fact, the word inferno — the Italian word for underworld or hell — is related to Averno, the Italian form of Avernus. At one time, people living around the lake believed that it was bottomless and called it the Styx (Tesoriero:221). Running between Earth and the Underworld, the Styx carried the departed to Hades. So strong was this belief, that residents refused to drink from the stream nearby that ran underground out to the sea.

Many people believe that Homer (c. 850 BCE) wrote about Lake Avernus. Although he did not name the exact place, his geographic descriptions in the Odyssey have some similarities to the area. In the story, Odysseus holds a meeting with the ghosts of the dead at a temple on the shores of a lake at the entrance to Hades. Homer also wrote about the Cimmerians who dwell in the subterranean caves around a lake and never see the light of day. (Strabo).

Virgil Immortalizes Avernus

Like Homer, the author and poet Virgil blended Greek mythology with real geographical areas in Aeneas’ adventures in the Aeneid. However, unlike the former poet, Virgil specifically names Avernus. The plot involves Aeneas who flees the war in Troy and conquers the Latins to found Rome on the Italian Peninsula. Avernus enters in Book Six when Aeneas seeks out the prophetess sibyl at the Greek settlement of Cumae for her help. Aeneas wishes to descend into the underworld to speak to his father who died on the sea voyage from Troy. In an ecstatic trance, the sibyl channels the god Apollo to foretell Aeneas’ great future and gives him tasks that he must accomplish before he can enter Hades.

One of the tasks requires Aeneas to collect a golden leaf in the woods of Avernus to offer as a gift to Proserpina, the queen of Hades. After finding the leaf, the Sibyl leads Aeneas to a deep cave with a wide entrance near the lake where they sacrifice four young bulls. The blood is collected in bowls, and the entrails are placed on the fire at the altar built in honor of Pluto (god of the dead). After a night of intense witchcraft, invocations of gods, and more sacrifices, they enter into the wide cave to descend into Hades.

[blockquote align=”none” author=”Virgil”]“Straightway they find a cave profound, of entrance gaping wide,
O’erhung with rock, in gloom of sheltering grove,
Near the dark waters of a lake, whereby
No bird might ever pass with scathless wing,
So dire an exhalation is breathed out
From that dark deep of death to upper air:—
Hence, in the Grecian tongue, Aornos called.”[/blockquote]

The Oracle of the Cumaean Sibyl

Aside from the stuff of poems and epic tales, seer-healers and divination were very real aspects of early Greek, pre-Roman, and Roman societies. In fact, this is true of most early cultures. Thus, oracles were common and undoubtedly existed around Lake Avernus. The term oracle usually refers to a seer or a place where a seer prophecies. The Cumaean Sibyl was one such oracle who was probably a real priestess living in Cumae at one time. However, there were many seers around the ancient world, the most famous of which was Pythia at Delphi, Greece.

Where is Sibyl’s Cave?

The actual temple or cave where the priestess lived is still uncertain. However, in 1932 the Italian archaeologist Amadeo Maiuri excavated a tunnel in the hillside at Cumae. He believed it to be the Sibyl’s Cave with the “Seat of the Sibyl” at the back of a 140 m. long gallery where a chamber opens into three niches. On the left of the chamber, a stone bench lies outside a niche that contains yet three smaller nooks.

Interestingly, the chamber at the end of the cave resonates with amazing acoustics and a circular opening in the roof of the tunnel leads directly up to the floor of the Temple of Apollo. Whether or not this was an original feature or was a later addition is uncertain.

Some experts believe the architecture of the tunnel and chamber niches appear funerary in nature. However, “recent studies attribute to the structure a defensive function” (Iannace) that probably occurred in Augustus’ time. In their paper, The Acoustic of Cumaean Sibyl, Iannace and Berardi speculate that the cave was several things through the years: Sibyl’s Cave during the Greek period, possibly a defensive structure during the Roman occupation, and a Christian graveyard.

The Oracle of the Dead

In addition to the Cumaean Sibyl, old stories of another oracle exist. In his book Geography, Strabo (63 BCE-23 CE) wrote that other writers made claims about an Oracle of the Dead living at Avernus. Some people believe that the site of this oracle is in Baiae, just next to the lake on the coast. In the 1960s, the amateur explorer Dr. Robert Paget was searching for Sibyl’s Cave when he found a sulfuric, hot opening amongst the ruins of the ancient Roman baths.

A complex of narrow but tall tunnels shocked Paget. About 140 feet underground and 600 feet from the entrance of the cave, he found a river with flowing hot water. Some propose that this probably fed the huge Roman thermal bath resort directly above. However, Paget and others believe that this was part of an elaborate ritual in which perhaps a priestess led people on a physical journey down the river Styx to the imagined underworld. (Dash). The Oracle of the Dead could then channel loved ones who had passed on.

Gods and Sacrifice at Lake Avernus

Naturally, any underworld or even any body of water involved the Greek and Roman gods. This meant that Lake Avernus was once a highly sacred place of cult ritual. “Sacrifices were regularly made here to the chthonic deities that lurked beneath the murky surface” (Dunford). Not only did Virgil write a detailed description of sacrifices before Aeneas entered the cave to the underworld. Hannibal actually visited the lake in 214 BCE, where many believe he prayed and made sacrifices and offerings to the gods. He may have been seeking their favor, as he had high hopes for conquering the whole region and, in fact, subsequently attacked Cumae unsuccessfully. (Smith).

[blockquote align=”none” author=”William Smith”]”Avernus was also regarded as a divine being; for Servius speaks of a statue of Avernus, which perspired during the storm after the union of the Avernian and Lucrinian lakes, and to which expiatory sacrifices were offered.”[/blockquote]

Temple and Bathhouse in Ruins

Ruins of a Roman building still stand on the southeast bank. Unfortunately, only the dome is now visible as it lies under much sediment. Most people know this structure as the Temple of Apollo. However, many scholars dispute this. Others say that it was in honor of Proserpina, Pluto, Hecate, or that it was simply a Roman bathhouse and nothing more. Pietro Micheletti who authored History of the Monuments of the Realm of Two Sicilies believes that it was a temple honoring the deity of the lake, also called Avernus.

The circular building came into existence at the time of Agrippa or shortly thereafter, around the end of the first century BCE. It did serve as thermal baths for the increasing population and Roman workers at the lake. However, the gods were always involved in everything, and features at Roman baths were commonly dedicated to certain gods. The real question is, what existed at this spot before the bathhouse? Although some experts speculate that earlier altars probably existed here, no one is certain.

Roman Use of the Crater Lake

An unfortunate end to the mythological beliefs and dark superstitions at Lago d’Averno came in the last century BCE. At this time, Sextus Pompeius was launching attacks of strategic shipping ports in his quest for control of the Mediterranean trade. Thus, defeating him became a huge priority for Augustus.

At the same time, Agrippa hired Lucius Cocceius Auctus to build a secret tunnel. This gallery cuts through the mountain connecting Lake Avernus to Cumae. Through Cocceio’s Cave, they hauled supplies to the lake for the construction of a fleet of ships that would attack Pompeius by surprise. This arrangement was ingenious, as Avernus was a secure location that could not be seen from the sea.

The End of the Avernian Underworld

After Pompeius’s defeat, the Romans abandoned Portus Julius due to silt deposits that had collected on the lakebed. This made navigation difficult. Even before the construction of Portus Julius, Caesar had already cleared the trees around Avernus turning the land into farms to support the growing Roman resort town of Baiae. This, in addition to the larger naval engineering projects, changed the atmosphere of the lake into a much brighter, happier place free of ghosts and oracles. By then, there were no emissions of toxic gases — at least not from the lake itself — if they ever existed at all. In one fell swoop, the introduction of the Roman Republic into the area displaced all that was mysterious and hellish around what became Lago d’Averno.

Avernus Today

Now life abounds at Lake Avernus as it peacefully lies in the modern town of Pozzuoli. There is no longer any evidence of the dark underworld, aside from occasional wafts of sulfur from the Solfatara crater a few miles away. With plentiful vineyards, orchards, fish, birds, and a few restaurants, the crater lake has become a destination for tourists and locals out for a run or a quiet walk.

Feathered residents include both ducks and geese, and a slew of birds fly overhead, including crows, seagulls, and sometimes small bats that dwell in Cocceio’s Cave. A pleasant footpath encircles the shore of the lake. Pedestrians can walk to the temple ruins on its east end and the Grotta di Cocceio to the north. Though no longer believed to be the entrance to Hades, the stunning beauty of the crater lake makes this place no less magical.

Once video games entered the market, titles began to spring up almost out of the woodwork. Among the more popular were Space Invaders, Donkey Kong, and Pac-Man. But others had a loyal and cult following. Some of these arcade machines have gone down in history for their mass appeal and virtual dominance of the market of that time. One alleged game of that generation called Polybius has become popular for an entirely different reason.

Game Controversy and its Nefarious Purpose

Legend states Polybius was an arcade game that made its initial appearance in Portland, Oregon in 1981. The machine wasn’t there for very long, perhaps a period of several months. Many gamers that played this game suffered adverse reactions ranging from amnesia to night terrors. Some players allegedly gave up video gaming altogether and became outspoken critics of the pastime.

Despite all of these apparent problems, the game is said to have been immensely popular in its short existence. So much so that scuffles and altercations took place over who gets to play it first.

Occasionally, technicians wearing dark suits tended to these arcade machines. They seemed as though they sought out something specific from within the machine. Allegedly, the technicians are in some way connected to the Government. They are there purely to collect empirical data on the psychological effects the game had on players.

Others dispute this idea and state the game was some kind of training tool or initiation for the military. This is not too dissimilar to the plot of ‘The Last Starfighter‘, a popular science fiction film from the early 1980s.

Anonymous Author Mentions it on Coinop

The first known mention of this game occurred on the coinop.org homepage in August 1998 by an anonymous author. As well as the title of the game, the game’s developers or publishers were cited as Sinneslöschen. No other details were really forthcoming and almost nothing mentioned in regards to gameplay or even plot.

However, the name Sinneslöschen can be loosely translated as sensory deprivation. Perhaps it was this that led some to insist that something was going on that more than met the eye.

Confusion Between Polybius and Tempest Arcade Game?

Like all urban legends or conspiracy theories, there are people who do not believe a word of it. In the case of Polybius, those who write it off as fantasy or an invention are more than prepared to admit that perhaps Polybius may be confused with Tempest.

Tempest was a genuine arcade game that had genuine and documented effects on a number of players within the span of a week. One suffered from his first-ever migraine. Another person fell ill after a marathon 28-hour session and two more, unfortunately, died from heart failure trying to match this achievement.

Polybius in Mainstream Media

Whether or not there was a real arcade game called Polybius, it has secured its place in pop culture. The game has subsequently appeared on numerous television productions.

In The Simpsons’ “Please Homer, Don’t Hammer ‘Em“, Bart strolls through an arcade, passing a Government-issued machine.

In The Goldbergs “The Age of Darkness“,  an unnamed young girl scrutinizes an unused machine.

A Myth Referencing a Fact Checker

Gamers have questioned the authenticity of the game for quite some time now. Perhaps the clue is in the title. For example, Polybius was a real person in Ancient Greece. This historian advocated factual integrity and the use of first-hand accounts in recording events. This was an unconventional or revolutionary stance to take during that time. The same charges can be levied at the modern-day internet, where conspiracy theories and personal opinions dominate.

The popular consensus is that this game is simply a myth. However, others say it is a real game that some people are desperately trying to portray as a myth.