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Archaeologists have recently uncovered remnants of ancient cult gatherings within the Pertosa-Auletta Caves in Italy. These caves boast the country’s lone navigable underground river, which was temporarily blocked to allow researchers to explore the riverbed below.
Among the mud-covered artifacts discovered was a small incense-burning bowl, hinting at ceremonial practices during the Hellenistic period between the 4th and 1st centuries B.C. Despite the poet Delmore Schwartz’s assertion that time is like fire, much of history has been submerged underwater rather than consumed by flames.
From the sunken city of Shicheng to the speculated remains of the Roanoke colony, the depths of our planet’s waters have concealed numerous facets of human history. However, recent findings in the Pertosa-Auletta Caves shed light on a different aspect.
The Superintendence of Archaeology, Fine Arts, and Landscape of Salerno and Avellino shared on Facebook that the underground river was temporarily dammed to facilitate archaeological investigations. About 130 feet from the cave entrance, researchers meticulously combed through the saturated riverbed to unveil relics from antiquity.
One notable discovery was a small brown bowl identified as an incense burner associated with cult activities of the Hellenistic period. This finding, along with others, suggests that the Pertosa-Auletta Caves once served as a gathering place for a Hellenistic cult.
While the term “cult” may invoke images of modern-day extremist groups, ancient Greek cults varied in nature. The Hellenistic era witnessed the emergence of hero cults venerating legendary figures, ruler cults worshipping living leaders, and mystery cults shrouded in secrecy.
Hero cults paid homage to deceased champions often deemed descendants of gods, immortalized in epic poems akin to Homer’s works. Ruler cults, also known as Imperial cults, honored emperors as semi-divine beings, a practice likely initiated during Alexander the Great’s reign.
Mystery cults, on the other hand, operated in clandestine rituals shrouded in mystery, appealing to followers seeking spiritual enlightenment. The archaeological findings in the Pertosa-Auletta Caves offer a glimpse into the religious practices of ancient times, hidden beneath the subterranean river’s flow.
The Hellenistic cults, as their label might suggest, are far less understood by historians and archaeologists today. The Metropolitan Museum has summarized that this variety of cults “continue to vex scholars because the surviving evidence is problematic, comprising a few written sources, mostly late in date, and often with questionable aims and biases.” While it hasn’t been determined from which type of cult these recently discovered remnants in the Pertosa-Auletta Caves stem, the opportunity to study the artifacts will likely offer invaluable insight into these ancient religious sects that are still so poorly understood.
