Acharaca ( grc, Ἀχάρακα) was a village of

ancient Lydia Lydia ( Lydian: ‎𐤮𐤱𐤠𐤭𐤣𐤠, ''Śfarda''; Aramaic: ''Lydia''; el, Λυδία, ''Lȳdíā''; tr, Lidya) was an Iron Age kingdom of western Asia Minor located generally east of ancient Ionia in the modern western Turkish prov ...

Anatolia Anatolia, tr, Anadolu Yarımadası), and the Anatolian plateau, also known as Asia Minor, is a large peninsula in Western Asia and the westernmost protrusion of the Asian continent. It constitutes the major part of modern-day Turkey. The ...

on the road from Tralles (modern Aydın, Turkey) to

Nysa on the Maeander Nysa on the Maeander ( el, Νύσα or Νύσσα) was an ancient city and bishopric of Asia Minor, whose remains are in the Sultanhisar district of Aydın Province of Turkey, east of the Ionian city of Ephesus, and which remains a Latin Catho ...

, with a

Ploutonion A ploutonion ( grc, Πλουτώνιον, lit. "Place of Plouton") is a sanctuary specially dedicated to the ancient Greek god Plouton (i.e., Hades). Only a few such shrines are known from classical sources, usually at locations that produce pois ...

or a temple of

Pluto Pluto (minor-planet designation: 134340 Pluto) is a dwarf planet in the Kuiper belt, a ring of bodies beyond the orbit of Neptune. It is the ninth-largest and tenth-most-massive known object to directly orbit the Sun. It is the largest ...

, and a cave, named Charonium ( grc, Χαρώνειον άντρον), where the sick were healed under the direction of the priests. There is some indication that it once bore the name Charax (Χάραξ), but that name may have belonged to Tralles. Its location is now the site of the modern town of Salavatlı. Recoveries from archaeological excavations are housed at the Aydın Archaeological Museum. Acharaca, the sanctuary of Pluto and Kore

Acharaca, the sanctuary of Pluto and Kore

The city was founded by

Antiochus I Soter Antiochus I Soter ( grc-gre, Ἀντίοχος Σωτήρ, ''Antíochos Sōtér''; "Antiochus the Saviour"; c. 324/32 June 261 BC) was a Greek king of the Seleucid Empire. Antiochus succeeded his father Seleucus I Nicator in 281 BC and reigned d ...

in the first half of the 3rd century BC. The city had an oracle of Pluto and Kore (

Persephone In ancient Greek mythology and religion, Persephone ( ; gr, Περσεφόνη, Persephónē), also called Kore or Cora ( ; gr, Κόρη, Kórē, the maiden), is the daughter of Zeus and Demeter. She became the queen of the underworld after ...

) at Acharaca. A large grove, a Doric temple (remains of which survive), and a cave called the Charonium, were the seat of the oracle. Strabo noted that "The sick resort thither, and live in the village near the cave, among experienced priests, who sleep at night in the open air and direct the mode of cure by their dreams. The priests invoke the gods to cure the sick, and frequently take them into the cave, where they remain in quiet without food for several days. Sometimes the sick themselves observe their own dreams, but apply to the priests to interpret them. To others the place is interdicted and fatal." Acharaca, the sanctuary of Pluto and Kore, the underground

Acharaca, the sanctuary of Pluto and Kore, the underground

Strabo also describes a festival held at Acharaca. An annual festival, to which there is general resort, is celebrated at Acharaca, and at the time particularly are to be seen and heard those who frequent it, conversing about cures performed there. During this feast the young men of the gymnasium and the

ephebi ''Ephebos'' (ἔφηβος) (often in the plural ''epheboi''), also anglicised as ''ephebe'' (plural: ''ephebes'') or archaically ''ephebus'' (plural: ''ephebi''), is a Greek term for a male adolescent, or for a social status reserved for that ...

, naked and anointed with oil, carry off a bull by stealth at midnight, and hurry it away into the cave. It is then let loose, and after proceeding a short distance falls down and expires.

References

Further reading