EXTREME RITUALS IN CHARON’S POISONOUS CAVE: INITIATIONS, INCUBATION, AND HEALING

Ritual caves emitting poisonous gases were known in Asia Minor as Charonia. Greek Charon and the Canaanite god Hauron, a cave-dweller and lord of the netherworld, shared similar clusters of cultural characteristics. It is probable that during the archaic period the cult of Hauron-Horon arrived in Asia Minor and gave rise to the cult of Charon. Although the mephitic cave at Acharaca is no longer extant, the combination of literary, geological, and toxicological data suggests that the poisonous gas emitted at this Charonium was hydrogen sulphide. The sulphurous cave at Acharaca was used for two types of initiations, differing from each other in terms of their location in the cave and duration. Acharaca offers a unique example of a complex, two-fold initiatory cult based on an extreme ritual that made use of both olfactory effects and the chemical properties of poisonous gas.