December 2018
Gates of Hell
Lake Avernus according to the Romans was one of the entrances to Hades. The small circular lake sits in the Phlegraean Fields, a supervolcano atop which Naples rests. In the past during more active volcanic periods, noxious fumes would rise from the lake and birds routinely touched down on the surface and died. The lake played a huge role in Roman mythology:
Avernus was of major importance to the Romans, who considered it to be the entrance to Hades. Roman writers often used the name as a synonym for the underworld. In Virgil's Aeneid, Aeneas descends to the underworld through a cave near the lake. In Hyginus' Fabulae, Odysseus also goes to the lower world from this spot, where he meets Elpenor, his comrade who went missing at Circe's place.
(Wikipedia)
For me, my stop was a "theme visit" having also visited the Japanese entrance to Hell on top of Mount Dread (Osore-san) in northern Honshu. The Japanese version most certainly takes the prize of "Most Intimidatingly Appropriate Entrance to the Underworld". Lago d'Averno was in a parklike setting with restaurants and cafes on the lake edge as well as a ruined temple to explore. It must have been the entrance to Hell for people whose sins were not all that horrific. Even the name was derived from the Greek word for "birdless" - not a particularly fear-inspiring name. In contrast, the lake at the top of Osore-san in Japan rested in a barren, sulfur stinking volcanic caldera and was a bubbling mass of mild sulfuric acid. The temple lakeside had to be maintained nonstop as the constant acid rain that fell over the lake slowly ate away its wood and corroded its metal roof. Japan's entrance to Hell (complete with soothsayers who could contact the dead) looked like the place "bad people" would enter eternal damnation. It was as close to a "Mordor" experience from Lord of the Rings that most humans could ever experience. Lake Avernus in comparison was the entry to "Hades-lite" - maybe Hell for the Romans wasn't that bad?
Of course, Mt Dread in Japan is not near any population center and if that volcano roared back to life, the effect on the surrounding area would be minimal. If the Phlegrean Fields were to blow, taking lovely little Lake Avernus with them, most of metro-Naples would be destroyed in an event that will make Pompeii look like a sideshow. Maybe Lago d'Averno is not the entry to Hell, but only serves as a warning that Hell awaits the city of Naples just below the surface?
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