Guide
The Cehennemağzı cave lies in the centre of the Ereğli district of Zonguldak, in an area known in antiquity as the Acheron valley and as the ayazma, the sacred spring. It is made up of three caves standing side by side.
The floor at the entrance of the first cave is laid with mosaic in plant and geometric patterns, and there are the remains of an apse in the eastern part of the second section. This cave, an old church, was used as a place of worship in the early centuries of Christianity, and is also called the Church Cave or the Cave of Hercules.
The second cave is known locally as Koca Yusuf. It was 1,500 metres long until a rockfall in 1960 reduced it to 350. Its walls were widened by hand and two great piers were formed within it.
One of the twelve labours Eurystheus set Hercules was to bring Cerberus, the hound of hell, from Hades, the land of the dead. In the story, Hercules came to Ereğli and went down to the land of the dead through the Cehennemağzı caves.
