Cennet and Cehennem ( en, heaven and hell) are the names of two large sinkholes in the
Taurus Mountains
The Taurus Mountains ( Turkish: ''Toros Dağları'' or ''Toroslar'') are a mountain complex in southern Turkey, separating the Mediterranean coastal region from the central Anatolian Plateau. The system extends along a curve from Lake Eğird ...
, in
Mersin Province
Mersin Province ( tr, ), formerly İçel Province ( tr, ), is a province in southern Turkey, on the Mediterranean coast between Antalya and Adana. The provincial capital and the biggest city in the province is Mersin, which is composed of f ...
,
Turkey
Turkey ( tr, Türkiye ), officially the Republic of Türkiye ( tr, Türkiye Cumhuriyeti, links=no ), is a transcontinental country located mainly on the Anatolian Peninsula in Western Asia, with a small portion on the Balkan Peninsula in ...
. The sinkholes are among the tourist attractions of the province.
Geography
Cennet and Cehennem are situated next to each other. Cennet is situated at and Cehennem is at . Both of them are in the rural area of the
Silifke
Silifke ( grc-gre, Σελεύκεια, ''Seleukeia'', la, Seleucia ad Calycadnum) is a town and district in south-central Mersin Province, Turkey, west of the city of Mersin, on the west end of Çukurova.
Silifke is near the Mediterranean co ...
district which in turn is a part of Mersin Province. They are accessible by a long all season open road from the main highway (
D 400). The highway distances are to Silifke and to Mersin. They are close to the coastal town of
Narlıkuyu.
Cennet
The opening of Cennet is 250 x 110 m
2 (820 x 360 ft
2) and its average depth is . It is possible to reach the bottom of Cennet by a primitive staircase composed of 300 steps. In 2020 also an elevator was established. At the bottom toward the south, there is a smaller and 150 step deeper cave. In this cave are the ruins of a monastery built in the 5th century by a certain Paulus and dedicated to
Virgin Mary
Mary; arc, ܡܪܝܡ, translit=Mariam; ar, مريم, translit=Maryam; grc, Μαρία, translit=María; la, Maria; cop, Ⲙⲁⲣⲓⲁ, translit=Maria was a first-century Jewish woman of Nazareth, the wife of Joseph and the mother of ...
. In this monastery one can hear the sound of a small underground stream which flows from the monastery to the gulf of Narlıkuyu.
Cehennem
Cehennem is a deeper sinkhole with a depth of . But its top opening is smaller with dimensions 70 x 50 m
2 ( 210 x 150 ft
2 ). As the upper edge of the opening is concave there is no access to the bottom of Cehennem.
Mythology
In mythology,
Zeus
Zeus or , , ; grc, Δῐός, ''Diós'', label= genitive Boeotian Aeolic and Laconian grc-dor, Δεύς, Deús ; grc, Δέος, ''Déos'', label= genitive el, Δίας, ''Días'' () is the sky and thunder god in ancient Greek reli ...
kept
Typhon
Typhon (; grc, Τυφῶν, Typhôn, ), also Typhoeus (; grc, Τυφωεύς, Typhōeús, label=none), Typhaon ( grc, Τυφάων, Typháōn, label=none) or Typhos ( grc, Τυφώς, Typhṓs, label=none), was a monstrous serpentine giant an ...
temporarily in Cehennem before imprisoning him under
Mount Etna.(''see''
Corycian Cave)
See also
*
List of sinkholes of Turkey
References
{{Mersin Province
Archaeological sites in Mersin Province, Turkey
Geography of Mersin Province
Landforms of Mersin Province
Sinkholes of Turkey
Olba territorium