Archeologists in southwest Turkey have discovered a cave believed to be Pluto's Gate to hell by ancient Greeks and Romans before it was destroyed in the sixth century, Discovery News announced Monday.

The cave, located in the ancient Phrygian city of Hierapolis, which is now Pamukkale in Turkey, is filled with lethal carbon dioxide vapors, akin to those believed to surround the gate to hell.

"This is an exceptional discovery as it confirms and clarifies the information we have from the ancient literary and historic sources," Alister Filippini, a researcher in Roman history at the Universities of Palermo, Italy, and Cologne, Germany, told Discovery.

The Greek geographer Strabo wrote about the location of Pluto's Gate to hell sometime between 64 B.C. and 24 A.D.

"This space is full of a vapor so misty and dense that one can scarcely see the ground. Any animal that passes inside meets instant death," Strabo wrote. "I threw in sparrows and they immediately breathed their last and fell."

The announcement of the discovery of Pluto's Gate to hell was made last month at a conference in Istanbul, Turkey by a team led by Francesco D'Andria, professor of classic archaeology at the University of Salento.

"We found the Plutonium by reconstructing the route of a thermal spring," D'Andria said. "Indeed, Pamukkale' springs, which produce the famous white travertine terraces originate from this cave."

Archaeologists found Ionic semi columns at the Pamukkale, Turkey site along with an inscription to the deities of the underworld--Pluto and Kore.

D'Andria's team also discovered the remains of a temple, a pool and the legendary steps next to the cave's opening, all identical to the descriptions of the site in ancient sources.

"People could watch the sacred rites from these steps, but they could not get to the area near the opening. Only the priests could stand in front of the portal," D'Andria said.

Before the cave believed to be the gate to hell was destroyed by Christians in the fourth century, it remained an important pilgrimage destination for the last pagan intellectuals of the Late Antiquity," Filippini said.

There was also a popular hot spring in what is now Pamukkale, Turkey, that was believed to have healing properties.

According to D'Andria the cave formerly believed to be Pluto's Gate is still quite poisonous.

"We could see the cave's lethal properties during the excavation," D'Andria said. "Several birds died as they tried to get close to the warm opening, instantly killed by the carbon dioxide fumes."

CLICK HERE to see a digital photographic recreation of the cave believed by ancient Greeks and Romans to be Pluto's Gate to hell in what is now Pamukkale, Turkey.