In Acharaka, alongside a temple dedicated to Persephone and Pluto, there is a cave known as the *Charonion*, which Strabo described as extraordinary. The sick were brought to this cave to be healed by the deity and the priests; treatments were administered based on the patients' dreams. Priests would escort the patients into the cave and leave them there alone, without food, for the duration of the process. Access to the cave was forbidden to everyone except the patients and priests, as it was believed to be lethal to other living creatures. Its fertile soil and subterranean thermal waters were key factors in Acharaka’s emergence as a sacred site and a center for healing. Acharaka is widely believed to be a word derived from the Luwian language, signifying "Great Water." Although it initially appears to be merely a small temple town, it stands out for its therapeutic qualities, attributed to the water and the sulfurous vapors rising from it.
Sources:
- George E. Bean, Turkey Beyond the Maeander. An Archaeological Guide, London Ernest Jersey 1971, p. 217-220
- Strabo. Geographica. Vol. xiv. pp. 649, 650.
