Underground Pagan Basilica with Dark History Revealed to the Public for the First Time

A pagan basilica of first century AD Rome dedicated to Pythagoras’ and Plato’s metaphysics but depicting many types of Greek and Roman mythical beings has opened to the public. The family that founded the temple built it underground and was later accused of black magic. The patriarch, a rich, powerful consul and proconsul, committed suicide rather than await the Roman Senate’s verdict.

The basilica, which features many types of scenes carved into the volcanic tufa-rock walls, is the only one of its kind in the world. The rich, influential Statilius family built the basilica as a place to practice the cult of Neopythagoreanism, a mystical, ascetic Greek philosophical sect established in the first century BC that was based on the writings of Plato and Pythagoras, says the Telegraph in an article about the temple.