Santuário de Panóias

The Panóias Sanctuary, located just a few a few kilometres from Vila Real is a very mystic place.

Its construction dates back to the end of the 2nd century - early 3rd century AD.

There are three large rocks, where several cavities of various sizes were opened and access stairs were also built.

On the rock located at the entrance of the enclosure, several inscriptions were engraved, describing the ritual celebrated, the gods to whom it was dedicated and who it dedicated.

One of them was destroyed, but it was reconstituted from previous readings and records. This reads:

DIIS (loci) HVIVS HOSTIAE QVAE CA / DVNT HIC INMOLATVR / EXTRA INTRA QVADRATA / CONTRA CREMANTVR / SANGVIS LACICVLIS IVXTA / SVPERE FVNDITV

"To the Gods and Goddesses of this sacred place. The victims sacrifice themselves, and are killed in this place. The viscera are burned in the square cavities in front. Blood is poured here to the side for the small cavities. It was established by Gaius C. Calpurnius Rufinus, a member of the senatorial order."

Obviously an initiation ritual took place here with a very precise order and itinerary - the killing of the animals, the blood sacrifice, the cremation of the victims, the consumption of the flesh, the revelation of the name of the highest authority of hell, and finally the purification. In the second rock of the enclosure the initiation was repeated to a higher degree, and in the third rock, the highest, there was a small temple, where the main act of initiation took place - ritual death, burial and resurrection.