It is still curious, the cyclical nature of life and customs, as well as the way, more than fortuitous, in which the old myths repeatedly return to assert their ancient existence.
The cave, the first crossed out habitat of humanity, was, in addition, the first sanctuary and the first temple of primitive man.
In the deepest part of them, our ancestors worshiped the environment that surrounded them, beginning, also, to glimpse glimpses of supernaturality or of a numinous force that governed not only their destinies, but the destinies of the rest of the creatures that cohabited with them.
Where the first spark arose that gave man intelligence and reason, no one knows for sure, although the American writer and scientist based in Sri Lanka, Arthur C. Clarke, proposed the extraterrestrial theory, with its famous monolith.
With the great civilizations, man provisionally left the caves, to create great cities.
And rising at the top of these, formidable temples, sumptuous residences that were to house the spirit of divinity.
During the Middle Ages, there were areas in which man returned to the ancient caves, making them not only a home in which to shelter from the harsh conditions of life abroad, but also in temples where to meet again with God, in silence and shelter from its deepest womb.
Sometimes this was also due to strictly political issues, where Christian evangelists exorcised and took advantage of pagan temples to attract the attention of some peoples, who still kept their ancestral customs deeply rooted.
NOTICE: Both the text and the accompanying photographs are my exclusive intellectual property.
I was not aware of such things, even though saw it in some movies/series. Hard to believe a few incidents indeed. While thanks for the tour. Stay safe!!
I assure you, friend @ rehan12, that these episodes are real. In fact, when the Pope sent Augustine (later to become Saint Augustine) to evangelize Britain, he ordered him to destroy the idols, but leave the temples intact, because in this way, they could reuse them to attract the pagans. Until then, the slogan was to destroy pagan temples and idols, being one of the most important architects, at least here in Spain, San Martín de Dumio, known as San Martín Dumiense, a real pylon hammer of what he called 'veneratore lapidi '(stone worshipers). Because of him, many domens and menhirs were destroyed. This place that I show in the photos, in fact was a cave that contained a multitude of prehistoric paintings, which were destroyed and on top of them Christian symbols were painted, such as the red cross that you can see on the right, in photograph no. 8. And logically, when a pagan temple was occupied, it was exorcised (at the time it was called 'expelling the demons that inhabited it') before reconverting it into a church. Thank you very much for your comment and for your good wishes. I hope you take care of yourself too, here in Madrid, we have already been in quarantine for three weeks and the coronavirus is hitting us hard. But we will get ahead. An affectionate greeting.