Asclepieion

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Asclepieion

In ancient Greece

Greece

Greece , officially the Hellenic Republic , is a country in southeastern Europe, situated on the southern end of the Balkans. It has borders with Albania, Bulgaria and the former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia to the north, and Turkey to the east....
, an asclepieion (or asklepieion) was a healing temple, sacred to the god Asclepius

Asclepius

Asclepius is the god of medicine and healing in ancient Greek mythology. Asclepius represents the healing aspect of the medical arts, while his daughters Hygieia, Meditrina, Iaso, Aceso, Aglaea and Panacea symbolize the forces of cleanliness, medicine, and healing, respectively....
became increasingly popular. Pilgrims flocked to asclepieia to be healed. They slept overnight and reported their dreams to a priest the following day. He prescribed a cure, often a visit to the baths or a gymnasium

Gymnasium (ancient Greece)

The gymnasium in ancient Greece functioned as a training facility for competitors in public games. It was also a place for socializing and engaging in intellectual pursuits....
. Since snakes were sacred to Asclepius, they were often used in healing rituals.

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In ancient Greece

Greece

Asclepius

Gymnasium (ancient Greece)

Pausanias (geographer)

Pausanias was a Roman Greece traveller and geographer of the 2nd century AD, who lived in the times of Hadrian, Antoninus Pius and Marcus Aurelius....
remarked that, at the asclepieion of Titane

Titane

Titane may refer to*Titan *An ancient city and a modern village in the Korinthia prefecture, see Titani...
in Sikyonia (founded by Alexanor

Alexanor

Alexanor was a son of Machaon, and grandson of the Greek god Asclepius, who built to his grandfather a temple on the summit of Titane in the territory of Sicyon....
, Asclepius' grandson), statues of Hygieia

Hygieia

In Greek mythology, Hygieia or Hygeia was a daughter of Asclepius. She was the goddess of health, cleanliness and sanitation and afterwards, the moon....
were covered by women's hair and pieces of Babylonian

Babylon

Babylon was a city-state of ancient Mesopotamia, sometimes considered an empire, the remains of which can be found in present-day Al Hillah, Babil Governorate, Iraq, about 85 kilometers south of Baghdad....
clothes. According to inscriptions, the same sacrifices were offered at Paros

Paros

Paros is an island of Greece in the central Aegean Sea. One of the Cyclades island group, it lies to the west of Naxos , from which it is separated by a channel about wide....
.

Hippocrates

Hippocrates

Hippocrates of Cos II or Hippokrates of Kos - ancient Greek: ; Hippokr?tes was an Ancient Greece physician of the Age of Pericles, and was considered one of the most outstanding figures in the history of medicine....
is said to have received his medical training at an asclepieion on the isle of Kos

Kos

Kos or Cos is a Greece island in the south Sporades group of the Dodecanese, next to the Gulf of G?kova. It measures 40 km by 8 km, and is only 4 km from the coast of Bodrum, Turkey and the ancient region of Caria....
. Prior to becoming the personal physician to the Roman

Roman Empire

The Roman Empire was the Roman Republic phase of the Ancient Rome, characterised by an autocracy form of government and large territorial holdings in Europe and around the Mediterranean....
Emperor Marcus Aurelius

Marcus Aurelius

Marcus Aurelius Antoninus Augustus was Roman Emperor from 161 to his death in 180. He was the last of the "Five Good Emperors", and is also considered one of the most important stoicism philosophy....
, Galen

Galen

Aelius Galenus or Claudius Galenus , better known as Galen of Pergamum , was a prominent Ancient Rome physician and philosopher of Greek origin, and probably the most accomplished medical researcher of the Roman period....
treated and studied at the famed asclepieion at Pergamon

Pergamon

Pergamon or Pergamum was an ancient Ancient Greece city in modern-day Turkey, in Mysia, north-western Anatolia, 16 miles from the Aegean Sea, located on a promontory on the north side of the river Caicus , that became the capital of the Kingdom of Pergamon during the Hellenistic Greece, under the Attalid dynasty, 281–133 BC....
.

The oldest known asclepieion was at Trikke (now known as Trikala

Trikala

Trikala is a city in northwestern Thessaly, Greece. It is the capital of the Trikala Prefecture, and is located NW of Athens, NW of Karditsa , Greece, E of Ioannina and Metsovo, S of Grevena, SW of Thessaloniki, and W of Larissa....
) in Thessaly

Thessaly

Thessaly is one of the 13 Peripheries of Greece of Greece, and is further sub-divided into 4 Prefectures of Greece. The capital of the periphery and traditional Regions of Greece is Larissa....
. The asclepion at Epidaurus, traditionally regarded as the birthplace of Asclepius, is both extensive and well preserved. There is an asclepion located on the south slopes of the Acropolis of Athens

Acropolis of Athens

The Acropolis of Athens is the best known acropolis in the world. Although there are many other acropolises in Greece, the significance of the Acropolis of Athens is such that it is commonly known as The Acropolis without qualification....
which dates to around 420 BC.

External links

- The Asclepieion at Epidaurus (click "Presentation") Travel back in time

Asclepieion

See also

External links