Asklepios is the Greek god of medicine and healing. The god was worshipped all over Greece and his sanctuaries, called Asklepieions, doubled as both places of worship and hospitals for the sick and wounded. Typically, these would be located in places with fresh air, beautiful scenery, and away from the city. Attica had one Asklepieion in Peiraeus, and another in the middle of Athens dubbed the City Asklepieion. Between 430 to 426 BCE a plague ran through Athens and had a devastating effect on the city and many citizens died, including the great general Perikles (c. 495 – 429 BC). At the time, Athens had an altar to Athena Hygeia (Health), an altar which was certainly not suited for the task. In need of some serious godly help, the Athenians attempted to take the city of Epidaurus by force, likely for its famous sanctuary of Asklepios, but were unsuccessful. Eventually, a man named Telemachus brought the cult of Asklepios over to Athens. The City Asklepieion was built between 420 and 416 BCE during the Peace of Nicias (421 to 416 BC), on the south slope of the acropolis of Athens next to the theatre of Dionysus. The construction of Asklepios’ sanctuaries near theatres is a fairly common occurrence because of the overlap between Asklepios and Dionysus’ mythology and rituals. Excavations of the site began in 1876 and it has proven near impossible to create a complete restoration due to the constant modifications of the sanctuary. Additionally, due to the large number of cults on the southern slope of the acropolis, many of the construction elements were in place to physically separate areas that were sacred to different gods, which means that the City Asklepieion never followed the standard template.
Traditionally, when someone would bring a cult to a new city, they would become the priest with the priesthood remaining in the family. In the City, they instead treated it as a political office, essentially stripping it of its religious connotations. One only had to follow a certain set of rituals and traditions exactly, and that would heal the patients. In fact, the head of the City Asklepieion rarely had any knowledge of medicine. Therefore, most of the patients were of a lower class since those with money could pay to see a physician. Aristophanes even mocked it with a quip in his work Plutus, saying: “There are no fees, and therefore there’s no skill”.
When discussing ancient medicine, it is quite difficult to establish exactly how effective anything was. Many illnesses will be naturally cured with time by one’s own immune system, with or without a prophetic dream from a god. This was, however, a time after Hippocrates, when some physicians did some trial and error with prescribing different treatments. The City, however, had no physician on staff, and testimonies suggest that none of the staff was knowledgeable in medicine. The City Asklepieion seemed to rely more on miracle and superstition as a way of healing.
For example: Domninus the Syrian, who continuously coughed up blood, and Plutarch the Athenian, who was ill with some unknown disease, were both prescribed the same treatment: to eat pork. Domninus obeyed the treatment and it was said that when Domninus did not eat his fill of pork his illness would return until he ate more of the meat. Plutarch, on the other hand, was Jewish, so eating pork was certainly not an option for him. Luckily, he spent the night at the City Asklepieion and Asklepios came to him in his dreams to prescribe an alternative remedy. Another example comes from an inscription on an offering dedicated by one Diophantus of Sphettus. Diophantus had come to the City looking for a cure for his gout which severely affected his feet. The inscription says that Asklepios healed the man who was later able to walk back home with ease and without appearing crab-footed. A miracle! Unfortunately, nobody bothered to write down what Asklepios’ miracle remedy was.
Votive offerings like the one from Diophantus were common elements of the cult of Asklepios. Votive offerings are items that are deposited or put on display at religious sites. The offerings offered to Asklepios were either of a whole body, or just the body part that was not well. One could either make an offering to ask the god for a cure, or make an offering as thanks for a cure. The City Asklepieion itself employed two officers who would go through these offerings and choose which ones would be put on display. The City’s most common offerings were sets of eyes (in gold or silver), and testimonies attest that many who lost their sight were cured here.
Asklepieions were more than simple places of worship, they were the closest thing the Classical Greeks had to a real hospital. The City Asklepieion, however, was an altogether different entity. Its construction underwent so many changes that what remains of the foundations today are a nightmare to decipher. The head of the City Asklepieion was a yearly-appointed political position, instead of one filled by the usual priesthood. And to top it off, they didn’t even have a physician on staff. Although, given the state of medicine at this stage, it's hard to say if that last point was a good thing or a bad thing.
Text: Cindy Levesque. MENAM Archaeology. Copyright 2022.
Images: Asklepios statue. Wikimedia Askleoieion at its state of preservation in 2018. Wikimedia, author Davide Mauro.
Further Readings:
Edelstein, E. J. & Edelstein, L., 1975. Aclepius: a Collection and Interpretations of the Testimonies. New-York: Arno Press. Garland, R., 1992. Introducing New Gods: The Politics of Athenian Religion. Ithaca, New-York: Cornell University Press. Mitchell-Boyask, R., 2008. Plague and the Athenian Imagination. Cambridge University Press. Palagia, O. & Clinton, K., 1985. A Decree from the Athenian Asklepieion. Hesperia: The Journal of the American School of Classical Studies at Athens, Apr-Jun, 54(2), pp. 137-139. Robertson, N., 1998. The City Center of Archaic Athens. Hesperia: The Journal of the American School of Classical Studies at Athens, Jul-Sep, 67(3), pp. 283-302. Tomlinson, R. A., 1969. Two Buildings in Sanctuaries of Asklepios. The Journal of Hellenic Studies, Volume 89, pp. 106-117. Walton, A., 1965. The Cult of Asklepios. Cornell University Press.
Comments