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Ancient Epidavros: The Theater and Sanctuary of Asklipious Page 2

epidavros from aboveAccording to legend Asklipios was the son of Apollo and Koronis, a Boetian princess and was suckled by a female goat and educated by a wise centaur (Cheiron) who taught him surgery and healing with plants. As a result, the student became so gifted as to resurrect the dead, earning him the enmity of Hades and Zeus, who considered such powers the province of gods alone, his punishment: death by one of Zeus' thunderbolts, after which he was buried at Epidaurus.

The peak of his cult was reached during the 4th century BC and all of the great Greek doctors (including Hippocrates) claimed him as mentor.

He is depicted as a bearded figure leaning on a divining wand and accompanied by a magic serpent-hence the caduceus- sacred symbol of medecine.

Some of the medical knowledge attributed to Asklipius may have originated in Egypt, and then made its way to Greece via Asia Minor and Kos (just off the Asia Minor coast).

The Ptolemaic Greeks had a hero-god Asklipios Imhotep (said to have lived around 2780BC), to whom sanctuaries were dedicated. There is a small sanctuary of Egyptian gods in fact, on the site at Epidaurus.

a divine coin with asklepiosThe Hieron (Sanctuary of Epidaurus (Iieron, being the genitive of the Greek word for 'sacred') is located in a valley between Mt Velanidhia (Oak Mountain) and Mt Kharani.

It was both a religious place and a sort of spa, in that along with the temples and colonnades of the cult, hospitals, sanitaria and dwellings for priest-kings, there were also hotels for the healthy. In Roman times, baths were added, with water channeled in from spring-fed reservoirs.

The site, though overlooked by many visitors more interested in the famous theater (see below) is as large as the sites at Delphi and Olymbia, and the setting is quite lovely.

More Epidavros: The Theater and Sanctuary of Asklipious Page 1 | 2 | 3 | 4