Epidauros is a sanctuary of Asklepius, also know as an Asklepion. Asklepius was the son of Apollo and the first god to show an interest in the well-being of humans. He shows up across the Hellenic world as a healer who performs miracles. There were about two hundred Asklepions in the ancient world (one for each city), but this was one of the three major ones.
The propylaea was hexastyle ionic, with Corinthian columns on the inside. The terminus was the sacred area with the temple and water, but outside of this area there were hotels, shops, restaurants, palaestra, etc. There were ancient stones found here that had explanations of how buildings were constructed in ancient times. Since there are no texts on architecture remaining, these stones were very important.
The only section of the Temple of Asklepius that survives is the first part of the crepis. It was built in 375 BC with Theodotos as the architect. It is a short hexastyle Doric temple with 6 by 11 columns. The outside is peripteral and the inside is distyle in antis Corinthian. The west pediment depicted a battle with Amazons, while the east pediment depicted a battle with Troy. There was a statue in the temple by Thrasymedes with a snake on the staff of the god, which became the symbol of Asklepius. Part of the temple was the abaton, which was where sick people slept and received dreams from Asklepius, telling them how to become healthy.
Ancient people did not only come to Epidauros to be healed. They also came to see the theater and the tholos, both of which were designed by Polykleitos. The tholos was famous because it was a huge cylindrical building with a basement that was separated into a labyrinth consisting of three rings of walls. This is thought to be where they kept the snakes for ritual purposes. It was an example of one of the most ornate classical Greek buildings, with a Doric colonnade all around, 26 columns on the outside, 14 on the inside, and friezes with abstract geometric patterns throughout.
The theater is considered to be a work of art. With 55 rows for seating and 20 sections in the circle (Vitruvius suggests only 12), it was the most technologically advanced and structurally sound ancient theater. It is famous for having extremely good acoustics. If you stand in the center of the stage and whisper, it can be heard in the top rows of seating (we tried it and this is actually true!). The skene (stage) had another platform on top of it that the actors eventually performed from with mechanical devices. These were used to display the gods from above.
Since the main purpose of the site was to be a hospital, we delved deeper into ancient medicine practices here. This included the founders of ancient medicine, Aristotle, Hippocrates, and Galen, the operations that occurred, the tools used, and the religion and miracles (like those by Apollonius of Tyana) surrounding medicine.
What I realized in Epidauros is that the ancient Greeks’ idea of a hospital is similar but also different to ours. They had rooms for the sick with nurses and such, but the Asklepion seems more like a resort to me. It had a theater for entertainment, shops and restaurants nearby, and access to “healing waters.” Sounds a lot like a spa to me.
The propylaea was hexastyle ionic, with Corinthian columns on the inside. The terminus was the sacred area with the temple and water, but outside of this area there were hotels, shops, restaurants, palaestra, etc. There were ancient stones found here that had explanations of how buildings were constructed in ancient times. Since there are no texts on architecture remaining, these stones were very important.
The only section of the Temple of Asklepius that survives is the first part of the crepis. It was built in 375 BC with Theodotos as the architect. It is a short hexastyle Doric temple with 6 by 11 columns. The outside is peripteral and the inside is distyle in antis Corinthian. The west pediment depicted a battle with Amazons, while the east pediment depicted a battle with Troy. There was a statue in the temple by Thrasymedes with a snake on the staff of the god, which became the symbol of Asklepius. Part of the temple was the abaton, which was where sick people slept and received dreams from Asklepius, telling them how to become healthy.
Ancient people did not only come to Epidauros to be healed. They also came to see the theater and the tholos, both of which were designed by Polykleitos. The tholos was famous because it was a huge cylindrical building with a basement that was separated into a labyrinth consisting of three rings of walls. This is thought to be where they kept the snakes for ritual purposes. It was an example of one of the most ornate classical Greek buildings, with a Doric colonnade all around, 26 columns on the outside, 14 on the inside, and friezes with abstract geometric patterns throughout.
The theater is considered to be a work of art. With 55 rows for seating and 20 sections in the circle (Vitruvius suggests only 12), it was the most technologically advanced and structurally sound ancient theater. It is famous for having extremely good acoustics. If you stand in the center of the stage and whisper, it can be heard in the top rows of seating (we tried it and this is actually true!). The skene (stage) had another platform on top of it that the actors eventually performed from with mechanical devices. These were used to display the gods from above.
Since the main purpose of the site was to be a hospital, we delved deeper into ancient medicine practices here. This included the founders of ancient medicine, Aristotle, Hippocrates, and Galen, the operations that occurred, the tools used, and the religion and miracles (like those by Apollonius of Tyana) surrounding medicine.
What I realized in Epidauros is that the ancient Greeks’ idea of a hospital is similar but also different to ours. They had rooms for the sick with nurses and such, but the Asklepion seems more like a resort to me. It had a theater for entertainment, shops and restaurants nearby, and access to “healing waters.” Sounds a lot like a spa to me.
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