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31151019873888.Pdf 3 1151 01987 3888 ««"» "o.^ \^<<* INCUBATION THE CURE OF DISEASE IN PAGAN TEMPLES AND CHRISTIAN CHURCHES MARY HAMILTON, M.A. Carnegie Reiearch Scholar W. C. HENDERSON k SON, ST. ANDREWS SIMPKIH, MAEBHALL, HAllItTON, KENT * CO LONDON 1906 '"etc •'"-'''^ , PRINTED m W. C. HENDERSON A 80X Us-ivsBBiTY PRESB, 8T. ASDREWS PREFACE THE subject of Incubation, which has hitherto received merely cursory notice from English wiitere, is of interest to modern readers for two reasona. In the first place, the practice—designated without ambiguity in German as " Tempelschlaf," i.e.. Temple-sleep— is one which, in virtue of its origin, belongs to paganism, but is countenanced and encouraged in the twentieth century by two of the chief sections of the Christian Church And secoudly, it produces results which have much in common with hypnotic cures and the achievements of Christian Science. The aim of the present work is to give an historical sketch of the development of the practice of Incubation from the earliest times down to the present day. While pursuing this research, I held a Scholarship in History from tlic Cnrnegie Trust for the Universities of Scotland, and I must here acknowledge my in­ debtedness to the Trust for this opportunity of post-graduate study. My obligations to previous students and travellers are obvious. From ray friends I hove received much aasistancf, and I wish especially to express my gratitude to Principal Donaldson of St. Andrews University for the gnidanee and help he has so generously given me throughout. My thanks are due also to the Directors of the British Schools at Athens and Rome for facilities of study and travel; to Mr. F- W. Hasluck, M.A., for his notes on Cyzieus; and to Dr. K. F, Kinch for information about the island of Rhodes. M. H. St. Andrews September 1906 COiN 1ENTS PART I IXCUBATIOX IN PAGAN TEMPLES CHAPTER I Introduction CHAPTER II Incubation in the Cult of Asklepios—Epidauros CHU'TER III Incubation in the Cult of Asklepios—Aristides' Orations CHAPTER IV Incubation in the Cult of .Asklepios—Eorae and Lebene CHAPTER V Inciiliiition in the Cult of Asklepios—Athens and Kos CHAPTER VI Incubation at the Oracle of Amphiaraoa CHAPTER VII Incubation at the Oracle of Trophonios CHAPTER VIII Incubation at the Plutonia and Oracle of Dionysos CHAPTER IX Incubation in the Cults of Isis and Serapis COSTKKTS PART II INCUBATION IN CHRISTIAN CHURCHES DUKING THE MlDDLl-: AGES CHAPTBB 1 Introduction 10 CHAPTER II St. Cosmaa and St. Damian 11' CHAPTER III St. Therapon 12. CHAPTER IV St. Thekla 13 CHAPTER V St. Michael 13! CHArTER VI St. Cyrus and St. John 141 CHAPTER VII St. Julian, St. Martin, St. Maxiininus, St Fides . 15! THR PRACTICE OF INCUBATION DUUING MODRllN TIMRS CHM'TBR I Introduction CHAPTER II Italy, Sardinia, Austria CONTSNTS CHAITER III The Festival at Tenoa CHAPTER IV The Greek Islands : Mytilene, Cyclades, Cyprus, Ionian Islands, Bhodes CHAPTER V The Mainland of Greece: Argolis, Arcadia, Achaia, Phocis and Boeotia, Balukli . CHAPTER VI Cyzicua PARTI. Incubation in Pagan Temples I, Introduction IN the ancient science of divination, four working methods were commonly practised. Revelations of the future were deduced from natural portents, from the flight of birds, from entrails of sacrificial victims, or from dreams. It was the fourth way that had, for obvious reasons, the greatest vogue. Belief in the sig­ nificance of dreams baa always been widespread, and the supernatural authority attached to them by the ancients needs no demonstration. From Pharaoh's dream downwards there are recorded many illustra­ tions of the importance with which they were regarded not only by the ignorant and superstitious, bat b; pbiiosophical thinkera. The philosophy of dreams, as they were regarded in the fourth century B.C., was held to be that in sleep the sou! was freed from the body so that it could soar into spiritual regions, and commuae with divine beings. Accordingly, memories of what bad passed in sleep were to be cber^hed as divine revelations granted to the soul. The science of oneiromancy was the subject of much study, Artemidoros of Epbesus has five books of Oneirocntica, where he attempts some explications and relates many instances of dreams. Dreams are divided by him into five classes, of which the fifth is the most 2 INTHODDCTION important for divination. That is the class of chrematismoi or oracles. The division given by Artemidoros is found again in Macrobius, Sotrinium Scipionis (i, 3), where the following definition of an oracle is given;—" It is a ease of an oracle when, during sleep, a relative, or other sacred or authoritative person, or a priest, or even a god, declares openly what ia going to happen, or not to happen, or what must be done or avoided.'' Two other kinds of dreams worthy of interpretation are given—the vision, and the somnium or dream proper. In the vision, a person sees what is going to happen in exactly the way in which it will take place, and the somnium is a dream so complicated and obscured by figures that it cannot be understood with­ out interpretation. Incubation was the method by which men sought to entice such dreama. Visions, in which a revelation regarding the future was given by a god or a divine messenger, would be precious and greatly to be desired by those who believed in their infallibility. Naturally people would seek for divine guidance in distress and difficulty, and out of their efforts to obtain it arose the practice of incubation. Suppliants approached the god by sacrifices and performance of rites best calculated to win his favour, and then in the place most likely to be visited by the deity, either the temple, or the appointed sleeping-hall, lay down to sleep awaiting a divine visitation. The gods in whose temples incubation was practised wore chthonian deities, heroes who had gone down into the earth and were invested with her powere. Two of the chief faculties of the earth were the power INTRODDCTIOK 3 of sending dreams, and the gift of healing. As a giver of dreams she is apostrophised in the Hecuba of Euripides (1. TO) :—" O Lady Earth, sender of black- winged dreams," The healing powers of the earth were expressed in the production of herbs that gave life or death, and were tr.msniitted to the chthonian gods who had entered into her. The combination of these two faculties brought it to pass that the temples of these deities were the centres of medical divination, obtained through incuba­ tion. Illness was the most frequent motive for con­ sultation; hence the primary aspect of incubation is medical. But the gods were not consulted solely on account of disease. In any case of difficulty or distress incubation might be tried. PausaniaB (iii. 26. 1) relates how the Spartan Ephors during state crises were in the habit of consulting the incubation-oracle of Ino-Pasiphaai at Thalamai. Other instances of non-medical consultation are recorded In the Orations of Aristides and elsewhere. The object of the practice was to meet with the deity in sleep, ask questions, and receive answers. The suppliant was not always successful. It might be that no visitation came to him, the dream might be un­ intelligible, or he might fail to interpret it correctly. Artemidoros, in Ondrocritica (iv. 22), gives his views of the instructions sent by gods who have been invoked through incubation. The paragraph is entitled " Con­ cerning Prescriptions." " Too will find the prescriptions of the gods either simple and containing no enigma, for the gods pre­ scribe ointments, plasters, food and drink, by the same names as we use; or when the gods do speak in enig- i INTHODUOTJON mas, their enigmas arc quite clear. For example, a woman who had inflammation of the breast thought that she was suckled by a sheep. She was cured by a plaster of the herb sheep's-tonftue; the composition of the plant's name showed the connection between the herb and the sheep's tongue. Do not decide your dream from one conjecture, so that yoa do not fall into error and appear foolish. For example, a man who was ill thought he saw a person called Feison. This was interpreted as meaning great safety and security, and also it was said he would live ninety-five years after the first appearance of Peison. Nevertheless the man who had seen the vision died during the same illness, for Peison had appeared to him carrying sweet oil. Sweet oil is baleful in the case of illness, because of its connection with dead bodies." Dcubner, in his treatise De Incubatione (ch. i.) shows the existence of a certain similarity of characteristics in dreams which have come during incubation, as recorded in the ancient writers. The Orations of Aelius Aristides relate with great detail the accompanying circumstances and effects of numerous dreams, and these are conhrmed by many other cases. In the second Sacred Oration (p. 414), he says of Asklepios : " A voice come to me by night, saying," and (p. 4-20) " A voice came in a dream." The bearing of a voice was a common sensation. Plutarch, De Genio Sni-rntis (221. relating the experi­ ences of Timarcbos at tbf oracle of Trophonios, says : "A voice of SOUK' one unseen spoke to him"; and Pauaanias (ti, 39) of the same oracle says : " Soaie- INTRODUCTION 5 times the suppliant has a vision, and at other times he hears something." -In P'iiATcl.''' Kleomenes, he says about the oraiMe of-Pasiphaai at Thalamai : " A voice ame from the temple telling." And of Serapis, Arran {Anab.
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