THE WORSHIP OF ASKLEPIOS* WITH SPECIAL REFERENCE TO THE THOLOS AND TIIE THEATER By IRA S. WILE, M.D. NEW YORK, N. Y. HET cult of Asklcpios began with a Asklcpios, although its use as a sacred sym- man and ended with a god. Raus- bol antedates the Pythian Apollo. The cher estimated that more than 300 serpent was an emblem of an earth cult; its Asklepieia existed; there are well worship was common during antiquity. authenticated references to 207, although Cretans and Hindus accepted serpents as 161 arc assumed from figures of Asklcpios companions of gods or as their favorite on coins. Obviously numismatic evidence is earthly manifestations. In Egypt healing suggestive rather than conclusive of his values were ascribed to serpents and the worship at all of the places of issue. There Nagars of Kashmir serve serpent gods deemed can be no doubt, however, that Asklcpios to possess unusual medical powers. The was honored widely in the ancient world. snake has a mystic significance in rites of The principal centers included Tricca, Cos, many sorts; it is especially held to be a Pcrgamos, Epidaurus, Athens, Rome, Crete magic agent of healing. The serpent became and Smyrna. a symbol of prudence, of the renewal of in considering various problems concern- life, and of the power to discover medicinal ing the origin, development, expansion and or healing plants. It is evident that the meaning of Asklcpios worship at different serpent attribute of Asklcpios symbolized periods certain facts merit review: the healing potentials of nature which (1) Apollo, god of light, youth, music and Asklcpios personified. healing, was the father of Asklcpios by Serpents also received veneration be- Coronis, daughter of Phlegas. cause they were variously regarded as the (2) Artemis, protectress of women, was a dwelling of the soul, the soul itself, or the goddess of unspoiled nature: of mountains, symbol of the soul. Hence they became groves and springs. manifestations of the dead, the symbols of (3) Dionysus presided over wine and its earth gods renewing life, of the earth itselE pleasures but also over all vegetation, and, and of gods. The intensity of these beliefs in addition, he was patron of the drama. is represented in the identification of the (4) During Homeric times, Asklcpios was serpent and Asklcpios when his worship was not known as a god but merely as a Thessa- transferred to Rome (293 b .c .) by means of lian chieftain, the father of those “good” a serpent. A temple was erected in his name military physicians, Machaon and Podali- at the place where the serpent landed on the rius. Hesiod and Pindar regarded him as a Tiber’s shore, after gliding away from the boat “leader of men,” and “a hero.” Among his that was bearing it to stay Rome’s pestilence. other children by Epione were Hygieia and This phase of Asklcpios’ symbolic charac- Panacea. teristic is important, and especially so when (5) The early education of this son of related to the serpent themes in the life of Apollo was entrusted to the wise centaur the earlier healing god, Apollo, his father. Chiron, teacher of Jason and Achilles. The earth spirit concept is further supported (6) The serpent is an essential attribute of by the fact that the principal sacrificial * Read before the American School of Classical object in the Asklepieia was the cock, Studies, at its Summer Session, Athens, Aug. 8, 1925. usually a sacrifice to underground spirits. (7) Originally Asklepios was a dream differences between the first Asklepieion at oracle. The duality of man’s nature as body Tricca, in Thessaly, and the magnificent and spirit has been recognized in modern as series of buildings at Epidaurus. Admittedly well as ancient times. The objective tangible the course of the progressive development of body to be seen and felt was the dwelling of the cult and its marmoreal expression is an unseen spirit that came and went for conjectural, but there are sufficient evidence, periods of time, thus giving rise to sleep, testimony and opinion to support the idea protracted unconsciousness or death. To that the worship of Asklepios passed through consult a god with reference to one’s spirit four definite stages. Each stage involved an was not unusual and oneiromancy became a expansion of methods, if not of purpose, reasonable procedure. Thus, not merely and demanded a material enlargement of the Asklepios but Dionysus and Pluto were working plant together with an increased frequently consulted in dreams. The pres- and more differentiated personnel. ence of statues of Sleep and Dream in The earliest worship of Asklepios, the temples of Asklepios strengthens the idea healing power of Nature personified, was that fundamentally Asklepios was an earth simple. A grove, a spring, an altar for spirit, who primarily manifested himself to sacrifice were all that was requisite, with a those who sought him through the wizardry priest, so called, in attendance. From the of sleep and dreams. spring there developed baths and fountains. Cults do not arise suddenly with com- An early cave may have sufficed for the plete programs and fully developed embel- priest until temple building began. The lishments. The Asklepios cult formed no earth with its beauty, productivity and exception to the rule. There were wide water demanded only an altar for worship. Protection of the earth spirit was solicited The altar of sacrifice was no longer adequate through sacrifice to Asklcpios. to meet the concept of Asklcpios and tem- An established place of worship attracts ples were constructed in which incubation attention and worshippers. Familiarity with was practiced. The increase in devotees human frailties broadens experience, height- required an enlarged priestly staff, for whom ens judgment and increases therapeutic homes were erected. potentials. The priests of Asklcpios evolved Increased reputation for health service a simple technique and became better promotes popularity. The priestly astute- informed concerning procedures helpful to ness recognized the value of specialization the mental well-being of their patrons. and some of the priests devoted their full The grove and surrounding grandeur of attention to therapeutic arts, while others natural scenery were continued as impor- retained their original devotional and sacri- tant, while the spring expanded to baths ficial functions. With increasing insight into and waters with vaunted medicinal qualities. human psychology, the priestly and secular administrations expanded their program height of development, possessing a staff of and added necessary buildings. This period priests and physicians to meet man’s gave rise to the theater and the gymnasium demands for protection against diseases or within the sanctified area. Other temples relief from them. The sanctuary remained were added, especially those erected in but it no longer constituted the entire place honor of Artemis. Hotels were built to of worship which now had spread over a accommodate the increasing host of visitors. large sanctified area. Asklcpios worship was evolving along There is ample support for this somewhat therapeutic lines. formal theory of evolution of the sanctified The health resort idea proved successful, areas of Asklcpios worship. Apollo averted and priests, though helpful in the sanctuary, illness and an Apollo temple preceded the were no longer capable of carrying on all the Asklepieion at Epidaurus. As FarncII sug- developing undertakings. Physicians entered gests, the early idea of demoniac possession the sacred places and served the ever- made it rational to appeal to a god to avert growing clientele, while the priests devoted death. An approach to retain health was themselves to the functions involved in the appropriately spiritual and supernatural direct relations to the god as in sacrifice and rather than a recourse to physical methods. incubation. The already numerous struc- Upon Asklepios fell the healing mantle of tures were insufficient in number and his father, Apollo; and his temple at extent, so there was further expansion by Epidaurus, for example, was built upon the means of colonnades, solaria, exedrae, stadia site of an earlier Apollo temple. Cavvadias and so forth. The Asklepieion was now at its in his monumental work on Epidaurus, states of the Asklepieion, “c’etait un lieu the failure of Hippocrates to refer to the sacre.” But he also adds: “La reputation de shrine. Hippocrates, born of Asklepiad ce sanctuaire vient done de la credulite des family, 460 b .c ., and living at Cos where a hommes au miracle.” He implies that the highly reputed Asklepieion flourished in his numerous structures had a precedence in day, ignores its existence in his writings, need by recognizing an order of erection: though it was alleged that he secured the the altar followed by the temple, the foundations of his medical knowledge from theater, the tholos, the abaton, to which Cos. It is striking that he does not dwell were added other temples, the stadium, upon the practice of incubation at the houses for priests and hotels. As Asklepios Temple at Cos, because during his age worship developed, revenues increased and there was a widespread belief in the super- the administrations were enabled to embel- natural origin of dreams which played a lish the sanctuary and to make the visits significant part in the diagnosis and treat- of the worshippers more agreeable. ment of disease. On the other hand one is Whibley notes that the temple ritual was struck by the fact that one of Hippoc- only a part of the methodology involved in rates’ main books is devoted to airs, waters the splendid apparatus of the Asklepios cult. and places, which constituted the physical He suggests that temple medicine was built and psychological foundation of Asklepios upon earlier secular medicine. This is worship. unlikely in view of the fact that Cclsus gives The first temple of Asklepios was probably credit to Hippocrates for separating medi- at Tricca, Thessaly, where Ziehen reports cine from philosophy and makes no refer- the discovery of a spring and a temple but ence to the combination of medicine and no further structural accessions.