Listed 9 sub titles with search on: Monuments reported by ancient authors for wider area of: "EPIDAVROS Municipality ARGOLIS" .
ASKLEPIEION OF EPIDAURUS (Ancient sanctuary) ARGOLIS
Asclepius (Aesculapius) lies almost half-way between gods and heroes; still he
may be more properly reckoned among the latter. And the oracular seats where he
was believed to instruct men are of peculiar interest, because they furnish the
meeting-point between religion and science, as those were conceived in the classical
Greek world. For, on the one hand, he was thought of as the god of healing, the
son of Apollo, begotten by Apollo that he might heal bodily sicknesses (Menand.
Rhet. Epidict. p. 327 Olympiod. Vit. Plat. p. 4, 42); in whose temples the sick
would spend a night in hope of being miraculously relieved by the morning (Pausan.
ii. 27, § 2). This aspect of him had a tendency to gain ground; to Aeschylus (Agam.
1022) and Pindar (Pyth. iii. 96) he is a faulty man; Aristophanes (Plutus, 662
sqq.), with all his mockery, treats Asclepius as a god. But, on the other hand,
Asclepius was the legendary father of a crowd of descendants, the Asclepiadae,
who, in whatever degree they considered religious communications important for
success in the healing art, had genuinely scientific qualities (Plato, Rep. iii.).
These two phases of the doctrine and practice connected with the name of Asclepius
were so intermingled, that they cannot now be separated. Epidaurus was the chief
seat of the religious worship; there Asclepius had a temple and a grove, and a
magnificent gold and ivory statue, and innumerable votive tablets on the walls
attested the cures wrought on sick persons by the method of incubation (Pausan.
ii. 26, 27), But at Cos the medical school culminated, and there Hippocrates,
the first great light of medical science, lived and wrote. Yet Epidaurus and Cos
were not hostile to one another, and we read of an embassy sent by the Epidaurians
to the Asclepius of Cos (Pausan. iii. 23, § 6). We must assume that in the generality
of the shrines of Asclepius (of which nearly a hundred are reckoned: cf. Th. Panofka,
Asclepios und die Asclepiaden, pp. 271-361) the religious element, the prophecy
by dreams and incubation, greatly outweighed the scientific. It is a question
of much interest why, in view of the paucity of oracles of ordinary gods, other
than Apollo, so remarkable an exception should be found in the case of Asclepius.
The theory was (Menand. Rhet. and Olympiod. l. c.) that Apollo committed to Asclepius
this part of his functions; but it is impossible to suppose that persons erecting
a temple to Asclepius had any clear theory of delegation. No doubt the truth is,
that the worship of Asclepius was antecedent to the worship of Apollo, and his
emblem, the snake, had an origin quite distinct from the Apolline worship; and
his affiliation to Apollo was a device of the worshippers of Apollo, in order
that they might appropriate a power that they could not expel. At Pergamus, another
great seat of Asclepius, the celebrated physician Galen, starting from pure faith
in the oracular cures, taught himself principles of more exact medical science.
In the year 293 B.C. the Sibylline books commanded the Romans to seek Asclepius
at Epidaurus. They did so, and brought away a mysterious serpent; then, on the
spot where this serpent disappeared, they built a temple to Asclepius (Aesculapius).
Oracles were given there through dreams, and miracles performed (C. I. G. 5977,
5980). Serapis was joined with Aesculapius in the worship at this temple (Suet.
Claud. 25). This also was the case at Pergamus. F. A. Wolf (Vermischte Schriften,
pp. 382 sqq.) endeavours to show that mesmerism was used in the curative rites
of Asclepius; but the experiences of Aelius Aristides hardly bear this out.
This text is from: A Dictionary of Greek and Roman Antiquities (1890) (eds. William Smith, LLD, William Wayte, G. E. Marindin). Cited July 2004 from The Perseus Project URL below, which contains interesting hyperlinks
EPIDAVROS (Ancient city) ARGOLIS
Above the grove (of Asclepius) are the Nipple and another mountain called Cynortium;
on the latter is a sanctuary of Maleatian Apollo. The sanctuary itself is an ancient
one, but among the things Antoninus made for the Epidaurians are various appurtenances
for the sanctuary of the Maleatian, including a reservoir into which the rain-water
collects for their use.
The serpents, including a peculiar kind of a yellowish color, are
considered sacred to Asclepius, and are tame with men. These are peculiar to Epidauria,
and I have noticed that other lands have their peculiar animals. For in Libya
only are to be found land crocodiles at least two cubits long; from India alone
are brought, among other creatures, parrots. But the big snakes that grow to more
than thirty cubits, such as are found in India and in Libya, are said by the Epidaurians
not to be serpents, but some other kind of creature. (Paus.+2.27.7-28.1)
As you go up to Mount Coryphum you see by the road an olive tree called Twisted. It was Heracles who gave it this shape by bending it round with his hand, but I cannot say whether he set it to be a boundary mark against the Asinaeans in Argolis, since in no land, which has been depopulated, is it easy to discover the truth about the boundaries. On the Top of the mountain there is a sanctuary of Artemis Coryphaea (of the Peak), of which Telesilla made mention in an ode. (Paus. 2.28.2)
On going down (from Mount Coryphum) to the city of the Epidaurians, you come to
a place where wild olives grow; they call it Hyrnethium. I will relate the story
of it, which is probable enough, as given by the Epidaurians. Ceisus and the other
sons of Temenus knew that they would grieve Deiphontes most if they could find
a way to part him and Hyrnetho. So Cerynes and Phalces (for Agraeus, the youngest,
disapproved of their plan) came to Epidaurus. Staying their chariot under the
wall, they sent a herald to their sister, pretending that they wished to parley
with her.
When she obeyed their summons, the young men began to make many accusations
against Deiphontes, and besought her much that she would return to Argos, promising,
among other things, to give her to a husband in every respect better than Deiphontes,
one who ruled over more subjects and a more prosperous country. But Hyrnetho,
pained at their words, gave as good as she had received, retorting that Deiphontes
was a dear husband to her, and had shown himself a blameless son-in-law to Temenus;
as for them, they ought to be called the murderers of Temenus rather than his
sons.
Without further reply the youths seized her, placed her in the chariot,
and drove away. An Epidaurian told Deiphontes that Cerynes and Phalces had gone,
taking with them Hyrnetho against her will; he himself rushed to the rescue with
all speed, and as the Epidaurians learned the news they reinforced him. On overtaking
the runaways, Deiphontes shot Cerynes and killed him, but he was afraid to shoot
at Phalces, who was holding Hyrnetho, lest he should miss him and become the slayer
of his wife; so he closed with them and tried to get her away. But Phalces, holding
on and dragging her with greater violence, killed her, as she was with child.
Realizing what he had done to his sister, he began to drive the chariot
more recklessly, as he was anxious to gain a start before all the Epidaurians
could gather against him. Deiphontes and his children--for before this children
had been born to him, Antimenes, Xanthippus, and Argeus, and a daughter, Orsobia,
who, they say, after-wards married Pamphylus, son of Aegimius--took up the dead
body of Hyrnetho and carried it to this place, which in course of time was named
Hyrnethium.
T hey built for her a hero-shrine, and bestowed upon her various honors;
in particular, the custom was established that nobody should carry home, or use
for any purpose, the pieces that break off the olive trees, or any other trees,
that grow there; these are left there on the spot to be sacred to Hyrnetho. (Paus .2.28.2-7)
There is also a sanctuary of Aphrodite, while the one at the harbor, on a height that juts out into the sea, they say is Hera's. (Paus. 2.29.1)
The Athena on the citadel, a wooden image worth seeing, they surname Cissaea (Ivy Goddess). (Paus. 2.29.1)
The most noteworthy things which I found the city of Epidaurus itself had to show are these. There is, of course, a precinct of Asclepius, with images of the god himself and of Epione. Epione, they say, was the wife of Asclepius. These are of Parian marble, and are set up in the open. (Paus. 2.29.1)
There is also in the city a temple of Dionysus and one of Artemis. The figure of Artemis one might take to be the goddess hunting. (Paus. 2.29.1)
Not far from the city is the tomb of Melissa, who married Periander, the son of Cypselus, and another of Procles, the father of Melissa. He, too, was tyrant of Epidaurus, as Periander, his son-in-law, was tyrant of Corinth (ca 600 BC). (Paus. 2.28.8)
Receive our daily Newsletter with all the latest updates on the Greek Travel industry.
Subscribe now!
