Sanctuary of Asclepius, Epidaurus

Listen for a moment. In summer, the cicadas fill the pine trees with a dry, steady buzz. Under your feet there is pale dust and broken limestone. The air smells of resin and warm earth. Long before tourists came here, people arrived on this same ground in pain, hoping for a cure. Welcome to the Sanctuary of Asclepius at Epidaurus, one of the great healing centres of the ancient Greek world.

Asclepius was the Greek god of medicine. In most versions of his myth, he was the son of Apollo and a mortal woman. Legend has it that he was born near this valley, on the hills around the sanctuary. Locals told travellers that his mother left him on the mountainside, and that a goat fed him and a dog guarded him. Other Greek cities told different stories about his birth. Epidaurus told this one with great confidence, and pilgrims came from across the Mediterranean to believe it.

Worship here did not begin with Asclepius. On a hill above the valley, there was an older sanctuary to Apollo Maleatas, a local form of Apollo. Over time, the son became more popular than the father. By the fifth and fourth centuries before Christ, this valley held temples, altars, baths, guest houses and athletic grounds. It worked a little like a sacred spa, a hospital and a festival ground, all at once.

So what did a sick pilgrim actually do here? First came purification, with washing, prayers and offerings. Then came the most important step, a practice called incubation. The patient slept overnight in a special building, the abaton, which means a place that cannot be entered by ordinary people. During the night, the god was expected to appear in a dream. Sometimes he healed the sleeper directly. Sometimes he gave advice that priests then helped to interpret.

Here is something many visitors miss. The sanctuary kept records of its cures, carved in stone on tall slabs called stelae. Several of these inscriptions survive. They describe blind people who saw again, and lame people who walked. Some stories are clearly fantastic. One famous inscription tells of a woman who was said to be pregnant for five years before the god helped her give birth. These texts were not medical files. They were testimonials, meant to build faith in the god.

Animals played a part as well. Snakes were sacred to Asclepius, and harmless snakes were kept in the sanctuary. Even today, the symbol of a snake wrapped around a staff is used for medicine around the world. That staff belongs to Asclepius. Dogs were also linked with healing here, and some cure stories describe a dog licking a wound until it closed.

Now turn your attention to the most mysterious building on the site, the Tholos. Its name simply means a round building. It was built in the fourth century before Christ, and its craftsmanship was very fine. Beneath its floor, the foundations form rings of walls with openings arranged like a small maze. Nobody knows for certain why. Some scholars think sacred snakes lived there. Others think it was used for secret rituals or offerings. The honest answer is that the purpose is still debated.

Nearby stood the Temple of Asclepius itself. Today you see mostly its foundations, so you need some imagination. The ancient writer Pausanias visited in the second century after Christ. He described a statue of the god made of gold and ivory, seated on a throne, with a dog at his feet. Pausanias is one of our best guides to ancient Greece, and much of what we know about this place comes from his careful notes.

The fame of Epidaurus travelled far. In the early third century before Christ, Rome suffered a plague. According to the Roman tradition, the Romans sent an embassy here to bring Asclepius to their city. The story says a sacred snake from Epidaurus boarded their ship and later slipped ashore on an island in the River Tiber. A temple to the god was built there. Today, that island in Rome still has a hospital, which continues a very long line of care.

Of course, most people today come here first for the theatre. It sits on the slope of the hillside, a short walk from the sanctuary ruins. Pausanias said it was designed by an architect named Polykleitos, and he praised its harmony and beauty above all other theatres. Built in the fourth century before Christ, it is one of the best preserved ancient theatres anywhere. It holds roughly thirteen thousand people on its curved limestone rows.

The theatre is known for its acoustics. A coin dropped or a match struck at the centre of the stage can often be heard in the upper rows, on a quiet day. Researchers have studied why. One idea is that the shape of the seats helps to quiet low background noises, while the human voice carries clearly. Theatre was part of healing here. Watching drama, music and festivals was thought to be good for the mind as well as the body.

This place is still alive. Every summer, the Athens and Epidaurus Festival brings ancient Greek tragedies and comedies back to this stage. Actors perform the plays of Sophocles, Euripides and Aristophanes under the open sky, as audiences did over two thousand years ago. The whole site is now a UNESCO World Heritage Site. Archaeologists and restorers continue their work here, and you may see scaffolding, cranes or newly fitted stone blocks among the ruins.

Before you leave, visit the small museum on the site. It holds carved architectural pieces, inscriptions and statues found during excavations. Look closely at the stone decoration from the Tholos, especially the delicate leaves of its Corinthian capital, the elaborate top of a column. Then step outside again. Hear the cicadas, feel the warm stone under your hand, and look at the quiet valley. People once walked this ground in hope of healing. Now, perhaps, you can simply walk it slowly, and rest a little yourself.