The Asklepieion consisted of the temple, the rooms where priests would meet with patients, and the various areas for exercise and cures. In general, these places seemed to have a treatment regime of "healthy living" of diet, exercise, and psychological and emotional treatment. Fortunately for modern man, we know that those ancients were bound by superstition and a lack of knowledge....wait a minute, that is what we recommend today.
An existing spring. This would have been a bathing pool for treatment in ancient times.
One of the reconstructed portions is the consultation rooms. Patients would go down these stairs
and through this tunnel
And emerge into a series of vaulted rooms, where they would consult with the priest about their dream.
Private consultation rooms. What a strangely ancient and now modern concept.
Remains of the main part of the temple:
The Asklepieion of Pergamon also had a theater - because who cannot benefit from a little entertainment while they heal?
It's interesting to see how different shape and size rocks were used in different parts of the buildings. The arched ceiling of the tunnel, for example, has different rocks than the walls. And what rocks! In some spots it looks likely one could get seriously beaned in the noggin. The different areas of weathering make me wonder about their mortar too.
ReplyDeleteFrom the size and scope of the healer priests' consultation areas, it looks like they did something of a booming business. I agree we are just as superstitious in our healing beliefs now as then! We're just think we're more scientific about it.
Leigh, actually being aware in such surroundings is more of a thing that I had realized.
DeleteSeeing these sorts of things both here and Greece makes me marvel at the ability to build in stone. It is something we hardly think about in our modern world.
The priests did do a booming business; it helped that the Attalid dynasty also saw this as part of their overall civic improvement program and thus helped with funding as well.
We may have increased our science, but our healing beliefs really just the same in some cases.
Amphitheater then, WiFi now........ :)
ReplyDelete"Flavius Josephus, do you have any signal out here? My carrier seems not to be in this area..."
DeleteI suspect that the private consultation rooms are for the same reason we have them now, it would be embarrassing to the the person seeking treatment and amusing to the rest of the crowd waiting to be seen if consultations were held publicly.
ReplyDeleteLord help me if I ever live somewhere with abundant stone. I think I would live in a castle like house in that case. Something about the permanence of stone attracts me.
Probably Ed. I was just impressed that this was honestly a thing - again, we tend to think of "ancient people" as this sort of amorphous, primitive group. I think the more I learn, the more I am reminded they were not.
DeleteFor stone - We do not even think of it now, but it would be a fascinating medium to rediscover.