Qualla: Sanctuary of Asclepius, Epidaurus

Sanctuary of Asclepius, Epidaurus: Introduction

Sun, 14 Jun 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit George E. Koronaios, CC0. They came here because they had tried everything else. People from across the ancient Mediterranean world — from Asia Minor, from Egypt, from Rome — made the journey to Epidaurus when illness had defeated the physicians. They arrived at a sanctuary in a river valley, purified themselves according to the rituals, and then lay down in the abaton, a long colonnade that served as a sleeping hall, to wait. The hope was that Asclepius, the god of medicine, would appear to them in the night. Sometimes he would speak. Sometimes, according to the inscriptions preserved here, he would heal. The Sanctuary of Asclepius at Epidaurus was the most famous healing center of the ancient world — a rival, its sources claimed, of Olympia and Delphi — and the stone inscriptions recording miracles that were unearthed here in 1881 contain the names of real people, each one of them carrying a real illness, each one of them trusting that this particular valley held something the rest of the world did not.

Image: George E. Koronaios | CC0

Sanctuary of Asclepius, Epidaurus: The God and His Birthplace

Sun, 14 Jun 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit George E. Koronaios, CC BY-SA 4.0. The mythology of the sanctuary is inseparable from its location. According to Pausanias, the 2nd century AD geographer who described the sanctuary in detail, Asclepius was born here at Epidaurus — the son of Apollo and a mortal woman named Coronis. After his birth, the infant was...

Image: George E. Koronaios | CC BY-SA 4.0

Sanctuary of Asclepius, Epidaurus: The Temple and Its God

Sun, 14 Jun 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit Unknown author, Public domain. The Temple of Asclepius was built in the early 4th century BC. It was Doric in style — six columns across, eleven along the sides — and measured roughly 80 feet in length. An architect named Theodotus designed it; the project took nearly five years to complete. Inside stood the c...

Image: Unknown author | Public domain

Sanctuary of Asclepius, Epidaurus: Sleep, Dreams, and the Abaton

Sun, 14 Jun 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit Kritheus, CC BY-SA 4.0. The healing practice at Epidaurus centered on a ritual called incubation: sleeping within the sanctuary in the hope of receiving a divine vision. The abaton, a long roofed colonnade, was the place where this happened. People who came to Epidaurus seeking healing would undergo pre...

Image: Kritheus | CC BY-SA 4.0

Sanctuary of Asclepius, Epidaurus: Centuries of Use, and Ruin

Sun, 14 Jun 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit Janmad, CC BY-SA 4.0. The sanctuary endured for centuries, accumulating buildings and patrons and rituals. During the Achaean War in 146 BC the precinct was converted into a military stronghold; after the war, the Roman general Lucius Mummius visited and left dedications. In 87 BC, Sulla looted the sa...

Image: Janmad | CC BY-SA 4.0

Sanctuary of Asclepius, Epidaurus: What the Excavations Found

Sun, 14 Jun 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit Peulle, CC BY-SA 4.0. Panagiotis Kavvadias began excavating at Epidaurus in 1881 on behalf of the Archaeological Society of Athens, initially looking for the famous theatre Pausanias had described. He found the theatre almost immediately — and then kept digging for nearly fifty years, until his death ...

Image: Peulle | CC BY-SA 4.0