Epidauros / Epidaurus / Sanctuary of Asklepios

(Local Name: Epídavros) Altitude: 90m/295ft

Epidauros, the most widely famed sanctuary of the healing god Asklepios, lies in a quietly beautiful setting in the Argolid.

In pre-Greek times the god of Maleas (Maleatas) was worshipped on the hill of Kynortion (above the theater, outside the enclosure), and the Greeks equated this earlier divinity with their god Apollo. Then Apollo was joined by his son Asklepios, who had grown up at Trikka in Thessaly. Every four years games were held in honor of the god, and from 395 B.C. there was also a dramatic festival. From the end of the fifth century B.C. the cult of Asklepios spread widely throughout the ancient world, reaching Athens in 420 B.C. and Rome (under the name of Aesculapius) in 293 B.C. To cater for the great numbers of pilgrims who flocked to Epidauros in quest of healing much new building was carried out at the site in the fourth and third centuries. On the evidence of the votive inscriptions the priest-physicians were already practising psycho- therapeutic methods of treatment. A thermal spring was also used, and surgical instruments have been found on the site. Theatrical performances, which were thought to bring about the purgation or purification (katharsis) of the spectators by inspiring pity and fear, also played a part in treatment. The sanctuary continued to flourish into the late Roman period, but was closed down about A.D. 400, in the reign of Theodosius I. In the sixth century Justinian built a fortress in the ruins.

Epidauros can be reached from Náfplion (41 km/25 mi) or on the new road from Corinth via Néa Epídavros (63 km/39 mi).

The archeological site of Epidauros (including the theatre and the main monuments) were declared a World Heritage Site by UNESCO in 1988.