Epidauros

A Classical Greek city with the sanctuary of the healing god Asklepios, in the Peloponnese. The lower city and harbor are now submerged, but sections of Cyclopean wall are still visible. Epidauros was famous for the sanctuary, especially from the 4th century BC onwards. There were two Doric cult buildings and a fine Doric rotunda with labyrinth. There were baths, a stadium, hospitals and sanitariums, and a magnificent 4th-century BC theater, which is exceptionally well-preserved.

Classical Greek city on the east coast of Argolis with site close to that of present-day Palaia Epidavros. The lower city and harbour are now submerged, while sections of Cyclopean wall (see Cyclopean masonry) are still visible. Epidauros was famous, especially from the 4th century bc onwards, for its sanctuary (hierori) of Asclepius, the god of healing, and mythical saviour/doctor figure. The sanctuary lay in a broad valley some 13 km inland, where a network of buildings grew up to serve the twin functions of faith-healing and general spatype recreation. The centrepiece was the Temple of Asclepius itself. This modest-scale Doric building seems to have been strikingly decorated, with black-and-white marble floor, and the widespread use of inlays of ivory, ebony and gold. The cult figure was similarly chryselephantine. A second cult building was the enkoimeterion or adyton, in which visiting sufferers might hope to obtain a cure by sleeping and dreaming. Also probably associated with the cult, but of obscure function, was a fine Doric rotunda with labyrinth. Facilities seem to have been comprehensive, including baths, gymnasium and palaestra for exercise, hospitals for the sick and sanatoria for the convalescent, accommodation for the priestdoctors and a magnificent (4th-century bc) theatre for cultural recreation, which is exceptionally well preserved.