A TEMPLE OF HEALING

Rituals, Prayers, and Offerings


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Asclepieia, or temples dedicated to the healing god Asclepius, were common, and over 300 such buildings have been discovered throughout ancient Greece. Some temples were more famous than others—built, rebuilt, and expanded over the centuries as the healing cult spread—and the Temple of Asclepius in Pergamon became one of the most important. The site had long been a destination for pilgrimage and healing as the first sanctuary was founded there around 200 BCE. Renovations began around 80 CE; in 123 CE, a visit from the Roman Emperor Hadrian inspired a new phase of extensive remodeling. By Galen’s day, a grand complex had replaced the older collection of small buildings. There was an expansive covered square adorned with elegant columns, joined by monumental gateways to a round temple dedicated to Zeus Asclepius (a smaller-scale replica of Hadrian’s renovated Roman Pantheon). At the center of this temple stood the famous, now lost, Pergamene Asclepius statue. Additionally, the site included a theater, a library, latrines, rotundas, and porticoes, as well as several fountains and an incubation complex. In the second century CE, this temple was a celebrated shrine “invested [with the] power [of healing]” by Asclepius, according to Marcus Aurelius. As the god’s home, Pergamon became a medical hub that attracted patients and physicians alike.

A bird’s-eye view of a shrubby brown landscape. In the center are the remains of a large square complex with a semi-circular amphitheatre in one corner. Two circular structures adjoin the far corner. A road leads to the complex.

Aerial view of the Asclepieion in ancient Pergamon (present-day Bergama, Izmir province, Turkey). Photo: Deutsches Archäologisches Institut Istanbul (D-DAI-IST-PE15_LUFTAUFNAHMEN_0329; B. Ludwig).

The two-mile walk from Pergamon’s center to the temple would have felt transportive: pilgrims followed a shaded, colonnaded path outside city walls. Upon arrival, those in need of healing purified themselves with baths and a cleansing diet before going to sleep in a special incubation chamber.

Dark tunnel with arched ceiling. Large stone slabs make up the floor. Light enters from a series of openings in the ceiling. At the far end of the tunnel is an arched exit.

Left: Ruins of a street from ancient Pergamon (present-day Bergama, Izmir province, Turkey). Photo: Ihsan Gercelman / Alamy Stock Photo. Right: Underground path to the healing center of the Asclepieion in ancient Pergamon (present-day Bergama, Izmir province, Turkey). Photo: The Print Collector / Alamy Stock Photo.

It was believed that Asclepius either healed devotees during their sleep or communicated cures to them. If the deity’s prescriptions were unclear, temple personnel could guide dream interpretation. The sick and cured also worshipped at the temple and left votive offerings, frequently in the shape of the body part undergoing treatment. 

Once healed, visitors commonly left messages of praise and gratitude on a wall, often inscribed by a temple priest, effectively advertising their cures. The Asclepieion in Epidaurus contains the most famous “wall of miracles,” yet Pergamon offers its insights too: one inscription describes a curative diet of onions and white pepper. Wealthier pilgrims might choose to dedicate elaborate plaques with healing scenes or furnish other opulent gifts.

Large slab of stone carved with six figures in bas relief. A large crack runs diagonally through the slab.

Votive relief depicting Asclepius healing a patient in her sleep, with Hygieia standing behind the god. Greek, ca. 400–350 BCE. Marble. Temple of Asclepius (Asclepieion), Piraeus, near Athens. H. 42 cm; W. 79 cm. Archaeological Museum of Piraeus: MP 405. Photo: Sites & Photos / Art Resource, NY.

Play: Asclepius’s Dream Game

In addition to inscriptions and archaeological evidence, today we know about activities at the Temple of Asclepius in Pergamon, in no small way, from the diaries of Aelius Aristides.

A grayish-white statue of a seated man in drapery. The figure is bald with curling sideburns and a beard. The eyes are deeply set. The statue is flanked by two orange columns with brown and red veining.

Seated sculpture of Aelius Aristides. Roman, 200? CE. Marble. Overall: H. 165 cm, base: H. 58 cm; W. 94 cm. Musei Vaticani: MV.64440.0.0.

A celebrity orator, Aristides was afflicted with many ailments after falling ill during a trip to Rome when he was twenty-six years old. He never fully recovered, developed other serious chronic problems, and spent much of his life seeking relief. It was probably on one of his trips to visit the Asclepieion in Pergamon that Aristides met Galen, who described the orator as having “a strong soul and a weak body.” Aristides’s text Sacred Tales is detailed in its catalogue of symptoms—coughing, vomiting, swelling, pain, shortness of breath, headaches, and even the plague—and provides insight into the Roman view of divine and human healing. Although people came to the Asclepieion to be healed by the god, such treatments were not necessarily in conflict with human medical intervention. Unlike today, religious and secular medicine were often complementary in the ancient world. Many doctors of the time—Galen included—regarded Asclepius as their god.

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