Asclepieion of Athens

Current state of restoration of the Asklepeion.

The Asclepieion of Athens was the sanctuary built in honour of the gods Asclepius and Hygieia, located west of the Theatre of Dionysos and east of the Pelargikon wall on the southern escarpment of the Acropolis hill.

It was one of several asklepieia in the ancient Greek world that served as rudimentary hospitals. It was founded in the year 419–18 BCE during the Peloponnesian War, perhaps as a direct result of the plague, by Telemachos Acharneas. His foundation is inscribed in the Telemachos Monument, a double-sided, marble column which is topped by reliefs depicting the arrival of the god in Athens from Epidaurus and his reception by Telemachos. The sanctuary complex consisted of the temple and the altar of the god as well as two galleries, the Doric stoa which served as a katagogion for overnight patients in the Asklepieion and their miraculous (through dreams) healing by the god, and the Ionic Stoa that served as a dining hall and lodging for the priests of Asclepius and their visitors.

The Doric stoa was built according to inscriptions in 300–299 BCE and was a two-storey building with 17 Doric columns on its facade. This is framed by the sacred spring at its eastern end and a pit lined with masonry at its western end. This source is a small cave in the rock, in which there lies the natural spring. The circular well or pit, a deep hollow with polygonal masonry built into the cliff face, was accessed from the second floor of the Doric stoa and dates to the last quarter of the 5th century. F Robert proposed that it was a place devoted to the celebration of Heroes in the Asklepeion during ta Heroa, which witnessed sacrifices to the chthonic gods and heroes, as testified epigraphically.

The Ionian stoa, west of the temple, is also dated to the last quarter of the 5th century. The sanctuary on its west side was enclosed by a propylon for the visitors to access from the ancient promenade to the Asklepieion site. According to epigraphic evidence, the propylon was renovated in Roman times.

At the beginning of the 6th c. CE, when Christian worship succeeded the ancient, all the monuments of Asclepius were demolished and the material incorporated into the complex of a large, three-aisled Early Christian basilica. In the Byzantine years (11th and 13th centuries) two smaller, single-aisled temples occupied the position of the basilica, while the latter of them functioned as the catholicon of a small monastery. Since 2002, partial restorations of the west end of the ground floor of the Doric Stoa façade, the room of the Sacred Cave on the first floor of the Doric Stoa and the temple of Asclepius have been performed.

• 
  Telemachos Monument, Akropolis Museum, ΕΑΜ 2490.
• 
  Eye votive from the Asklepieion, the dedication of Praxias, c350-300 BCE, ΕΑΜ 15244
• 
  Site of the Asklepieion
• 
  Body part votives. Eyes NAM 2277, Breast EM 8761, Ear Akr 18381, Leg NAM 2571.

List of priests

Between the mid-fourth century BC and the age of Augustus, the priests of Asclepius were chosen by lot each year, in a set cycle based on the Athenian tribes. This cycle makes it possible to date many of the priests, making them an important factor for Athenian chronology. In the Roman period, the priests were appointed for life instead.

The following list is based on Sara B. Aleshire, The Athenian Asklepieion (1989), pp. 370-373 and Asklepios at Athens (1991) 75-220, except where otherwise stated.

Date	Name	Tribe number
420-	Telemachus
ca. 350-325	Ari-
ca. 350-325	Aristarchus of Cothocidae	6
ca. 350-325	Arch- of Coele	8
ca. 350-325	Elpines
ca. 350-325	Thea-
ca. 350-325	Menestratus of Angele	3
ca. 350-325	Nicodemus
ca. 350-325	-us
ca. 350-300	-stratus of Angele	3
ca. 350-300	Amphitecton of Prospalta	5 or 7
ca. 350-300	Theophanes of Ach-	6 or 8
ca. 350-300	Theophilus
ca. 350-300	Melanopus of Cholargus	5
ca. 350-300	-us of Phalerum	9
ca. 350-300	-sius
ca. 350-300	... of Sphettus	5 or 7
ca. 350-300	Timon
ca. 350-300	Philocles of Xypete	7 or 2
Before 343/2	Theogenes
Before 343/2	Lysitheus of Tricorynthus	9
Before 343/2	-mus
Before 343/2	-us
Before 343/2	Pataecus
341/0	Eunicides of Halae	2
340/39	Diocles of Myrrhinous	3
339/8	Polyxenus	4
338/7	Teisias	5
336/5	Telesias	7
Before 329/8	Te-
332/1	Philippus	1
331/0	P-	2
330/29	Demon of Pania	3
329/8	P---s of Cettus	4
328/7	Androcles of Cerameis	5
ca. 320	Leucon of Phrearrhi	4
ca. 325-275	Nicostratus of Aphidna	9 or 11
Late 4th century	Olympichus of Cydathenaeum	3 or 1
Late 4th century	Phanostratus of Erchia	4
4th/3rd century	Archippus
4th/3rd century	-menes of Angele	5
Early 3rd century	Aeschronides	1 or 9
Early 3rd century	Euthydemus of Oeum	2 or 10
Early 3rd century	Philius of Phalerum	11
Early 3rd century	Niconides of Phlya	9
284/3	Phyleus of Eleusis	10
280/79	Onetor of Melite	2
277/6	Philochares of Oa	5
276/5	A-
275/4	Philippus
Before 274/3	An-
Before 274/3	Archestratus
Before 274/3	Diopeithes
Before 274/3	Epicrates
Before 274/3	Eudidactus
Before 274/3	Eumnestus
Before 274/3	Theo-
Before 274/3	Thrasyboulus
Before 274/3	Ctesicles of Hagnus	2 or 5
Before 274/3	M-
Before 274/3	-machus
Before 274/3	Phaedrippus
Before 274/3	Phanomachus
Before 274/3	Philoctemon
Before 274/3	Charinus
266/5	Demagenes	4
Before 260/59	Archicles of Laciadae	8
Before 260/59	Lycomedes of Conthyle	7
Before 260/59	Lysanias of Probalinthus	7
Before 260/59	Nicomachus
Before 260/59	Xenocritus of Aphidna	11
Before 260/59	-sides of Alopece	12
Before 260/59	... of Sounium	6
260/59 or earlier	Pe-
259/8 or earlier	Amein-	7
258/7 or earlier	Timocles of Epicephisia	8
257/6 or earlier	Lysicles of Sypalettus	9
256/5 or earlier	Procles of Piraeus	10
255/4 or earlier	Lyceas of Rhamnus	11
254/3 or earlier	Phileas of Eitea	12
254/3 or earlier	Calliades of Aegilia	12
253/2 or earlier	Thexenus of Pergase	1
252/1 or earlier	Theodorus of Melite	2
251/0 or earlier	... Euonymum	3
250/49 or earlier	Philippus of Ionidae	4
249/8 or earlier	Autocles of Oa	5
248/7 or earlier	Philocrates of Hecale	6
247/6 or earlier	Praxiteles of Eiresidae	7
246/5 or earlier	Ctesonides	8
245/4 or earlier	Boescus of Phlya	9
240/39 or later	... of Xypete	2
215/4	Eustratus of Oinoe	7 or 12
3rd century BC	Simylus of Coele	2 or 10 or 11
ca. 200 BC	Calchas of Hamaxanteia	10 or 11
190-170	Ammonius of Pambotadae	1
165/4	Protagoras of Pergase	1
ca. 150	Me-
138/7	... of Phlya	7
ca. 120-110	Zenon of Melite	8
109/8	Nicodorus of Cephisia	1
After 109/8	Embius of Prospalta	7
2nd century BC	Gorgus
Late 2nd century BC	Leonides of Phlya	7
c. 100 BC	... of Cholleidae	4
75/4	Menandrus of Cephisia	1
After 75/4	Ameipsias of Potamus	4
62/1	Socrates of Cephisia	1
51/0	Theodorus of Myrrhinoutta	2
ca. 26/5	Diocles of Kephisia	7
ca. 50-10 BC	Theodorus of Hestiaea	9
ca. 25 BC-9 AD	Theophilus of Eleusis	9
9/8 BC-13/4 AD	Zenon of Rhamnus
1st century BC	... of Cephisia	1
Late 1st century BC	Asopodorus of Phlya
1st century BC or AD	-on son of Lysi-
85/6-94/5 AD	Gaius Casius ... of Collytus
1st century AD	Pericles of Paiania
ca. 190-200	... of Apollonieis
ca.200 AD	Publius Aelius Dionysodorus of Acharnae
ca. 200 AD	Flavius Onesicrates of Diomeia
235-260 AD	Quintus Statius Glaucus of Cholleidae
3rd century AD	Nicostratus
ca. 304 AD	Marcus Junius Nicagoras
ca. 400 AD	Plutarch of Athens?

Bibliography

• Aleshire, Sara B. (1989). The Athenian Asklepieion: the people, their dedications, and the inventories. Amsterdam: J.C. Gieben.
• Aleshire, Sara B. (1991). Asklepios at Athens : epigraphic and prosopographic essays on the Athenian healing cults. Amsterdam: J.C. Gieben. ISBN 9789050630689.
• Camp, J. M. (2001). Archaeology of Athens.
• Melfi, Milena (2007). I santuari di Asclepio in Grecia. Roma: L'Erma di Bretschneider. pp. 313–432. ISBN 9788882653477.
• Mitchell-Boyask, Robin (2007). Plague and the Athenian Imagination: Drama, History, and the Cult of Asclepius. Cambridge.
• Travlos, J. (1980). Pictorial Dictionary of Ancient Athens.