Asclepion of Kos
The Asclepion of Kos is the most important archaeological site on the island of Kos . The ancient sanctuary of Asklepios ( Asklepieion ) is located about 4 km to the south-west, outside the current island capital, on a hill covered with cypress trees, almost 100 m above sea level. It was discovered and uncovered by the German archaeologist Rudolf Herzog in 1901 following information from the historian Iakovos Zaraftis from Kos . The excavations continued until 1904.
Structure of the plant
Since the buildings are located on a slope, the Asklepieion was laid out on several terraces and the levels were connected with each other via imposing, marble staircases.
The lowest terrace was lined with porticos and dates from the 1st century AD. Adjoining the porticoes were rooms, probably rooms in which the patients lived at the time of their treatments. An inscription found in the southern part of this plain mentions the doctor Gaius Stertinius Xenophon , who came from Kos and was the personal doctor of the Roman emperor Claudius . Interestingly, two underground rooms were also found on this level. It is believed that these special rooms were reserved for patients with sexually transmitted diseases and leprosy . A group of buildings was dedicated to teaching and housed the medical school as well as an anatomical and pathological museum, with numerous exhibits, illustrations and votive offerings. In the arched niches, directly below the second level, the figures of various gods are said to have stood.
On the middle level, the oldest part of the complex, which dates back to the 4th century BC Is backdated, the medical treatments took place. Here are next to the medical bathing facilities, fed u. a. from a spring on Mount Dikeos , several temples in the Ionian architectural style , which were dedicated to Asklepios, as well as a later built Apollo temple in Corinthian order .
On the third (top) level there was a large marble temple in the Doric architectural style , a copy of the corresponding temple in Epidaurus , which was dedicated to Asclepius. A Christian altar found here reminds that the temple served as a Christian church in Byzantine times.
literature
(in chronological order)
- Rudolf Herzog : From the Asklepieion of Kos. In: Archive for Religious Studies . Volume 10, 1907, pp. 201-228 ( digitized version ) and p. 400-415 ( digitized version ).
- Paul Schazmann (Hrsg.): Asklepieion - building description and building history. (= Kos. Results of the German excavations and research. Volume 1). Keller, Berlin 1932 ( digitized version ).
- Jürgen W. Riethmüller: Asklepios - sanctuaries and cults (= studies of ancient sanctuaries. Volume 2). 2 volumes. Verlag Archeology and History, Heidelberg 2005, ISBN 3-9352-8930-8 .
- Elisabetta Interdonato: L'Asklepieion di Kos - Archeologia del Culto. (= Supplementi e Monograph della Rivista Archeologia Classica. Volume 12). L'Erma di Bretschneider, Rome 2013, ISBN 978-88-913-0499-5 .
- Wolfgang Ehrhardt : Results of the DFG research project on the Asklepieion of Kos in the years 2010–2013: A summary. In: Kölner and Bonner Archaeologica. Volume 4, 2014, pp. 75-107 ( digitized version ).
Web links
- Sanctuary of Asklepios, so-called Asklepieion in the Arachne archaeological database
Coordinates: 36 ° 52 ′ 32.9 ″ N , 27 ° 15 ′ 25.2 ″ E