Enkoimesis

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As Enkoimesis ( Greek  ἐγκοίμησις ), incubation (of Latin incubatio ) or temple sleep is called a since ancient times occupied practice of Trauminkubation in which a patient the sanctuary of a god or a hero visited and there (sometimes in conjunction with an appropriate ritual and more or less elaborate preparation such as baths, fasting, diet, sacrifices and prayers) hoped that in dream sleep he would receive an indication of an effective therapy for his illness. In a more general sense, it is a term for sleep in the temple, from which an oracle seeker hopes to answer his question. The content of the dream was usually not immediately understandable, but required the interpretation by a priest of the respective sanctuary.

The god of the sanctuary was often the Greek god of healing Asclepius , but by no means the only one. The Sleeping Lady , a figurative sculpture in Malta , is interpreted as a representation of the temple sleep.

Shrines where enkoimesis is documented were:

Healing god place swell
Amphiaraos Knopia near Thebes Strabon 9 p. 404. Herodotus 8,134. Pindar Pythien 8.39. Nemesian 10.8. Origen contra Celsum 3.34
Amphiaraos Oropos Hypereides per Euxenippo p. 8.5 cutting win. Pausanias 1.34. Flavius ​​Philostratos vita Apollonii 2.37
Amphiaraos Phlius Pausanias 2,13,6
Amphilochus Acarnania Aelius Aristides I p. 78. Origines contra Celsum 3.34
Amphilochus Mallos in Cilicia Pausanias 1,34,3
Asclepius Aigai in Cilicia Flavius ​​Philostratos vita sophistarum 1,4,1; vita Apollonii 1.7. Eusebius of Caesarea de vita Constantini 3.56
Asclepius Athens Aristophanes The Wealth 620ff; The Wasps 122
Asclepius Epidaurus Claudius Aelianus de natura animalium 9.33. Strabon 8 p. 374. Pausanias 2.27; 10,38,13. Marinos from Neapolis vita Procli 31
Asclepius Kos Strabon 8, p. 374
Asclepius Life in Crete Pausanias 2,26,9
Asclepius Pergamon Flavius ​​Philostratos vita sophistarum 1,25,4; vita Apollonii 1.7. Herodian 4,8,7
Asclepius Sicyon Pausanias 2,10,2
Asclepius Trikka Strabo 9, 437
Asclepius Troizen Claudius Aelianus de natura animalium 9.33
Athena Corinth Pindar Olympia 13.66ff
Brizo Delos Semos of Delos at Athenaios 8, 335a
Dionysus Amphicaia Pausanias 10:33,10
Faunus at Tibur at the Albunea spring Virgil Aeneid 7.86
Gaia Delphi Euripides Iphigenia Taurica 1230ff
Gaia Olympia (?) Pausanias 5:14, 10
Hemithea Kastabos Diodorus 5,62f
Heracles Hyettos (?) Pausanias 9.24.3
Hermione Macedonia (?) Tertullian de anima 46
Isis Tithorea Pausanias 10:32, 13
Kalchas on the Garganos mountain in Apulia Strabo 6, p. 284. Lycophron from Chalkis 1047-1066
Machaon Gerenia Pausanias 3.26.9
Mopsos Let's go Plutarch defectu oraculorum 45
Nyx Megara Pausanias 1.40.6
Odysseus with the Eurytanians in Aetolia Lycophron from Chalkis 799f
Pan Troizen Pausanias 2,32,5
Pasiphae (with Ino ) Thalamai Pausanias 3.26.1. Cicero de divinatione 1.43. Plutarch Agesilaus 9; Cleomedes 7
Pluton (with Persephone ) Charonion of Acharaka Strabo 14, p. 649
Podaleirios on the Garganos mountain in Apulia Strabo 6, p. 284. Lycophron from Chalcis 1049
Polemocrates Eua Pausanias 2,38,6
Protesilaos Heroon at Elaius Flavius ​​Philostratos Heroicus 2,6,7
Sarapis Canopus Strabo 17.801. Arrian Alexanderzug 7.6. Alexander Plutarch 76
Sarpedon Cilicia Basil of Seleucia Vita S. Theclae
Teiresias Orchomenos Plutarch defectu oraculorum 44
Trophonios Lebadeia Pausanias 9.39
Zalmoxis Land of the Geten Herodotus 4.95f

In the Christian era of Egypt, healing sleep is proven both by written sources and by an extension to the Martyrs' Church in Menas town .

The practice of incubation can also be found at Islamic shrines in the form of the istichāra ( istiḫāra ). Here a Muslim says certain supplications before he goes to sleep in the relevant sanctuary. The rite is expected to have beneficial effects on the person concerned.

literature

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Siegfried G. Richter : The Coptic Egypt. Treasures in the shadow of the pharaohs. With photos by Jo Bischof. Wissenschaftliche Buchgesellschaft, Darmstadt 2019, ISBN 978-3-8053-5211-6 , pp. 70–71.
  2. ↑ See Elizabeth Sirriyeh: Dreams and Visions in the World of Islam. A History of Muslim Dreaming and Foreknowing. IB Tauris, London, 2015. p. 159.