Asclepius

In Greek mythology, Asclepius was the god of medicine. He was thought to be a son of the god Apollo and of a beautiful maiden from Thessaly named Coronis. Apollo killed Coronis because of a presumed infidelity, and, in his rage, ripped the unborn Ascelepius from the womb of the dead woman. Apollo subsequently sent his son Asclepius to be raised by the centaur Chiron – where he acquired the sum of the centaur’s knowledge concerning the art of healing. Asclepius rapidly developed into a great physician. Because he threatened the natural order by raising people from the dead, however, the god Zeus had him killed with a thunderbolt.

The cult of Asclepius was initially centred around the city-state of Epidauros, but it subsequently became popular throughout the Greco-Roman world. Sanctuaries dedicated to the god served as health resorts, and therapeutic regimens such as exercise and special diets were frequently prescribed within them. The most significant practice associated with Ascelepian cures was ritual incubation, a practice in which the sick slept inside the confines of a temple or sacred enclosure in the hope that the god would come to them in their dreams and prescribe cures for their maladies. At Epidauros this practice was often accompanied by ritual fumigation.