Asklepios

The Temple of Aesculapius located in the gardens of the Villa Borghese, in Rome, was built in the ionic style between 1785 and 1792 by Antonio Asprucci and his son Mario Asprucci, with help from Cristoforo Unterperger. The temple was perhaps built in memory of the destroyed ancient temple to the god of Medicine on the Tiber Island.⁣

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Inaugurato e consacrato il tempio di Apollo a Monteiasi (Taranto). La Comunità Gentile continua a crescere, grazie a tutti quelli che ci supportano e ci aiutano. Ad maiora semper.

A priest of Asklepios and a patient
calling up the sacred,
non-poisonous snakes

A particular type of non-venomous snake was often used in healing rituals, and these snakes – the Aesculapian snakes – crawled around freely on the floor in dormitories where the sick and injured slept.

These snakes were introduced at the founding of each new temple of Asclepius throughout the classical world.

From about 300 B.C. onwards, the cult of Asclepius grew very popular and pilgrims flocked to his healing temples (Asclepieia) to be cured of their ills.

Ritual purification would be followed by offerings or sacrifices to the god (according to means), and the supplicant would then spend the night in the holiest part of the sanctuary – the abaton (or adyton).

Any dreams or visions would be reported to a priest who would prescribe the appropriate therapy by a process of interpretation.

Some healing temples also used sacred dogs to lick the wounds of sick.

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Apollo, Chiron and Asklepios, 1st century AD fresco from Pompeii

From left to right: Apollo (of the Apollo Lykeios type), Chiron, and Asclepius. Naples National Archaeological Museum. Photographer Marie-Lan Nguyen. Public domain via wiki commons