FIG. 3. GROUND PLAN OF THE ASCLEPIEION ON THE ISLAND OF COS.
As Ascertained by the Researches of Dr. Herzog.
The different structures are arranged as nearly as possible in the same positions which they occupied in the third century, B.C.
A, main entrance to Asclepieion; B, B, B, gallery, 6 metres broad, with colonnade on one side; C, open space or court, on the southern side of which is a structure composed of recesses provided each with a bathing basin (D); H, staircase leading to intermediate terrace; a, massive series of steps leading to the upper terrace; b, b, b, broad gallery similar to that shown on the lower terrace; d, the temple proper.
(From Prof. Dr. Meyer-Steineg’s Medizinisch-historische Beiträge.)
The buildings which constituted what is commonly termed the “Temple of Aesculapius” at Cos were located on three artificially prepared terraces. The principal entrance to the group, as the excavations conducted quite recently by Herzog show, was on the lower terrace, and faced north—that is, toward the sea. From this lower level a broad staircase led to the second or intermediate terrace, which, in turn, was connected with the upper one by means of a very broad and massive series of steps. The southern limit of this upper terrace ended abruptly at the slope of the mountain. The arrangement of the buildings on the three different terraces may, in harmony with the account given by Professor Meyer-Steineg, be briefly described as follows: That which stood on the lower terrace occupied three sides of a parallelogram (Fig. 3), the open part of which faced south. The longer side of the building measured about 120 metres (390 feet) in length, and the two shorter sides each 55 metres (180 feet). The supply of running water in every part of this great building, which appears to have been devoted mainly, if not entirely, to therapeutic purposes, must have been most abundant. The source from which the water came was the Burinna spring, situated higher up on the mountain at a spot far beyond all possibility of contamination. It is not yet clear, says Dr. Meyer-Steineg, whether or not there were any buildings devoted to therapeutic purposes on the intermediate terrace. (Figs. 2 and 3.) On the other hand, the great halls, contained in the large building which surrounded the temple on the upper terrace, appear to correspond very closely to the rooms that constituted the main portion of the building on the lower terrace, and it is therefore probable that this upper building also served some useful purpose in the general scheme of the Asclepieion. It is Herzog’s opinion—according to Meyer-Steineg—that the central idea around which everything in this assemblage of fine buildings revolved, was a clinic conducted by the Asclepiadae. The means chiefly employed at first for the restoration of health were such simple agents as sunlight, pure air, pure drinking water, dietetic measures, massage, physical exercise, etc., and yet, when the patient’s condition seemed to require their use, there was no hesitation in resorting to the rational employment of drugs, and even surgical operations were performed. The numerous instruments which Dr. Meyer-Steineg collected at the site of the ruins when he visited Cos in 1910, furnish ample corroborative evidence of the correctness of this last statement.
Not the least important part which this famous Asclepieion played in the history of medicine was the splendid opportunity which it afforded to those who were preparing themselves to engage in the practice of the healing art, for acquiring the necessary familiarity with the different diseases and for learning how they should be treated.
The manner of conducting the preliminary treatment was probably not the same in every particular in all the different Asclepieia, and yet in the main the plan of procedure followed in Epidaurus, in Cos and in Athens undoubtedly resembled closely that which Pagel furnishes in his Geschichte der Medizin. It may be briefly described as follows:—
In the first place, moribund persons, the unclean, and women about to be confined were not admitted into the temple enclosure. The management of the latter class of patients was left entirely to women nurses, and, when it became evident that a person was likely to die, the individual was thereafter cared for outside the enclosure.[18] In short, everything possible was done to keep out of sight all such objects as might produce an unpleasant impression upon applicants for treatment. After preliminary bathing and dieting, the patient was conducted into the temple enclosure and encouraged to make offerings and to pray to the god Aesculapius, an imposing statue of whom in marble was one of the first things that confronted him. As he was led about by the priest or an attendant, his imagination was wrought upon by the sight of numerous votive offerings exposed to view on the walls or columns of the buildings, by the singing of hymns in adoration of the god, and by the reading of the records of earlier cases inscribed on tablets or on the columns. After his mind had thus been worked upon, he was asked to furnish to the priest a detailed history of his own case and to submit to some sort of physical examination. As a final and most important step in this first stage of the treatment he was subjected to what was termed “the temple-sleep,” during which the suggestion of the proper remedies to be employed was supposed to be communicated to him by the god himself.