PLATE XXIV—Seats of Priests of Asklepios and of the Muses in the Theatre
LECTURE II
We now pass on to consider the ritual of the Asklepian shrines and the accommodation and treatment of the sick who frequented them.
It is convenient, first, to consider the Hierarchy. They consisted of the Hiereus or Hierophant, the priest, who was the head official. He was appointed annually, and he appears to have been frequently re-elected. From the Athenian inscriptions we know that sometimes he was a physician, sometimes not; so also it was with the subordinate officials. The priest was the general administrator, and had a share in the financial government of the temple. The Dadouchoi, or torch-bearers, were probably subordinate priests; the Pyrophoroi, or fire-carriers, among other functions, lighted the sacred fire on the altars; the Nakoroi or Zakoroi, whose duties in the temple are uncertain, sometimes were physicians; the Kleidouchoi, or key-bearers, who perhaps were originally a class of superior door porters, but who appear later to have assumed priestly functions; the Hieromnemones seem to have had purely secular duties, and in common with the Hiereus had charge of all receipts and payments; all were under the rule of the Boule of Epidauros. The Kanephoroi (or basket-bearers) and the Arrephoroi (or carriers of mysteries or holy things) were priestesses. We read in some of the inscriptions of servants or attendants who ministered to the sick, and carried those who were unable to walk. Did these women in any degree act as nurses? It is possible, but no definite information on the subject is given.
There were certain officials, also, who attended to the sacred dogs; the serpents are not thus far known to have had such guardians. We read also of bath attendants.
There was also a special religious society termed the Asklepiastai.
Turning now from the priests to the suppliants: these, we find, came from all parts of the Greek world, and from what ancient writers tell us their numbers appear to have been great. Where were they housed? Some, of course, dwelt in the abaton, the women probably in one part and the men in another, for a wall divided the East from the West abaton; but, as I have already pointed out, not more than 120 could find beds there at a time; perhaps the invalid was only housed there at first, and when he began to improve was drafted off to a hostel. Assuming that all the buildings which I have suggested to be hostels were such, they could not accommodate more than some four or five hundred patients. Perhaps we may assume that such was the usual number attending at ordinary times, while at the great festivals many thousands assembled. Whether this large number were lodged in tents or temporary wooden buildings, or otherwise, is uncertain.
Probably multitudes of vigorous and able-bodied persons came to the festivals, and many of them may have been lodged six miles away at the town of Epidauros, or in villages or hamlets adjacent. The ten or twelve thousand who filled the Theatre or the Stadium cannot have been exclusively sick people. It seems probable that numbers of athletes and multitudes of Greeks who merely wanted a holiday and a little excitement came to the Megala Asklepieia as they came to the Isthmian or the Olympic games. Setting aside, therefore, all visitors of this class, who probably brought gains to the Sanctuary, and for whom accordingly space was provided in the Theatre, Stadium, and Hippodrome, I pass on to consider the suppliants proper.
The patient on arrival probably had an interview with the priest or other official, and arranged about his accommodation with one of the Hieromnemones, or other secular person. He performs certain rites, bathes in the sacred fountain, and offers sacrifices under the direction of the Pyrophoros; the poor man gives his cake only, the rich his sheep, pig, or goat, or other offering in addition. The votive tablets frequently show the cakes (πόπανα) being presented, or the sheep, pig, or other animal. Where the ceremonial purification took place is uncertain. A deep well exists in the eastern abaton. A stone dropped struck the water in a fraction over three seconds, as I found after repeated trials. The well is therefore over 144 feet deep. Possibly the water used in the ritual was derived hence, but more probably the place of purification has yet to be found. “Only pure souls may enter here,” was inscribed over the entrance of the temple of Asklepios.