PLATE XXVI—Head of Asklepios
The priest wearing the holy chaplet would take such a person (as probably he took all suppliants) into the temple, and cause him to present himself before the image of the god; libations were poured, prayers and sacrifices offered, and rites of an impressive kind enacted. Hymns and pæans were sung to the music of the double flute. The sick man was caused to lay his hand solemnly and reverently on the altar of the god, and then on the part of his own body presumed to be affected; if there were really nothing the matter, he was proclaimed to be miraculously cured by the god, and doubtless his imagination was so impressed that he often himself believed in the cure.
If the patient were young, sacrifices were doubtless offered at the shrine of Artemis-Hekate, and perhaps in all cases the procession of priests and suppliants visited the Tholos (which you remember was the Thymele or sacrificing place) and offered sacrifices there perhaps to the serpent, the incarnation of the god of healing; or the train of votaries ascended Mount Kynortion to the shrine of the great Apollo.
PLATE XXVII—Asklepios with Serpent.
The suppliants spent the day in rest or exercise, as was most agreeable to them. It must be remembered that the precinct was as beautiful as the noblest works of Greek art could make it; moreover large and lofty trees formed a shady grove, protecting from the sun’s heat, while the soft breeze and the sweet pure air of the mountains formed in themselves a potent agency for the restoration of health. The patient had much around him to please and interest—beautiful buildings, rich with sculpture and with colour, statuary figures and groups representing Asklepios and other divinities or subjects from the old Greek mythology in marble and bronze.
[Plate XXVI] represents a head of Asklepios (from the Asklepieion at the Piræus), to which the genius of the sculptor has given an expression of sorrow and sympathy, as though the god were grieving over the sufferings of mankind.
[Plate XXVII] shows a full-length figure of the god, found at Epidauros, accompanied as usual by the serpent. Artistic reliefs, hermæ, and full-length figures of noted priests and physicians, and of individuals eminent in art, philosophy, literature, or history; also ex-votos, stelæ, and tablets recording the marvellous cures effected by the god, coloured bas-reliefs, encaustic paintings, shrines, exedræ, decorative vases and fountains, beautified and added interest to the precinct.
