Asclepieion of Athens

The Asclepieion of Athens was the sanctuary built in honour of the gods Asclepius and Hygieia, located west of the Theatre of Dionysos and east of the Pelargikon wall on the southern escarpment of the Acropolis hill. It was one of several asklepieia in the ancient Greek world that served as rudimentary hospitals. It was founded in the year 419–18 BCE during the Peloponnesian War, perhaps as a direct result of the plague, by Telemachos Acharneas. An account of the foundation is inscribed in the Telemachos Monument, a double-sided, marble pillar which is topped by reliefs depicting the arrival of the god in Athens from Epidaurus and his reception by Telemachos. The sanctuary complex consisted of the temple and the altar of the god as well as two galleries, the Doric stoa which served as a katagogion, a space where visitors seeking healing would spend the night in the hope of seeing the god in their dreams and being healed by him, and the Ionic Stoa that served as a dining hall and lodging for the priests of Asclepius and their visitors. The Doric stoa was built according to inscriptions in 300/299 BCE and was a two-storey building with 17 Doric columns on its façade. This is framed by the sacred spring at its eastern end and a pit lined with masonry at its western end. The sacred spring is a small cave cut into the rock behind the stoa, which contains a natural spring.