Delving deeply into ancient medical history, Bronwen L. Wickkiser explores the early development and later spread of the cult of Asklepios, one of the most popular healing gods in the ancient Mediterranean. Though Asklepios had been known as a healer since the time of Homer, evidence suggests that large numbers of people began to flock to the cult during the fifth century BCE, just as practitioners of Hippocratic medicine were gaining dominance.Drawing on close readings of period medical texts, literary sources, archaeological evidence, and earlier studies, Wickkiser finds two primary causes for the cult's ascendance: it filled a gap in the market created by the refusal of Hippocratic physicians to treat difficult chronic ailments and it abetted Athenian political needs.Wickkiser supports these challenging theories with side-by-side examinations of the medical practices at Asklepios' sanctuaries and those espoused in Hippocratic medical treatises. She also explores how Athens' aspirations of empire influenced its decision to open the city to the healer-god's cult.In focusing on the fifth century and by considering the medical, political, and religious dimensions of the cult of Asklepios, Wickkiser presents a complex, nuanced picture of Asklepios' rise in popularity, Athenian society, and ancient Mediterranean culture. The intriguing and sometimes surprising information she presents will be valued by historians and classicists alike.
AcknowledgmentsTranslations and AbbreviationsIntroductionCommon Perceptions of Asklepios and His CultThe Current Project1. From Practice to Profession: The Development of Greek Medicine from the Bronze Age to the Fifth Century BCThe Bronze Age and HomerBetween Homer and HippocratesTradition and Change in Fifth-Century MedicineMedicine as a TechneMedicine and Its Limits2. Searching for a Cure: The Limits of Medicine and the Development of Asklepios' CultAlternatives to Medicine: What Doctors CondonedHealing GodsThe Early Development of Asklepios' CultThe Popularity of Asklepios and His Healing3. Asklepios and His Colleagues: Doctors and Divine HealersAsklepios as Doctor in Myth and CultOther Healing Gods and HeroesDoctors and Their Patron GodAsklepios' Specialization: Chronic Ailments4. Documenting Asklepios' Arrival in AthensSourcesDesccription, Text, and Translation of Telemachos MoumentReading between the LinesThe Eleusinian Cult of Demeter and KoreThe Location of Asklepios' Sanctuary5. Asklepios and the Topography of Athenian CultThe Acropolis and the Greater PanathenaiaDionysos and DemeterDionysos Eleuthereus and the City DionysiaThe Sanctuary of Dionysos EleuthereusThe City DionysiaEleusinian Demeter and the Mysteries6. Asklepios and Athenian EmpireEpidauros and Athens in the Peloponnesian WarsThe Peace of Nicias and Epidaurian AsklepiosAthens, Cults, and Politics in the Fifth CenturyNegotiating EmpireAsklepios and the Kerykes in 418 BCMapping Meaning: The Epidauria ProcessionConclusionNotesBibliographyIndex
""A fresh and original contribution to the scholarship on Asklepios.""
