Pergamum Asclepion

Pergamum’s asclepion was once the best healing centre in the world. Equivalent to today’s top hospitals, people from all over the ancient world went to Pergamum’s asclepion to be cured. Its cures included music, running water, walking barefoot, dream analysis, sun and water bathing, honey cures and even the art of suggestion. It was, in essence, as much a psychological hospital as a medical one.

There was no charge for patients but they were expected to give some form of donation after their visit, and this could range from an apple if the person was poor, to the building of new facilities by the extremely wealthy, as was the case with Emperor Caracalla (aka Antonius, who ruled between 198 – 217 AD) who built the 3,500-seat theatre in the north-western corner of the main sanctuary. Anyone considered to be on death’s door was not allowed into the sanctuary and was turned away at the entrance gate, which was located at the end of Sacred Way (Via Tecta), the main road that led patients to the asclepion.

Founded by someone called Archias in the 4th Century BC, the asclepion quickly became established as an important healing centre to the local population. Very little remains of the original structure, but the site expanded in size and reputation over the following centuries. By the time the Romans took control of Pergamum in 133 BC the site was quickly becoming the best healing centre in the whole of Asia Minor, and at its height rivalled the best ascelpion in the world – Epidaurus in Greece. It wasn’t until Galen (131 – 210 AD), however, that the reputation of this incredible centre turned to fame. Galen was a local physician who learned his craft in Greece and Alexandria, and once settled in Pergamum he became doctor to the city’s gladiators. Galen wrote around 500 works on medicine and is one of the most important people in the history of the subject. Pergamum’s population at that time was estimated to be 160,000 and Galen was the best doctor available to the city, and thus to the whole of Asia Minor. Pergamum’s asclepion is most famous because some of its methods are still in use today, such was the advanced nature of its cures. Physiotherapy that was carried out at the centre is still practised today and some of Galen’s medical writings, like the circulatory and nervous systems, were still in use well into the 16th Century. Medical terms used today have their origins in ancient asclepieia: Hygeia, the goddess of cleanliness and sanitation, and Panacea, the goddess of universal remedy – the daughters of the god Asclepius – now form the words hygiene and panacea, respectively.

Later, sometime during the reign of emperor Valerius (253 – 260 AD), a huge earthquake destroyed the city of Pergamum and the asclepion along with it. The Byzantines still used the site as a healing centre, though, and it continued to be used well into the Christian era.

I visited the asclepion on the morning of Wednesday 11 March, 2015, on a clear day that was relatively warm. The site was, for the most part, devoid of tourists and that’s the only time it’s possible to feel the energy of a place. Inside the circular treatment building or healing centre was where I really felt something. It’s hard to know what exactly that was, but the energy there was quite strong. I also drank from one of the sacred wells in the middle of the sanctuary. A little spout provides a continuous flow of water into a healing pool that was probably used for bathing and, despite what people may think, it’s perfectly safe to drink. The original latrine, now just a ruined area, is located in the south-western corner of the sanctuary. I amused myself immensely with the idea of people having to reach the latrine from the treatment centre, which is a good one hundred metres away, and imagined them running past me along the stoa at immense speed to reach the bathroom before any accidents occurred! Understandably the bathroom area would be as far away from the healing centre as possible, what with the place being a hospital and ancient hygiene not necessarily the best, but it’s not hard to imagine the logistical nightmare this would have caused to some patients. The most amazing feature of the asclepeion, though, is the long underground walkway that extends from the healing centre to the middle of the sanctuary, which I have now renamed the ‘magical tunnel’! At the stepped entrance in the middle of the courtyard water still runs down the steps, under the floor and towards the healing centre. Even from the opposite end the sound of the running water is so soothing one could easily imagine people being cured just from the sound alone. We still have a lot to learn about non-medicinal cures and it’s a shame that modern medicine tends to be almost solely chemically based.

References:

Atila Akan, I; Pergamon & Troy (new edition); Guney Kartpostal, Antalya, Turkey

http://www.turkeytravelplanner.com/go/Aegean/Bergama/sites/asclepion.html

http://www.travellinkturkey.com/pergamum-asclepion.html

http://www.tourmakerturkey.com/asclepion.html

http://www.theoi.com/Ouranios/Asklepios.html

http://www.greekmedicine.net/mythology/asclepions.html

http://www.lonelyplanet.com/turkey/aegean-coast/bergama-pergamum/sights/historic/asclepion