Epidauros

Epidauros was a small polis on the Argolid peninsula facing the Saronic Gulf. It claimed to be the birthplace of Asclepius, the healer son of Apollo, whose sanctuary arose from the sixth century BC and became the most celebrated medical centre of the Greek world.

The sick slept in a great dream-dormitory, trusting the god to prescribe a cure in a dream. A temple and a theatre famed for its acoustics served the sanctuary. Sulla plundered it in 87 BC and pirates again before 67 BC, beginning a long decline.

Hadrian's visit in 124 revived its fortunes: he reformed the priesthood and games, and Antonine patrons added baths and a temple of Hygieia. Goths raided it in 395, yet in the middle of the fifth century the healing centre still drew patients under Christian management.