An ancient middle, the Asclepion in Izmir province, is made nearby the springs that are believed to be curative. Treatment could be a priority within the designs of the buildings and therefore the success of the doctors earned the middle an honest name during the Roman era.
Employing a range of techniques from dream interpretations to treatment with cold, hot, and dust baths and sunbathing therapy, Asclepeion was the foremost advanced center of its time.
The Asclepion (Asklepieion) of Pergamum was perhaps the world’s most famous ancient middle and is that the second-most important site in Bergama. The Asclepion is west of town center, 1.6 km (one mile) north of the most street, reached by a road on the left (north) 6 km (3.73 miles) east of the Otogar (bus terminal) and one km (6/10 mile) west of the Bergama Museum and city center (map).
The road to the Asclepion passes through an oversized Turkish base. don't linger on the road, or take photos, and be off the road by dusk. Founded by a person named Archias, the Asclepion of Pergamum became famous under Galen (131-210 AD), an area physician who pursued his medical studies in Greece and Alexandria (Egypt) before settling here as a doctor to Pergamum’s gladiators.
From the car parking zone and entrance (TL15), where there are shops and snack-and-drink stands, you walk along a monumental marble street. This was once a vigorous market street, with shops lining each side of the road.
Coming into the most precinct of the Asclepion, notice the massive marble column fragment bearing the Asclepion’s symbol: two snakes facing one another across a wheel. As snakes dropped their skins are “reborn,” so victims at the Asclepion were to shed their illnesses and recover health. You first notice the massive theater of the Asclepion, before of which are several stone-framed sacred pools, stuffed with water (and frogs) in spring, though perhaps dry in summer and autumn.
According to ancient myth, the god Asklepios had the ability to lift people from the dead and he himself was restored to life by Zeus: for this reason he was thought to even have a snake form. Tame snakes were kept in his temples as this reptile was considered a logo of regeneration, thanks to the shedding and regrowth of their skin. Patients approached the healing temple via the Sacred Way, a path that started their journey to health.
An underground passage led to that so the patients went down a brief flight of steps into a tunnel: cubicles were located on either side of the passage and patients spent the night there. within the morning, they might tell their dreams to the priests/doctors to facilitate the diagnosis of their disease. The patients then climbed to the temple, which had a round shape so they might get in a never-ending parade, the pillars supporting the monuments had individual receptacles for bathing.
Treatments included psychotherapy, massage, herbal treatments, clay and bathing treatments, surgeries, and also the drinking of water, which were prescribed in line with what dreams the patient had experienced – it had been believed that dreams recounted a visit by the god Asklepios, who held the key to curing all illness.