Epidaurus the theaterThe place of Epidaurus was sacred to deities with healing properties since prehistoric times.In the hinterland of Epidaurus, in an area with mild climate and abundant mineral water source, the Asklipio was the seat of God physician of antiquity and the most important therapeutic center of all the Greek and Roman world. It was the main sanctuary of the small coastal town of Epidaurus, but its reputation and recognition of the importance of quickly exceeded the limits of Argolis, and considered by all the Greeks where the medicine was born. More than two hundred healing centers throughout the eastern Mediterranean was considered the founding fathers. The monuments are now not only world-famous masterpieces of ancient Greek art, but also an excellent testimony to the practice of medicine in antiquity. These reflected the evolution of medicine from the stage at which cure depends solely on God to convert to science, the systematic recording of incidents and the gradual concentration of knowledge and experience. In Kynortion hill, which rises behind the theater, in the northeast during the Mycenaean era there was a temple, which worshiped a goddess associated with healing. The sanctuary, which was unusually large for its time, created the 16th century. BC residues on a settlement of the Early and Middle Bronze Age (2800-1800 BC) and was maintained until the 11th century. BC Around 800 BC Founded in the same position temple dedicated to Apollo, god of healing properties, was worshiped here as Apollonas Maleatas. The worship of God primarily medical, of Asclepius, the legendary tradition presents a native son of Apollo and the grandchild of the King of Epidaurus Malone of Koronidis established in the 6th century. BC The cult of the god protector of human health and personal happiness gained reputation spread rapidly. The number of pilgrims are increasing and the sacred in Kynortio no longer sufficient for the needs of worship, thus began the development of sacred and flat area, approximately 1 km southwest of Kynortiou the place where the legend was born Asklipios. The two temples, one dedicated to Apollo and another male in Asklipio developed in parallel with the official designation of «sacred Apollonos Malea and Asklapiou». The new temple in the valley was organized around the holy well (later incorporated into the portico of Avatou) and in the building E, where the first ash altar and the space meal of ceremonies. The shaft was a key element of healing, achieved through the process of cleansing and «egkoimisis» near the water, as role models of how the Divine forces guaranteed renewal, returning to the magazine in the death of earth, the source life, which returned reborn. God advised the patient against the egkoimisi, that sleep in the magazine which was death on the treatment to be followed. During the 4th and 3rd centuries. BC the generalized armed conflicts have led people to seek more protection and assistance of Asclepius and the Temple of God became a philanthropist of the richest of the season. Then we made major reconstruction projects in both mountainous and flat in the temple and built the most important monuments: the flat temple the temple of Asklepios, the Avaton the dome and theater, restaurant, hotel and stage, while in the holy mountain classical temple and the altar of Apollo, a large portico, the residence of the priests and the temple of the Muses. After a period of major disasters caused Syllas and Cilicia pirates in the 1st century. BC, suffered Asklipio new boom in imperial times, especially in the second half of the 2nd century. AD when the Roman Senators Antoninos financed the construction of new buildings and renewing old ones. Then we visited the temple the traveler Pausanias, who described in detail and admire the monuments of (2.26 et seq). Over the next two centuries, the area suffered devastating invasions and others, with most of this Goths in 267 AD The flat sacred reorganized once again in mid-4th century. AD, when the central area formed under the Roman standards in a perimetric arcade, which incorporated parts of earlier buildings. The worship continued even after the official prohibition of the ancient religion in 426 AD, unlike in other temples, and the final abandonment of the area after the devastating earthquake of 522 and 551 AD The first investigations of Epidaurus Asklipio made by the French Scientific Mission of the Peloponnese in 1829. Systematic excavations made by P. Kavvadias, under the auspices of the Athens Archaeological Society in 1870-1926, revealing the most important monuments of the sanctuary. Limited excavations conducted by the French School of Athens by G. Roux in 1942-1943 around the Avaton and buildings E and H, and the Archaeological Service in the 1948-1951 J. Papadimitriou. The years 1954-1963 made the first of the theater restoration work by A. Orlandos. Since 1974 excavations took back the Archaeological Society under the direction of Prof. B. Lamprinoudaki the temple of Apollo Malea, and ongoing maintenance and enh |