Epidaurus
Epidaurus was the most famous healing sanctuary in Greece, sacred to Asclepius, where patients slept in the temple and received divine cures in their dreams.
The Story of Epidaurus
The Asklepieion at Epidaurus was the ancient world's most renowned healing centre. Patients underwent incubation — sleeping in the temple precinct (abaton) and receiving healing visions from Asclepius in their dreams. Inscribed cure tablets record miraculous healings: the blind given sight, the lame made to walk, tumours dissolved. The sanctuary also hosted one of Greece's best-preserved theatres, seating 14,000 with acoustics so perfect a whisper on stage can be heard in the last row.
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Fun Fact
The theatre at Epidaurus has such perfect acoustics that you can hear a coin drop on stage from the back row — 60 metres away.
Words We Inherited
English words and phrases that trace back to this myth. See our full guide to English words from Greek mythology.
Explore Further
Epidaurus Theatre
🏛 placehealing, performance
Sanctuary of Asclepius with the most acoustically perfect theatre in the ancient world.
Theatre of Epidaurus
🏛 placehealing, architecture
The best-preserved ancient Greek theatre, built within the sanctuary of Asclepius at Epidaurus, whose acoustics remain unmatched after 2,300 years.
Thespiae
🏛 placeSacred geography
A Boeotian city near Mount Helicon famous for its cult of Eros and the sanctuary of the Muses
Eleusis
🏛 placeHome of the greatest Mystery cult
The Telesterion at Eleusis was the great hall where thousands were simultaneously initiated into the Mysteries — one of antiquity's best-kept secrets.
Paphos
🏛 placeSacred geography
The chief sanctuary of Aphrodite on Cyprus, where the goddess was said to have first come ashore from the sea
Eleusis
🏛 placeSite of the Mysteries
Eleusis was a sacred city near Athens, home to the Eleusinian Mysteries — the most important secret religious rites in the ancient Greek world.
Olympia
🏛 placeSite of the Olympic Games
Olympia was the sanctuary in the Peloponnese where the ancient Olympic Games were held every four years for over a thousand years — the most important athletic and religious festival in Greece.
Clarian Oracle
🏛 placegeography
The sanctuary of Apollo at Claros near Colophon in Ionia, one of the three great oracles of the Greek world.
Samothrace Sanctuary
🏛 placemystery cult, protection
Island sanctuary of the Cabeiri mysteries, which promised protection from shipwreck.
Elysium
🏛 placeParadise for the blessed dead
The paradise at the edge of the world where heroes and the virtuous spent eternity in perfect happiness. Also called the Elysian Fields or the Isles of the Blessed.
Amyclae
🏛 placegeography
An ancient Laconian town near Sparta, sanctuary of Apollo Hyacinthius and site of the hero Hyacinthus' cult.
Delphi
🏛 placeSite of Apollo's Oracle, navel of the world
The most important oracle in ancient Greece, where the Pythia delivered Apollo's prophecies. The Greeks considered Delphi the center — the navel — of the world.