The small city-state of Epidauros was located in the Peloponnesos on the northern side of the Argive peninsula, facing the island of Aigina across the sea. Inland about 8 kilometers as the crow flies (but nearly double that by road) stood the secluded Sanctuary of Asklepios. Although closely connected with his father, Apollo, who had sired him by a mortal woman, the hero-god of healing rose to greater and greater prominence until he came to dominate at Epidauros.
The Sanctuary of Asklepios at Epidauros was largely constructed during the fourth century B. C., and its best-known monument today is the excellently preserved
Theater southeast of the sanctuary (fig. 213). On the opposite side of the sanctuary stood the Temple of Asklepios, with the circular tholos and the abaton where the sick went to spend the night while being cured, sometimes by the licking of the wound or infected area by either the sacred snakes of Asklepios or sacred dogs; sometimes by visions. Whatever the treatment, the sanctuary operated on a private basis, responding to the specific needs of individuals as they arose. Women were certainly allowed in the sanctuary, and almost half the recorded cures that survive were for females.
We do not know, however, whether women were allowed to take part in the festival or the procession from the city-state to the sanctuary before the Asklepeian Games. The procession did include the sacrificial animals (bulls, cocks, and the like, though not goats), which were then roasted at the sanctuary, providing the basis for the ritual banquet. The meat had to be consumed within the sanctuary, presumably at the time of the feast (Pausanias 2.27.1). The festival took place nine days after the Isthmian Games (in late April or early May), and it was highly organized with a system of theoroi and theorodokoi (envoys and envoy-receivers; see fig. 203).
For our purposes, the important competitions of the festival were the gymnikos agon (nude competition) and the mousikos agon (musical competition). There is no evidence that a hippikos agon (horse-racing competition) was part of the Asklepeian program. The mousikos agon must have included events in playing the kithara, aulos (flute), and other instruments, and we also hear of competitions for rhapsodes and actors. These competitions took place in the theater.
The program in the gymnikos agon is not fully known, either, although we hear specifically of the stadion race, the pankmtion, and the pentathlon. The existence of a stadium typical of its day suggests that the program was equally characteristic (fig. 214). We
Have already seen that the hysplex (starting mechanism) at Epidauros developed along standard lines (see figs. 58-59). And as at Olympia and Nemea, also built in the second half of the fourth century, spectators sat on earth embankments, but stone seats were soon added near the starting blocks of the balhis at the closed end of the stadium. This emphasizes what we have already seen in the location of the judges’ stand at Olympia and Nemea: the best seats were near one end of the track. Probably the skamma (dug-up area) for the wrestlers, boxers, and pankratiasts was located in front of those seats.
The stadium at Epidauros shares another feature with Olympia and Nemea: athletes entered it through a vaulted tunnel, which also dates to the second half of the fourth century (fig. 215). At the far end of the tunnel, again like Olympia and Nemea, stood a locker room (apodyterion; fig. 216). We should thus understand that by 300, if not earlier, a standard type of competitive athletic facility had developed for religious festival centers. Its features included seating for spectators on earth embankments, an entrance tunnel for the athletes and judges, and a locker room for competitors where spectators were not welcome.
World History
