Melfi (2010) - Asklepieia of Roman Greece PDF

RITUAL SPACES AND PERFORMANCES IN THE ASKLEPIEIA OF ROMAN GREECE
Author(s): Milena Melfi

Source: The Annual of the British School at Athens, Vol. 105 (2010), pp. 317-338
Published by: British School at Athens
Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/41420122
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RITUAL SPACES AND PERFORMANCES IN
THE ASKLEPIEIA OF ROMAN GREECE1
Performative rituals have been mostly studied by religious historians and only in
have they appeared in the archaeological literature.2 Such rituals are ba
performance of precise dramatic sequences of language and actions in the pr
audience called to a collective participation. They may consist either of public act
processions, dances, songs, and sacrificial rites, or of theatrical performan
dramatic enactments of divine myths and genealogies. In most ancient sanctu
areas were devoted to their performance: theatrical buildings, or structures only
qualified as processional or sacrificial.
In Greece, performative rituals and spaces are especially well known for the san
the Classical and Hellenistic period. Festivals and annual celebrations evoked th
the gods in order to obtain their favours and help mortals overcome crucial mom
of the agricultural year or of human life. This is the case, for example, of the ce
the Attic sanctuaries of Eleusis and Brauron. In this respect, recent studies have
that public rituals performed in sanctuaries acted as strong means of comm
contributed to forming and enforcing political ideologies in Classical Greece
Osborne 1999; Kowalzig 2008).
From the beginning of the Roman presence, the importance of festivals, proce
collective rituals in the sanctuaries of Greece is stressed by ancient authors and s
the epigraphic evidence. It is often suggested that their role - rather than politic
of preservation of the collective memory in provincial Greece, when this was thr
external circumstances (Auffarth 1997, 219-38; 1999, 31-42). The arch
counterpart of this phenomenon - that is to say where these large collective
actually took place - is still not fully emerging. Susan Alcock was the first to poi
dramatization, procession, and ritual left an archaeological mark on the sac
Roman Greece (Alcock 1993, 172-214). A few recent studies constitute the onl
further developing this concept (Galli 2001, 43-77; 2005, 253-90; Petsalis Di
183-218). Therefore the aim of this paper is to identify, through the study of so
sanctuaries of Roman Greece, the existence of performative rituals and to ass
topographical space within the sacred precinct on the basis of the extant a
evidence.
The period under consideration here mostly coincides with the reign of the Anton
emperors, when the relatively peaceful environment allowed for a cultural revival, somet
1 I should like to thank the referees for their helpful 2 For a history of the relation between ritu
comments. I gratefully adopted most of their suggestions, performance see Kowalzig 2008, 32-55. From an a
but all remaining errors and inaccuracies are my respon- ological point of view the problem has been
sibility. This paper was initially delivered at the Greek sporadically explored in publications such as Ni
Archaeology Seminars of the University of Oxford, and at 2002, where the category of 'cul tic theatres' or thea
the Collegio Ghislieri's seminars, University of Pavia. My spaces for musical or dramatic performative rit
thanks to the audience, especially to Bert Smith, Maurizio defined for the first time.
Harari, and Marilena Gorrini.
3 1 8 MILENA MELFI
referred to as a 'Greek renaissance' wi

Such a revival affected every sector of cultu
around a strong intellectual core: the a
tradition and creating continuity wit
emperors and the local elites, often ed
education within the cultural phenomeno
in shaping this process.3 By virtue of the
therefore able to transform traditional r
and forgotten religious festivals (Alco
ASKLEPIEIA: A CASE-STUDY
Because of their long life and their well-documented ritual p

Asklepios constitute an ideal case-study for this investigation. Cult
are uninterruptedly frequented in the Greek world, from the late
period. The traditional rituals performed therein are well atte
literary sources, and their existence is often confirmed by the arc
Within the traditional rituals practiced in honour of Asklepi
period onwards, the most typical was undoubtedly the incubation,
the miraculous healing. It mostly consisted of direct communicatio
individual in a space defined by the sources as the abato n - the
was therefore confined to a personal, individual level, and re
through the dedications of the faithful in the form of tales of he
Donnici 1995; Girone 1998; Melfi 2007 a, 155-96), anatomical e
sculptural representations of different kinds (Hausmann 1948;
The evidence for the ritual actions performed in public as part o
fragmentary and often obscure for the late Classical and Hellen
and epigraphic documents suggest the existence of preliminary rit
Sokolowski 1962, no. 22; Habicht 1969, 167-90) and money off
2002, 247-57), that had to be performed in public by the faithful
the healing rite. Precise ritual routes can sometimes be archaeologi
the presence of altars, offertory boxes ( thesauroi ), lustral basins
few sanctuaries, the textual sources attest to the existence of p
their archaeological and topographical impact on the sacred space i
assess (e.g. Isyllos' paean: IG iv2. 128, see below).
This situation seems to change decidedly in the Roman period
the second century ad, when the available data document a growin
rituals in sanctuaries of Asklepios. Poetic and theatrical performan
enactments, and collective celebrations, widely attested by the sou
shape to the sacred space and the monuments within it.
3 On the Second Sophistic in Roman Greece: 4 Compare, for exam

Bowersock 196g; Bowie 1970; Sirago 1989, 57-9; Swain Asklepieia of Epidaur
1996; Goldhill 2001; Whitmarsh 2001. For the definition Corinth (ibid. 299-3
of paideia and pepaideumenoi : Anderson 1989, 104-6, and
more recently Borg 2004, passim.
THE ASKLEPIEIA OF ROMAN GREECE 319
The best known and most studied case is that of the Asklepieio
second-century buildings have been recently interpreted as inspi
collective rituals, such as the processions and choirs described in
2005; Petsalis Diomidis 2005). Here the Antonine propylon pro
where pilgrims could gather, in the words of Aristides: 'I tho
propylon of the sanctuary and that many others had assembled, ju
place, and that they were clad in white [...]' (Aristid. Or. xlv
Edelstein). The theatre of the newly built complex could
performances: 'In the sacred theatre there was a crowd of people
honour of the god; and standing among them I made a speech
god' (Aristid. Or. xlviii. 30, transi. Edelstein and Edelstein). Such
summons to collective participation: 'And the loud cry both of t
those who are coming, shouting this widely renowned refrain: G
xlviii. 21, transi. Edelstein and Edelstein).
Like Pergamon, in many Asklepieia of Roman Greece it is now
of performative rituals and spaces using different document
providing evidence for the construction of theatrical structures
of processional routes; (ii) the epigraphic sources, such as hy
sacred laws, and dedications; (iii) the literary sources which, in t
ad, give particularly abundant accounts of festivals, myths, and
have chosen to examine the sites of three Asklepieia, Epidauros,
have the obvious advantage of being rich in epigraphic and archa
us quite different scenarios and developments that can stand
phenomena under examination.
SINGING FOR ASKLEPIOS
Poetic and musical performances, especially in the form of h

attested in sanctuaries of Asklepios from the Hellenistic period
particularly popular from the mid-second century ad, judging fro
and literary sources which preserve poetic texts, and in consid
monumentalization of theatrical spaces.
A musical inscription and a corpus of hymns were found in th

Epidauros during the early excavations (IG iv2. 129-35; Mitso
hymns were sung in honour of the many gods worshipped in the
religious texts used during the rituals and poems associated w
Together with Asklepios, they celebrated Zeus, the Mother of the
'untiring Sun, the waxing moon, and all the stars that crown the
and immortal goddesses, that will always be' (IG iv2. 129. 8-9
Nymphagetes, who 'reaches the starred Olympus, with the echo of
immortal music the assembly of the gods' (IG iv2. 130. 8-10).
The texts, even though of mixed origin and date, were transcrib
century ad on blocks belonging to a building of the late Classical o
1995' 35~9)- This building seems to be identifiable with the m
320 MILENA MELFI
fig. i. The Asklepieion of Epidauros in the

After Rawadias 1900.
(Wagman 1999, 873-80; Galli 2004, 3

temple of Asklepios and built at the en
ВС (fig. 1 ) . The banque ting-hall was
sanctuary in the first century вс, but
courtyard a small covered theatre, an odeion, was built (Lamb

building technique of the odeion, in bricks with courses of stones,
completed between 1 60 and 1 80 ad under the patronage of the s
a date in the second half of the second century AD (Melfi 2007&,
The construction of the odeion marked a definitive chang
Hellenistic banqueting-hall, whose structures were substant
building. If at the end of the third century ad hymns were tran
Hellenistic portico surrounding the odeion, it is likely that they w
probably right from the time of its construction in the Ant
structure was, in fact, the most appropriate place for the per
hymns, as it is confirmed by their very articulate dramatic stru
soloist singers. We can then conclude that in Epidauros - as
Pergamon - a theatre was specifically built for hosting ritual per
music and drama in honour or thanksgiving of Asklepios.
The situation at the Asklepieion of Athens in Roman times appea

from that of Epidauros. The Athenian sanctuary, located on the
between the theatre of Dionysos and the odeion of Herodes Attic
Peripatos, had always played a peculiar public role, possibly by vi
within the urban topography (figs. 2 and 10). In such a conf
structures could not have been accommodated, but a special conn
theatre of Dionysos seems to be attested from the earliest periods
here below (Melfi 2007 b, 348-9; 2003, 183-8). In addition to th
to Asklepios attest to the performance of poetic and musical tex
the second and third centuries AD.
The dedication by Sarapion, from a prominent family of Roman Athens, the Statii of
Cholleidai, dates to this period (Oliver 1936; Geagan 1991, 145-65; Aleshire 1991, 49-74)
It was found east of the Asklepieion and consists of a reused triangular base, originall
designed for the erection of a tripod. Around the mid-second century AD, the tripod wa
removed and Sarapion 's statue erected in its place. The statue base was then inscribed to bear
the dedication to Sarapion - described as 'poet and philosopher' - accompanied by a poem
on a medical-religious subject, composed by Sarapion himself ( SEG 28. 225). The dedicant of
the monument in this later phase was Sarapion 's grandson, zakoros or sacred official of the cul
of Asklepios.
At the end of the second or the beginning of the third century ad, two more texts were
inscribed on the remaining sides of the triangular base: a catalogue of 7iaiaviGiai, that is to say
the singers in charge of performing the hymns in the sanctuary (Aleshire 1991, 49-70), and
the Paean of Sophocles (IG ii2. 4510; Oliver 1936, 91-122). The latter is mentioned b
Philostratos as the most common hymn sung in Athens in honour of Asklepios: 'Sophokles'
hymn of praise that is sung to Asclepius at Athens' (Philostr. VA iii. 17. 2, transi. C.P.Jones).
Similarly, Lucian states: 'For no less honour comes to Asklepios if, in case his worshipper
composed no paeans of their own, the songs of Isodemus of Troizen and of Sophocles ar
sung' (Ps.-Lucian. Dem. Ene. 27, transi. Edelstein and Edelstein).
That singing hymns in honour of Asklepios was common practice in the Asklepieion o
322 MILENA MELFI
fig. 2. The Athenian Asklepieion in the

After Travlos 1971.
Athens in the second and third centu

a second catalogue of naiavxami (IG
another famous paean, the Paean of
many of the known Asklepieia.5 In
Sphettos, zakoros of Asklepios, was al
111; Girone 1998, 31-5). This conta
theatrical space, judging from its dram
text, the illness is described using apo
second part, more fluid dactylic he
Singing or reciting the paean woul
healing, similar to those that took pl
Island (Melfi 2007&, 384). Here the ins
or performed, their healing on a 'sa
(Moretti 1968, no. 148. 2; Girone 1
Finally, an inscription dating to the
Augustan stoa south of the temple of
Dion(IG
5 The paean of Erythrae (Edelstein and
ii2. 4509) Edels
contain
(Moretti
that originated in Asia 1968,
Minor in the no. 149).
Hellenisti
and known from later transcriptions at the Askl
of a tripod to the god (fig. 3). The epigraphic text was inscrib
dedicated to Asklepios, Hygieia, and Augustus (IG ii2. 3 1 20 A and B
suggests that in Athens the same procedure as attested in Per
Pergamon, musical and poetical performances in honour of A
dedication of a tripod (Galli 2005, 272-3), as is attested in the wri
also gave choral performances, ten in total, some of men, som
seemed fitting to dedicate a silver tripod, as thank-offering to t
as memorial of the choral performances which we gave, and
(...) There were also two more verses, one of which contained my
The Athenian tripod, in particular, must have been erected o
particularly prominent position, at the entrance of the sanctuary
theatre from the Peripatos would have been able to see it. Thi
appropriation of a pre-existing building, possibly playing a specif
originally dedicated to Asklepios, Hygieia, and Augustus, for t
private monumental offering. It suggests the growing import
dedications within the sacred precinct, and consequently the c
commemorated.
Since poetic and musical performances are undoubtedly attested in the Asklepiei
fig. 3. Athenian Asklepieion, epistyle of the Augustan stoa with inscription IG ii2. 3120. Author's
324 MILENA MELFI
Athens, where could they have taken p

monument of Sarapion was found at th
the theatre (Levensohn 1947, 71). In
Cholleidai mentioning the presence o
1876, 198-9). Here an uninscribed mo
4). This means that in the area where t
least four documents dated to the second and third centuries ad were discovered, and attest
the performance and dedication of poetic texts.
The location of these monuments suggests that performative rituals in honour of Asklepios
could have taken place in the theatre of Dionysos, especially in view of the limitations of space
imposed by the urban setting of the sanctuary of the healing god. This type of interaction
between the Asklepieion and the theatre of Dionysos was not unusual, since the close relation
of the buildings is clearly attested from the earliest periods. On the one hand, the archae-
ological evidence that the Doric stoa of the Asklepieion was built around 300 ВС against the
west analemma of the theatre led Townsend to hypothesize the existence of a passage leading
from the upper floor of the stoa directly to the theatre auditorium (Townsend 1982, 70). On
the other hand, the literary and epigraphic sources point towards a special connection
between Asklepios and Dionysos in Athens (Melfi 2007&, 348). According to Aeschines, 8
fig. 4. Athenian Asklepieion, uninscribed tripod base. Author's photo.
THE ASKLEPIEIA OF ROMAN GREECE
Elaphebolion, rcpoaycDV of the celebrations for the Great Dionysia, wa

for Asklepios (Aeschin. In Ctes. iii. 66-8) . A fourth-century вс decree f
honoured a priest of Asklepios, who was in charge of maintaining euK
in the theatre of Dionysos too (/Gii2. 354; Hubbe 1959, 151-4, no. 2
In the third century вс, at least one choregic dedication was exhibited
ii2. 3081). Finally, in the first century вс, Diokles from Kephissia, prie
magistrate, struck New Style coins featuring the symbols of Asklepio
(Melfi 2003).
If the theatre of Dionysus was thus, as it seems likely, actually used
in honour of Asklepios, the Athenian sanctuary would therefore be n
of Epidauros and Pergamon, with their second-century ad 'sacred thea
Aristides) .
Less documented but similarly revealing is the case of the Asklep

interpreted as a civic and political rather than religious centre (fig. 5
nevertheless to be clearly identified as a sacred precinct with a well-de
structures devoted to the healing practice (Melfi 2007&, 265-8).
Here, the building, normally interpreted as an ekklesiasterion fo
oóve8poi of the Messenian state (Birtacha 2008), must have been us
as an odeion for poetic and musical performances. This is demonstrate
at least one musical inscription (Themelis 1994, 90-2), generally
period, and by the existence of musical competitions in the sanctuary
century AD, on the occasion of the festivals in honour of the god, th
1990, 85-6). If such musical performances took place in the sanctu
likely that they were staged in the theatrical building known as the
According to Themelis (1996, 147-8), a proper stage was added to
in the late second or early third century ad. This seems to confirm
2007 b, 271). The construction of the new stage might have been paid
of the wealthy Messenian Tiberios Klaudios Saithidas Kailianos I,
influential family of Roman Messene (Themelis 2000, 78-81). His
placed inside the auditorium of the theatre, and, judging from the in
v. 1455), was probably dedicated by his grandson Tiberios Klaudios
contemporary of Marcus Aurelius.7 The monument was displaye
position that it changed the function of the building, since it partially
6 The problem of the choice between ato political

the years of and
theareign of Antoninus Pius, when Marcus
Aurelius was still
religious function of the Messenian Asklepieion Caesar (139-61) and offers an
arose
immediately after Orlandos's first excavations in the
important element for the chronology of the descendants
1950s, because of the uncharacteristicofpresence
Saithidas I. The
of fact that Saithidas II was a
contemporary in
buildings such as a bouleterion and an ekklesiasterion of Marcus Aurelius led Themelis to
the complex. The issue has been tackled that by manyhave been the Saithidas known to P
he might
scholars, but the proposed explanations are still in his description of Messene (Themelis 2001,
unsatisfactory. For the status quaestionis see Melfi 2007 b, Paus. vi. 32. 2). Saithidas II might well have b
248-9. dedicant of the statue of Saithidas I in the ekklesiast
7 Tiberios Claudios Saithidas Kailianos II is known for since the honorand is remembered as father of Frontinus
his dedication of a bronze statue of Marcus Aurelius in
I and grandfather of Saithidas II.
the agora of Messene (IG v. 1451). The statue must date
326 MILENA MELFI
fig. 5. Asklepieion of Messene (A = ekkles

After Themelis 2000.
the east. The implication is that, at the time, the ekklesiasterion was accessible only from the
sanctuary precinct to which it belonged: not differently from Aristides' 'sacred theatre' at
Pergamon and the odeion of Epidauros.
fig. 6. Epidauros, sanctuaries of Asklepios and Apollo Maleatas. After
RE-ENACTING THE MYTH
Some of the performative rituals that took place in the sanctua

enactments of myths regarding the god and the foundation of his
examples of this kind are to be found in the sanctuaries of Epidaur
Epidauros
One of the oldest performative rituals attested in the sanctuary of Epidauros is that recorded
by the Paean of Isyllos (/Giv2. 128; Girone 1998, 46-5). At the beginning of the third century
ВС, Isyllos, an Epidaurian aristocrat, established a new ritual in honour of Asklepios (Sineux
1999, 153-64; Melfi 20076, 52-4). The ritual consisted of a procession and the performance
of a hymn on the myth of the birth of Asklepios, son of Apollo and Epidaurian Koronis.
The hymn was sung during the procession between the cult-place of Apollo on the top of
Mount Kynortion and that of Asklepios in the plain (fig. 6) . The text affirmed clearly that the
328 MILENA MELFI
fig. 7. Epidauros, sanctuary of Asklepio
cult of Apollo, called Maleatas and bas

the plain. The importance and the rol
cult of Asklepios were further stressed
to Koronis. Amongst the gods featu
taking part in the myth were also Ze
It is likely that the procession left th
of Asklepios, which was normally dev
healing rituals (fig. 7). This area, bo
rectangular stone altars of roughly eq
Roux (Roux 1961, 398-400), and only
(Melfi 2007 b, 49-51). The altars were
hymn, Zeus, Leto, the Muses, the Mo
heroes.
The arrival point, in the sanctuary of Apollo Maleatas on Mount Kynortion (fig. 8), was
probably the monumental altar of Apollo and the Mousaion - a precinct sacred to those
Muses involved in Asklepios' birth-myth (Lambrinoudakis 1999, 67-8; Melfi 2007 b, 44-5).
It is significant that the dedicatory inscriptions of most of the small лроЭжпа altars (fig. 9)
range from the fifth to the third century ВС (IG iv2. 269; 270; 273-5; 282-3; 294-6; 301; 304-
5; 311). After a gap of more than three centuries, in the second century ad, a number of new
altars appear next to the old ones in precisely the same style and dedicated to the same gods,
the cults of which had not been attested for more than four centuries (e.g. IG iv2. 383; 397;
500; 567). One of them (IG iv2. 567), perfectly in line with the older specimens, bears the
dedication of a slave of the Roman senator Iulius Antoninus Pythodorus (Hiller von
Gaertringen 1929), responsible for the mid-second-century reconstruction of many
fig. 8. Epidauros, sanctuary of Apollo Maleatas (fig. 6, B). After La
important buildings of the sanctuary (Galli 2001, 52-6; Melfi

likely that the new dedications were intended to revive the old alt
into disuse in the late Hellenistic period, when many structur
serious damage8 - and thus to evoke the cults which accompa
early years of the sanctuary (Melfi 2007 b, 106-1 1).
A similar phenomenon is to be identified in the sanctuary o
Kynortion. The name of Maleatas, traditionally attributed to the
water-supply
8 In the sanctuary of Apollo Maleatas, ist-c. всsystem (Peppa-Papaioannou 1990, 553-4)
damage
is reported by Lambrinoudakis in РАЕ suffered
1983, major damage,
152-4, differently attributed by the
1988,
299-300. In Asklepieion, the so-called gymnasium excavators to the incursions of Sulla or the Cilician
(Lambrinoudakis (ed) 1988, 22-35 and n. 21), the pirates. For an overview of the ist-c.-BC events, see Melf
monumental katagogion (Kraynak 1991, 1-4), and the 20076, 68-70.
ЗЗО MILENA MELFI
archaeological literature, is not atte

Hellenistic period, except for the third
to mention the god with the epithet o
associated with Antoninus' reconstru
Peek 1969, nos. 177, 178, 191). Accord
of Apollo on Mount Kynortion rebu
demonstrated that this reconstruction took place in the context of near-complete
abandonment of the site, because all the buildings of the cult place had been destroyed in the
first century ВС and never rebuilt.
Here the cult seems to have been restored on the basis of the indications given by Isyllos in
his paean, where Apollo was defined as Maleatas for the first and only time. The senator's
reconstruction was inspired by local traditions, no doubt upheld by the contemporary
Epidaurian elite. These same traditions were received and recounted by Pausanias, who
describes the sacred Epidaurian landscape in its ancient details - 'above the grove are the
mount Titthion and another called Kynortion; on the latter is a sanctuary of Maleatas Apollo'
(Paus. ii. 27.7, transi. W.H.S. Jones) - and the birth of Asklepios as transmitted by Isyllos - 'in
the country of the Epidaurians, Coronis bore a son and exposed him on the mountain (...)
As the child lay exposed he was given milk by one of the goats that pastured about the
mountain and was guarded by the watch- dog of the herd' (Paus. ii. 26. 4, transi. W.H.S.
Jones). This latter myth proved to be very popular in the Antonine period, as is demonstrated
by the issue of Epidaurian coins representing the previously unattested iconography of the
birth-myth of the baby Asklepios, nursed by a goat, on the mountains of Epidauros
(Holzmann 1984, 868, no. 4).
The restoration of both the íepóv for the preliminary sacrifices and the sanctuary of Apollo
Maleatas suggests the existence of a concerted plan of reconstruction: not only of buildings,
but also of rituals and religious practice. Judging from the literary sources and the
epigraphical evidence, the program was paid for by the senator Antoninus (Melfi 2007 b, 99-
101). Its inspiration must have come from the Paean of Isyllos, the only document that
enforces the centrality of Apollo Maleatas and his sanctuary in the cult of Asklepios, and the
role of the minor deities, such as the Muses and the Moirai, within the genealogy of the
younger god. Antoninus' patronage of the Epidaurian reconstruction reflects therefore the
engagement of the contemporary intellectual and political elite in the restoration of
traditional cult places and rituals - best exemplified by the Asklepieion of Pergamon (Habicht
1969, 9-11; Le Glay 1976, 347-72; Hoffmann 1998, 49-50) - and appears to be motivated
by the desire of promoting and redefining the religious context after a period of historical
disruptions (cf. Galli 2002, 207-50).
If we accept that the Antonine revival of the Epidaurian pantheon was inspired by Isyllos'
text, it is likely that within the second century ad rituals a central position was occupied by a
re-enactment of the ancient procession. Along the route leading from the plain to the hilltop,
the ancient hymn might have been sung to evoke the birth of Asklepios in the land of the
Epidaurians and consequently re-establish the ancestral connection of the god with his
sanctuary. The processional way, from the altars in the plain and along the side of the new
odeion, which was probably purposefully inserted into the ritual route, would have reached
the top of the hill, where a new stepped propylon gave access to the sacred precinct (fig. 6).
Here the altar of Apollo and the open-air space around it would have provided the perfect
stage for the ritual enactment (fig. 8); while the spectators could h
the OKavá and the restored Mousaion (Lambrinoudakis 1999, 71
Athens
As at Epidauros, the evocation of myths that strengthened the association of the god with his
sanctuary seems to be attested in the Athenian Asklepieion. Here, from the mid-second
century AD, the evidence for the festival of the Epidauria increases considerably. According to
the ancient sources (Philostr. VA. iv. 18; Paus. ii. 26. 8), the Epidauria commemorated the
foundation-myth of the cult on the day of Asklepios' arrival in Athens from Epidauros, and
the god's accommodation in the city Eleusinion, before the establishment of his sanctuary on
the slopes of the Acropolis. While this foundation-myth is known from the inscription and
relief dedicated at the end of the fifth century вс by Telemachos of Acharnai, founder of the
sanctuary (Beschi 1968, 381-436), the nature of the Athenian Epidauria as a festival remains
obscure. A few second-century ВС decrees honour priests of Asklepios in charge of the
organization of the Epidauria (/Gii2. 974-5; SEG 18. 21-8), but do not provide any detail of
the ritual taking place during the festival. Only an inscribed fragment recently found in the
Athenian Agora (SEG 47. 71), and dated to the years around 410 вс, has been associated by
Kevin Clinton with the functioning of the Epidauria (Clinton 1994). The fragment preserves
the word Epidauria followed by a list of at least four sacred officials. According to Clinton's
fig. 9. Asklepieion of Epidauros, prothysia altars. Author's photo.
332 MILENA MELFI
reconstruction of the text, the inscri

attendants from Epidauros led the
procession with that commemorating
and hypothesizes that in the city E
Acropolis' slopes (fig. 10), Asklepio
Eleusinian mysteries. The problem wit
preserved only in the late literary sou
Classical and Hellenistic periods.
A ritual initiation of Asklepios is, in
Pausanias (Philostr. VA. iv. 18; Paus.
Athenian Asklepieion, which records
dated to the reign of Hadrian (/Gii
a Demetrios from Gargettos, who c
initiation (|i6r|Gic;) of Asklepios. D
Philostratos and Pausanias therefore f
put in any relation with the epigra
mention an initiation for Asklepio
following account of the Epidauria: 'It
announcement and sacrifice of victim
induction accompanied by a seconda
Asklepios, because they inducted him
Mysteries' (Philostr. VA. iv. 17, trans
'Indeed the Athenians, who say they
Epidauria and they say that from tha
26. 8, transi. W.H.S. Jones).
The conclusion is straightforward: w
from an early date, it is clear that the
foundation myth of the Athenian cul
or very little importance in the early
with a later reconstruction of the rit
of Asklepios into a proper ritual o
Epidauria.
The inspiration for the Eleusinian connection might have been offered by the inscription
of Telemachos, whilst the choice of performing a ritual of initiation might be explained by the
popularity of the Eleusinian Mysteries in the second century ad. In particular, the idea of an
initiated Asklepios must have been popular among contemporary authors, because it
appeared particularly relevant on the occasion of the initiation of Hadrian to the Eleusinian
Mysteries. The emperor, being initiated to the Mysteries as a foreigner, found his predecessors
in illustrious (luaxai such as Asklepios and Dionysos (cf. Graindor 1934, 8 n. 2-3; Calandra
199, 106). In this same line, we should interpret both the statue of Asklepios as a |auGTT|ç
dedicated by Herodes Atticus in Eleusis and the portrait of Antinoos in the iconography of
Asklepios found at the same site (Galli 2001, 65-7; 2002, 212). All these data confirm that
from the Hadrianic period onwards the Eleusinian ritual became fundamental for the festival
of the Epidauria, because it evoked the stages of foundation of the Athenian sanctuary and
guaranteed its connection with one of the most important cults of contemporary Greece.
fig. 10. The Athenian agora and its environs in the second century a
How the ritual was actually performed from the mid-second cen
but it is evident that during the procession from the city Eleusi
to the Asklepieion at the foot of the Acropolis the reception and
place (fig. 10). In the Eleusinion, an impressive propylon rebu
resemble that of Eleusis - with two caryatids and a Doric frie
objects - would have eased the passage of the procession and
connection with the main Eleusinian sanctuary (Miles 1998, 8
334 MILENA MELFI
The actual ritual, organized and paid

probably consisted of a dramatic enac
absence of a theatrical space in the
Eleusinion and the Asklepieion lead
theatre of Dionysus. Here a theatrical
similar to that attested by the inscri
178 ad, records the parts played by
enactment of a ritual drama featurin
Even though the examples examined
and Epidauros, where the epigraph
performative rituals are neverthel
examples of second-century ad r
mentioned - such as those of Leben
point I prefer to draw some conclusio
in the Asklepieia of Roman Greece.9
CONCLUSIONS
On the basis of the data presented above, I propose two different

within the cult of Asklepios, the other in the larger historica
culture.
The spread of poetic and musical performances in the cult of Asklepios might be explained
by the fact that these were believed to have a therapeutic function, at least from the second
century ad. Important testimonies of this phenomenon are the writings of Aelius Aristides,
who composed a number of hymns after the commandment of the god, and Galen, who
prescribed such a practice as a cure for states of anxiety. He writes:
and not a few men, however many years they were ill through the disposition of their souls, we have made
healthy by correcting the disproportion of their emotions. No slight witness of the statement is also our
ancestral god Asklepios, who ordered not a few to have odes written as well as to compose comical mimes and
certain songs - for the motions of their passions having become more vehement, have made the mixture of
the body warmer than it should be (Gal. De San. Tuenda i. 8. 19-21, transi. Edelstein and Edelstein).
On the other hand, poetic and musical performances often shared with dramatic
enactments the aim of reconstructing the earliest phases of the sanctuaries, especially those
associated with myths of foundation. While the same existence of these rituals might be
generally explained with the antiquarian approach to religiosity that characterized the culture
of Roman Greece from the first century вс onwards, their systematic promotion finds a wider
significance within the revival of the past operated by the wealthy intellectual elites in the
cultural environment of the Second Sophistic.10 In the Greek province of Imperial times,
9 The Asklepieion of Lebena in Crete was entirely 10 On the Second Sophistic as an elite habitus in
rebuilt in the 2nd c. ad, with a large theatrical space Roman Greece see Bowersock 1969, 30; Bowie 1970;
framed by a monumental staircase (Melfi 2007«); at the Sirago 1989, 57-9; Swain 1996; Goldhill 2001;
Asklepieion of Butrint, the Hellenistic theatre was Whitmarsh 2001; Borg 2004, passim. In the specific case
enlarged and completely enclosed in the sacred space in of the sanctuaries of Asklepios: Petsalis Diomidis 2005,
the same period (Melfi 2007 ď). 189-98; Melfi 2007c, 241-54.
myths and history played a fundamental role in the preserva

and, in the specific case of these sanctuaries, allowed the mainte
of the god with his cult places. In this context, performative ri
role because they evoked not only the god and his favour, as in
confirmed and asserted the continuation of the divine pres
discontinuity of the historical events.
Such an interpretation is confirmed by the fact that all the de
theatrical structures in the sanctuaries of Asklepios of Imperial
of wealthy intellectuals. Sarapion of Cholleidai, dedicant of poeti
Athenian Asklepieion as a poet and a philosopher, came from a p
and intellectuals, won the dramatic competitions of the Dio
Antiochos Philopappos, and was known to the sources as a friend
Antoninus Pythodoros, responsible for the Epidaurian reco
extremely wealthy family of Nysa on the Maeander (Hiller
Halfmann 1979, 171), where he carried out euergetic activiti
His personal relation with Pausanias and his fréquentation of
together with Aelius Aristides are well known (Habicht 196
Saithidas Kailianos II, probably responsible for the transform
Messene into a sacred theatre, similarly belonged to an extre
family (Themelis 2000, 78-81; 2001, 64-70). He was also know
mentioned in the latter's account of Messene (Paus. iv. 32. 2).
All these individuals undoubtedly adhered to the intelle
characterised the cultural environment of the Second Sophist
Borg 2004, passim). For them paideia was a deep knowledge o
history, landscapes, myths, and rituals - eventually translated in
of thought. Paideia in second- and third-century Greece allo
office-holders to recognize themselves as taking part in the sam
and, consequently, to negotiate power relations. In this pers
wealthy patrons in the Asklepieia were not different, for ex
Atticus at Olympia and Delphi, Marcus Aurelius and Lucius V
Priscus Juventianus in Isthmia (Galli 2002, 205-50). They w
broader employment of the past in imperial Greece, aimed a
identity, while at the same time creating a symbolic - and elitis
To conclude, the promotion of performative spaces and rituals
seems to be completely understandable as a product of the cultu
century Greece. Moreover, in this period a tendency towards dr
in religious and public life met with a special sensitivity for all
the emergence of literary figures such as Aelius Aristides and G
writing, singing, and performing for Asklepios would have been
health while actively participating in the contemporary cultural
University of Oxford , Ioannou Centre for Classical and By
11 On the family of Sarapion: Aleshire 1991, 52-9. The and in the text o
choregia of Philopappus is probably recorded in an Teodorsson 1989, 15
inventory from the Athenian Asklepieion (IG ii2. 4511)
ззб MILENA MELFI
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RITUAL SPACES AND PERFORMANCES IN THE ASKLEPIEIA OF ROMAN GREECE

Author(s): Milena Melfi

referred to as a 'Greek renaissance' wi

Because of their long life and their well-documented ritual p

3 On the Second Sophistic in Roman Greece: 4 Compare, for exam

Poetic and musical performances, especially in the form of h

A musical inscription and a corpus of hymns were found in th

fig. i. The Asklepieion of Epidauros in the

(Wagman 1999, 873-80; Galli 2004, 3

courtyard a small covered theatre, an odeion, was built (Lamb

The situation at the Asklepieion of Athens in Roman times appea

fig. 2. The Athenian Asklepieion in the

Athens in the second and third centu

Athens, where could they have taken p

fig. 4. Athenian Asklepieion, uninscribed tripod base. Author's photo.

Elaphebolion, rcpoaycDV of the celebrations for the Great Dionysia, wa

Less documented but similarly revealing is the case of the Asklep

6 The problem of the choice between ato political

fig. 5. Asklepieion of Messene (A = ekkles

fig. 6. Epidauros, sanctuaries of Asklepios and Apollo Maleatas. After

RE-ENACTING THE MYTH

Some of the performative rituals that took place in the sanctua

fig. 7. Epidauros, sanctuary of Asklepio

cult of Apollo, called Maleatas and bas

fig. 8. Epidauros, sanctuary of Apollo Maleatas (fig. 6, B). After La

important buildings of the sanctuary (Galli 2001, 52-6; Melfi

archaeological literature, is not atte

fig. 9. Asklepieion of Epidauros, prothysia altars. Author's photo.

reconstruction of the text, the inscri

The actual ritual, organized and paid

On the basis of the data presented above, I propose two different

myths and history played a fundamental role in the preserva

University of Oxford , Ioannou Centre for Classical and By

Alcock, S. E. 1993. Graecia Capta. The Landscapes of Roman Greece

(eds), Placing the Gods; Sanctuaries and Sacred Spac

Erforschung komplexer Rituale', in Batsch,

J. and Rutherford I. (eds), Seeing the Gods : Pilgrimage in Graec

Gorrini, M. and Melfi, M. 2002. 'L'archéologie des cultes

(Publications of the Committee for the Preservation of the

(Publications of the Committee for the Preservation

negli Asklepieia di II secolo', in Galli

Townsend, R. 1982. 'Aspects of Athenian Architectura

internazionale di epigrafia greca e latina , Roma 18-24 settembre 19

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