Asklepieion of Kos

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Asklepieion of Kos Schievink, Pim

Description

The sanctuary of Asklepios, the Greek god of medicine and healing, of Kos is located on a hill approximately 3-4 km outside the ancient city of Kos. This city was founded in 366 BC after synoecism. The sanctuary was excavated by Rudolf Herzog in the beginning of the twentieth century. The excavations were continued by Italian archaeologists. Consisting of three main terraces, this sanctuary overlooks the city of Kos. There are four main building phases: 1) third century BC; 2) second century BC; 3) first century AD; 4) second-third century AD. Lamps found on the middle terrace date to up until the fourth century AD (Interdonato, 2013, 116). The island was throughout its history hit by earthquakes that also damaged the sanctuary. It is very likely that the massive earthquake of 554 AD, that ravaged Kos, destroyed the sanctuary. An altar found on the second terrace dates to the mid-late fourth century BC (IG XII,4 1: 397) and is the earliest evidence of activity on the site, altough the sacred grove might have been used earlier for worship of Apollo Kyparissos.

Item Metadata

Title	Asklepieion of Kos
Creator	Schievink, Pim
Contributor	Database of Religious History (DRH)
Publisher	Database of Religious History (DRH)
Date Issued	2023-01-12
Description	The sanctuary of Asklepios, the Greek god of medicine and healing, of Kos is located on a hill approximately 3-4 km outside the ancient city of Kos. This city was founded in 366 BC after synoecism. The sanctuary was excavated by Rudolf Herzog in the beginning of the twentieth century. The excavations were continued by Italian archaeologists. Consisting of three main terraces, this sanctuary overlooks the city of Kos. There are four main building phases: 1) third century BC; 2) second century BC; 3) first century AD; 4) second-third century AD. Lamps found on the middle terrace date to up until the fourth century AD (Interdonato, 2013, 116). The island was throughout its history hit by earthquakes that also damaged the sanctuary. It is very likely that the massive earthquake of 554 AD, that ravaged Kos, destroyed the sanctuary. An altar found on the second terrace dates to the mid-late fourth century BC (IG XII,4 1: 397) and is the earliest evidence of activity on the site, altough the sacred grove might have been used earlier for worship of Apollo Kyparissos.
Subject	Roman Religions; Temenos; Greek Cult; Sacred Enclosure; Aegean; Graeco-Roman; Ancient Mediterranean; Archaeological Site; Shrine; Hellenistic Religions; Greek Religions; Temple; Religious Place; Religious Group; Sacred Land
Genre	Other
Type	Text
Language	eng
Date Available	2023-04-18
Provider	Vancouver : University of British Columbia Library
Rights	Attribution 4.0 International
DOI	10.14288/1.0431147
URI	http://hdl.handle.net/2429/84297
Affiliation	Non UBC
Citation	Pim Schievink. (2023, March 24). Asklepieion of Kos. Database of Religious History, Vancouver, BC: University of British Columbia.
Peer Review Status	Unreviewed
Scholarly Level	Graduate
Rights URI	http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/
Aggregated Source Repository	DSpace

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