During antiquity the city of Epidaurus was an important local center in the Argolid, on account of the tracts of tertile land in its environs and, primarily, of its harbour on the Saronic Gulf, which facilitated swift communication with Corinth, Athens, and the Aegean in general. Indications of habitation on the site of the later city date back to the third millennium BCE. Chamber tombs on the hillocks overlooking the harbour bear witness to a significant heyday during the Mycenaean period (circa second millennium BCE). In historical times Epidaurus was a Dorian city. However, its population originated mainly from subject pre-Dorian tribes and vacillated between guarded relations or conflicts with the powerful Dorian center of nearby Argos and relations of affinity with Ionian Athens and commercial Corinth.

Epidaurus transcended its local importance thanks to its sacred center of healing, the Asklepieion, which was considered the cradle of the art of medicine and mother sanctuary of the 200 or so Asklepieia dispersed throughout the ancient world, from the east as far as Rome.

circa 380 BCE

Abaton (Enkoimeterion)
The stoa of Abaton or "Enkoimeterion" (literally meaning the incubation hall) was the place in which patients were cured, through the contact with the healing god Asklepios during the "enkoimesis" (a term often used to describe the therapeutic dream treatment carried out within the holistic healing sanctuaries of the divine physician Asklepios). This kind of healing was a mystery, so the stoa was an "abaton" (impenetrable), which means blocked for those who had not prepared themselves to encounter Asklepios.

Abaton was a long narrow building, 70 meters long and 10 meters wide, built in two levels on a rather steep slope north of the temple of Asklepios and the Tholos. It was constructed in two phases. In the early fourth century BCE the eastern half of the stoa was built on the higher part of the slope. The architect of the second phase (late fourth century BCE) exploited the difference of level produced by the slope to the northwest and added there a two-storeyed stoa doubling the original length of the building. The altimetric difference between the two sections of the building was covered on its façade by a monumental staircase, at the point of contact of the two phases.

The Abaton combines the two architectural orders of classical antiquity, the lonic and the Doric order. The original eastern wing was a stoa with 17 lonic columns, in the northeastern corner of which the sacred well of Asklepios was incorporated. Water was always one of the main elements of the healing process. The back half of the building contained closed rooms for patients preparing themselves to meet Asklepios in their dream. The incubation took place in the ground-floor part of the two-storeyed western wing of the building. The wall of its façade was decorated with semi-pillars crowned by a Doric entablature and had only two narrow doors, as the sight of its inside was allowed only to those prepared to meet the god in their sleep. Inside strong octagonal pillars supported the wooden floor of the upper stoa, while the floor, on which the patients lay, was of beaten earth. Stone benches survived from the equipment of the room, indicating that an unknown procedure took place there before incubation. The upper storey of the stoa was on the same level as the earlier eastern wing. Thus, an ensemble of 31 lonic columns was formed on the façade of the upper storey. High stone screens in the intercolumniations kept secret whatever happened inside the building. Their outer surface imitated railing. Patients made their preparations in the eastern part and the upper storey of the western part of the building, purifying themselves with water from the sacred well and reading the narrations of wonderful healing recorded on stelai erected inside the stoa, which led them by autosuggestion to go through the miracle of the cure. Then, they passed to the ground floor of the two-storeyed stoa and lay down on the ground, waiting for the miraculous dream to come. The sleep symbolized the death of their ill self and Asklepios, who visited them in the dream, bestowed them new healthy life.

Excavations have shown that incubation took place as early as the middle 6th century BCE in front of the well, in smaller and lighter constructions of that time. Beneath the eastern part of the Abaton and the Bath of Asklepios remains of a small, 15 meters long stoa have been uncovered, which housed the early phase of the incubation. In the course of the fifth century BCE the small stoa was replaced by a larger edifice that included a kitchen and latrines. The Abaton was incorporated in a stoa of the late Roman period, which surrounded the most important buildings of the Sanctuary. It was subsequently abandoned and fell into ruins.

Only the lower parts of the building and a number of members of its upper structure have been preserved. Today, the Abaton has been partly restored. The restoration has been carried out by the Committee for the Conservation of the Epidauros Monuments of the Hellenic Ministry of Culture (1989-2004 CE), with funds from the Regional Operational Program of the Peloponnese and the EU Operational Program "Culture".

circa 300 BCE

Akoai Bath Complex
This bath complex is generally identified as the "Akoai" (from the Latin aquae = water), mentioned by the ancient traveler Pausanias. The building is connected with the fountains on its southern side. In these fountains the water coming from the springs on Mount Kynortion was collected and from them it was then distributed to different parts of the Sanctuary.

The bath building occupies an area of approximately 650 square meters and consists of four parallel wings. The entrance was on the western side, giving access to the third wing. One entered there to an oblong room for cold bath (frigidarium), with lonic colonnade on the southern and the eastern side and a bath basin in a semicircular niche in the back. This room gave direct access to all areas of the southern and the adjacent northern wing. The latter comprised facilities for the warm bath (tepidarium), while the most northern wing housed the hot baths (caldarium) with their system of underfloor heating (hypocausts) as well as a sweating room (sudatorium).

The building was repaired in the second century CE and the western part of it covered a small area of the eastern side of the Stoa of Kotys. In a subsequent period, probably, latrines were added at the northwest corner of the existing building, as well as rooms for individual hot baths at its southwestern side.

circa 350 BCE

Temple of Artemis
According to the inscriptions, the cult of Artemis, sister of Apollo, existed in the Sanctuary of Asklepios already in the 5th century BCE. It seems that the chthonic hypostasis of the goddess was emphasized here; the goddess was worshipped as Artemis Hekate. The small but elegant temple was excavated in 1884 by P. Kavvadias, while part of its building material was found built into the wall of the nearby Roman constructions.

The temple, erected in the late 4th century BCE, was prostyle with 6 Doric columns in the façade. In the interior, 12 lonic columns traversed the three sides of the cella. The exterior was decorated with a Doric entablature. The simae (water spouts) took the form of dog and wild boar heads. The use of these specific animals, which were connected with Artemis Hekate, supports the identification of the building. Two akroteria (finials) in the form of a Nike were placed at the lower angles of the eastern pediment and a different akroterion, (a figure from the cycle of Artemis, a Nike or a floral ornament) was set on the apex of the pediment.

In front of the entrance to the pronaos (vestibule) there was a ramp and a wider paved road, which linked the temple with the monumental altar opposite it. The temple housed the cult statue of the goddess.

The temple was built of soft and hard limestone for foundations and superstructure and marble for the roof, tiles, gutter, spouts and finials. In the partial reconstruction of the architectural decoration made by the excavator and displayed in the museum, authentic material has been used, on which traces of ancient colour are still visible.

circa 350 BCE

Altar of Asklepios
The monumental altar of Asklepios was constructed in the 4th century BCE east of the temple of Asklepios. As "Building E", a building of primary importance for the earlier cult, existed already before the construction of both temple and altar, one had to shift the latter to the north. So, the pathway (paved in Roman times) connecting the temple to the altar reached the latter at its southern part. There steps led to the "prothysis", a broader step in front of that part of the table of the altar, where the priest accomplished the ceremony of the sacrifice. This main part of the altar was enhanced by a tetrastyle canopy. The large "trapeza" (altar-table) was constructed of limestone blocks surmounted by heavy marble slabs. Both ends of the "trapeza" were decorated with marble triangular edgings decorated with floral spirals.

The 15 meters long altar is characteristic of a type of monumental altars met in the northeastern Peloponnese. The same type, with a large altar-table on a stepped basis and a canopy above the actual sacrificial area, was repeated for Apollo Maleatas in his sanctuary on Mount Kynortion.

circa 300 BCE

Baths of Asklepios
Modern scholarship identifies the remains of the building adjacent to the northeastern part of the Abaton as the "Bath of Asklepios", mentioned by the ancient traveler Pausanias (2nd century CE).

Water was the most important element in the worship of Asklepios. The well that was later incorporated in the southeastern end of the stoa of Abaton was the first and most venerable source of water in the sanctuary. According to the ritual of the cult, the suppliant of the god purified himself by washing with water from the well and then slept near the well waiting for the visit of god in his dream. The sacred water was thought not only to be a means of purification but also an element causing regeneration. A large Roman bath complex immediately east and north of the Abaton is believed to have replaced a pre-existing building of soft limestone under it (pl. 1) and to be the edifice seen by Pausanias. The earlier building (pl. I a) is dated to the late 5th or early 4th century BCE; anyway, it was already there prior to the construction of the Abaton. Built next to the well this early edifice must have. been also a bath. Remains of its foundations of soft limestone are still visible, allowing its reconstruction as a rectangular edifice with an open façade and an inside divided into three rooms (pl. I, 3). This original building was expanded to the north at the end of the 4th century by adding new rooms (pl. I b). By that time the sacred well was already incorporated in the stoa of Abaton. A new system of water supply was constructed transporting water from the mountains to the Sanctuary. A water pipe of this system ended in front of the temple of Asklepios and supplied there a bronze fountain-statue of Asklepios with water. The water came out of a cup held by the god and was channeled further to the early bath building. It is presumably since that time that the building was called "Bath of Asklepios".

During the 2nd century CE, the wealthy Roman senator Antoninus built new or restored ruined edifices in the Sanctuary. It seems likely that the large building complex with bath installations was erected over the old limestone bath during this period and that it continued to be called the "Bath of Asklepios" as its predecessor. This was the building seen by Pausanias (pl. I c). The bath continued to exist to the end of antiquity. Water was always considered at means of therapy and a vehicle to approach the divine and its powers.

circa 300 BCE

"Building E"
The Sanctuary of Asklepios developed around the sacred well, which was incorporated into the stoa of Abaton, and in the area of "Building E", where the first ash altar and ritual feasting were located. The conventionally named "Building E" is a quadrangular composition of buildings, porticos and a central courtyard, constructed in five successive phases in different periods of time.

Today the visitor can see the remnants of the Hellenistic period of the building together with some of the Roman additions. A propylon (vestibule) in the west leads to an inner courtyard surrounded by shallow porticos. In the southern side, instead of a portico, a closed oblong, probably two-storeyed hall was built. The courtyard is divided in two parts on different levels by a zigzag row of soft limestone. In the northwestern corner there was a small rectangular chapel with a floor of heavy soft limestone slabs.

In the courtyard, an open-air altar existed since the late 6th century BCE, formed by the accumulated ash of the sacrificed animals. The ash contained, apart from sacrificial material, a lot of votive offerings to Apollo and Asklepios. In later times, the ashes of the altar were held together and preserved with a low zigzag wall, probably in order to conserve the venerable remnants of older cult. The remains of a preceding chapel with the same ground plan have been preserved in the northwestern corner of the building under the floor of the later one. In the early 5th century BCE, the complex of the altar and the adjacent small chapel was reshaped. The altar was enclosed in a П-form building, whose northern and eastern sides were provided with narrow porticos. The small rectangular chapel was incorporated in the northwestern corner of the court.

During this early period, "Building E" housed the traditional cult of Apollo consisting of the sacrifice of animals and the ritual meal, both well attested in the Sanctuary of Apollo Maleatas. Here, nevertheless, Apollo shared the cult with Asklepios. The small shallow porticos were probably used as shelters by those who consumed the flesh of the sacrificed animals, while the small chapel in the northwest corner of the building accommodated cult images and equipment.

By the late 4th century the number of worshipers increased and the ritual banquets were transferred to the newly built Hestiatorion (banquet hall). However, the beginning of the ritual meals continued to take place in the small chapel, as a perimetric channel and cuttings in its floor show. The water running in the channel was necessary for the cleaning of the floor after an activity producing dirt, such as the feast, while a drop-leaf "trapeza" (altar-table) was possibly fixed in the cuttings.

The foundations of a big paved altar, which certainly belonged to the main deities of the sanctuary, worshipped also in "Building E", are preserved west of it. The central, small, slightly elevated part of this altar is dated to the initial phase (6th-5th century BCE) of the cult. A second phase of the structure belongs to the late classical timew. The outer part, which was connected with the entrance of "Building E" by a paved pathway, was added later in Roman times.

circa 300 BCE

Sanctuary of the Egyptian Gods
The rectangular building consisted of a central hall which was surrounded by an oblong hall in the northern and by smaller rooms in the eastern, western and southern sides.

The central hall was divided in three aisles. In the central aisle there were a high base of soft limestone for small statues, probably three, and a small altar in front of it. In the right aisle there was an "eschara" (altar-pit in the ground for chthonic offerings) and in the left one, two rows of stone benches, a stone throne and a "trapeza" (altar-table), upon which statuettes were placed. The northern hall was hypostyle and suitable to house an ensemble of people. The southern wing consisted of many smaller rooms, including a circular room with a stone basin and a vestibule with a bathtub. The chthonic altars, the "trapeza" with the statuettes, the throne and the benches, the northern oblong hall and the southern rooms, appropriate for gathering, resting and cleaning, were the adequate setting for a mystic cult of a religious college of people, that included initiation and mystic ceremonies.

The building is identified as the temple of the Hygeia, Apollo and Asklepios the Egyptians. The ancient Greek traveler Pausanias mentions that it was built with money donated by the Roman senator Antoninus (second century CE). The syncretism of Greek and Egyptian deities set in already in much earlier times. We know that oriental deities were often venerated in religious colleges, where initiation was required.

circa 300 BCE

Greek Baths
The Greek period bath complex was built around 300 BCE. Its early chronology gave it the conventional name Greek Baths, in contrast to all other bath buildings of the sanctuary, which belong to the Roman period. The proximity of the edifice to the hestiatorion (banquet hall) and the Katagogion (hostel), which were built at the same time, as well as to the stadium, is characteristic; it provided facilities for the visitors of the Sanctuary during its heyday.

The building is a rectangular bath complex with a large inner courtyard . It contained oblong rooms with bathtubs for common use on its northern and western sides and larger hypostyle halls for restricted numbers of users on its southern side and in the middle. Small and narrow compartments indicating staircases show that the building had a second floor. Water came to the bath building through a stone conduit, part of which is preserved outside its east side. In the Roman period (31 BCE- 330 CE) two pools and a system of reservoirs were constructed in the eastern part of the building (grey colour), while a series of square pillars was erected in the courtyard.

The Committee for the Conservation of the Epidauros Monuments runs a program of conservation, partial restoration and presentation of the ruins of the Greek Baths.

circa 300 BCE

Hestiatorion
The Hestiatorion complex (banquet hall) consists Hestiatorion and its monumental Propylon at the northwest. Sacrificial of the meals related to the cult of Asklepios took place in the building, which dates to around 300 BCE. The odeum, which was erected inside the peristyle courtyard of the Hestiatorion, is a Roman insert of the second or early third century CE.

The building was rectangular in shape (dimensions 76 x 70 meters) and consisted of a large internal peristyle courtyard with 16 columns of Doric order on each side. Behind the colonnade there were rooms of various sizes. The walls were made of clay bricks covered with mortar on a stone base.

The monumental propylon on the northern side of the building, in the shape of a temple with a three-stepped crepis, 6 Doric columns at the front and a wide ramp leading to the top of the crepis, served as the main entrance to the complex. A second entrance existed at the end of the corridor of the eastern part of the building, where an improvised ramp allowed small carriages to enter or leave the building. Finally, a third entrance near the southeastern corner of the complex was opened in the 2nd century CE, providing access to a fountain.

Remnants of couches preserved mainly in the eastern rooms and remains of fires with food residues in the courtyard indicate that ritual meals related to the cult of Asklepios took place in this edifice. During the annual festival a procession was sent to the sanctuary from the city. Part of the sacrificial food was offered to the god, while the rest was consumed by the worshipers.

The complex was probably designed to facilitate training as well, as it shares common characteristics with a gymnasium, like the stoas of the courtyard, whose total length is similar to the one of a covered running track of a gymnasium.

The hestiatorion was partly destroyed, mainly in its western part, during the raids of Cilician pirates which happened in the second quarter of the first century BCE In the second century CE, in the courtyard of it, a roofed theater, the Odeum, was erected, where probably the ritual and musical part of the festival continued to take place. Parts of the Odeum like the scene, the proscenium, the orchestra with the parodoi and the cavea are visible.

In the Roman times the Propylon was converted into a temple of Hygieia, goddess of health. A stone altar is preserved today in front of the propylon, bearing an inscription with her name. This late arrangement annulled the main entrance of the old building complex. The Committee for the Conservation of the Epidauros Monuments carried out a program (1984-2010) of partial restoration of the Propylon and of the Hestiatorion, funded by the Regional Operational Program of the Peloponnese and the EU Operational Program "Culture".

circa 300 BCE

Katagogion
The Katagogion, built in the late 4th century BCE, provided accommodation to the numerous visitors of the Sanctuary, pilgrims, patients and their companions. In antiquity, this kind of building was known as "katagogion", which means hostel.

This large quadrangular edifice (5,822 square meters) consisted of four square units of equal size. Each unit consisted of a courtyard, a Doric peristyle, surrounded by rooms behind and probably an upper storey with the same number of rooms as in the ground floor. It is estimated that the building had in total 160 rooms.

It is characteristic that in the original form of the building there was no communication between the two eastern and the two western units, so that it was possible to isolate parts of the building when the Sanctuary was less busy or for medical reasons (contagious diseases, etc.).

During the Roman period, the complex was repaired and altered mainly in its eastern part, while, after it collapsed, much of its building material was removed and used in other constructions in the Sanctuary.

circa 300 BCE

Stoa of Kotys
This large (diamensions 63 x 31.5 meters) building, whose construction is dated to the 3rd century BCE, is identified by modern scholars with the Stoa of Kotys, mentioned by the ancient traveler Pausanias. Kotys was probably the donor of the building.

The remains of the Stoa are preserved at a low level, thus being with difficulty readable by the modern visitor. A double colonnade of Doric front and lonic rear columns run along the façade of the stoa, which was oriented towards the centre of the sanctuary and its narrow western side, creating a kind of a courtyard with peristyle. The building included rooms behind the porticos and on the back side of the courtyard. They are interpreted as shops, as the use of this complex was presumably commercial. Pausanias reports that the Stoa of Kotys, like many other buildings in the sanctuary, was repaired with money spent by the Roman senator Antoninus in the second century CE.

On the western side of the building are preserved poor remains of a perimetric stoa, which delimitated the shrunken Sanctuary by the 4th century CE.

circa 300 BCE

Outer Propylaia
The building of the propylaia at the ancient entrance of the Sanctuary of Asklepios, was the monumental gateway through which the sacred processions passed; its monumentality and rich decoration impressed emotionally the pilgrims and inspired the unconditional respect due to the god. It was the point where the roads from the city of Epidauros and from western Argolid terminated,

The building had two façades with six-column lonic colonnades, while inside it contained rows of Corinthian columns forming a square peristyle room. The frieze above the columns on both façades was decorated with bull-skulls and rosettes in relief. Two ramps, one on the northern and one on the southern side, provided easy access, also for chariots, to the building. The propylaia was built around 300 BCE. It was discovered in 1893 CE by P. Kavvadias, who also restored the parts of the monument that are displayed in the local museum. Preserved in situ are the basis of the building, part of the stone paving on its floor and parts of the southern and northern ramps.

In antiquity, a pathway started at the inner side of the propylaía leading to the centre of the sanctuary complex. Boundary stones of this pathway are still visible.

Immediately after leaving the propylaia, the visitor passes by a well on the right side of the pathway, dated to the late 6th or early 5th century BCE and used continuously until the late antiquity. The ground level rose through the centuries and in Roman times an improvised wellhead was put on the carefully shaped original one. Recent excavation showed that the pilgrims used the water of this well to perform cleansing, through a ritual that left plenty of broken pots around.

circa 300 BCE

Stadium
The Epidaurian festival in honour of Asklepios comprised among other ceremonies also athletic games. These contests took place in the stadium, which was built southwest of the central area of the Sanctuary. The lyrical poet Pindar mentions already in the early 5th century BCE the athletic contests in the Epidaurian Sanctuary. The games in honour of the Epidaurian Asklepios are mentioned once more in the 5th century by Plato in his dialogue "lon" and later by the ancient traveler Pausanias (second century CE).

The stadium of Epidauros was constructed in a natural depression in the ground, which was made suitable to accommodate contests and their spectators. The track was rectangular (180.7 meters long, 22.06 meters wide), surrounded by a conduit of soft limestone. Water was needed not only for athletes but also for spectators. The conduit functioned equally as a drain of rainwater. At each end of the track there was a starting / finishing line originally made out of stones with shallow grooves and holes where wooden posts were erected to support the starting mechanism. In a later period a special starting signalling mechanism (hysplex) was created with a row of lonic half-columns. Since the late 4th century BCE one started to put stone seats on the two long, sloping sides of the stadium. Mainly along the eastern side of the stadium, excavations found earlier steps on the slopes made out of fieldstones and clay. Scholars date this humble stepped construction to the first phase of the stadium, dating to the 5th century BCE, while stone seats were constructed from the end of the 4th probably until the 1st century BCE. Yet the construction of stone seats did not go much further than what has been preserved to ourdays. Officials and athletes entered the stadium through an underground vaulted passageway on the northern side of the stadium. This passageway was connected to a building north of the stadium, whose poor ruins are interpreted as a training (palaistra) or dressing room (apodyterion).

The Stadium has been included in the restoration program of the Committee for the Conservation of the Epidauros Monuments. Controlled school track and field activities take already place in the Stadium, which enhance the links of modern society with the monument and generally with the ancient site.

circa 320 BCE

Theater
The Theatre is the best preserved monument in the Sanctuary of Asklepios. It was erected at the end of the 4th century BCE. According to the ancient traveler Pausanias (2nd century CE), it was the work of the architect Polykleitos, who built also the tholos in the same Sanctuary. The monument is a characteristic example of the tripartite structure of Hellenic theatres (orchestra - cavea and the stage building). Its original form remained intact in Roman times, during which most Greek theatres underwent major changes.

The floor of the circular orchestra (diameter 20 meters) is beaten earth. It is outlined in stone, while at its centre a circular base of an altar, the thymele, is preserved. The orchestra is surrounded by a walkway in lower level, which served additionally as a drain for rainwater.

The auditorium of the theater the koilon or cavea, consists of two unequal parts, which are divided by a horizontal walkway, known as the diazoma. The lower part is divided by 13 radiating staircases into 12 wedge-shaped segments, the kerkides or cunei, with 34 rows of seats each. At the upper part of the cavea 23 radiating passages divide it into 22 wedge-shaped segments with 20 rows of seats. To each segment of the lower part correspond two segments of the upper part. The seats of the lowest row were provided with backrests and used as "prohedriae" (front seats of honour); similarly shaped were the seats of the upper part's first row. Uphill pathways outside the Theatre led on both sides to the horizontal passage which divided the upper from the lower part of the cavea. It is estimated that the Theatre could accommodate 12,000 spectators.

The scenae (stage building) in front of the orchestra and the cavea served the needs of the actors and had a parallel use as storage room of theatrical equipment. The scenae building was composed of a rectangular oblong hall with two smaller square rooms on each side, a proscenium (stage), on whose façade were fixed panels representing the setting of each play, two ramps, one on each side, which provided access to the roof of the proscenium for the actors, and an upper storey of the scenae building, of which no evidence has been preserved. Scholars estimate that the total height of the stage building was 7.60 meters.

Spectators entered the theater through two impressive gates situated on both sides of the stage building, between it and the lower part of the retaining wall of the cavea. The seats of the cavea were made out of local grey and reddish hard limestone while for the stage building a yellow soft limestone was used.

The cavea was constructed at the end of the 4th century BCE while the stage building was modified during the 2nd century BCE. A characteristic feature of the theatre was (and still is) its excellent acoustics. It had largely to do with its design. The creation of the circular shape of the cavea was based on three centres. The eight central cunei corresponded to circumference which had as centre the centre of the orchestra. The two lateral cunei were designed with different centres, which lay further away from the centre of the orchestra providing thus a larger radius and consequently a larger circle. This "opening" on the edges of the cavea, beside its contribution to acoustics, allowed a better view to those sitting in the lateral cunei.

The theatre of the Sanctuary was closely connected to the cult of Asklepios. During the festivals held in honour of the god athletic but also musical and dramatic contests games, took place. The latter were surely housed in the Theatre, where most probably also deep-rooted ceremonies closer connected with the cult took place. Today theatrical plays are again performed in the theatre during the summer (Epidauros festival).

The theatre was excavated in 1881 CE by P. Kavvadias, who then carried out partial restorations. Restoration works by An. Orlandos took place in the monument in the years 1954-1963 CE. He proceeded then to a reconstruction of the proscenium, which was later removed. The Committee for the Conservation of the Epidauros Monuments restored the western parodos gate, the last upper western cuneus (1988-1999) and the ancient drains (1992-2007). A third program includes restoration works in the cavea and the stage building.

circa 300 BCE

Thermae
Two Roman public baths (thermae) were built during the Roman times northwest of the main sacred area of the Sanctuary. The larger bath complex (thermae i) has been wrongly identified by some scholars as a Sanctuary of the Egyptian goddess Isis. Its entrance was on the southern side of the building, giving access to a partly roofed courtyard used for exercise, relaxation and socializing. Next, the bathers progressed into the room for the cold bath (frigidarium), which was elaborately decorated with multicoloured marble revetments on the walls and a mosaic on the floor having geometric patterns. The rooms for bathing in warm (tepidarium) and hot (caldarium) water were provided with an extensive underfloor heating system (hypocausts). The bath complex contained also a changing room (apodyterium), a sweating room (sudatorium), swimming pools and individual bathtubs.

The smaller bath complex (thermae ii), built west of the thermae i, is partially excavated. It consisted of a large reception room in the east, an apodyterium and the rooms for the baths in the west, decorated with marble revetments on the walls and mosaics on the floors. The two thermae could serve a large number of users. Their construction in Imperial Roman times is obviously connected with a late period of affluence in the Sanctuary, during which the number of its visitors must have notably grown. Probably, the two thermae were in use alternatively, the greater thermae i at summertime, the smaller thermae ii in the winter months.

circa 350 BCE

Tholos
The Tholos together with the temple of Asklepios and the stoa of Abaton were the main buildings of cult in the centre of the classical Sanctuary. The term tholos is the one used by the ancient traveler Pausanias (second century CE), who also mentions its architect, the Argive Polykleitos. Inscriptions of the 4th century BCE, however, found in the Sanctuary and recording the annual expenses for the construction of the building, call the building Thymele, which means altar (from the Greek word thyo meaning sacrifice). This implies its use for some kind of offerings to the god. Modern scholarship dates the construction of the building to the years around the middle of 4th century BCE The building (pl. I and 2) was circular (diameter 21.50 meters) with an external Doric peristyle of 26 columns of soft limestone raised on a three-stepped platform. The metopes of the frieze were decorated with relief rosettes and the whole entablature with colours. The cella (inner chamber) was also circular. The coffers of the ceiling between peristyle and cella, as well as the doorcase of the cella were made out of marble and decorated with elegant floral ornaments. The roof tiles were also of marble, ending on the outer side in an elaborately decorated gutter with water spouts in the shape of lion's head and converging towards the centre to an elaborate vegetal finial.

Inside the cella there was a second circular colonnade, consisting of 14 elegant Corinthian marble columns (pl. 2). The walls of the cella were decorated with painted panels, work of the painter Pausias. Its floor was made out of black and white marble rhomboid slabs. In the centre of the floor a removable circular slab gave access to an underground structure (I, airial photo before restoration works), composed of a narrow circular central room and three concentric corridors. Doors allowed movement through the corridors. But stone barriers fixed alternately left and right of each door obliged the visitor to a zigzag movement from corridor to corridor.

Ancient sources are almost silent concerning the use of this building. The circular ground plan, common as a type of burial monuments, the underground labyrinth reminiscent of the dark passages of the Underworld, the mention of a tomb of Asklepios in Epidauros by Christian authors of the 4th century CE, support the interpretation of the Tholos as the simulation of the underground dwelling of the god. According to his principal myth, Asklepios struck by the thunderbolt of Zeus was banished in the realm of Hades, but at the same time he received the privilege to be able to continue healing people from his underground seat. Recent studies showed that the ceiling of the Tholos labyrinth is on exactly the same hypsometric level as the ceiling of the ground floor of the Abaton, where the incubation of patients took place. This means that the two buildings were bound with a correlated religious content and that they must have been designed in a single, coherent building program. The incubation, that is the sleep in the Abaton, during which the god restored the health of the patient, was an imitation of death, a temporary descent in the kingdom of Hades, imposed by the very character of the Epidaurian healing, bound to the chthonic substance of Asklepios. In the early 20th century CE, architectural fragments found around the ruin and belonging to the monument were combined in a truncated reconstruction in the local museum. Today, due to the program of restoration, only a Corinthian capital is on display. This capital was found carefully buried near the Tholos and is interpreted as model for the construction of the real capitals of the Corinthian inner colonnade of the monument.

The conservation and partial restoration of the Tholos is one of the programs run by the Committee for the Conservation of the Epidauros Monuments.

circa 300 BCE

Temple of Asklepios

circa 100 CE

Plaster Cast of a Statue of Armed Aphrodite
The goddess wears a chiton and a himation. A carriage is hanged by a stap over her right shoulder. The handle of the sword was additional. The goddess would hold a spear or a scepter on her left hand. On her externded right hand she would hold either a phiale or an apple, or a heimet emphasizing the military charcter of the goddess. The cult of Aphrodite in Epidauros is attested from the beginning of the fourth century BCE. In antiquity, the armed Aphrodite was worshipped as Morpho, the female goddess who brings sleep, an important stage of healing process in the sanctuary of Asklepios. Found in the end of the 19th century CE at the complex of Asklepios' copy of a statue of the fourth century BCE.