Epidaurus – Mycenae – Nafplio

INTRO TEXT

Peace and tranquility reign over the horizon and you understand immediately why the ancient chose this place to construct the famous Asclepion. In ancient times, it served as a medical sanctuary and serious illnesses were diagnosed and healed there. Today, it owes a great deal of its fame to the theater,a wonder of acoustics,elegance and symmetrical proportions.The visit provides insight into an early approach of medicine and the healing cults of Ancient Greece.

IN LEGENDS AND MYTHS

According to the poet Hesiod,Asclepius was born there.He was a mortal doctor elevated to a divine status.He was the son of divine Apollo and his mother was the mortal Coronis.Coronis was killed by Apollo during her pregnancy for being unfaithful to him,but when she was laid out on the pyre,Apollo cut the unborn child from her womb and rescued the baby.This is thought to have been  the first Cesarean section in human history.

Asclepius was brought up by his father Apollo,who gave him the gift of healing and the secrets of medicine using plants and herbs.He was also tutored by Cheiron,the wise Centaur,who taught him the art of surgery,the effective use of drugs,incantations and aphrodisiacs.

He met a tragic end when he was killed by a thunderbolt thrown by Zeus,because his healing powers threatened the god’s authority over life and death.Asclepius was deified following his death and became the constellation Ophiuchus.

Descendants of him who continued in the art of medicine were undoubtedly Hippocrates.

HISTORY AND SITE

Epidaurus was the earliest organized sanatorium,inscribed on the World Heritage List in 1988.The healing cult had very deep roots.

Near the springs of Mt.Kynortion,a female deity and her consort were worshiped during the 3rd millenium B.C.Purification with water,animal sacrifice and the communal meal with the divine were performed here as a process supporting men’s health.Ceremonial healing practices were enriched through the cults of Apollo Maleatas in the 8th B.C. The sanctuary flourished so much that it could not accommodate the crowd of visitors and this led to the transplantation of the cult.Here Apollo was escorted by Asclepio.The old and the new sanctuary functioned as a twin cult. In the new sanctuary,two different healing treatments were combined.Sacrifice and the  communion of divine food continued along with “incubation”:The cure obtained in a meeting with the god in a dream.The god healed people either by operation or by giving them a drug or suggesting a cure.The miraculous cure was based on magical energy and auto-suggestion,but the observation and the recording of it created a body of experience and empirical knowledge of scientific healing.

These practices aiming to obtain health continued to function until the end of the ancient religion.In the 4th A.D,for a time,the ancient pagan and the new Christian religion must have coexisted.It was abandoned following the destructive earthquakes of 522 and 551 AD.

MONUMENTS:

-Ancient Theater

-Tholos/Thymele

-Stoa of Abaton

-Gymnasium

-Stadium

-Temple of Asclepius

INTRO TEXT

If you are in search of the dawn of Greek Civilization and the glory of classical mythology,Mycenae still stands at the edge of the plain of Argos and is waiting for you.Homer conveyed in his epics echoes of this brilliant civilization and made the Mycenaeans eternal.Those people built the first cities in Europe and were the first to develop a written script in Europe.Shadows of heroes like Atreus,Agamemnon,Clytemnestra,Helen,Menelaus,Iphigenia and Orestes come alive before the eyes of the visitor…Come and see!

IN LEGENDS AND MYTHS

Legend has it that Mycenae was founded by Perseus,son of Zeus and Danae,and grandson of the king of Argos,Acrisius. Perseus’ kingdom initially had Tirynth as its capital but upon realizing it was disadvantageously situated,he searched for a new site to build a new capital city.While traveling in the region ,Perseus saw a mushroom or a Mykitas in Greek and pulling it discovered a water spring ,named Perseia.The Perseia fountain exists to this day.So the existence of water was the most important advantage an ancient city could have and Perseus decided to found his city there,named Mycenae or Mykines in Greek.

Mycenae is also celebrated by Homer as the seat of King Agamemnon who led the Greeks in the Trojan War.Being a legendary place,it never ceased to exist.It still does as a symbolic landscape assuming a leading role in the World of Ideas and as a timeless theme of Literature and Art.

HISTORY AND SITE

It’s time to go beyond the legends.The Mycenaean civilization flourished in the Late Bronze Age (1700-1100 B.C),peaking from the 15th to the 13th B.C.

Mycenae,an isolated piece of land, rose 278m above sea level in the shadow of two steep hills looking like horns of consecration.Man’s choice of this location was dictated by its location near the the main land passage from Corinthia to the Argolic plain and sea.The rulers of Mycenae extended their influence throughout the Peloponnese and across the Aegean from Crete to the Cycladic islands.They were influenced by the earlier Minoan Civilization (2000-1450 B.C ).Architecture,art,religious practices were assimilated and adapted to better express the more militaristic and austere Mycenaean culture.

The seat of activities for Mycenaean rulers was the luxurious palace built atop the hill.It stressed the power of the ruling class and impressed visitors and subjects.This imposing picture was complemented by the Cyclopean fortifications of the 14th and the 13th B.C,the apogee of the Mycenaean civilization.In the interior and the exterior of its fortification existed burial monuments for their glorious ancestors,displaying their hegemonic status.

The hill was accessible only from the west through the Lion Gate,the earliest example of monumental architectural sculpture in Europe.

The demise of the Mycenaean civilization occurred in stages from 1230 to 1100 B.C. Several sites were destroyed when the centralized system of palace declined.Natural disaster also,overpopulation,invasion from foreign tribes and regional climate change brought decisive blows to the mighty empire.

There came the Dark Ages and its heroes were given immortal life in sculpture,on painted pottery and epic Literature.

MONUMENTS:

-Lions’ Gate

-Grave Circle A

-Cyclopean walls

-Palace

-Treasure of Atreus