Vol. XXV. No. 5.] 
POPULAE SCIENCE KEWS. 
73 
fli'edieiRe aipd pf^armactj. 
[Original in Popui,AB Science News.] 
THE FAITH CURE IX ANCIENT GREECE. 
BY JOHN C. KOLFE. 
Epidaurus in Argolis was celebrated in an- 
tiquity as the principal seat of the worship of 
Asklepios, (or iEsculapius, as he is more com- 
monly called), the god of healing and son of 
Apollo. There were many other famous shrines 
of ^'Esculapius in the Greek world, of which those 
at Athens, Pergamum, and Smyrna were the most 
prominent ; but all traced their origin directly or 
indirectly to Epidaurus. Its fame even crossed 
tlie seas, for as early as 29.3 B. C. — at the time of 
:i destructive pestilence — the Sibylline books or- 
dered that the worship of aEsculaplus should be 
introduced into Rome. Accordingly one of the 
sacred serpents of the god, which always accom- 
panied the colonies from Epidaurus, was trans- 
ported to Rome and established in a temple of 
-Esculapius, built for the purpose on the island in 
tlie Tiber. Ovid (Met. xv., 420 fol.) tells us that 
it was ^Esculapius himself, who, in the form of a 
serpent, migrated from Epidaurus to Rome. Ser- 
pents were alwaj's connected with his worship, 
and a peculiar kind of tame serpent, in which 
ICpidaurus abounded, ^as kept in his temple. 
The Hieron of Epidaurus, as it was called in 
ancient times, and as it is still called today, was 
five ndles distant from the town, picturesquely 
-urroundetl by hills, on one of which the god is 
I ill to have been born. The Greek traveller Pau- 
iiiias has left us a description of the place as it 
was in the second century of our era, and the site 
lias recently been excavated by the Greek Arcli- 
aological Society. The Hieron conlprised a tem- 
ple of Esculapius, surrounded by a sacred grove, 
aiid containing a statue of the god in gold and 
vijry; a round building, or tholos, like the round 
inples found in various parts of Italy, whicli 
as the work of the younger Polykleitos, and 
outained beautiful paintings by Pausias; build- 
ings for the priests, who were also the physicians; 
'alls for gymnastic and musical exercises; and a 
lered portico, in which the patients assembled 
I await the visits of the god. Just outside the 
lered precinct was a magnificent theatre, also 
the work of Polykleitos. In Roman times exten- 
sive batlis were added. 
To this delightful sanitarium invalids resorted 
Irom all over Greece, attracted by the fame of the 
marvellous cures. They spent one or more nights 
'"\ the sacred portico, 6bserviug certain rules pre- 
libed by the priests, when tha god usually re- 
galed the remedies for their diseases in a dream. 
ICach patient, after his cure, oftered a sacrifice to 
the god, — usually a cock or a goat, — and recorded 
on a tablet his name, the disease from which he 
had suffered, and tlie method of its cure. And 
«e may imagine that, after the fashion of oui 
modern quacks, the priests composed a great 
many testimonials themselves, to increase the 
tame of the sanctuary and the faith of new- 
comers. 
Among the very interesting results of the exca- 
itious_at the Hieron was the discovery of two 
'ine slabs, containing records of marvellous 
cures. Some specimens of these I give below. 
I'liey show that while occasionally a regular 
course of treatment was prescribed, the majority 
"f the cases were "faith cures."" 
A man, having his fingers paralyzed, except 
one, came to the god as a suppliant. And seeing 
the tablets in the sacred enclosui-e, he did not be- 
lieve in the cures, but made fun of them. And 
when he went to sleep he had a dream. It seemed 
to him that he was playing at dice beside the 
temple, and that just as he was about to make a 
throw, the god appeared, caught his hand, and 
straightened out the» fingers. And when the god 
was going away, he seemed to bend the hand to- 
gether and to straighten out the fingers one by 
one ; and when he had straightened tliem all out, 
he asked the man whether he still disbelieved the 
inscriptions on the tablets in the sacred enclosure, 
and the man said that he did not. And when day 
came, he went away cured. 
Unbelief is rebuked in another inscription in a 
way which shows that the god was not lacking in 
humor : 
Ambrosia of Athens, blind in one eye. She 
came as a suppliant to the god, and going around 
the sacred enclosure she laughed at some of the 
cures as incredible and impossible, that the lame 
and blind became whole merely by seeing a vision. 
And when she went to sleep she had a dream. It 
seemed that the god stood beside her and said 
that he would make her whole on condition that 
she would pay him by setting up in tlie Hieron a 
silver pig, as a monument of her stupidity. So 
saying he cut open her diseased eye and poured 
in a drug. And when day came she went away 
cured. 
A dumb boy came as a suppliant to the god 
about his voice, and when he had made the pre- 
liminary sacrifices and gone through the usual 
ceremonies, the attendant of the god, looking 
towards the boy's father, said: "Do you agree 
within a year, if you obtain what you came for, 
to offer thank offerings?" And suddenly the boy 
cried out, "I do." And his father in amazement 
bade him speak again; and he spake again, and 
thereupon was cured. 
In the two following inscriptions the evil con- 
sequences of cheating the god out of his fee are 
shown : 
Pandarus, a Thessalian, having marks branded 
on his forehead. He went to sleep and had a 
dream. The god seemed to bind a fillet around 
the marks, and to order him, when he left the 
sacred enclosure, to take oft" the fillet and offer it 
up in the shrine. And when day came, he got up, 
took oft' the fillet, and offiered it up in the temple 
with the marks from his forehead on it. _ 
Echedorus received the marks of Pandarus in 
addition to those he already had. He received 
money from Pandarus to ofter to the god at Epi- 
daurus on his account, but did not pay the money. 
Now when he went to sleep he had a dream. He 
thought the god came and stood beside him, and 
asked whether he had received any money from 
Pandarus as an ofl'ering to the shrine. He replied 
that he had received notliing of the kind, but that 
if the god would cure him of his marks he would 
dedicate a statue to him. Thereupon it appeared 
to him that the god bound Pandarus's fillet 
around his forehead, and bade him, when he went 
out of the sacred place, take oft" the fillet, wash 
his face in the spring, and look at his reflection in 
the water. And when day came he took oiT the 
fillet, on which there were no longer any marks, 
and saw on his forehead the marks of Pandarus, 
besides those which he had formerly had. 
The next shows the god in a kindly light : 
Euphaues, a boy of Epidaurus, attUcted with 
stone. When he went to sleep it seemed to him 
that the god came and asked him what he would 
give him if he would cure him. And he said, 
"Ten jackstones." The god laughed and said 
that he would help him. In the morning he went 
away cured. 
TTie following shows that some very desperate 
cases were cured : 
A man came to the god as a suppliant who was 
so blind in one eye that he had only his eyelids 
and nothing at all in them, but only an empty 
void. And some of those in the sacred place said 
that life was foolish to expect to see when he had 
absolutely no eye at all, but only the place where 
the eye ought to be. Now when he went to sleep 
a vision appeared to him. It seemed to him that 
the god prepared a drug, and then, separating his 
eyelids, poured it between them. And when 
morning came he went away seeing with both 
eyes. 
The success of the god was not confined to liv- 
ing beings : 
A porter was on his way to the shrine, and 
when he was about ten stadia away, he fell. And 
when he got up and opened his wallet he saw that 
its contents were shattered. And when he saw 
that the cup from which his master was wont to 
drink was broken, he was grieved, and sat down 
and tried to fit the pieces together. And a way- 
farer seeing him said: "Why, foolish fellow, do 
you vainly try to put that cup together? Why, 
not even Esculapius at Epidaurus could make 
that whole ! "' Now when the boy heard this, he 
put the pieces in his wallet again and went to the 
shrine. And when he got there, he opened his 
wallet and took the cup out safe and sound. Then 
he told his master what had been said and done. 
And when his master h^ard it, he dedicated the 
cup to the god. 
Curiosity is punished : 
Eschines, when the suppliants had gone to 
sleep, climbed a tree and peered over into the 
sacred portico. But he fell from the tree and 
dashed out his eyes against some stakes. And 
being in a pitiful plight and blind, he prayed to 
the god, went to sleep, and woke up cured. 
Euippus carried a spear-head in the side of his 
face for six years. And when he had gone to 
sleep, the god took out the spear-head and placed 
it in his hand. And in the morning he went out 
with tlie spear-head in his hand. 
Hermodicus of Lampsacus, paralyzed. When 
he had gone to sleep, the god cured him, and bade 
him go and bring into the sacred enclosure the 
largest stone he could find. And he went and 
brought the one that lies before the sacred en- 
closure. 
Even the most skeptical must have believed 
this, for there was the stone to prove it! 
Nicanor, lame. When he lay down, a boy 
seized his staff and ran off with it. He rose and 
pursued him, and thereupon was cured. 
A man's toe was cured by a snake. This man — 
whose toe was severely afflicted with a malignant 
ulcer — was carried out by the attendants one day, 
aud placed upon a seat. When sleep had come 
upon him, a snake coming out of the sacred en- 
closure cured his- toe by licking it with his tongue, 
and then went back again. And when the man 
woke up he said that he had dreamed that a youth 
of great beauty had poured a healing drug upon 
his toe. 
Alcetas, blind. He had a dream. It seemed to 
him that the god came and opened his eyes with 
his fingers, and thereupon he saw the trees in the 
sacred grove. And in the morning he went away 
cured. 
I have never heard of a case in modern times of 
a cure of baldness by faith, but the god at Epi- 
daurus was equal even to that. We see incident- 
ally that baldness was rare among the Greeks : 
Heraieus of Mitylene. He had no hair on his 
bead, but a great deal on his chin. And being 
