Page:Dictionary of Greek and Roman Geography Volume I Part 2.djvu/100

 EPIDAUEUS. -iSraee. 1.) The original inhabitants of the ooontry were called Korlirodes or dusty-feet^ and coltiTated the land for their Dorian masters in 'the city. (Plat 2. c; Hesjch. «. 9. KoWto5«s; Miiller, I>or. vol. ii. pp. 57, 151, transl.) In the Peloponnesian War (b. a 419) theArgiyes made -war upon the Epidaorians and attempted to take their city, hot they were repulsed and obliged to retreat into their own territories. (Thnc. y. 53 — 57.) In tlie time of the Romans, Epidaums was little more than the harbour of the temple of Asclepins. Paosanias gives only a brief account of its pablio buildings. He mentioos a temple of Athena Cissaea on the acropolis ; temples of Dionysus, Artemis, and Aphrodite, in the city; a sacred enclosure of Asclepius in the suburbs; and a temple of Hera on a promontoiy at the harbour, which promontory is doubtless the one forming the northern entrance to the harbour, and now called C. Nikoiao. (Pans, it 29. § L) The name of Epidaurus is still preserved in the corrupted form of PidhavrOf which is the name of a neighbouring village. The foundations of the ancient walls may be traced in many parts along the difib of the peninsula. Here DodweU noticed some fragments c^ columns, and a draped statue of a female figure, forming apparently the cover of a sarcophagus. The sea has encroached upon the shore on eithor side of the peninsula, and some remains of the outer city may still be seen under water. The temple of Asclepius was situated at the dis- tance of 5 miles west of Epidaurus on the road to Argos. (Liv. zlv. 28.) It was <me of the most celebrated spots in Greece, and was frequented by patients from all parts of the Hellenic world for the cure of their diseases. The temple itself was only a small part of the sacred spot Like the Altis at Olympia, and the Hierum of Poeddon at the Isthmus, there was a sacred enclosure, usually called the grove (Ji^os) of Asclepius, and con- taining several public buildings. It stood in a small plain entirely surrounded by mountains. (Pans. iL 27. § 1.) The sacred enclosure was ** less than a mile in circumference ; it was confined on two sides by steep hills, and on the other two by a wall, which appears to have formed a right angle in the lowest and most level part of the valley, and is still traceable in several places." (Leake.) The recollection of the sacred character of this valley has been preserved down to the present name. It is still called Hier&n (iepSv)^ or the Sanctuary ; and it is a curious circunistance that the village, through which the road leads to the Hieron, bears the name of Koronij evidentiy de- rived from Goronis, the mother of Asclepius, and which it must have preserved from ancient times, although the name is not mentioned by ancient writers. Of the mountains surrounding the sanc- tuary the highest lies to the north : it is now calleid BolanuUdy and bore in ancient times the name of Titthiuu (ThOiov), because the child of Coronis, which was exposed upon this mountain, was here suckled by a goat (Pans. ii. 26. § 4, 27. § 7.) Mount Gtnortium (Kw6pTunf^ Pans. ii. 27. § 7), on which stood a temple of Apollo Maleatas, is probably the hill in the south- east of the valley, above the theatre, on the way to Troeaen. Paosanias also mentions a hill called GoRTPHASUK, on the summit of which was a temple of Artemis Goryphaea. It appears to have been the height in the south-west (tf the valley, since some bdieved that an olive tree on the ascent J EPIDAURUS. 841 to the mountain was the boundary of the territory of Asine. (Pans, il 28. § 2.) The buildings in the sacred grove are described by Pausanias. He mentions first the temple of Asclepius, containing a chryselephantine statue of the god, the work of Thrasymedes of Pares, and half the size of the temple of Zeus at Olympia. The god sat upon a throne, holding a staff in one hand, and resting tiie other upon the head of a serpent ; a dog lay at his feet. On one side of the temple there were dormitories for those who oune to consult the god. Near the temple was the Tholus, a circular biuld« ing of white marble, built by Polydeitus of Argos, and containing pictures by Pausias. In the sacred enclosure there was a theatre, also built by Pdy- cleitus, which Pausanias considered particularly worthy of attention. The other objects within tiie sacred enclosure specified by Pausanias were tern* pies of Artemis, Aphrodite, and Themis, a stadium, a fountain covered with a roof, and several works erected by Antoninus Pius before he became em- peror of Borne, of which the most important were the bath of A^sclepius, a temple of the gods called Epidotae, a temple dedicated to Hygieia, AsclepiuB, and Apollo sumamed the Aegyptian, and a build- ing beyond the sacred enclosure for the reception of the dying and of women in labour, because it was unlawful for any one to die or to be bom within the sanctuary. (Pans. ii. 27.) A festival was celebrated in the sacred grove in honour of Ascle- pius with musical and gymnastic games : it took place every four years, nine days after the Istimiiaa games. (Schol. ad Find. Nem, iii. 145 ; Plat /on, init ; Diet, of AnL art Agdepieia.) The site of the sacred enclosure is now covered with ruins, which it is difficult for the most part to assign to any definite buildings. The position of the Tholus is clearly marked by its foundations, from which it appears that it was about 20 feet in diameter. In its neighbourhood are some foundations of a temple, which was probably the great temple of Asclepius. The ruins of the theatre are the most important Leake observes that this theatre is in better preservation than any other temple in Greece, except that which exists near Trametzus in Epirus, not &r from loannina, " The orchestra was about 90 feet in length, and the entire theatre about 370 feet in diameter : ^ rows of seats still appear ^^ above ground in a lower division, whidi is separated by a diazoma from an upper, consisting of 20 seats. ^2 3 Twenty-four scalae, or flights of stepe, diverging in H^^ equidistaiil radii from the bottom to the top, formed the communications with the seats. The theatre, when complete, was capable of containing 12,000 spectators.'^ Of the stadium there remain the cir^2*C/'/.l4 cuhir end and a part of the adjacent sides, with 15 ^ rows of seats. Near it are the ruins of two cis- terns and a bath. When L. Aemilins Panlus visited Epidaurus in B. c. 167 after the conquest of Maoedonia, the sanctuaiy was still rich in gifts presented by those who had recovered from diseases ; but it had been robbed of most of these votive offerings before the ^ time of Livy. (Liv. xlv. 28.) It suffered most from tiie depredations of Sulla at the same time that he robbed the temples of Olympia and Delphi. (Died. Exc, p. 614, ed. Wees.) It is described by Strabo as a place renowned for the cure of all dia- always full of invalids, and containing votive tablets descriptive of the cures, aa at Gob and Tijoca. 't ZJ