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Modern Description: The Asklepieion is located at the edge of the Imperial city, SW of the Musala Mezarlik. It was connected to the city by a road which ran by the Roman theater (see above 'Viran Kapi';). The W part of the road was renovated in the 2d c. A.D. and was made into a colonnaded street in the Corinthian order. The Asklepieion was founded ca. 400 B.C. as a private sanctuary but in the late 3d c. B.C. it received official status. Under Hadrian the sanctuary took on a spectacular appearance which eventually led to its being enrolled in the list of the 'wonders of the world.'; Our knowledge of the importance of the sanctuary in this period is especially due to the hieroi logoi of Aelius Aristeides (A.D. 117 or 129-89) who spent a long time in the Asklepieion.
The sanctuary lies at the N edge of the bed of the Caicus river on a slope facing S. In the early Hellenistic Period the first Temple of Asklepios Soter rose on a narrow terrace. Next to it were other temples, probably of Apollo Kalliteknos and of Hygieia, and several altars. Also dating to this early period is a fountain house built of blocks of andesite just to the E of the temenos. This was fed by a spring which still flows. The earliest incubation building is also to be dated to this phase of the sanctuary. It marks the S side of the temenos. Only the foundations or at most the socles of all these early Hellenistic buildings are preserved. In the course of the late Hellenistic period this plan was enlarged by an extension of the terrace to the S at which time it received its first monumental form. Now a rectangular plaza was bordered by stoas on the S, W, and E while on the N lay the enlarged incubation building. From this period essentially only the foundations of the stoas and some rectangular buildings are preserved in situ. West of this complex have been uncovered the remains of a Hellenistic gymnasium with a Doric stoa of andesite opening to the S. The buildings visible today belong for the most part to the 2d c. A.D. Except for the gymnasium, of the Hellenistic plan only the temple area together with the incubation building was retained. The latter were enclosed in the new plan of the rectangular plaza which was bordered on N, S, and W by Ionic marble stoas (area ca. 100 x 132 m). To the E was erected a rectangular forecourt which was connected to the colonnaded street (see above). The main buildings stand on the E side of the sanctuary. The marble propylon with its pediment carried by four Corinthian columns was dedicated according to its preserved inscription by A. Claudius Charax. The most prominent building of the E side of the sanctuary was the round temple of Zeus Asklepios which was dedicated by L. Cuspius Pactumeius Rufinus probably under Hadrian. The temple is reached from the plaza by an open stairway. It is entered through a marble vestibule in the Corinthian order. The substructure of the building, reveted with andesite slabs with a torus molding of the same material running around the base, is still well preserved. The naos (interior diameter 23.85 m) was covered by a cupola decorated with mosaics. In the marble incrustation wall were seven niches for the erection of the cult statues. One must imagine the statue of Zeus Asklepios in the main niche opposite the entrance. Both the form and function of this building are unmistakably dependent on the Pantheon in Rome. On the NE side of the plaza is an almost square stoa which is identified by an inscription as the library dedicated by Flavia Melitene. Inside was found the colossal statue of the heroized emperor Hadrian (Bergama Museum). To the SE and at a lower level than the Temple of Zeus Asklepios stands a two-story round building (diameter 26.5 m) which is connected with the N side of the plaza by a cryptoporticus. The function of this building is unknown. On the slope of the N edge of the sanctuary is a theater whose skene facade can be reconstructed from the preserved architectural members. A luxurious, two-part latrine, also partly of marble, lies behind the SW corner of the plaza. Of great importance for the dating of the Imperial rebuilding of the Asklepieion is the inscription on the architrave of the N colonnade which is in large part preserved. This inscription names among others the emperor Hadrian.
Wikidata ID: Q630373
Trismegistos Geo: 1688

Info: Princeton Encyclopedia

(Princeton Encyclopedia of Classical Sites, from Perseus Project)

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