Part of the training was a visit to the Asklepion, an ancient sanctuary that served as a hospital nearly 2,500 years ago.
Here, Hippocrates cured people from diseases, systemized medicine and taught others the art of healing. He advised traveling physicians ‘to consider the seasons of the year’, and went on how health is effected by ‘the winds, the hot and the cold’, talked about the’ qualities of the waters’ and how important each city’s unique setting in the landscape was.
Our tour guide told us that waters of a spring used to run under the altars where spiritual ceremonies were held. This took place on the upper, third terrace of the Asklepion, then continued its way down to the second and the first terrace, and then into the town of Kos. Like this, the entire clinic as well as Kos town could derive benefit of the ‘charged’ and sacred waters.
