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The asclepieion at Epidaurus was the most celebrated healing center of the Classical world, the place where ill people went in the hope of being cured. To find out the right cure for their ailments, they spent a night in the enkoimitiria, a big sleeping hall. In their dreams, the god himself would advise them what they had to do to regain their health. There are also mineral springs in the vicinity which may have been used in healing.
Asklepios, the most important healer god of antiquity, brought prosperity to the sanctuary, which in the 4th and 3rd centuries BCE embarked on an ambitious building program for enlarging and reconstruction of monumental buildings. Fame and prosperity continued throughout the Hellenistic period. In 87 B.C. the sanctuary was looted by the Roman general Sulla and in 67 B.C. it was plundered by pirates. In the 2nd century A.D. the sanctuary enjoyed a new upsurge under the Romans, but in 395 A.D. the Goths raided the sanctuary.
even after the introduction of Christianity and the silencing of the oracles, the sanctuary at Epidauros was still known, as late as the mid 5th century, now as a Christian healing center.
The prosperity brought by the Asklepieion enabled Epidauros to construct civic monuments too: the huge theater that delighted Pausanias for its symmetry and beauty, which is used once again for dramatic performances, the ceremonial Hestiatoreion, baths and a palestra. The theater was designed by Polykleitos the Younger in the 4th century BC. The original 34 rows were extended in Roman times by another 21 rows. As is usual for Greek theaters (and as opposed to Roman ones), the view on a lush landscape behind the skene is an integral part of the theater itself and is not to be obscured.
