Turkiye 2023: Pergamon/Asklepion
About 40 km from the village of Gobeller, where we had lunch with the locals, stands Pergamon/Pergamum, a powerful kingdom during the ancient Hellenistic period where we visited the ruins of Asklepion, an ancient treament center/spa. In Greek mythology the God of Health is Asclepius and temples and healing centers built in his name were called Asclepion. Pergamon's Asklepion is said to be the world's best and most versatile ancient hospital during the Hellenistic and Roman Empire periods.
Among the treatment offered here were hot and cold mud baths for physical illnesses, suggestion therapy, medicinal herbs, diet cures and many more.
Via Tecta or the Sacred Way, where the patients were greeted at the end of the road by priest physicians called Asclepiades.
Heroon or mausoleums built in ancient Greece to honor ancient heroes or kings. It's not known who this mausoleum belongs to.
This is the entrance courtyard at the end of Via Tecta and where the priests welcome the patients. This is where the patients get diagnosed first.
Sacred fountain.
Bath
The library.
Next to the library is the Roman Theater. I realized I don't have a good photo of the theater because I was more enamored with the cloudscape.
Now let's go to the treatment building.
This is a 70-meters-long underground passage that connected the rooms to treatment building.
I think I have seen my fair share of ruins, so I was pleasantly surprised that this one totally rocked my world. Too much? Some places speaks to us, right? This one did more than that to me. I felt it. Perhaps because I like massages to begin with, but I would have loved to take a peek at what it looked like in its heyday.
For me only, this is one of my favorite ruins, which included this one. I should write a post about my favorite ruins one day.
After the visit we drove an hour and half to our hotel for the next two nights in Izmir.
Via Tecta or the Sacred Way, where the patients were greeted at the end of the road by priest physicians called Asclepiades.
Heroon or mausoleums built in ancient Greece to honor ancient heroes or kings. It's not known who this mausoleum belongs to.
This is the entrance courtyard at the end of Via Tecta and where the priests welcome the patients. This is where the patients get diagnosed first.
Sacred fountain.
Bath
The library.
Next to the library is the Roman Theater. I realized I don't have a good photo of the theater because I was more enamored with the cloudscape.
Now let's go to the treatment building.
This is a 70-meters-long underground passage that connected the rooms to treatment building.
I think I have seen my fair share of ruins, so I was pleasantly surprised that this one totally rocked my world. Too much? Some places speaks to us, right? This one did more than that to me. I felt it. Perhaps because I like massages to begin with, but I would have loved to take a peek at what it looked like in its heyday.
For me only, this is one of my favorite ruins, which included this one. I should write a post about my favorite ruins one day.
After the visit we drove an hour and half to our hotel for the next two nights in Izmir.
Thank you for a delightful virtual tour and I loved how you managed to include the gorgeous sky in your photos! Well done!
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