ously to civic affairs (see Harland, chapter 2; Beck, chapter 11). The evidence
from literary and inscriptional sources suggests that upper classes were
indeed generous.
Turning to the issue of health care, doctors were expensive and used
primarily by the elite, although there may have been state-subsidized or pri-
vately endowed medicine available in some locations of the Greco-Roman
world. Redmond Mullin (1984, 19) notes that doctors and teachers might
receive tax relief in return for free service to the towns (for doctors in pub-
lic service [iatros dêmosieuôn] and the availability of health care to the poor,
see Edelstein and Edelstein 1945, 2:175; Hands 1968, 131–35, 139; Avalos
1999, 91–93). There are inscriptions that praise doctors for treating the
poor and rich alike or for accepting no fee (Hands 1968,133). Nonetheless,
the main recourse for the poor who had become sick was to seek religious
assistance, in miracle or magic, which was often combined with a dose of
practical advice.
In particular, temples devoted to Asclepius, the pre-eminent healing god
of the Greco-Roman world, specialized in such activities. By the second
centuryCE, many Asclepieia, particularly the large and influential one at
Pergamum, had changed from sites simply devoted to religious rituals,
such as sacrifice and incubation, into large-scale complexes resembling
modern sanitoria, with baths, gymnasia, hostels, and attendant physicians
who would act as health consultants and dream-interpreters. In some
cases, these centres would offer limited treatment, for example, potions
and prescriptions, exercise, massage, cleansing (Walton 1894, 36, 39; Hands
1968, 132–38; Mullin 1984, 19; Remus 1996).
The evidence indicates that the lower classes were not excluded from
these sites, nor were fees usually charged: time available for recovery was
likely the only restriction on attendance. Arthur Robinson Hands (1968, 138)
notes that if a poor person could not obtain a quick cure, he (or she) likely
went back to work and either recovered or died. Only the rich could afford
to nurse their illness through long periods of convalescence. Ramsay Mac-
Mullen (1981, 42n. 43) discusses hoi katoikountes—“hangers-on” and depend-
ents of temples—who likely were paupers and fugitives. Evidence for these
persons comes from inscriptions from Asia Minor. Emma J. Edelstein and
Ludwig Edelstein (1945, 2:173–80) argue extensively and persuasively that
the Asclepieia would have offered some degree of health care to the needy.
Avalos (1999, 91–93) suggests the opposite, but he may be conflating the
fees charged by temples with the generous donations made by wealthy
patrons. Finally, it has been a long-standing assumption in scholarship
that many of the extant inscriptions at Asclepieia were made by persons of
nora
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