Visual and epigraphic testimonies are enhanced by a passage from our literary record,
the most vivid verbal step-by-step rendering of what happened during incubation.
Aristophanes’ character Wealth visits the sanctuary of Asclepius on Aegina in the hope
of being cured of his blindness. The report of Carion to his wife tells us that for the
purpose of purification Wealth was first taken down to the sea and bathed. After a
preliminary sacrifice of little cakes, Wealth and his company lay down on rough beds
in theabaton. A temple servant (propolos) extinguished the lamps and asked every-
body to go to sleep. Not being able to sleep, Carion saw ‘‘the priest nicking the
cheesecakes and dried figs from the holy table; and after that he went right round all
the altars to see if there might be any cakelets left on any of them, and then
consecrated them in to a sack he had’’ (Wealth660–82).
From all these vivid testimonies it becomes clear that administering and promoting
divine healing had a tremendous impact on the whole business of ‘‘cult operation.’’
As in Aristophanes’Wealth, many patients would have been accompanied by attend-
ants or family members, and those who came from far away would have stayed for
more than one night. Pausanias states that within the precinct of Asclepius’ sanctuary
in Tithorea (Phocis) there were dwellings for both the suppliants and the servants of
the god (10.32.12). Interestingly, not only later authors but also many of the
Epidaurianiamatarefer to the patients as ‘‘suppliants’’ (hiketai). Individuals or
even groups seeking refuge in a sanctuary were common to all sanctuaries and
required the same kind of attention as worshipers visiting a sanctuary for a cure
(Sinn 2000). Temporary lodgings, facilities for cooking and food consumption, as
well as a water supply had to be provided. Many sanctuaries therefore had a smaller
and a larger precinct, with temple, altar, and votives separated in some form from an
area that could be used for the accommodation of large numbers of cult participants,
suppliants, or further groups of visitors. The everyday life of a sanctuary, not only a
healing sanctuary, thus resembled and was quite closely linked to the everyday life of
its environment (Sinn 2000:179).
Servants, Mediators, Administrators
Who provided the elaborate infrastructure that was necessary for all this? And how
did a day in the life of a sanctuary look from the perspective of those who served the
gods and looked after their worshipers? An inscription from Samos, which does not
refer to a healing sanctuary, and which is quite exceptional in its content, spells out
the wide range of activities that must have been going on within the precincts of many
sanctuaries: around 245 BC the Samians ratified a proposal by theneo ̄poiai, a board of
temple curators, which dealt with the terms of contract of the shopkeepers (kape ̄loi)in
the Heraeon (IGxii.6, 169; Lupu 2004: no. 18). Four shops were leased out in the
sanctuary, and the lessees remained in residence for the entire year. No soldier,
unemployed person, slave, or suppliant was allowed to sell anything or to be handed
any of the four shops. The lessees were not allowed to buy items from these groups.
Nor were they allowed to employ suppliant slaves. There is a special clause that
prohibits sacred slaves (hieroi paides) from selling items.
Although the activities of soldiers, unemployed persons, slaves, and suppliants were
to be kept to a minimum, it becomes clear that the presence of these groups was part
172 Beate Dignas