Tradition tells of a plague at Rome so severe that envoys journeyed to Epidaurus in 292 BCE to fetch a statue of Asclepius, a Greek god associated with the healing arts, back to the city. Instead of the statue, the envoys brought back a serpent which swam from the ship to Tiber Island. Accordingly, the island became the site of the temenos, or sacred precinct, of Aesculapius, the name that Romans generally used for the god. A temple (Latin aedes) was built about 291 (this reconstruction drawing shows how the temple would appear from the water; this model shows the temple and square from above). Near the temple a sanatorium was established. The temple was also available to receive foreign ambassadors.
As you walk across the square before the temple, you see a statue of the god. A number of people are bringing their sick slaves to the nearby sanatorium.
In the interior of the temple spoils brought back from Greece by Sp. Lucretius decorate some of the walls, while on others paintings of calvary and spear-bearing warriors seem to turn their fierce eyes towards you.
- Hymn to Aesculapius (from the Homeric Hymns)
- Primary Texts
- Bibliography
Vicus Censorius