Asclepion

Pergamon was famous for its Asclepion (4 BC). An Asclepion was a sort of “hospital” where you were able to be healed by the god Asclepius (sometimes called Aesculapius). The layout and amenities of the Asclepion are similar to a modern day health spa. Light and shadows, curved soothing tunnels, sounds and water were used as “healing therapies.” In the video you can hear the noise created by the stream of water running beneath the ancient pavement stones and down the stairs in the tunnel leading to a treatment room. Pergamon is also famous for the altar to Zeus (now located in the Pergamon Museum in Berlin, Germany). We visited this site with a medical doctor who connected it with the idea of a “first hospital.”