Bottle of medicinal water from temple of Asklepios at Athens, collected 1930
Click the thumbnails to enlarge
The typed label pasted to the side of the bottle on the left gives us its source – the well at the temple of Asklepios at the Acropolis in Athens. Asklepios was the Greco-Roman god of healing and medicine. At the temple, those experiencing illness were cured in their dreams by the god as they slept, or had their dreams interpreted to get a treatment that would cure them. This is known as incubation. The bottle was collected by Captain P Johnston-Saint, one of Henry Wellcome’s collecting agents. The water is shown here with a similar example collected from the temple of Asklepios at Epidaurus (A79498).
Object number:
A79497
Related Themes and Topics
Glossary:
Glossary: bottle
Vessels having a neck and mouth considerably narrower than the body, used for packaging and containing liquid and dry preparations
Glossary: medicinal water
No description.
Glossary: incubation
No description.