Asklepieion Kos

The sanctuary of Asklepios stands on a wooded hillside about 4 km southwest of Kos town, laid out on three terraces cut into the slope. It was built after Hippocrates died rather than during his lifetime, but it is the closest thing the island has to a monument to the medicine he practised, and it stayed in use as a healing centre for several centuries.

The Sanctuary

The Asklepieion of Kos was developed from the early Hellenistic period onwards, from roughly the 3rd century BC, on a site with a spring and a view over the strait towards the Anatolian coast. It was dedicated to Asklepios, the god of medicine, and run by a resident priesthood. Patients came for a stay rather than a consultation: diet, bathing, rest and ritual were part of the treatment, and the terraced layout moved them upwards through those stages.

Its ruins were located in 1902 by the German archaeologist Rudolf Herzog, working from the calculations of the local historian Iakovos Zarraftis, who had worked out where the sanctuary should be.

Asklepios in Myth

Asklepios was the son of Apollo and the mortal Koronis. Apollo had Koronis killed for her infidelity and took the unborn child from her funeral pyre, handing him to the centaur Chiron, who raised him and taught him medicine. Asklepios became skilled enough to bring the dead back to life, which upset the boundary between mortals and gods, and Zeus killed him with a thunderbolt. In the versions that follow, Apollo's protest led Zeus to set him among the stars, and he is identified with the constellation Ophiuchus, the serpent-bearer. The snake coiled around a staff, still the emblem of medicine, belongs to him.

Sanctuaries in his name spread across the Greek world, and the one on Kos became among the most important. It hosted the Asklepieia, a festival of athletic and musical contests held under a sacred truce that other Greek cities formally recognised.

The Three Terraces

Each level had a function, and walking up through them follows the route a patient would have taken.

• First terrace: the propylon, the monumental gateway into the sanctuary, with Roman-era baths, a sacred spring and a Roman temple to Asklepios. Arriving patients were washed, put on a regime and prepared here.
• Second terrace: the altar, dating to the 4th century BC and the oldest surviving element of the complex. West of it stand the remains of an Ionic temple of Asklepios from the 3rd century BC and the priests' quarters; east of it is a small temple of Apollo from the 2nd century AD, whose seven Corinthian columns have been re-erected and now give the site its most photographed line.
• Third terrace: the large Doric temple of Asklepios, built in the first half of the 2nd century BC and reached by a broad flight of steps. A Byzantine church dedicated to Our Lady of the Grove was later built into its vestibule, which is why the temple platform carries two layers of religious building.

The upper terrace is the best vantage point on the site: from the temple steps the whole of Kos town, the strait and the Turkish coast opposite are in a single view.

Zia Village

Zia lies roughly 12 km from the sanctuary, inland on the slopes of Mount Dikeos, the highest ground on Kos. Forest and running water make it noticeably cooler than the coast in high summer, which is a large part of why it fills up with visitors in the afternoon. The main street is lined with shops and tavernas, and the adjoining Zia Natural Park has marked paths through the woods above the village. The village faces west, and its sunset over the western end of the island is the standard reason people time their visit for the end of the day.

Because the Asklepieion, the old town and the mountain villages all sit within a short drive of the harbour, Kos is unusually easy to combine with time on the water. Anyone chartering a gulet from Kos can spend a morning on the terraces and still be back aboard before the afternoon breeze fills in.