Asklepion Kos

Located on a verdant hill about four kilometers from Kos Town and precisely in Platani, we find the famous Asklepion, the most important archaeological monument in kos history .

In the past the Asklepia were the sanctuaries dedicated to the god Asklepio where the asklepiadi (the doctors) had begun the medicine art.

Surely it is the most famous of the Asklepio scattered throughout the Hellenic territory, because here the medical father science the famous Hippocrates founded the first medicine school.

Discovered in 1902 at the time of the Turkish domination by the local scholar Iakovos Zaraftis and by the German archaeologist Rudolf Herzog, the site of inestimable value was unfortunately robbed of so many archaeological finds that are still found in Constantinople and Berlin.

Built on three levels, it rises in the heart of a forest where it was forbidden for everyone to be born or die. A staircase of 24 steps leads to the Propylaia (the entrance porticoes) which are already on the first level, surrounded on three sides by a portico that had the foundations on the back of the rooms of which you can see today the foundations. The medical school, the anatomy and pathology museum and the patients' waiting rooms were probably located here. Two underground staircases called the Aphrodite apartments are thought to house a temple dedicated to the Goddess where the statue made by Praxiteles was located. Also on the first level, the thermal plants and in a niche to the left of the staircase, a representation of the God Pan holding a flute under his feet from where water flows.

The second level is accessed via a staircase of 30 steps, to the right an inscription of a temple of the famous Kos doctor Gaio Stertinio Senofonte, personal physician to the Roman emperor Claudius. Two Ionic columns in the center instead are of the Asclepius temple of the III century BC On the back of the temple the priests' chambers and the so called Avaton with the sacred water source. On the left the Apollo temple from the 2nd century a.C with a rectangular Corinthian style plan whose 8 columns have been restored. We also find the ruins of a circular exedra, of a temple dedicated to Nero and the remains of a stairway that led to the sacred wood that surrounded the Asklepion.

A third stairway of 60 steps leads to the third level where the majestic Asklepio temple dominated, dating back to the II century BC in Doric style with 104 columns. We also find the ruins of a portico from the Hellenistic period where the patients' rooms were located. At this level there are also traces of a small temple perhaps dedicated to Apollo and the remains of the staircase that led to the sacred wood.

During the summer, every Sunday at the Asklepion the Hippocratic Oath ceremony is repeated.

We really advise you to spend a few hours in this wonderful site, it is truly something spectacular and has a particular energy. If you can choose to do the excursion with a guide, there are so many things to know.