Roman-era Healing sanctuary found in Greece

[guy]

 

A healing sanctuary has been discovered in Tenea, Greece. Pictured above are clay body parts, probable votive offerings to the gods. (Votive offerings are objects that people dedicate to a deity or sacred place as part of a prayer, request, or expression of thanks.)

Tenea claimed descent from Trojan prisoners captured by Agamemnon, leading to their worship of Apollo, who favored the Trojans. Similarly, the Romans believed they they were descended from Trojan refugees including Aeneas.

 

 

 

The complex was probably used for centuries as depicted in the coin findings. These coins range from a stater from Corinth (550-510 BCE) to more recent coins from Gordian III (AD 238-244) and Constantine (AD 306-337). The coins ranging from the 6th century BCE Corinthian stater to the Constantine bronze shows nearly a millennium of activity at the site.

The healing sanctuary is thought to have been used until the early third century AD when it was converted into a large cemetery used until the fifth century AD.

 

Earlier excavations at the site had discovered a gold ring inlaid with semiprecious stone carved with an image of Apollo and two serpents. The serpents are associated with Asclepius, Apollo’s son, representing the healing aspect of the medical arts. No dedicatory inscriptions have been found, but the serpent imagery and the Apollo ring make an Apollo-Asclepius cult possible.

 

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https://www.athens24.com/news/results-of-the-ancient-tenea-research-at-chiliomodi-corinthia-new-findings-on-a-building-linked-to-mystery-healing-rituals.html

 

https://archaeology.org/news/2025/03/18/monumental-tomb-uncovered-in-fabled-greek-city/

Edited January 11 by guy

[guidoLaMoto]

Everything reminds me of something else.

The little body parts are no doubt from votives. We moderns continue the practice with little statues of the saints, for instance. Motorists often keep a small but stately St. Christopher on the dashboard of their cars....I thought bad drivers should have one where he's cringing and holding his hands & arms up to protect his face contorted in an expression of terror.

The Tiberina island that sits in the river in Rome between the Forum Boarium and Trastevere district is actually man made. It formed when silt built up after the  king Tarquinius Superbus was deposed in 509BC. His wheat fields just across the river were devastated by the angry Romans and thrown into the river there. With low water levels, they collected silt over time....200 years later, with a plague threatening Rome, the Senate sent a delagation to Greece to get some medical advice. They brought back a snake thought to be the god Asclepius. The snake jumped ship in the river and settled itself on the Tiberina, thereafter a refuge for snakes and the sick....and it of course is a great place for quarantine separated from the general traffic of the city.