La topolog´ıa de la convergencia uniforme

4.1.1 The cult of Asclepius in Corinth

It is said that the sanctuaries of Greek cults had become common places for manumission by the Hellenistic period. Evidence can be found from the temples of such as Apollo, Athena, Dionysos, Isis,

483 _{They were the temple of Apollo, the sanctuary of Demeter and Kore, the sanctuary of Asclepius,}

Sarapis, and Nemesis,484 but the cult of Asclepius provides the most evidence. The extant sources show that sacral manumission took place at the sanctuaries of Asclepius in Epidauros, Amphissa, Elatia, Stiris, Tithoria, Orchomenos, Thespirae, Naupactus, Cheronea, Gonnoi, Trichonion, and Buthrotum.485 The fact that manumission was associated with Asclepius may be of importance. This is possibly because both the belief in the healing power of Asclepius and sacral manumission were about liberation; the consequence of both healing and emancipation brought dramatic changes to individuals within their cultural milieu.

The study will first survey the cult of Asclepius in Corinth, which is said to have continued through eight centuries with different characteristics being emphasized.486 _{The historical overview} will give us a picture of the cult in three main phases: the archaic period, the Hellenistic period and the Roman period, and the study will further explore the date of the resumption of the cult by the Romans. Since Roman Corinth developed dramatically and the condition of the city changed from 44 BCE towards the end of the first century CE, it is crucial to understand the re-establishment of the cult in a wider social context. The timing of the resumption is significant in the sense that it may reflect the policy by which the Romans intended to rule the people of the province.

Historical overview

The cult of Asclepius in Corinth is known for its rich evidence of anatomical votives from the late 5th to the 4th century BCE. The size of the precinct was modest during this period, but the remains of over one hundred terracotta votives that are life-size parts of the body attest to the popularity of and the belief in the cult of healing. As in the sanctuary of Asclepius in Epidauros, the smaller scale of the

484 _{A. Deissmann, Light from the Ancient East: The New Testament Illustrated by Recently Discovered} Texts of the Graeco-Roman World (tr. Lionel R.M. Strachan; London: Hodder & Stoughton, 1927), pp. 319-23.

485 _{M. Melfi, ‘The Sanctuary of Asclepius’, in Roman Butrint: an assessment (eds. I.L. Hansen and R.}

Hodges; Oxford: Oxbow Books, 2007), pp. 17-32 (23). Cf. B.L. Wickkiser, ‘Asklepios in Greek and Roman Corinth’, in Corinth in Context: Comparative Studies on Religion and Society (ed. Steven Friesen, Dan Schowalter, and James Walters; Leiden: Brill, 2010).

486 _{The cult of Asclepius in Corinth is thought to have continued from the fifth century BCE to the}

third century CE. Carl Roebuck, The Asklepieion and Lerna: Corinth, XIV (Princeton, NJ: The American School of Classical Studies at Athens, 1951), p. 159.

sanctuary does not suggest that the cult was less significant to the people of Corinth.487 Rather, it was the belief in healing through the direct power of the deity that greatly attracted people. It can also be inferred that the activity of the cult was confined to the cure of individuals and that its social function was not yet developed. People visited the sanctuary simply hoping that they would meet the god and be healed; there was little monetary transaction involved, as the remains of the meager sanctuary imply. During the Hellenistic period, the sanctuary was renovated as a building on two levels. There was also a development of a waterproof room equipped with a water system, of which the waterworks are said to be the most elaborate among all the known sanctuaries of Asclepius (the remains

demonstrate five reservoirs connected to the room).488 _{Thus, there seems to have been a shift from the} primitive form of cure to more practical treatment during the Hellenistic period. The cessation of the practice of the terracotta votives and the development of the elaborate aqueduct highlight this point. Purification by bathing possibly became a more important procedure of the treatment under the instruction of the priests. The archaeological evidence shows that there stood a Doric temple in the court of the sanctuary,489 _{which had not been demolished when Mummius sacked the city in 146} BCE. It is thought that it remained desolate, or was used by a small number of residents until the Romans restored the temple.490 _{In addition to the refurbishment of the temple, the Romans} constructed a building in the precinct with small rooms of which the purpose might have been to accommodate visitors and patients.491 _{The visitors’ understanding of the priests who undertook the} medical procedures during the Roman period must have been different from that of pre-Hellenistic times. During the Roman era, the patients expected to see a priest who would perform practical medical treatment in the name of Asclepius. Thus, the role of the priest as intermediary was more significant than in the archaic period when the people believed in the deity who would cure the people

487 _{Roebuck, Asklepieion, p. 55; Wickkiser, ‘Asklepios’, p. 43.} 488 _{Wickkiser, ‘Asklepios’, p. 51.}

489 _{Roebuck, Asklepieion, pp. 30-39.}

490 _{See 2.1.1 for discussion of continuity of the city during the period 146-44 BCE.}

491 _{Roebuck, Asklepieion, p. 156. The planning of the building shows that it cut off the path to the}

directly. From the second century CE, two noteworthy pieces of evidence of doctors in Corinth exist. One of these is an inscription that was erected to honour a doctor, Gaius Vibius Euelpistos, who was also a priest of Asclepius.492 The reconstruction of the inscription by Kent inserting ‘city (polis)’ as a donor may not be certain, although it is most likely that the status of the priest of Asclepius as a medical practitioner was well known to the people in Corinth. Another doctor was Numisianus, who lectured in Corinth; the evidence is known from a literary source, Galen, who was a physician to the emperor Marcus Aurelius493 _{and who had studied under Numisianus in Corinth in the mid second} century.494 Thus, it may be plausible to consider that the medical standard in Corinth was advanced compared to other cities, at least by the second century, which would have owed much to the tradition of the cult of Asclepius. This allows us to picture the resumption of the cult as the beginning of the development of the medical practice that flourished in Corinth during the second century CE.495 _The priests in the Roman era gained more social power and status, as the honorific inscription testifies.

Date of renovation

It is difficult to know the exact date of the renovation of the sanctuary, but two pieces of evidence suggest that it took place during the early stage of colonization. The inscription of the donor of the temple is possibly the more direct source. A piece of onomastic evidence suggests the date of the renovation of the temple. The inscription on the stuccoed epistyle of the temple is most likely to date from the time of refurbishment by the Romans. The extant name is Marcus Antonius Milesius, who is thought to be the donor of the restoration of the sanctuary around 25 BCE;496 _{it is conceivable that}

492 _{Kent, Inscriptions, p. 90, no. 206. ‘The [city] of the Corinthians (hereby honors) Gaius Vibius}

Euelpistos, the physician, son of Meges (and) priest of Asklepios.’ (Tr. Kent). Cf. Wickkiser, ‘Asklepios’, p. 53.

493 _{Reign: 161-180 CE.}

494 _{Galen., AA, 1, 2.217-18. It is however considered that Numisianus possibly had departed Corinth}

by the time Galen arrived in Corinth. See ‘Introduction’, in Galen., Method of Medicine (ed. and tr. Ian Johnston and G.H.R. Horsley; LCL; London: Harvard University Press:, 2011) p. xvii; Cf. Wickkiser, ‘Asklepios’, pp. 53-4.

495 _{For evidence of medical instruments from Corinth, see Wickkiser, ‘Asklepios’, p. 54, n. 52, with}

reference.

there were other names inscribed, since the name of Milesius was inscribed as the first name on the left side of the epistyle and there is space for others, but they are not preserved. Since the name Milesius indicates his Greek origin, Carl Roebuck suggests that he was a freedman of Mark Antony (while acknowledging that the name Marcus Antonius was extremely common).497 Whether he had an association with Mark Antony or not, his benefaction to rebuild the sanctuary may have implied a political gesture; that is, by restoring the temple of the cult of Asclepius soon after Augustus became the first Roman emperor. In practice he donated the sanctuary to the one who had defeated Antony, the new ruler of the colony.498 A less direct source is the numismatic evidence found in a receptacle for offerings. It contained eleven coins, of which seven are dated after the sack of Corinth in 146 BCE. The seven coins are autonomous coins from Sparta the use of which was permitted by the Roman authorities.499 _{The oldest coin dates to 146 BCE and the latest one possibly dates to 32 BCE or} shortly afterwards. The date 32 BCE is identified by the name of the magistrate, Atratinius, who had first followed Mark Antony and then followed Octavian just before the battle of Actium in 31 BCE.500 From the fact that these coins survived, the possible reconstruction, as Roebuck explains, is that they were swept into the receptacle when the sanctuary was refurbished, and they remained by being ‘covered over and put out of use’.501 _{This suggests that the date at which a significant change was} brought about to the sanctuary was around the time of the battle of Actium. Thus, both pieces of evidence above suggest that the resumption of the cult of Asclepius took place around the time when Octavian defeated Mark Antony. This was the time when it was important for the new ruler, Augustus, to promote his reign and gain firm loyalty from the people in Corinth, especially at the early stage of colonization, since Corinth was an administrative base for Antony to exercise power over the