Ancient sanctuary of Asclepius, god of medicine, on the island of Paros (Greece).

Asclepius was the main healing deity of the Classical Antiquity. After his gradual establishment, his cult expanded throughout the Greek world, especially in the 5th and 4th centuries BC. Asclepius was worshipped in sacred precincts labelled asklepieia (singular asklepieion), which served both as religious sites and as medical facilities where the sick came for healing. One of the smaller asklepieia is located on the island of Paros in the Cyclades, on two terraces about 3 km southwest of the centre of Parikia. The site was partially excavated in 1898-1899 by the German archaeologist Otto Rubensohn (1867-1964) and incompletely published in 1902. Over the last few years, the authors have been working on a project to (re)identify all surviving finds based on original descriptions and original excavation documentation, and to better understand the healing practices at the site. From the 6th century BC at the latest, the cult of Apollo, a deity with certain healing powers, is attested here, who was succeeded by his mythological son Asclepius sometime between the end of the 5th and the beginning of the 4th centuries BC. During the 4th and probably also in the 3rd century BC, a large complex is built on both terraces, with a temple, retaining and enclosure walls, a specific circular structure, a building for pilgrims and the performance of healing sleep, an altar and 2 sacred healing springs. The site's greatest bloom occurred in the 4th to 2nd century BC and especially in the Roman period, in the 1st to 3rd centuries.