Bottle of medicinal water from temple of Asklepios at Athens

The typed label pasted to the side of the bottle on the left gives us its source – the well at the temple of Asklepios at the Acropolis in Athens. Asklepios was the Greco-Roman god of healing and medicine. At the temple, those experiencing illness were cured in their dreams by the god as they slept, or had their dreams interpreted to get a treatment that would cure them. This is known as incubation. The bottle was collected by Captain P Johnston-Saint, one of Henry Wellcome’s collecting agents. The water is shown here with a similar example collected from the temple of Asklepios at Epidaurus (A79498). maker: Unknown maker Place made: Athens, Greater Athens, Greece