Healing

For those involved with the Asclepius cult, the method of healing involved a variety of components, including:

• isolation of the sick for three days;

• purification through baths and abstinence from sexual intercourse and various foods;

• the sacrifice of a piglet to Asclepius.

Another central component was the hope that the god would visit the petitioner in a dream and offer instructions for healing. Hundreds of votives and facsimiles of the human body dedicated to Asclepius have been found.