Turkey: Bergama / the ancient town of Pergamon

To see the Pergamon Altar, go to Berlin. For the rest of this city, you will need to travel to this breathtaking site in Anatolia, Turkey.


Pergamon lies 16 miles inland from the Aegean Sea. Pergamon was one of many independent Greek cities in Asia; it achieved greatness as a consequence of a strategic decision to ally itself with up-and-coming Rome.

The impressive ruins which you see on the hilltop at Pergamon are those of the Hellenistic (i e posh Roman) era. Access to the upper town is now by cable car, as the hilltop is 392 metres above sea level. Well, you wouldn't want valuable tourists to collapse on their way up by foot.

The theatre remains are stunning, as can be seen from today's photograph. A seating capacity of 10,000 people. (I decided against posting a photo of the view straight downwards from the theatre, for fear that it could make you a little queasy. I don't much like heights, but had decided to walk down the steps anyway: this was by way of training for climbing the rigging of our ship once we were under sail again later in the day.)



Psychoanalysis and holistic medical treatment.

At ground level there is another Pergamon, in a sense even more impressive: the sanctuary of Asclepius. This was a renowned and sophisiticated healing centre.

I have lifted the following amazing description word for word from this website

Asklepion is an ancient healing complex located at the base of the Pergamon acropolis in Turkey built in honour of Asklepios, god of healing. The Asklepion was a term used in ancient Greece to define a type of temple devoted to god Asklepios acting as a healing centre.

The site in Pergamon was founded in the 4th Century BC around a sacred spring that still flows. Over the next centuries it became one of the best-known healing centres of the ancient world, second in importance only to Epidaurus in Greece and was also the world's first psychiatric hospital.

The influential physician Galen was born in Pergamon and practiced here in the 2nd Century AD, having first made his medical reputation treating warriors in the gladiatorial games of the city.

Many of the treatments employed at Pergamon, in complement with a sacred source of water that was later discovered as having radioactive properties, have been used for centuries and are still believed to cure all illnesses. Its sacred springs were once visited by such luminaries as the Roman emperor and philosopher Marcus Aurelius, as well as countless ordinary people seeking cures for their physical and mental ailments.

According to ancient myth, the god Asklepios had the power to raise people from the dead and he himself was restored to life by Zeus: for this reason he was thought to have also a snake form and tame snakes were kept in his temples as this animal was regarded as a symbol of regeneration (snakes shed their skins every year).

Patients approached the healing temple via the Sacred Way, a path that started their journey to health. An underground passage led to it so that the patients went down a short flight of steps into a tunnel: cubicles were located on either side of the passage and patients spent the night there to then tell their dreams to the priests/doctors to facilitate the diagnosis of their disease.

In the morning the patients ascended to the temple which had a circular shape so that they could walk in a never ending procession; the pillars supporting the vaults had individual tubs for bathing.

Treatments included psychotherapy, massage, herbal remedies, mud and bathing treatments, surgeries and the drinking of water, which were prescribed according to what dreams the patient had experienced – it was believed that dreams recounted a visit by the god Asklepios, who held the key to curing all illness. There was even a theatre at the Asklepion, to entertain the patients who would often stay for weeks. All of this was done in the belief that healing was a sacred art and that people’s souls needed to be mended as well as their bodies.

Thousands of people still travel to Asklepion every year in the hopes of being healed. Tradition says that the ancient therapies based on both psychological and physical treatments were highly successful in restoring health.


There was no point in me paraphrasing or summarising this description.