Bottle of medicinal water from temple of Asklepios at Athens

Made:
1930 in Athens
Bottle of medicinal water from temple of Asklepios at Athens Bottle for medicinal water, with contents

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Science Museum Group Collection
© The Board of Trustees of the Science Museum

Bottle for medicinal water, with contents
Science Museum Group Collection
© The Board of Trustees of the Science Museum

Bottle for medicinal water, with contents, from the well at the temple of Aesculapius at the Acropolis, Athens, collected in 1930

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).

Details

Category:
Ethnography and Folk Medicine
Collection:
Sir Henry Wellcome's Museum Collection
Object Number:
A79497
Materials:
bottle, glass, aqua, stopper, cork and stopper, wax
Measurements:
overall:
type:
medicinal water
credit:
Loan, Wellcome Trust