This image is released under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 Licence
Buy this image as a print
BuyLicense this image for commercial use at Science and Society Picture Library
LicenseThis image is released under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 Licence
Buy this image as a print
BuyLicense this image for commercial use at Science and Society Picture Library
License
Science Museum Group Collection
© The Board of Trustees of the Science Museum
Left hand side - A79498, Bottle, originally for Evian water, containing water from the medicinal well of the temple of
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
- type:
- medicinal water and bottles, folk medicine (general), pharmacy (glassware) bottles, folk medicine (general), medicinal water and pharmacy (glassware)
- taxonomy:
-
- furnishing and equipment
- container - receptacle
- vessel
- credit:
- Loan, Wellcome Trust
