EPIDAURUS

in ancient Greece, important commercial centre on the eastern coast of the Argolid in the northeastern Peloponnese; it is famed for its 4th-century-BC temple of Asclepius, the god of healing. Excavations of the sacred precinct reveal that it contained temples to Asclepius and Artemis, a theatre, stadium, gymnasiums, baths, a tholos, a hospital, and an abaton, an area where patients slept. Inscriptions record divine medical cures. Originally Ionic, Epidaurus became Doric under the influence of Argos, to which it owed religious allegiance; politically it remained independent.