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Epidauros 110 pictures 2.15 minutes HQ video The very important site of Epidauros, with its sanctuary of Asklepios, famous throughout the ancient world. Long known as an unrivaled cult and healing center, it flourished from the end of the Roman period. Athletic games as well as music and drama competitions were held here during the great festival of Asklepios. All this came to an abrupt end with the Edict of Theodosios I (395 A.D.) which incited Christians to completely destroy the site where the god of healing miraculously cured the sick. Theater The famous, magnificent theater is, perhaps the best-preserved of the ancient world. The structure incorporates harmonious proportions with exceptional acoustics. Visitors should feel free to experiment directly and follow the advice of tourist guides who invite people to throw a coin on the stone at the center of the circular orchestra, at the base of the altar of Dionisus - the tinkling sound of the coin as it hits the stone can be heard perfectly throughout the vertiginous cavea that leans against a hillside. The enormous cavea can accommodate between 12,000 to 15,000 spectators. The theater was built around 350 B.C. by Polykleitos the Younger. Only pale traces remain of the very simple skene, where the corridors (paradoi) connecting the chorus to the orchestra featured high doors with Ionic pillars. The cavea, accessed through paradoi with decorated doors, opens out like a fan and comprises 55 rows of stepped seats, divided at the 34^th row by a two-meter-wide diazoma (horizontal passage). The seats above the di?zoma were added when the structure was extended in about 170 B.C. The first three rows with finely decorated seats were reserved for city officials. The cavea is divided vertically by 13 staircases (the 7th staircase runs through the central point of the theater) below the diazoma and 23 staircases above. The ratios between the individual parts of the structure are obvious, since the theater envelops the space of the spectacle, suggesting by its very shape, a quest for mutual understanding between the actors and the audience. Katagogion A sort of official guest house for visiting VIPs in antiquity. The guest house, built in polygonal masonry towards the end of the 4^th century B.C., was equipped with 160 rooms spread over two stories as well as peristyle gardens with fountains and a decorative water system. Public baths The public baths date from the 3^rd century B.C. School and Gymnasion This complex date from the 3^rd century B.C. It covers about 5,300 square meters, with a peristyle courtyard and about 20 rooms of varying sizes, including hypostyle halls, used as training rooms, banquet halls and meeting rooms. After the construction of a small odeon, at the center of the complex in Roman times. Odeon A small Odeon from the Roman times, had a semi-circular orchestra, mosaic floor, brick proscenium with two shallow niches on the facade, and two paradoi on either side. The seats have not been preserved. Stadium The stadium, was built by leveling a natural depression. Access is through an underground passage (as in Nemea and Olympia). A rectilinear sphendone (narrow side) created by an earth fill on the east edge gave the stadium a square shape. It is 196.44 meters long, 23 meters wide, and has a 181.3 long course. There are 14 rows on the south side, 22 rows on the north side and 5 rows on the sphendone. Tholos The most beautiful building in Epidauros is the Tholos or Thymele, a round monopteral temple, designed by Polykleitos the Younger, unprecedented except perhaps for the temple of Athena Pronaia at Delphi. The structure that evokes the elegant round huts of the protohistoric Helladic period, rested on six underground concentric rings. The three outer rings were designed to support the peristasis while the three inner, intercommunicating rings, accessible from the cella of the temple, perhaps alluded to the coils of the snake sacred to Asklepios. The peristasis featured 26 slender Doric columns crowned by a frieze of triglyphs, alternating with metopes adorned by rosettes in relief. The cella boasted a peristatis on 14 Corinthian columns designed for the building by Polykleitos the Younger, and a decorated lacunar ceiling that featured large flowers within a wide variety of frames contained in its coffers. Temple of Artemis A small poros Doric temple prostyle hexastyle dedicated to Artemis, featuring a cella with Ionic columns. The open air altar, surrounded by a balustrade, was linked to the temple by a ramp. Temple of Askelepios The temple stands at the center of the sacred enclosure. Built by the architect Theodosius in 380 B.C. to replace a more ancient structure, this poros Doric pripteral temple hexastyle once boasted pediments and acroteria by the great Timotheos. Seats The bases of many votive offering containers erected in honor of Askelepios stand along the south edge of the temple dedicated to the god. Many are based on a semi-circular exedra with seats. North Propylaia This elegant north Propylaia was built in 330 B.C. or a little later. In ancient times, pilgrims entered the sanctuary through these gate structures built with Doric hexastyle fronts supported by a high stylobate with sloping access ramps. Corinthian columns decorated the inside of the entrance buildings. 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