Asklepion

The Asklepion, set on a terraced hillside 4 km southwest of Kos Town, was the most important medical sanctuary of the ancient Greek world. Founded after the death of Hippocrates (who was born on Kos around 460 BC), it combined a temple to Asclepius, medical school, and therapeutic spa in a complex that attracted patients from across the Mediterranean.

Three terraces survive: the lowest held the treatment baths and Roman rooms; the middle terrace has the main Doric temple; the upper terrace has the most important sanctuary. The views from the top terrace across the strait to the Turkish coast are excellent. The site is managed by the Greek archaeological service and is open during standard museum hours (closed Monday). A tourist train runs from the harbour in Kos Town, or take a taxi.

things to do sight
A story
The Asklepion was established in the 4th century BC, after the death of Hippocrates, partly as a tribute to the great physician and partly as a functioning medical school. Treatment at these sanctuaries combined religious ritual with genuine medical practice — patients underwent ritual purification, sacrificed to Asclepius, slept in the sanctuary (incubation), and were treated by priests who were also physicians. The Kos school produced Galen, the most influential medical writer of antiquity, whose theories dominated European medicine for 1,500 years.