85

86

sometimes he was voted a crown or other gift. The administration of the Asklepieion at Athens was taken over by the State during the fourth century B.C., and the cult was placed under the control of the Council or Boule. The office of chief priest was one of such dignity that a seat was reserved for him in the theater of Dionysos (CIA iii, 287); and both at Athens and at Epidauros the Hiereus was selected by lot by the Boule. At Hyettos the worship was similarly administered by the Sacred Senate or Council of Elders (CIGGS i, 2808; Frazer, op. cit., v, 133); but an inscription from Chalkedon in Bithynia indicates that the office there was open for purchase at a price of 5,000 drachmas. Relying, apparently, on the customs prevailing at Athens, Epidauros, and possibly some other large sanctuaries, modern authors have been inclined to assume that physicians seldom performed priestly functions at the Asklepieia; but although the specific mention of their holding such office may be rare, it would appear a strange restriction to withhold sacerdotal duties from the Asklepiadai, whose relations to the cult were hereditary and intimate, and it is doubtful whether such a rule held generally in other cities and towns. In the primitive days of the cult the office of the priest is believed to have been hereditary and a prerogative of the clan of Asklepiadai, following the general customs of family and tribal worship, in which father and son took the principal parts, or in which, if there was a king, he held the office of priest. Under these conditions. a priest's tenure would be for life. Several instances of physician-priests are definitely known, as in the case of Kalliphon, the father of Demokedes, who was a hereditary Asklepiad and a physician-priest at Knidos. At Kos the selection was made by lot or by oracle for one year, 95 Walton, op. cit., p. 50.

86 Thrämer, in Pauly-Wissowa, ii, 1685.

but the position was the prerogative of the Asklepiadai. It is stated in one inscription that Soarchos, priest at Lebena, in Crete, whose father had preceded him, had already served for forty-seven years; and the office was hereditary at Mitylene, as it was at Pergamon to a late day. These priests often lived within the hieron and had certain perquisites.

Assistant priests.

Next to the hierophant the most important official was a priest called the neokoros or, as at Athens, the zakoros. At Athens, where the office of zakoros was important, he was chosen for one year and was often reëlected, while inscriptions indicate that he was occasionally a physician (CIA III, i, 780; addenda, 780, a, b, c). At Kos and Epidauros the neokoros held office for life, and at Kos, Stratonikeia in Karia, and Thera there were other priests with a similar tenure. The zakoros or neokoros, as representing the chief priest, often conducted the sacrifices and other ceremonies, besides receiving the patients, recording their names and homes, and directing their care by the attendants. He usually had immediate charge of the gifts and property of the hieron, though occasionally a special secular officer, the hieromnemon, was appointed for this duty. At Kos the neokoros interpreted the dreams and omens, and offered prayers for the suppliants; at Pergamon there were two, who were active in all religious exercises and interpreted dreams; but at Epidauros there was only one, and he served for all the temples within the hieron. At Athens, where the ritual was elaborate, there were several officials who were named for minor duties. A propolos, who is mentioned by Aristophanes (Plutus, 660), held an office close to the 87 Walton, op. cit., p. 49.

priest, extinguished the lights in the abaton, and told the patients to sleep. The altar fires were lighted and cared for by the pyrophoroi, though this duty was sometimes performed by boys who were also incense-bearers or members of the choir. There were, furthermore, the kleidouchos, or key-keeper, an office frequently assigned to the son of the priest; the dadouchoi, or torch-bearers; the kanephoroi, or basket-bearers; the arrhephoroi, or carriers of the holy relics and mysteries; and priestesses and nurses, all of whom took part in the religious ceremonies and festival processions. In addition, there were a large number of assistants, who were attendants upon the sick and had various duties in the hieron.

The Asklepiadai. The Hippokratic oath.

Around the cult of Asklepios gathered a large and exclusive class known as Asklepiadai, or priest-physicians, originally the family of Asklepios, their descendants, and those who had been adopted by the clan. Plato remarks (op. cit., X, iii) that the disciples left by Asklepios were his own descendants. They claimed that their knowledge of healing was hereditary from the god himself, and that they had imbibed it from earliest childhood in the family circle. According to Galen (de Anatomicis administrationibus, bk. ii, ch. 1)88 the origin of medicine was hereditary in the family, and Aristeides (quoted by Philostratos, op. cit., iii, 44) declares that for a long time healing had been considered an attribute of the Asklepiadai. Their law was that "sacred things may be revealed only to the elect, and should be confided to the profane only when they have been initiated in the mysteries of the science. """ All were, therefore, obliged to take a sacred oath, which was finally developed as the Oath

88 Kühn, ed. Medicorum Græcorum Opera, ii, 281.

of Hippokrates," that they would not profane the secrets entrusted to them and would divulge them only to their children and those of their masters, or to persons who had taken the same oath. A physician says of his work: "The sacred and mysterious vow restrains me, I am

90 "I swear by Apollo the physician, and Æsculapius, and Health, and All-Heal, and all the gods and goddesses that, according to my ability and judgment, I will keep this Oath and this stipulation-to reckon him who taught me this Art equally dear to me as my parents, to share my substance with him, and relieve his necessities if required; to look upon his offspring in the same footing as my own brothers, and to teach them this art, if they shall wish to learn it, without fee or stipulation; and that by precept, lecture, and every other mode of instruction, I will impart a knowledge of the Art to my own sons, and those of my teachers, and to disciples bound by a stipulation and oath according to the law of medicine, but to none others. I will follow that system of regimen which, according to my ability and judgment, I consider for the benefit of my patients, and abstain from whatever is deleterious and mischievous. I will give no deadly medicine to anyone if asked, nor suggest any such counsel; and in like manner I will not give to a woman a pessary to produce abortion. With purity and with holiness I will pass my life and practice my Art. I will not cut persons laboring under the stone, but will leave this to be done by men who are practitioners of this work. Into whatever houses I enter, I will go into them for the benefit of the sick, and will abstain from every voluntary act of mischief and corruption; and, further, from the seduction of females or males, of freemen and slaves. Whatever, in connection with my professional practice or not, in connection with it, I see or hear, in the life of men, which ought not to be spoken of abroad, I will not divulge, as reckoning that all such should be kept secret. While I continue to keep this Oath unviolated, may it be granted to me to enjoy life and the practice of the art, respected by all men, in all times! But should I trespass and violate this Oath, may the reverse be my lot!" (Adams, op. cit., ii, 278-280.)

Note. For a similar Hindu oath see R. Roth, "Indische Medicin. Caraka," in ZDMG, 1872, xxvi, 445 ff.; also G. A. Liétard, "Le médecin Charaka. Le serment des hippocratistes et le serment des médecins hindous," in BAM, 3 sér., 1897, xxxvii, 565 ff.; Jones, The Doctor's Oath, pp. 58-59.

obliged to preserve silence." The Asklepiadai were leaders in the cult and probably were very influential in creating the atmosphere best adapted to keep the minds of the suppliants in a frame to trust implicitly in the mysterious powers of the god and in the divine directions received by dreams and visions. Mutilated records found in Athens indicate that there was another religious order known as the Asklepiastai, which, it is assumed, was related to the cult (CIA II, i, addenda, 617 b). In the early traditions of Greek medicine lay physicians having no connection with the cult appear among the people, many of whom claimed descent from the god, and, all being included under the general term Asklepiadai, they became confused in early history with the priest-physicians. With the lapse of time secrecy became relaxed, the knowledge of the healing art was acquired by those who did not observe the Oath, and eventually many charlatans engaged in the practice and brought discredit upon the cult-upon both priest and lay physicians.

92

The cult rituals.

In the early period appeals were apparently made to Asklepios for any purpose, but as he became famous in healing beyond all other heroes, especially after his alliance with Apollo, cultic practices were restricted to effecting cures, although a few records from Athens, Sikyon, and Epidauros indicate occasional consultations on other affairs. The customs in healing are known to have differed somewhat at the many Asklepieia, yet it is believed that at all of them the religious elements outweighed the practical, although the latter became more 91 Sprengel, op. cit., i, 170.

92 Daremberg, op. cit., pp. 56 ff.; also Houdart, Histoire de la médecine grecque depuis Esculape jusqu'à Hippocrate exclusivement, pp.