Geochemistry of Healing Water from Temples of Asclepius in Ancient Greece and Sicily.

Keywords: Water Quality, Geochemistry, Geoarchaeology
Session Type: Virtual Paper Abstract
Day: Saturday
Session Start / End Time: 2/26/2022 08:00 AM (Eastern Time (US & Canada)) - 2/26/2022 09:20 AM (Eastern Time (US & Canada))
Room: Virtual 68

Abstract

Our paper presents new aqueous geochemical data from groundwater samples collected from twenty-three Temples of Asclepius and links their elemental composition to analeptic qualities purported in ancient texts. Asclepeion were, in effect, the hospitals, spas, and rehabilitation centers of the ancient Greek & Roman world, and were inseparably linked to specific water sources such as springs, streams, or wells. From ancient texts, we know that consuming and/or bathing in a discrete water source was fundamental to the healing process at Asclepeion. We know from Hippocrates, Xenophon, Strabo, and later from Pliny the Elder and Plutarch, that water sourced from Asclepeion had therapeutic, sometimes even miraculous properties, able to cure a range of ailments from leprosy to nearsightedness. Using an analytical geochemistry toolkit comprised of an inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometer (ICP-MS) and gas chromatograph (GC), we sought to explore what, if anything, is unique about groundwater from Temples of Asclepius in the Aegean, the Greek mainland, and Sicily. Our results reveal a strong correlation between salubrious (sometimes psychotrophic) concentrations of rock-borne elements in spring- and well-water and the location of Asclepeion sanctuaries. Our methodological approach to this new and exciting line of geoarchaeological research is far from simple scientific “myth-busting.” Rather, we prefer to emphasize and celebrate humanity’s sensitivity to even the most minute elements of a landscape, and to explore the adaptive/utilitarian responses employed by ancient Greeks to harness unique and potent natural geochemistry for positive ends.