ABSTRACT
This chapter explores the various aspects of the experience of patients visiting an Asclepieion and the investigation, as far as it can be recovered. There is no lack of Greek and Roman sources on the Asclepian cult. All Asclepieia housed a temple with a cult statue of Asclepius in the cella, and sacred springs were a regular feature. The architecture of the temple precincts was such that it accommodated the procedure followed in the therapy, it was basically the same in most of approximately 410 Asclepieia in Mediterranean area, though Pergamum differed in some respects. The traditional view after the discovery of the stage in the sleep cycle designated as rapid eye movement (REM) in the mid-1950 is that dreaming is closely connected with REM. It has been pointed out those patients who visited the Asclepieia mostly suffered from chronic diseases. Many of these diseases would have been psychosomatic, which would have responded well to the enkoimsis and the dreams.
