Asklepios as the God of Reconciliation between Athens and Epidauros?

서지정보

· 발행기관 : 한국서양고대역사문화학회
· 수록지 정보 : 서양고대사연구 / 62호 / 9 ~ 34페이지
· 저자명 : 이상덕

초록

Asklepios was considered to be a god of healing for private individuals. In recent scholarship, however, he is considered to be a god that the state wanted for public purposes. He is thought to have been introduced to Athens to cure the plague that hit the city in 430 BCE. Moreover, the political complexity during the Peloponnesian Wars made Asklepios a key figure in maintaining the relationship between Athens and Epidauros, be it imperialist or pacifist in nature. The Telemachos Monument or the Epidauria which took place during the Great Dionysia were taken as evidence of and provide an explanation for the appropriation of the cult of Asklepios in the city of Athens. Mitchell-Boyask raised a plausible theory that Asklepios was closely related to Dionysos and the Athenian drama. He analysed available dramas to show that they convey the notion of disease, pain, ailment and healing. The healing process was implied through metaphor in tragedies. Euripides in particular used metaphor to represent the reality. In Euripides’ play, Hippolytos headed to Epidauros to solve his problem but was hindered. Mitchell-Boyask did not include Euripides’ Ion as one of his examples, but here I argue that Ion is a perfect parallel to Asklepios. The play not only conveys the notion of pain and healing, but also illustrates the image of Asklepios through Ion – he, as a foreigner entering the Athenian community. Euripides’ Ion resembles Asklepios in four ways mainly: 1. His birth story, his father being Apollo, 2. He needs to enter Athens as a foreigner, 3. He is related to serpents, 4. He is successfully accepted by the Athenians in the end. Euripides, by creating an image of Asklepios being a brother to Ion welcomed the god that would heal the Athenian community.

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