Sleep incubation [enkoimesis] in medical practice at Asclepieia of ancient Greece - The ancient Greek sleep medicine.

Summary

Therapeutic incubation—a ritual sleep practice in ancient Greek healing sanctuaries such as the Asclepieia—was used to induce apocalyptic dreams for healing. Although originally mystical, the concept parallels modern holistic and personalized medicine. This practice played a key role in transitioning medicine from empirical traditions toward scientific approaches, sowing seeds for modern therapy. The study examines therapeutic incubation as a holistic patient approach and a placebo effect, and explores its connections to contemporary therapeutic procedures.

Study at a glance

Abstract

The ancient Greeks gave a special importance to sleep, both because of the interpretation of dreams and because of its healing properties. Therapeutic incubation [enkoimesis] was a ritual practice, resorted at the healing sanctuaries of antiquity in Greece, such as those of Asclepius [Asclepieia] and was the culmination of a process of sleeping in a sacred space in order to receive an apocalyptic dream. Although the early character of therapeutic incubation was purely ritual and mystical, however, the concept of this process seems to be matched with that of the holistic and personalized modern medical approach. Moreover, the importance of its role is in the transition of medicine from its pioneer empirical practices to the most modern scientific concepts, since it was incubation that sowed the seeds of modern medicine and established it from art to science. The aim of this study is to investigate the role of therapeutic incubation, either as an holistic approach to the patient and as a placebo effect, as well as its relationship with modern procedures of therapy.