Spatial Performativity in the Natural Environment. On the Origins of the Asclepieion at Epidaurus

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Δημοσιευμένα: Ιαν 24, 2025
DOI: https://doi.org/10.12681/ps2023.7950
Pablo Berzal Cruz
Universidad Politécnica de Madrid
Περίληψη

Spatial performativity is the capacity of the environment to influence the performances and mental and emotional states of its occupants. Within the natural environment, sacred places would be those with the greatest spatial performativity, becoming the centres that have structured territories throughout history. The choice of certain places as sacred would have been determined by their being important territorial landmarks, structurally, visually and semantically relevant, and also emotionally charged.
The sanctuary of Asclepius at Epidaurus is located on the slopes of Mount Kynortion, in the pass that connects the Argolid plain with the Saronic Gulf. Mount Kynortion was an important territorial landmark and the plateau on its slopes, where the sanctuary of Asclepius was located, was soon associated with curative properties, which reinforced its importance as a territorial landmark and gave it the status of a sacred site. The spatial performativity of the landmark, combined with the social practices that took place at the important crossroads where the plateau is located, together with the qualities of the environment, gave rise to its sacred healing character, standing as one of the most famous Panhellenic sanctuaries of antiquity.

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