Continuïteit in het heiligdom van Asklepios in Epidauros: Verkenning van ideeën over verval in het Asklepieion Epidauros na 146 v.Chr.

After Rome defeated the Achaean League in 146 BC, Rome’s interactions in Greece changed, with more direct contact with Greek poleis and their sanctuaries. For Epidauros, a polis in the Argolid with a famous sanctuary to Asklepios, it has been argued that this was a period of decline. The sanctuary was in decay, according to some scholars, until the second century AD, when it was saved from decline with the intervention of the emperor Hadrian. This article argues for continuity in cult practice and significant activity in the first centuries BC and AD, without ignoring the evidence commonly presented for decline. It thereby offers a more nuanced picture of the Epidaurian Asklepieion in this period.