Asklepion of Kos

The Asklepion of Kos rises on a lush hillside with views across the Aegean Sea toward the Turkish coast. It is the island’s most important archaeological monument and one of the most famed healing sanctuaries of the ancient world. Consecrated to Asclepius, god of medicine, the complex served as a centre for worship, patient treatment and medical education. Hippocrates — the father of medicine — ran his medical school here in the 5th century BC. The Kos sanctuary became uniquely associated with rational, empirical medicine over purely religious ritual.