Sleep incubation [enkoimesis] in medical practice at Asclepieia of ancient Greece - The ancient Greek sleep medicine.
Sleep Medicine June 1, 2025 George Kapotsis, Paschalis Steiropoulos, Nikoletta Rovina et al.
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...