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Asklepios and his Family
Coins and Small Works of Art from Antiquity on the Museum Island

15.12.2006 to 30.06.2007

Pergamonmuseum
Pergamonmuseum

Asklepios was the Greek God of Healing. Born the son of Apollo, he learned the art of healing from the centaur Chiron. He was married to Hygieia, whose name means "health" in translation. Among those who accompanied him on his way were "Telesphoros", who "brings the end of suffering" as well as the snake and dog. Asklepios is seen as the father of all physicians in antiquity, the so-called Asklepiad. Asklepios, revered by Romans as Aesculapius, was the God the Romans turned to when injured or sick. Those suffering hoped to heal themselves or at least relieve their ailments by engaging in intimate dialogue with the God and his priests.

In this studio exhibition of the Numismatic Collection in the Pergamon Museum, coins from the vault of the Numismatic Collection and carved stones and bronzes from the Collection of Classical Antiquities are being exhibited, some of them for the first time. Also being shown are the public coins of the cities as well as camios and bronzes created on private initiative which bear representative testimony to the devoutness and the yearning for healing that existed in ancient times.