An Ashy Fig a Day: Divine Prescriptions and Space in the Iamata of Lebena (20 min)

Presenters

Samantha Meyer, University of Texas at Austin

Abstract

From the Asklepion of Lebena, Crete has come an intriguing collection of iamata, inscriptions that commemorate and record divine interventions in the healings of sanctuary visitors (Inscriptiones Creticae 1.17.12A-19; second to first century B.C.E.). These inscriptions, like their counterpart inscriptions at the Asklepion in Epidaurus, recount tales of healing and the epiphanies that occurred during incubation at the sanctuaries; however, select iamata from Lebena also displayed a unique feature of remedies prescribed to certain suppliants. I present an analysis of these iamata, specifically those with divine prescriptions, which examines their scales of agency and connection, from the individual voice to the broader networks of healing sanctuaries and trade in magicoreligious ingredients.

These inscriptions presented knowledge communicated from the god to the healing sanctuary’s audience of suppliants, visitors, and temple attendants in a format that also incorporated the local environment and expansive trading networks of Lebena. This study identifies the ingredients in the prescribed recipes and the sources of these resources, and distinguishes between native (or naturalized) plants from those sourced via trade networks in order to discuss the intersection of materiality, medicine, and religious experience. Using theories from medical anthropology and disability studies, I also examine how these iamata affected the lived religious experience of the ancient viewer, due to their prominent location along the wall of the sanctuary’s north Stoa. Combining the evidence of the ingredients with this analysis of space and methods of display, I present discussion of the interactivity of these inscriptions and their crucial role in the dialogue between real and textual rituals. As part of an organic process of creation, addition, and deletion, these inscriptions indicate the reciprocity between text and audience and the active role that botanical and lithic material can play in lived religious experiences.

  AIA-7E