The Cults of Aesculapius and Hygieia in Central Balkan's Roman Provinces

Abstract

The cults of Aesculapius and Hygieia belonged to those of the most favoured deities in the Roman Central Balkan provinces. The so-far known epigraphic and archaeological material attests their popularity in the northern, eastern and southern parts of the territory, which can be partly explained by the favouring of the cults in neighbouring Thrace, but also with the fact that soldiers, as one of the main devotees of Aesculapius and Hygieia, were responsible for the spread of their cults. The religious association of the god Aesculapius with Jupiter Dolichenus confirms their mutual iatric dimension in the 3rd century, while shrines of Aesculapius can be assumed in Prizren and Constantine’s villa with peristyle, in Mediana. The veneration of iatric cults in the territory of the Central Balkans lasted until the end of Antiquity, attested by epigraphic and archaeological monuments from the first half of the 4th century.