The Greek Islands by Lawrence Durrell

Author:Lawrence Durrell [Lawrence Durrell]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9780571265251
Publisher: Faber & Faber
Published: 2011-11-11T16:00:00+00:00

The three restored terraces well justify their existence, for it would be difficult without them to visualize how the whole area must have looked – the lowest terrace appears to have been the hospital, and the highest one the temple area. But even at its very oldest period, the site was several times enlarged before the Romans came on to the scene, so that as usual all the inscriptions are confused and tentative. There is a strange antique architrave just south of the main Aesculapion area, in which there was a spring named Bourinna by the private physician of Nero, a certain Andromachos of Crete. It is horrible to think that somewhere inside this sacred area there once stood statues of Nero, who so obligingly incarnated not only Aesculapius himself but also Hygeia and Epioni for the sculptor’s chisel. There is nothing like being a god. But let us leave these strange fragments of information and conjecture, so laboriously gathered together in the guide books. Whatever happens, do not miss the splendid views from the first long terrace; you can see as far as Bodrun (ancient Halicarnassus) on the Turkish coast and in fair weather even catch a glimpse of rugged Samos.

There are several atmospheric villages worth a visit in the island, and some have medieval monuments or icons to show, but there is nothing you really should not miss. Pretty Kardamena will not disappoint, and if you climb to Asfendiou, you will at once consider the pleasures of buying a village house and spending a few years helping flowers to push up in some sheltered courtyard tiled with black-and-white sea-pebble.

But it has got something, Cos, and can already claim a number of distinguished addicts; I know several people who come back for holidays year after year. A small story clings to the outskirts of my memory – about dreams. I have always longed to know more about Aesculapian healing and, in particular, about the function of dreams in the ancient medical system. In Epidaurus long ago, I came across a museum curator who told me that if you slept in the healing part of the Aesculapion you had confused and frightening dreams and nightmares. I wanted to experiment by camping in this spot alone for a month in summer in order to record dreams; but the war broke out and we were chased ignominiously into Egypt. What with the post-war difficulty of finding jobs in the Aegean, I never managed to secure for myself a Greek posting, and so Epidaurus had to wait. However, once when I was in Cos and visiting the Aesculapion on a sunny day in winter, I found a couple of soldiers camping in a bell tent among the ruins. I stopped for a brew-up and the traditional blow and harsh word. In the course of their chatter, they said that they had started camping inside the ruins but had slept so badly that they had moved their tent higher up and into the open where there was more wind.

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