[Sleeping is not enough--on function and meaning of water in the cult of Asclepius]

Asclepius is the most famous healing deity of Graeco-Roman times. Researchers have focused on incubation as the central ritual of his cult. This paper focuses on water as another of its important aspects, which has remained almost unnoticed until today. The visitors of the Asklepieia got in touch with water on their whole way through the temple. Used in religious as well as medical contexts, it gives a better understanding of the idea of healing and the relationship between religious and hippocratic medicine.