Some thoughts on the cult of the Pantheon (‘all the gods’?) in the cities and sanctuaries of Roman Greece

Abstract

A large number of small stone altars, not more than one metre tall and 30 to 40 cm wide, were dedicated in the Sanctuary of Asklepios at Epidauros between the 2nd and the 4th century AD. Beyond the size, they had in common the inscription of very short dedicatory formulas and a sparing use of decoration. They were dedicated to Asklepios and his family as much as to the most disparate gods, heroes and personifications. They were distributed in various parts of the sanctuary and there are good reasons to believe that more than 100 specimens could be counted in the sacred area by the 4th century AD, when the altars were inventoried and marked with numbers and symbols. The numbers are in a sequence that ends with the high nineties while the symbols seem to identify the divinity to whom the altar was dedicate