Inscribing Votive Offerings and Tamata: Narratives, Artefacts, Asklepios, and Panagia Megalochari

• Main Author: Steven M. Oberhelman
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Published: Athens Institute for Education and Research 2020-01-01
• Series: Athens Journal of Humanities & Arts
• Online Access: https://www.athensjournals.gr/humanities/2020-7-1-1-Oberhelman.pdf

Divine miracle healing in the ancient and modern worlds is extensively documented through historical and literary texts, votive offerings, inscriptions, and miracle stories. In this article I focus on the votive inscriptions at the temple complex of the healing god Asklepios at Epidauros, and the miracle stories at the Church of Panagia Megalochari on the Greek island of Tinos, and how they were crafted to tell a narrative of healing not only to accompany the votive offerings, but also to reimagine those offerings by providing a written framework that was previously assumed or was lacking. The purpose of the stories, which usually date after the offerings that they describe, is to position the gifts within a narrative of faith and socio-cultural discourse. The written texts, preserving what were originally private stories and/or oral traditions, function as a public narrative and allow their reader to reimagine, amplify, and reinterpret the visual gifts as manifestations of the power of the healing god Asklepios or the healing grace of Panagia Megalochari.