The Asklipieion's healing environment--learning from the past.

Asklipieia were the first hospitals (or, better, health care campuses) in Europe, which flourished in Hellas (Greece) for about 12 centuries, since about the 6th century B.C. A kind of holistic health care was offered in Asklipieia through the conception of illnesses as a result of interaction of physical, psychological, social and environmental factors. The study of Asklipleian health care will help us to complete our knowledge on the history of health care and can teach us a lesson deriving from the Hellenic philosophy and history that could form the prototypical base for a better understanding of the concept of healing environment.