Temple of Xenophon

The Temple of Xenophon stands within the first terrace of the Asklepieion on Kos, an ancient healing sanctuary arranged across three terraces. Marble staircases connect the levels, while surviving foundations, baths and decorated spaces show how medicine, worship and daily life once shared the same setting. A niche beside the large staircase to the second terrace holds a statue base with an inscription naming Gaius Stertinius Xenophon.

Xenophon was a first-century AD physician, priest and courtier of Emperor Claudius, whom the people of Kos honoured as a benefactor. The area served as a votive offering to Asklepios, Hygieia and Epione, and its small spring may have supplied water for hydrotherapy. People also left plaques and figurines here while seeking healing or giving thanks, and tradition connects the sanctuary with Hippocrates and his study of such offerings.

The spring emerging from the statue base remains the clearest detail: water still links the stone monument with the healing practices once carried out around it.