Asclepieia, where man and god may meet, are of particular interest for our perception of the divine. According to literary sources, Asclepios intervened during incubation, while the participants lay asleep in the abaton. Classical votive reliefs show Asclepios touching the body of a patient who, however, is not sleeping; he is depicted larger than the other humans and seems to belong to an intermediate sphere between the human and the divine. This ambiguous image is repeated in the Iamata, reports on successful healings which indicate, moreover, that the patient did not need to be physically present in the sanctuary. The study of a group of sanctuaries in Greece confirms that Asclepieia were not primarily medical centers; rather, their basic function was to procure a religious experience not unlike the pathein of mystery cults. The abata, oriented toward the altar, took the form of colonnades, so that a large number of participants enjoyed an optimal view of the cultic center of the sanctuary. (Traduction: Kristine Gex)