Priests of Asklepios

The Priests of Asklepios were priests who served the Greek god of healing, Asklepios, and especially the ones doing the god's work in his sanctuary in Argolis during the 5th century BCE.

History
The priests took in and raised orphans on occasion. One of these was Chrysis, who grew up into a wise and knowledgeable priestess of Hera in their care. However, she was approached by masked people whose ideas she found more appealing, and begun to fulfill their goals using the priests of Asklepios.

The priests also had dealings with Hippokrates, though differences in their views drove them apart.

Around 448 BCE, a Spartan mother sought the help of the priests for her badly-injured baby. The priests did what they could, bathed and fed her and did whatever they could think of for the baby, but in the end the baby was deemed simply too injured to survive. The woman was told to leave the baby's fate to the gods, and after saying goodbye to the child, she left him at the Altar of Apollo Maleatas, whence Chrysis took him under her wing.

The priests attempted to return the baby's blanket to the woman, but she refused it.

Following that incident, the priest who had the most closely interacted with the Spartan woman and her baby, Mydon, talked often about it, to whoever would listen. Until Chrysis made him cut out his own tongue to prove his loyalty, and to prevent the story from reaching ears it shouldn't.

Mydon cutting out his tongue made other priests bow down to Chrysis out of fear, while others, like Pleistos, fully embraced her and the Cult of Kosmos.

During the Peloponnesian War Chrysis warned the priests not to talk to the "Eagle-bearing misthios" Kassandra, on the pain of death. Some of them, like Timoxenos, resisted this order and tried to be careful about their dealings with her when Kassandra reached the sanctuary, looking for information about her mother and her brother.

Practice
The priests kept records of all who came to the Sanctuary of Asklepios looking for a cure for whatever ailed them. These records were carved in stone so that people could praise the god for his healing ways.

The cures included baths, prayer and snakes, as well as sleeping in the Abaton in order to gain a dream vision from Asklepios, showing the patient their cure.

Members

 * Mydon
 * Timoxenos
 * Pylenor
 * Doreios
 * Pleistos

Appearance

 * Assassin's Creed: Odyssey