Sacred springs and rivers throughout Ancient Greece were revered as sources of divine power, associated with healing, prophecy, and religious rituals.
These waters were often linked to specific gods and mythological tales and have played a crucial role in everyday life and the ancient Greeks’ spiritual practices.
Ancient Greeks visited the sacred springs and rivers, honored and used them, seeking healing and connection with the gods. Scientific medicine, in turn, recognized water’s therapeutic value and effect on the human body. Hippocrates even distinguished between harmful waters and those beneficial to human health.
Beyond their medicinal properties, some springs were thought to possess mystical qualities, offering glimpses into the future.
In Hesiod’s Theogony, the children of Earth and Heaven, Oceanus and Tethys, gave birth to 3,000 daughters, the Oceanids, and an equal number of sons (the Potamoi – Rivers).
According to Homer, the river is sacred, divine. A commentary on Pindar states that the ancients cut off their children’s curls and dedicated them to the rivers, which “…make men grow.”
In Ancient Greece, water held an important purification function. Its purifying qualities were twofold: people were freed from the waste products of a disease, an epidemic, or childbirth, obviously for hygiene reasons, but also from the demonic power that resided in them. Thus, in the Iliad, the Achaeans bathed and threw the impure waters into the sea to free themselves from the miasma of a disease.
In the cult of the medicine god Asclepius, baths and the cleanliness of the patients played an important role in the therapeutic process and were essential in their preparation. That is why near the Asclepia, there were natural springs and rivers or, if these did not exist, fountains connected to a spring that served the patients.
Pausanias describes a sanctuary near Mysaion in the Corinthian region. It was a sanctuary of Asclepius called Cyrus, where people were healed by the god: “…and healings are done to people by the god.” Water also flowed in this area, and a statue of Asclepius was erected in the largest of the springs.
The springs were particularly associated with the nymphs. They were considered the deities of running waters, of every sacred spring and every fountain. They were dedicated to them and were places of worship and healing. It is noteworthy that many springs specialized in a specific condition.
In Iliaka I, Pausanias mentions the cave of the Anigrides nymphs, which was located near a river. Those suffering from skin diseases prayed there and made sacrifices to the nymphs, swabbed the diseased parts of their bodies, and swam across the river. They left the disease in the water and emerged healthy.
In Iliaka II, Pausanias refers to another healing spring that flowed into the Kytheron River, and above it was a sanctuary of nymphs. The spring was healing, as those who bathed in it were cured of diseases and pain. This sanctuary of the nymphs was called Ioniades by Strabo, who states it was located in Heraclea, on the Kytheron River.
Archaeological research has shown that a spring existed there, and the water was sulfuric. It has been confirmed that therapeutic baths in sulfuric water effectively treat benign skin diseases.
Many sacred springs were believed to be gifts from the gods, infused with their divine essence. The most famous was the Castalian Spring at Delphi, which was dedicated to Apollo and the Muses.
Pythia, the Oracle of Delphi, and visitors who sought her help would purify themselves in its waters before Pythia delivered her prophetic messages.
According to Euripides’ play Ion, visitors of the oracle went to this source to ritually cleanse themselves. Washing one’s hair was sufficient, although murderers had to wash themselves completely.
The water was also used to sprinkle the temple of Apollo. It came down from the two rocks known as the Pheriads and plunged as a little stream, the Papaddia, from the rocks and joined the river Pleistos below Delphi. According to Pausanias, the water had a delicious taste.
Poet Panyassis, as quoted by Pausanias, seems to have referred to Castalia as a daughter of the river Achelous. In contrast, others, such as the lyrical poet Alcaeus, believed that the spring was connected to the Cephissus river in Athens.
Athens had three sacred rivers: the Cephissus, the Ilissus, and the Eridanus.
Cephissus was the main river of Attica and was considered sacred. It sprang between the Parnitha and Penteli mountains.
Ilissus was a famous ancient river that originated from the northwest side of Mount Hymettus. It flowed in front of Panathenaic Stadium and from the southeastern wall of Athens flew towards Cephissus, the hills of Philopappos.
According to Strabo, Ilissus was torrential, while Plato called it a small stream. The banks of Ilissus were a favorite place for study and contemplation for the ancient Athenians. There are details in Plato’s “Phaedrus” about its nature and landscape.
Socrates, after walking barefoot through the riverbed, which contained little but “pleasant and transparent” water because it was summer, sat in the shade of a large plane tree with the constant singing of cicadas and the rustling of leaves from the cool breeze.
Eridanus was considered one of the river gods. According to Strabo, the sources of the Eridanus River were located near the southern foot of Lycabettus, opposite the Diocharis Gates, where the Panopos Fountain is also located.
Pausanias attests to the presence of the Eridanus in Athens and even mentions that its waters ended in the Ilissus River.
In ancient Athens, a prerequisite for the proper functioning of philosophical schools was a natural environment consisting of flowering gardens and running water.
In Arcadia, young boys and girls gathered every year, on a solemn day, on the banks of Neda, to cut their hair there and dedicate it to the river. This custom dates back to prehistoric times. There is a testimony in Homer’s Iliad.
Achilles, addressing the Spercheios River, says: “Spercheios, my lord Peleus has truly ordered you to the desired homeland, if I were to return there, I would cut off my hair for your sake, making a great sacrifice above: I would slaughter fifty rams by your banks, at the springs, where your grove and your fragrant altar are. The old man had made such a promise, but you did not say yes!
Now that I am no longer coming back to my native land, may the brave-hearted Patroclus take my hair with him.” This moving offering clearly shows what religious ideas the rivers awakened in the souls of the Greeks, who went so far as to sacrifice their hair to them, of which they were so proud.
Herodotus said the Tearos, a small river in Eastern Thrace, was reputed to cure all diseases, especially mange in humans and horses. Pausanias refers to the Pamisos River, which cured young children: “for the springs of Pamisos come from Thuria as far as Arcadia, and in them small children are made to drink.”
The Dirke Spring in Thebes, linked to the god Dionysus, was greatly revered. Dirke was the Naiad-nymph of the spring of Dirke near Thebes in Boiotia (Central Greece). Her waters were sacred to the god Dionysus.
Dirke was originally the wife of King Lykos (Lycus) of Thebes. As punishment for mistreating her niece Antiope, she was tied to a wild bull and torn limb from limb. Dionysus afterwards transformed her into a spring, for she had been one of the god’s devoted followers.
In the cult of the medicine god Asclepius, baths and the cleanliness of the patients played an important role in the therapeutic process, being essential elements of their preparation. That is why near the Asclepia temples, there were natural sacred springs and rivers. If none were nearby, fountains connected to a spring served the patients.
The most famous sanctuary of Asclepius was in Epidaurus. It had sacred springs where visitors sought healing. Pilgrims bathed in or drank from these waters as part of their spiritual and medical treatments, reinforcing the connection between divine favor and physical well-being.
In Gortynia in Arcadia, Pausanias mentions the temple of Asclepius and the Lousios River (or Gortynios), which flowed very close by. In Gytheion, near a temple of Asclepius, there was a spring dedicated to him. Pausanias wrote that there was a bronze statue of Asclepius and a spring of the god.
In Corinth, the Peirene sacred spring in Greek mythology was located inside the city proper. It was believed to be Pegasus’s favored watering-hole and sacred to the Muses. Poets would travel there to drink and receive inspiration.
Springs other than the Castalian Spring at Delphi were believed to possess mystical qualities, offering glimpses into the future. The Spring of Amphiaraus at Oropos was associated with dream incubation, where seekers would sleep near the waters, hoping to receive divine messages in their dreams.
The Spring of Dodona, dedicated to Zeus, was one of Ancient Greece’s oldest oracular sites, where sacred oak trees and rustling leaves were believed to communicate the gods’ will.
The Hippocrene Spring on Mount Helicon, said to have been created by Pegasus’s hoof, was sacred to the Muses and a source of poetic inspiration. Similarly, the Naiads, the water nymphs who presided over springs and fountains, were honored in local cults and worshiped for their life-giving powers.
In Patras, there was an oracle spring in front of the sanctuary of Demeter which, with the help of a mirror and after prayer and the burning of incense in honor of the goddess Demeter, offered a prediction about the patient’s future, determining whether he would be cured or die. Pausanias describes in detail the prediction process and characterizes this particular oracle as infallible.
The reverence for sacred springs and rivers continued beyond Ancient Greece, influencing Roman religious practices and medieval Christian traditions. Sites that once held such sacred waters became early Christian pilgrimage destinations.
To this day, the ruins of these ancient sites attract visitors drawn to their historical and spiritual significance, a testament to the enduring legacy of Ancient Greece’s sacred springs. Fascination with ancient Greek sacred waters is a powerful reminder of humanity’s timeless connection to nature and the divine.
