Illness and cures in the Greek propitiatory inscriptions and dedications of Lydia and Phrygia.

The propitiatory inscriptions of Lydia and Phrygia (of the second and third centuries AD) manifest the belief that illness is a divine punishment for a sin (usually for a religious offence); cure can thus be achieved through expiation. Although scientific medicine was not unknown, the high costs of doctors, the belief in the omnipotence of gods, and the attribution of illness to divine intervention led the villagers to the local sanctuaries, where they received instructions by means of dreams and oracles. Some priests had medical experience, but they usually practised a 'religious healing' (incantations, purifications, sacrifices, the ritual transfer of the sin and the illness to animals).