The therapeutae of Asclepius were a recognized and designated association in antiquity that included the physicians, their attendants and support staff, in the larger temples of Asclepius. These healing temples were known as Asclepeions. Examples of famous therapeutae of Asclepius prior to 300 BCE include many presocratic philosophers such as Parmenides and Empedocles according to ongoing scholarship. Asclepeion's between 300 BCE and 300 CE include Hippocrates, Apollonius of Tyana, Aelius Aristides and Galen.
The Greek word therapeutes θεραπευτής has the primary meaning of 'one who serves the gods, 'worshipper', or one who is or attendant to the gods. Therapeutae (plural) is Latin from the Greek plural Therapeutai (Θεραπευταί). The related adjective therapeutikos carry in later texts the meaning of attending to heal, or treating in a spiritual or medical sense. The Greek feminine plural Therapeutrides (Θεραπευτρίδες) is sometimes encountered for their female members. The term therapeutae may occur in relation to followers of Asclepius at Pergamon, and therapeutai may also occur in relation to worshippers of Sarapis in inscriptions, such as on Delos.
