The Koan Asklepieion – An Alternative Story: Approaching Healing Rituals by Serious Gaming

This paper explores the spatial dynamics of the Koan Asklepieion by using healing rituals as a narrative framework for analysing the built environment of the sanctuary. While the sanctuary on Kos is traditionally analysed in terms of its axiality and scenographic architecture, such perspectives often overlook the role of individual actors and their embodied experiences. By shifting the focus to specific participants—their movements, perceptions, and ritual practices—space emerges as a relational and dynamic category shaped through interaction.

Drawing on epigraphic and literary evidence, the study (re)constructs a narrative centred on the priestess Kallistrate and her family as they engage in a healing ritual. This scenario highlights forms of movement and spatial use distinct from the highly choreographed processions of festival contexts, including the use of secondary paths and entrances. To visualise these alternative spatial experiences, the project employs a 3D model of the sanctuary developed in ArchiCAD and implemented in the Unreal Engine as a flexible research environment. This allows for ground-level, avatar-based exploration, incorporating movement, perspective, and atmospheric conditions.

By combining storytelling with immersive digital modelling, the paper demonstrates how serious gaming can function as a heuristic tool for rethinking ancient spatial practices. The results challenge conventional interpretations of Hellenistic architecture by emphasising non-axial movement, varied viewpoints, and the performative dimensions of ritual space. This approach offers broader methodological implications for the study of ancient built environments.