INCUBATION. — From the Latin in-cubare, “to lie within” (with a temple or other sacred place understood; German Tempelschlaaf), it is a rite connected with the cult of Mother Earth, direct contact with whom, since she guards the remains of the dead in her womb, is capable of providing responses and prophetic dreams. Hence Euripides (Hecuba, 70; Iphigenia in Tauris, 1234) calls dreams the children of Mother Earth.
The place of lying down may be either the earth, as at Dodona (v. DONNA, ORACLE of), where the priests slept on the bare ground, or, more often, a temple, where the assistance of the priesthood attached to the sanctuary and possessing the technical knowledge relating to the interpretation of dreams and oracles was more readily available.
The most abundant information concerning the rite of i. relates to the cult of Asclepius (Aesculapius), god of medicine, a chthonic deity, as is evident from the rite of i. and from the serpent, a chthonic animal, which is his constant symbol. In his sanctuary at Epidaurus (Argolis), in that on the Island of Cos (Caria), and in Rome, in the sanctuary built on the Sacred Island, on the site of the present basilica of S. Bartolomeo, in 233 B.C., following an epidemic, the rite was practiced, consisting in lying down on the floor of the sanctuary while awaiting the god’s revealing dream concerning the cure of the illness.
A priest was attached to the temple who applied empirical remedies: ash, honey, wine, and the blood of a white rooster.
As a popular practice of devotion in honor of the patron saint, without expectation of oracles or dreams, i. is still practiced by the faithful in churches in various localities.