Press Play to Enter: Serious Gaming and the Body as the Asklepieion of Kos

This paper examines the potential of using game engines and virtual reality devices to study the 2nd-century BC Koan Asklepieion during festivals. Building on earlier visualisations and functional hypotheses, the study explores how digital environments enriched with moving human and animal bodies can facilitate a praxeological analysis of the built space. It discusses the feasibility of processional routes via gates and staircases, and the suitability of different areas within the Asklepieion for sacrifice, gathering, and observation by humans and animals. It also explores how physical features, such as steep slopes and looming retaining walls, shaped the spatial experience, making them important for festival logistics too. By relating movement and perception rooted in the body to the material record, the study demonstrates that game engines can be employed to bridge the void left by the ephemeral presence of past participants. Ultimately, the paper discusses ways of using digital tools to study the social production of past built space.