Aelius Aristides and the sacred tales -- Introduction -- The composition of the sacred tales -- Date of composition -- Method of composition -- Motives for composition -- The sacred tales as an autobiography -- The ancient readers of the sacred tales -- A narrative of redemption -- Society, disease and medicine in the sacred tales of Aristides -- Introduction -- The Graeco-Roman health-care system -- Towards a definition of a medical discourse -- Medicine in the Graeco-Roman world -- Roman medicine and its Greek influences -- Dreams -- The sick, medicine and physicians in the world of the sacred tales -- The place of the sick in society -- Medical discourse in the sacred tales -- The physicians in the sacred tales -- Towards a medical history of Aelius Aristides -- Falling ill -- Aristides and Asclepius -- Wider contexts -- Reconsidering private religions; religion and religious experience in the sacred tales of Aelius Aristides -- Introduction -- Theology -- The myth of Asclepius -- Divination, oracles and dreams -- Dreams -- Oracles -- Visual culture and social forms of cult-organisation -- Cult, festivals and games -- The power of images.