Coordinates | 38°53′51.61″N77°2′11.58″N |
---|---|
Caption | Asclepius with his serpent-entwined staff |
Name | Asclepius |
God of | God of medicine, healing, rejuvenation and physicians |
Symbol | A serpent-entwined staff |
Consort | Epione |
Parents | Apollo and Coronis |
Children | Hygieia, Iaso, Aceso, Meditrina, and Panacea |
Asclepius (; Greek: Asklēpiós ; Latin Aesculapius) is the god of medicine and healing in ancient Greek religion. Asclepius represents the healing aspect of the medical arts; his daughters are Hygieia ("Hygiene"), Iaso ("Medicine"), Aceso ("Healing"), Aglæa/Ægle ("Healthy Glow"), and Panacea ("Universal Remedy"). The rod of Asclepius, a snake-entwined staff, remains a symbol of medicine today, although sometimes the caduceus, or staff with two snakes, is mistakenly used instead. He was associated with the Roman/Etruscan god Vediovis. He was one of Apollo's sons, sharing with Apollo the epithet Paean ("the Healer").
Some historians have proposed that there may have been a historical Asclepius during the Greek Dark Ages, who became the subject of a Hero cult and on whom the mythological character was based.
:"H. Grégoire (with R. Goossens and M. Mathieu) in Asklépios, Apollon Smintheus et Rudra 1949 (Mém. Acad. Roy. de Belgique. Cl. d. lettres. 2. sér. 45), explains the name as 'the mole-hero', connecting 'mole' and refers to the resemblance of the Tholos in Epidauros and the building of a mole. (Thus Puhvel, Comp. Mythol. 1987, 135.) But the variants of Asklepios and those of the word for 'mole' do not agree.
:The name is typical for Pre-Greek words; apart from minor variations ( for , for ) we find (a well known variation; Fur. 335 - 339) followed by or , i.e. a voiced velar (without ) or a voiceless velar (or an aspirated one: we know that there was no distinction between the three in the substr. language) with a . I think that the renders an original affricate, which (prob. as ) was lost before the (in Greek the group is rare, and certainly before another consonant); Beekes Pre-Greek.
:Szemerényi's etymology (JHS 94, 1974, 155) from Hitt. assula(a)- 'well-being' and piya- 'give' cannot be correct, as it does not explain the velar."
One might add that even though Szemerényi's etymology (Hitt. asula- + piya-) does not account for the velar, it is perhaps inserted spontaneously in Greek due to the fact that the cluster -sl- was uncommon in Greek: So, *Aslāpios would become Asklāpios automatically.
In honor of Asclepius, snakes were often used in healing rituals and non-venomous snakes were allowed to crawl on the floor in dormitories where the sick and injured slept. From about 300 BC onwards, the cult of Asclepius grew very popular and pilgrims flocked to his healing temples (Asclepieia) to be cured of their ills. Ritual purification would be followed by offerings or sacrifices to the god (according to means), and the supplicant would then spend the night in the holiest part of the sanctuary - the abaton (or adyton). Any dreams or visions would be reported to a priest who would prescribe the appropriate therapy by a process of interpretation. Some healing temples also used sacred dogs to lick the wounds of sick petitioners.
The original Hippocratic Oath began with the invocation "I swear by Apollo the Physician and by Asclepius and by Hygieia and Panacea and by all the gods ..."
The botanical genus Asclepias (commonly known as milkweed), is named after him, and includes the medicinal plant A. tuberosa or "Pleurisy root".
Asclepius was depicted on the reverse of the Greek 10,000 drachmas banknote of 1995-2001.
Category:Greek mythology Category:Greek mythological hero cult Category:Greek gods Category:History of medicine Category:Offspring of Apollo
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