Ancient Greek Wisdom

Ancient Greek Gods: Asclepius

god, Asclepius, book, mythology

For the birth of Asclepius there are four main traditions, as many as the regions that claim his origin: Thessaly, Epidaurus, Arcadia and Messinia. According to Homer and most ancient writers, he came from Thessaly. Hesiod rescued an old Thessalian as legend seems: he was the son of Apollo and Koronis, daughter of the king of the Lapiths Phlegyas, who while pregnant with Asclepius married Ischy (son of Arcada Elatos). The infidelity was made known to Apollo by a white raven, who changed it into a black one and killed Ischy, while his sister Artemis killed Coronis. And Hermes, by order of Apollo, took Asclepius out of Koronida's womb and handed him over to the centaur Chiron, brother of Zeus, from whom he was taught medicine.

The tradition about the origin of Asclepius from Epidaurus mentions the marriage of Malus and Erato, daughter of Zeus, from which arose Cleofemi, who married the king of the Lapiths Phlegyas. From this marriage, Koronida was born, who Apollo fell in love with and gave birth to Asclepius. Koronida left the infant on Mt Tithio, where he was fed on the milk of a goat. The shepherd Aresthanas when he realized the lack of the goat tried to kill the infant, but it sent lightning that terrified him.

 

Asclepius took part in the Argonautic Campaign and treated the wounded with euphemisms and medicines. He was considered an auspicious and all-powerful savior of the people, in addition to having the power to resurrect the dead. Zeus, according to Diodorus, fearing lest he should lose his power by the abolition of death, blasted him as the representative of the medical art, which disturbed the natural laws, and placed him among the constellations under the name of Ophiuchus, or according to others with the gods in Olympus. Apollo to avenge his son's death killed the Cyclops, who supplied the thunderbolt to Zeus, but was punished by Zeus to stay on earth away from Olympus and practice medicine on people for a fee.

 

Ever since Asclepius was deified, the rod (bacterium) and his sacred serpent have symbolized the medical profession even today. The bacterium expanded downwards and thinner upwards symbolizes the authority and support needed by the young Asclepiad-physician in the exercise of his profession. The serpent has been an ancient symbol of healing, healing, longevity and renewal, as its skin periodically changes, but also an emblem of wisdom, truth and intelligence, expressed by the three semicircles formed by the serpent of Asclepius around the rod of It is said that the single serpent as an emblem is older than the double serpent of Mercury. It is possible that the emblem of Asclepius first appeared during Homeric times and is a morphological variation of the scepter of Hermes.

Emblems of Asclepius were also various pharmaceutical instruments, scrolls of manuscripts, tablets or books, diptychs, compasses, phial, sykya (cup), scepter, bacterium, etc.

There are about fifty statues of Asclepius in the various museums, the most famous being the statue of the National Archaeological Museum, Rome (in the Vatican), Florence (dei Uffici), etc.

 

Learn all about both the god Asclepius and other deities around the world who were associated with the snake as a symbol in the book by Christos DikbasanisOphiolatry” which is released in a new, expanded edition by Daedaleos Publications!

 

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