Aesculapius is known today as the Greco-Roman god of medicine, although his legend may be based on the life of a real physician who lived around 1200 BC.

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In Greek mythology, Apollo—the god of healing, truth, and prophecy—had a son with Coronis, a mortal princess. Coronis was unfaithful to Apollo and was killed and burned on a funeral pyre, but her baby was rescued from her womb and named Asklepios, meaning “to cut open.” Asklepios learned the art of healing from a wise centaur named Chiron and became a healer so skilled that he could bring the dead back to life. This caused Hades, ruler of the underworld, to complain to Zeus (king of the gods) that Asklepios was depriving him of subjects. Zeus was also concerned that Asklepios was assuming godlike powers and that he might make all men immortal. So Zeus killed Asklepios with a thunderbolt and then, at Apollo’s request, made Asklepios the god of medicine.

A cult developed around his following and became very popular around 300 BC, spreading throughout Greece and to Rome, where Asklepios was known as Aesculapius. Because people supposed that Aesculapius cured the sick while they slept—or visited them and offered treatment advice while they dreamed—his followers frequently slept overnight in temples built in his honor. These temples were staffed with physicians and functioned as health care facilities and medical schools. Snakes, which Aesculapius held to be sacred, were a common fixture in his temples; followers believed that the reptiles might carry healing powers or messages from the gods. Aesculapius is frequently pictured standing, dressed in a long cloak and holding a staff with a serpent coiled around it. This is similar to today’s symbol of medicine, a winged staff with intertwined serpents that is called a caduceus.

ADDITIONAL FACTS

  1. Aesculapius was often worshipped along with Hygeia, the Greek goddess of health. The two are sometimes referred to as father and daughter or as husband and wife.
  2. In The Iliad, Aesculapius is mentioned as a “blameless physician” and the father of two Greek doctors at Troy, Machaon and Podalirius.
  3. The plant genus Asclepias (commonly known as milkweed) is named after Aesculapius and includes the medicinal plant called “pleurisy root.”