All traditional cultures have some personification of the Divine Healer or miracle working physician. The ancient Greeks had Asclepius, the god of medicine.In Homer's Iliad, Asclepius was a man, a physician to soldiers wounded on the battlefield at Troy. But by Hippocrates' day, he had become elevated to the status of a god.
Actually, Asclepius was a demigod, born of a divine father,Apollo, and a mortal mother, Coronis. While pregnant with Asclepius, Coronis fell in love with a mortal man and married him. This so angered Apollo that he struck both Coronis and her husband dead.
As Coronis' body lay burning on the funeral pyre, Apollo performed the first Caesarian section, freeing the baby Asclepius from his mother's womb and certain death. And so, Asclepius' very birth was due to a heroic act of medical intervention.
Asclepius was married to Epione, with whom he had five daughters: Hygieia, Panacea, Aceso, Iaso, and Aglaea, and three sons: Machaon, Podaleirios and Telesphoros. He also sired a son, Aratus, with Aristodama.
Apollo carried the baby to the centaur Chiron who raised Asclepius and instructed him in the art of medicine. It is said that in return for some kindness rendered by Asclepius, a snake licked Asclepius's ears clean and taught him secret knowledge (to the Greeks snakes were sacred beings of wisdom, healing, and resurrection). Asclepius bore a rod wreathed with a snake, which became associated with healing. A species of non-venomous pan-Mediterranean serpent, the Aesculapian snake (Zamenis longissimus) is named for the god.
At some point, Asclepius was among those who took part in the Calydonian Boar hunt.
Asclepius became so proficient as a healer that he surpassed both Chiron and his father, Apollo. Asclepius was therefore able to evade death and to bring others back to life from the brink of death and beyond. This caused an influx of human beings and Zeus resorted to killing him to maintain balance in the numbers of the human population.
The goddess Athena gave Asclepius the gift of Medusa's blood. The blood from the veins on the left side of Medusa's head was for the bane of mankind, but Asclepius used the blood from the veins on the right side for saving mankind and for raising the dead.
Asclepius' raising of the dead aroused the wrath of Zeus. Not only was Zeus angered to see many of his old enemies, whom he had struck dead with his thunderbolts, returning to life, but his brother Hades, king of the underworld, was complaining about the dearth of new arrivals. And so, Zeus struck Asclepius dead with one of his thunderbolts, fearing the spread of his miraculous art of healing, especially into the wrong hands.
Despite the rumors of his death, Asclepius became a living god. Healing sanctuaries, or Asclepions, were dedicated to him at sacred sites throughout ancient Greece.
Asclepius often used the art of divination to obtain responses from his father Apollo through oracles. From these auguries he learned much about the natures of many drugs and herbs, and how to use them in treating disease. This knowledge he passed on to his sons, and to his students.
Asclepius is the personification of the miracle working physician of consummate medical skill. This powerful archetype is still invoked today by many patients, desperately praying for their doctor to work them a medical miracle, to snatch life from the jaws of death. Many people place a powerful, almost religious faith in their doctors.
While placing a supernatural, blind faith in medicine and physicians, most men actually know very little about life and death, and what they really are. On the whole, their approach to both is rather cursory and superficial. Many men waste their lives away while fearing death, without properly investigating either of them.
Asclepius' demise at the hands of Zeus shows the ultimate powerlessness of man against the natural order and the forces of decay, destruction, and death. Even the most skillful physician cannot hold death off indefinitely, and in the end, the grim reaper always claims his due.
Sacred places and practices
From the fifth century 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. In honor of Asclepius, a particular type of non-venomous snake was often used in healing rituals, and these snakes — the Aesculapian Snakes — slithered around freely on the floor in dormitories where the sick and injured slept. These snakes were introduced at the founding of each new temple of Asclepius throughout the classical world.The most famous temple of Asclepius was at Epidaurus in north-eastern Peloponnese, dated to the fourth century BC.Another famous healing temple (or asclepieion) was built approximately a century later on the island of Kos, where Hippocrates, the legendary "father of medicine", may have begun his career. Other asclepieia were situated in Trikala, Gortys (in Arcadia), and Pergamum in Asia.
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 …".
Some later religious movements claimed links to Asclepius. In the 2nd century AD the controversial miracle-worker Alexander claimed that his god Glycon, a snake with a "head of linen" was an incarnation of Asclepius. The Greek language rhetorician and satirist Lucian produced the work Alexander the False Prophet to denounce the swindler for future generations. He described Alexander as having a character "made up of lying, trickery, perjury, and malice; [it was] facile, audacious, venturesome, diligent in the execution of its schemes, plausible, convincing, masking as good, and wearing an appearance absolutely opposite to its purpose." In Rome, the College of Aesculapius and Hygia was an association (collegium)that served as a burial society and dining club that also participated in Imperial cult.
The goddess Athena gave Asclepius the gift of Medusa's blood. The blood from the veins on the left side of Medusa's head was for the bane of mankind, but Asclepius used the blood from the veins on the right side for saving mankind and for raising the dead.
Asclepius' raising of the dead aroused the wrath of Zeus. Not only was Zeus angered to see many of his old enemies, whom he had struck dead with his thunderbolts, returning to life, but his brother Hades, king of the underworld, was complaining about the dearth of new arrivals. And so, Zeus struck Asclepius dead with one of his thunderbolts, fearing the spread of his miraculous art of healing, especially into the wrong hands.
Despite the rumors of his death, Asclepius became a living god. Healing sanctuaries, or Asclepions, were dedicated to him at sacred sites throughout ancient Greece.
Asclepius often used the art of divination to obtain responses from his father Apollo through oracles. From these auguries he learned much about the natures of many drugs and herbs, and how to use them in treating disease. This knowledge he passed on to his sons, and to his students.
Asclepius is the personification of the miracle working physician of consummate medical skill. This powerful archetype is still invoked today by many patients, desperately praying for their doctor to work them a medical miracle, to snatch life from the jaws of death. Many people place a powerful, almost religious faith in their doctors.
While placing a supernatural, blind faith in medicine and physicians, most men actually know very little about life and death, and what they really are. On the whole, their approach to both is rather cursory and superficial. Many men waste their lives away while fearing death, without properly investigating either of them.
Asclepius' demise at the hands of Zeus shows the ultimate powerlessness of man against the natural order and the forces of decay, destruction, and death. Even the most skillful physician cannot hold death off indefinitely, and in the end, the grim reaper always claims his due.
Sacred places and practices
From the fifth century 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. In honor of Asclepius, a particular type of non-venomous snake was often used in healing rituals, and these snakes — the Aesculapian Snakes — slithered around freely on the floor in dormitories where the sick and injured slept. These snakes were introduced at the founding of each new temple of Asclepius throughout the classical world.The most famous temple of Asclepius was at Epidaurus in north-eastern Peloponnese, dated to the fourth century BC.Another famous healing temple (or asclepieion) was built approximately a century later on the island of Kos, where Hippocrates, the legendary "father of medicine", may have begun his career. Other asclepieia were situated in Trikala, Gortys (in Arcadia), and Pergamum in Asia.
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 …".
Some later religious movements claimed links to Asclepius. In the 2nd century AD the controversial miracle-worker Alexander claimed that his god Glycon, a snake with a "head of linen" was an incarnation of Asclepius. The Greek language rhetorician and satirist Lucian produced the work Alexander the False Prophet to denounce the swindler for future generations. He described Alexander as having a character "made up of lying, trickery, perjury, and malice; [it was] facile, audacious, venturesome, diligent in the execution of its schemes, plausible, convincing, masking as good, and wearing an appearance absolutely opposite to its purpose." In Rome, the College of Aesculapius and Hygia was an association (collegium)that served as a burial society and dining club that also participated in Imperial cult.
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