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God of medicine, healing, rejuvenation and physicians
Asklepios - Epidauros.jpg
Symbol Serpent-entwined staff
Personal information
Consort Epione
Parents Apollo and Coronis
Siblings half-siblings of Asclepius
Roman equivalent Vejovis

Asclepius (/æsˈklpiəs/; Greek: Ἀσκληπιός Asklēpiós [asklɛːpiós]; Latin: Aesculapius) or Hepius[1] was a hero and god of medicine in ancient Greek religion and mythology. Asclepius represents the healing aspect of the medical arts; his daughters are Hygieia ("Hygiene", the goddess/personification of health, cleanliness, and sanitation), Iaso (the goddess of recuperation from illness), Aceso (the goddess of the healing process), Aglæa/Ægle (the goddess of the glow of good health), and Panacea (the goddess of universal remedy). He was associated with the Roman/Etruscan god Vediovis and the Egyptian Imhotep.[2] He was one of Apollo's sons, sharing with Apollo the epithet Paean ("the Healer").[3] The rod of Asclepius, a snake-entwined staff, remains a symbol of medicine today. Those physicians and attendants who served this god were known as the Therapeutae of Asclepius.


The etymology of the name is unknown. In his revised version of Frisk's Griechisches etymologisches Wörterbuch (Greek Etymological Dictionary), R.S.P. Beekes gives this summary of the different attempts:


Beekes suggested a Pre-Greek proto-form *Atyklap-.[5]


Asclepius was the son of Apollo, either by Coronis, daughter of Phlegyas or by Arsinoe,[6] daughter of Leucippus of Messenia. He was the brother of Eriopis.[7][8]

Asclepius was married to Epione, with whom he had five daughters: Hygieia, Panacea, Aceso, Iaso, and Aglaea,[9][10] and three sons: Machaon, Podaleirios and Telesphoros. He also sired a son, Aratus, with Aristodama.[10][11][12][13][14][15][16]

Roman coin from Odessos showing Asclepius with Hygieia on one side and Gordian III's portrait on the other side (35mm, 28g)




Education and adventures

Apollo carried the baby to the centaur Chiron who raised Asclepius and instructed him in the art of medicine.[19] 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. He was originally called Hepius but received his popular name of Asclepius after he cured Ascles, ruler of Epidaurus who suffered an incurable ailment in his eyes.[1]





Asclepios with his daughter Hygieia

Zeus killed Asclepius with a thunderbolt because he brought Hippolytus back from the dead and accepted gold for it.[20]

Other stories say that Asclepius was killed because, after bringing people back from the dead like Tyndareus, Hades thought that no more dead spirits would come to the underworld. Because of this, he asked his brother Zeus to stop him. This angered Apollo who in turn killed the Cyclopes who made the thunderbolts for Zeus.[21] For this act, Zeus suspended Apollo from the night sky[22] and commanded Apollo to serve Admetus, King of Thessaly for a year. Once the year had passed, Zeus brought Apollo back to Mount Olympus and revived the Cyclopes that made his thunderbolts.[16][23] After Asclepius's death, Zeus placed his body among the stars as the constellation Ophiuchus ("the Serpent Holder").[24]


Sacred places and practices

Majestic Zeus-like facial features of Asclepius (Melos)

The most ancient and the most prominent asclepieion according to the geographer of the 1st century BC, Strabo, was situated in Trikala.[25] One of the most famous temples of Asclepius was at Epidaurus in north-eastern Peloponnese, dated to the fourth century BC.[26] Another famous healing temple (or asclepieion) was built approximately a century later on the island of Kos,[26] where Hippocrates, the legendary "father of medicine", may have begun his career. Other asclepieia were situated in Gortys (in Arcadia), and Pergamum in Asia.

From the fifth century BC onwards,[27] 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.[28] Some healing temples also used sacred dogs to lick the wounds of sick petitioners.[29] 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.





Asclepius was depicted on the reverse of the Greek 10,000 drachmas banknote of 1995–2001.[31]


  1. ^ a b John Tzetzes. Chiliades, 10.49 lines 712–714
  3. ^ Mitchell-Boyask, p. 141
  4. ^ Greek etymology database (online source requires login and is located at Originally: "Archived copy". Archived from the original on 28 September 2007. Retrieved 2009-04-11. Also in: R.S.P. Beekes, Etymological Dictionary of Greek, Brill, 2009, p. 151.
  5. ^ R.S.P. Beekes, Etymological Dictionary of Greek, Brill, 2009, p. xxv.
  7. ^ Scholia on Pindar, Pythian Ode, 3. 14
  8. ^ Hesiod. Catalogue of Women, 63
  10. ^ a b Suidas s.v. Epione (trans. Suda On Line)
  11. ^ Pausanias, Description of Greece 2.29.1 (trans. Jones)
  12. ^ Homer, Iliad 4.193 and 217ff (trans. Lattimore)
  13. ^ Homer, Iliad 11.518ff (trans. Lattimore)
  14. ^ Homer, Iliad 2.730ff (trans. Lattimore)
  15. ^ Lycophron, Alexandra 1047ff (trans. Mair)
  16. ^ a b Diodorus Siculus, Library of History 4.71.3 (trans. Oldfather)
  18. ^ NIH U.S. National Library of Medicine
  21. ^ Apollodorus, Bibliotheca 3.121 (trans. Aldrich)
  22. ^ Apollonius Rhodius, Argonautica 4.610ff (trans. Rieu)
  23. ^ Hyginus, Fabulae, 49 (trans. Grant)
  24. ^ Hyginus, Astronomica 2.14
  25. ^ "Asclepeion of ancient Trikki | Municipality of Trikala". Municipality of Trikala.
  28. ^ Sigerist 1987, pp. 63ff



External links

  • Warburg Institute Iconographic Database (c. 100 images of Aesculapius)

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