Asclepius - god of medical art of ancient Greece
God of medicine and healing. He was born mortal, but for the highest medical art he received immortality. The serpent-entangled rod of Asclepius is used as a medical symbol.
Asclepius, the god of healing, is the son of Apollo and the nymph Coronida, whom Apollo killed for treason. When the body of the Coronides was burned, Apollo saved the baby Asclepius and brought him to the wise centaur Chiron, who taught him the art of healing.
And here are some details about the mother of Asclepius. Coronida, having become pregnant, fell in love with mortal Ishii. The raven reported this to Apollo, and he, very angry, sent his sister Artemis to kill Coronid. When the woman’s body was burned at the stake (in this case, the raven, who had previously worn white feathers, was blackened forever from the soot of the fire), snatched Asclepius from the fire from her fire and gave it to Chiron to raise him. However, according to Socrates of Argos and Tarquitius, Asclepius was born by unknown parents, thrown out by them, found by hunters, fed with dog milk and given to Chiron, who taught him medicine.
Asclepius came up with the daring idea of \u200b\u200bresurrecting the dead, and indeed he raised many. For this, an angry Zeus killed Asclepius. The sons of Asclepius were Podalirius and Machaon, mentioned by Homer as excellent doctors. Among the daughters of Asclepius - Hygiea and Panakea - female correlates of Asclepius. The cult of Asclepius was especially popular in Epidaurus, where people flocked for healing from all over Greece. An indispensable attribute of Asclepius was the serpent, who received sacrificial offerings in the temple of Asclepius. On the island of Kos there was the famous sanctuary of Asclepius, the famous doctors of the island of Kos were considered descendants of Asclepius and were called Asclepias.
Where did the bowl with the snake go
Asclepius was thought of as the hypostasis of Apollo; their common temples and attributes. The image of Asclepius combines the features of a healing land (a snake is not only an attribute of Asclepius, but Asclepius himself is a serpent) and the idea of \u200b\u200bthe transfer of divine functions to the children of the gods - heroes who by their audacity violate the balance established by the Olympians in the world. In Roman mythology, Asclepius is called Aesculapius; his cult was introduced in Rome at the beginning. 3 c. BC e., on one of the islands of the Tiber, where the serpent brought from Epidavros was released, the temple of God was founded.
Asclepius is often depicted with a staff entwined with snakes. Once he walked, leaning on a staff, and suddenly a snake entwined a staff. Frightened, Asclepius killed the snake. But then came the second snake, which carried some kind of grass in the mouth. This grass resurrected the slain. Asclepius found this grass and with its help he began to resurrect the dead. The serpent-entangled rod of Asclepius is used as a medical symbol.
True, there is such a hypothesis that Asclepius made resurrection with the help of blood from the right half of the Gorgon's body, which he received from Athena. The death god Thanatos, having lost prey, complained to Zeus of Asclepius, violating the world order. Zeus agreed that if people become immortal, they will cease to be different from the gods. With his lightning, the Thunderer struck Asclepius. But the great doctor returned from the kingdom of the dead, and became the god of healing.
There is such an asteroid
Most of the surviving antique images of Asclepius are consecutive reliefs. The statues of God and their fragments are preserved (the head of Asclepius from the island of Melos, etc.); Asclepius was also depicted on gems and coins. In the Middle Ages, Asclepius is found in miniatures of medical and mythological treatises. He early became considered the patron of doctors and pharmacists, therefore he was often depicted in book illustrations as sitting in a pharmacy among medicines and tools, but already in the Renaissance Asclepius as a character in fine art lost his meaning (Asclepius statue by Francesco di Giorgio is a rare exception). In painting 16-17 centuries. The myth of the death of Coronida and the birth of Asclepius (the fresco by Domenichino, engraving by H. Goltzius and others) was popular, but the main character here is not the infant Asclepius, but Apollon himself.
Asclepius is mentioned in the Iliad. The 16th hymn of Homer is dedicated to him. This deity is the protagonist of the tragedy of Aristarchus of Teheus "Asclepius", the comedies of Antifan and Fileter "Asclepius". Families of doctors in ancient Greece were descended from Asclepius. In particular, Hippocrates and Aristotle were considered his descendants. In honor of Asclepius-Aesculapius, the asteroid Aesculapius, discovered in 1923, was named.
10:44 pm - Aesculapius or Asclepius ...So ... well, in honor of yesterday's holiday ... post about medicine and art) and about myths ...
Aesculapius in ancient Roman or Asclepius (dr. Greek Ἀσκληπιός, "revealing") in ancient Greek mythology - the god of medicine and healing. Initially, he was born mortal, but for the highest medical art he received immortality.
John william waterhouse
A sick child brought into the temple of Aesculapius, 1877
Asclepius with the Staff
Asclepius (A sclhpioz) · the god of healing, the son of Apollo and the nymph Coronida (according to another version, Arsinoe, the daughter of Leucippus), whom Apollo killed for treason (Coronida preferred Ishii to Apollon, when Apollon found out from the raven, he painted white feathers before that crow in black). When the body of Coronida was burned at the pyre, Apollo took Asclepius out of her womb and brought him up to the wise centaur Chiron, who taught him the art of healing. Asclepius came up with the daring thought of resurrecting the dead (he raised Hippolytus, Kapanei, Glaucus, the son of Minos, and others). For this, the angry Zeus killed Asclepius with lightning, because Hades controlled the lives and deaths and no one else had the right to do this.
When Asclepius gained a lot of experience in the art of healing, Athena gave him blood that flowed from the veins of the gorgon of Medusa. The blood that flowed from the left side of the gorgon brought death, and from the right side it was used by Asclepius to save people.
The cult of this deity was especially popular in Epidaurus, where people flocked for healing from all over Greece. An indispensable attribute of Asclepius was the rod, which was entwined by a snake (or even two). Sometimes he himself was associated with a snake who received sacrifices in the temple of Asclepius. Later, a cup, also entwined with a snake, became its symbol. When the patient was recovering, a rooster was sacrificed to Asclepius. On the island of Kos there was the famous sanctuary of Asclepius, the famous doctors of the island of Kos were considered its descendants and were called Asklepiads. Asclepius was thought of as the apostle of Apollo; their common temples and attributes are known. Sons of Asclepius from his wife Epiona were Podalirius and Machaon (who died in the Trojan War), mentioned by Homer as excellent doctors. Among the daughters - the goddess Gigiea ("health"), Panacea (Panakea) ("the healer") and Iaso ("treatment") - the female correlates of Asclepius. In the sanctuary of Amphiarai in Oropus there was an altar, one of the parts of which was dedicated to the Panacea, Gigiee and Athena Peonii (the “healer”).
The image of Asclepius combines the chthonic features of a healing earth and the idea of \u200b\u200btransferring divine functions to the children of the gods - heroes who, with their audacity, upset the balance established by the Olympians in the world. In Roman mythology, Asclepius is called Aesculapius, his cult was introduced in Rome at the beginning of the III century. BC, on one of the islands of the Tiber, where the serpent brought from Epidavros was released, the temple of God was founded.
Hygiea
Healing was Asclepius. The circumstances of his life are known thanks to numerous mythological sources. During the heyday of ancient Greece, about 300 temples of Asclepius existed in the country, where priests treated their compatriots with the help of magical and empirical techniques.
Son of apollo
There are several theories about the origin of Asclepius. According to the most common of them, the god of healing was the son of Apollo and the nymph Coronida. Other sources call the mother Arsinoe, daughter of Leucippus. The nymph Koronid was Apollo's lover, but, being pregnant from God, cheated on him with the mortal man Ishih. On Olympus, they decided to punish both. Ishiah incinerated with lightning. The cheater Coronida Apollo hit one of his sun arrows. Then he burned the nymph, having previously snatched the baby from the womb. This was the god of healing Asclepius.
Apollo gave the boy upbringing to the centaur Chiron. He was very different from most of his relatives. Almost all centaurs were known for their drunkenness, violence and dislike for people. Chiron was famous for its kindness and wisdom. When he was brought up for medical treatment, the centaur lived on Pelion, a mountain in the southeast of Thessaly.
Learning from Chiron
Although Asclepius is known as the god of healing in ancient Greece, at birth he did not possess any superpowers. His patron Chiron began to teach the boy medicine, and soon he achieved amazing success. At one point, Asclepius in his skill even surpassed the wise centaur. He began to travel around Greece and treat people, and even taught the inhabitants of Kos island some of his secrets (Tacitus mentions this in the Annals).
Asclepius succumbed to deadly diseases. Hone his art, Asclepius (the god of healing in ancient Greece) learned to resurrect people. Thanks to his help, the ordinary inhabitants of Hellas gained immortality. The secret of Asclepius' unique ability was in the blood of the Gorgon. The healer received it from the goddess of war, Athens. Ferekid (one of the most revered ancient Greek seven sages) in his writings mentioned that Asclepius resurrected all the inhabitants of Delphi, where the temple of his father Apollo was located.
Death
When Asclepius, the god of healing among the Greeks, began to revive mortals en masse, his rituals provoked indignation among the other gods. Living at the ends of the world, Thanatos, who became the personification of death for the Hellenes, went with a complaint about what was happening to the main Olympian Zeus. Resurrection violated the world order. Having received immortality, ordinary people ceased to be different from the gods. This turn of events did not appeal to most Olympians. The gods longed for punishment.
After some thought, Zeus decided to punish Asclepius. The ancient god of healing was struck by the thunderbolt. Apollo, learning about the death of his son, became furious. He could not take revenge on the powerful Zeus and instead attacked the Cyclops, who forged lightning for that. As a result, all these one-eyed creatures were killed.
Until now, Asclepius was still considered mortal. Dying from the lightning of Zeus, he fell to the spirits of fate moira. They determined the moment of birth and death of each person. After the death of Asclepius, they decided to bring him back to life. So the resurrected son of Apollo became a god. Later, the Roman counterpart of Asclepius, the ancient Roman god of healing Aesculapius, inherited common biographical features.
Asclepius's Staff
In any mythology, the patron gods of healing have their own easily recognizable symbols. Asclepius had such a sign was his staff entwined with a snake. From the ancient Greeks, this image passed to the Romans, and then spread to most of human civilization. Today the staff of Asclepius is international
His story is connected with one of the myths about the god of healing. According to legend, Asclepius arrived in Crete to resurrect the son of the famous king Minos. Walking along the road, he came across a snake. The animal encircled the staff, and Asclepius, without hesitation for a second, killed him. Then a second snake appeared with grass in its mouth, with the help of which it miraculously resurrected the first. Surprised Asclepius began to look for a miracle cure and after a while he found it. Since then, the god of healing among the ancient Greeks always had at hand a potion made from Cretan grass. The staff of Asclepius is traditionally depicted as a wooden stick entwined with a snake.
In modern medicine, the influence of Hellenic mythology was reflected not only in the form of graphic symbols. A significant part of medical terms has roots related to the ancient Greek past. The origins of traditional medical techniques first appeared in literature written in this ancient language. Latin is even more important for modern international medicine, but the Romans owed most of their knowledge to the Greeks.
Cult
Like any other ancient Greek cult, the Asclepius cult was especially popular in a certain region of the country. With the greatest zeal, this deity was revered in Epidaurus - a city located in the northeast of the Peloponnese peninsula. Today, in its place there are only the ruins of an ancient theater and, most importantly, the temples of Asclepius. There were also pools with healing thermal waters. They hid in the dungeon of the temple, built in the V century BC. e. the famous architect Polycletus the Younger. The sanctuaries of Asclepius were most often built on the site of mineral springs and cypress groves distinguished by the healing air. At the excavations in Epidaurus, ruins of columns were discovered, on the stelae of which descriptions of happy cases of healing of patients were carved. In addition, the sanctuary was filled with rare artifacts - images of cured parts of the body (hands, feet, hearts, eyes and ears) made of gold, silver and marble. They went to the temple as a fee for services.
The shrines of Asclepius existed according to the set of sacred rules. For example, it was impossible to die in them. Because of this, the terminally ill (even those who arrived from the other end of the country) were not allowed into the temple. Women in childbirth also had no right to enter. The priests of Asclepius were guided by strict principles. For them, treatment was not a medical service, but rather, the rules of which were established according to a strictly specified canonical rite. In particular, the rules prescribed that everything related to birth and death should be excluded from the sanctuary. Another important feature of the temple of Asclepius is the observance of crystal purity. Each newcomer should first wash in the source.
The first sanctuaries in honor of Asclepius, the Asclepades, appeared in Greece in the VI-IV centuries. BC e. In addition to Epidaurus and Kos, the center of medicine was also the Thessalian Trikka. Altogether, in the sources of ancient authors, historians found evidence of more than 300 Asclepius sanctuaries scattered throughout ancient Greece. Compared to modern medical facilities, they were more like medical sanatoriums, rather than hospitals. The temples combined both magical and secular methods of treatment. In ancient Greek medicine, these two schools were not opposed to each other. For example, if a particularly severe patient fell into the temple of Asclepius, the priests could consult with their secular colleagues who did not work in shrines.
Priests
The ancient god of medicine and healing had his own priests who received compatriot patients. For healing, people came to them from all over Hellas. The health of the ancient Greeks was associated with sports, so the same Epidavros was famous for its stadium, gymnasium and competitions dedicated to Asclepius. There were also temples of his daughter Hygiei, Aphrodite, Artemis and Themis. The rituals of treatment were accompanied by animal sacrifices (most often roosters), therefore a large altar was a mandatory attribute of any sanctuary.
The God of Healing acquired his cult around the 7th century BC. e. Historians believe that this mythological character had a real prototype - a doctor with the same name who became legendary during the Trojan War - Asclepius. Moreover, he was also the king of Thessaly, as well as the creator of his own family medical school.
Ancient Greek medical education had some similarities with modern. Archaeologists and historians have proven that these medical schools took place in Pergamum and on the Spit. Those who gave the sacred oath and joined the Asklepiad community were allowed to serve in the temple. For the first time this term appeared in ancient Greek literature in the VI century BC. e.
Ancient Greek medicine
Healing in temples combined magical and empirical techniques. The most common treatments have been medicines, water sources, and gymnastic exercises. The rite of sacred healing each time ended with an incubation ritual held in a long gallery along the walls of the temple, which could only be accessed with special permission. The priests, using narcotic substances and hypnosis, introduced patients to a state of artificial sleep. The ritual was famous for theatrical performances (the phenomenon of sacred snakes or even God himself).
In 430 BC e. Greece was struck by a terrible plague that claimed thousands of lives. Traditional medicine was powerless before the epidemic, so the population began to pay more and more attention to all kinds of magical practices. Then the sacred snake Asclepius was transferred from Epidaurus to Athens, where a new temple was built in the Acropolis. The cult of the god of healing shone with unprecedented power. Religious rituals brought tremendous income to the priests of Asclepius. The ancient temples of this god were distinguished by the outstanding wealth of their decoration.
It is curious that not all Greeks related to the incubation and inventions of priests with religious reverence. In the famous comedy “Plutos” (388 BC), the author Aristophanes tells of numerous bitter disappointments in the effectiveness of the magic sleep ritual.
The place of Asclepius in the ancient Greek pantheon
The mythological image of Asclepius with all its characteristic attributes has certain roots. The healing god of Greece was often associated with the chthonic serpent-healer. Throughout the ancient world, this animal was revered as a symbol of renewal, wisdom and power of natural forces.
The other side of the image of Asclepius is his belonging to the generation of children of gods (heroes) who encroached on the establishment of a new world order. The healer learned to resurrect the dead, thereby upsetting the global balance. The rules established by the Olympians were in danger, and it was for this that Asclepius paid. The God of healing with his fate reminds other heroes who rebelled against their omnipotent parents.
Each god of the ancient Greek pantheon had his own "economy". Although Asclepius is associated with healing, some of its functions are also characteristic of other Olympians. Apollo’s sister Artemis was not only the mistress of animals and the patroness of hunting, she was also revered as the protector of women in childbirth, children and female chastity. The wife of Zeus Hera took care of the marriage and the well-being of the family. About the same thing is connected Hestia - the goddess of the hearth, happiness and health. It is impossible not to recall Hypnos. This god, who lived at the ends of the world, watched the full and healthy sleep of people.
Family and descendants
According to legend, Asclepius married Epion, daughter of the ruler of the island of Kos Merops. In the ancient era, this place turned into one of the most important centers of ancient medicine.
Asclepius had several children who also became famous characters in ancient Greek myths. The god of healing was the father of Machaon, a famous doctor and surgeon. It is believed that he even participated in the Trojan War and led 20 ships. Machaon not only fought on the side of the Greeks (Achaeans), but also healed the wounded. The surgeon helped the famous archer Philoctetus bitten by a poisonous snake. The wound was terrible, pus oozed from his leg. The besiegers of Troy, meanwhile, still could not take the city. They desperately needed their best shooter. Then the Greeks rescued the Greeks. Apollo plunged the Trojan coast into a magical dream, and his grandson Machaon operated on Philoctetus. A recovering archer later killed Paris and, in the company of his comrades, hid in the Trojan horse, with the help of which the Achaeans nevertheless captured an impregnable city. With the filing of the biologist Carl Linnaeus, a common family of butterflies was named Machaon in honor of Asclepius' son.
The eldest daughter of the god of healing Hygiea is the goddess of health. The Greeks portrayed her as a young woman feeding a snake from a bowl. Hygiene named the scientific discipline hygiene. In addition, the symbols of the bowl and the snake have become international attributes of medicine and pharmacy. The vessel of Hygiea can be found in any pharmacy and hospital. Like the ancient Greek god of healing, he is associated with a snake - a traditional chthonic creature of ancient Greek mythology. The vessel of Gigiei again became known to Europeans at the end of the 18th century, when this symbol was engraved on a commemorative coin, ordered by the Paris Society of Pharmacy.
The next daughter of Asclepius is Panakeia, who became the personification of healing. The panacea is named after her - the legendary cure for any disease. Interest in the miraculous drug increased again in the Middle Ages. European alchemists of that era used ancient sources, trying to synthesize this unknown vaccine. Nobody found a panacea, but the phraseological unit has been preserved. Other less well-known daughters of Asclepius are Iaso, Agley, Meditrin and Akeso. All of them learned the art of healing from their wise father.
The god of healing in ancient Greek mythology was considered a distant ancestor of many famous ancient doctors, whose existence is documented. The descendant of Asclepius was Hippocrates (he was born on Kos in 460 BC) and even Aristotle (his father worked as a court healer for the Macedonian king).
Aesculapius
In 293 BC e. in Rome a pestilence epidemic broke out. Hundreds of people died, and the city authorities could not do anything with the terrible natural misfortune. Then the Roman sages advised to build on the banks of the Tiber the sanctuary of the ancient Greek god of healing Asclepius.
A magnificent embassy set off for Epidaurus. The Romans managed to find a common language with the priests of the ancient deity. When the guests returned to their ship, they were followed by the sacred temple snake - the symbol and personification of Asclepius. The animal was settled on the small Tiber island (Tiberine) located within the boundaries of Rome. In 291 BC e. On this piece of land they built and consecrated the temple of Asclepius. The god of healing in Roman mythology received the name of Aesculapius. At first, the Hellenes were his priests in Rome. Like many other gods of the pantheon of the Eternal City, Aesculapius borrowed many features from his Greek predecessor. For example, roosters were sacrificed to him in the same way. The god of healing among the Romans was especially popular among the people. His cult disappeared one of the last after the adoption of Christianity by the Roman Empire.
Asclepius (among the Romans - Aesculapius) in ancient mythology: the god of healing, the offspring of Apollo and the nymph Coronida, the daughter of the king of the Lapiths Phlegius (according to another version, Arsinoe, the daughter of Leucippus), who was killed by Apollo for treason. When the body of Coronida was burnt in Epidaurus at the funeral pyre, Apollo pulled the baby out of her womb. So, using the “cesarean section” method (“cesarean”, in other words, imperial, it means that Julius Caesar was born in the same way in 102 BC, with which the name of this operation is also associated) Asclepius was born.
Some evidence suggests that the "great and immaculate doctor" of ancient Greece, Asclepius was a real historical figure, then deified.
Shrouded in a shawl, Coronida is depicted on a copper coin of Pergamum, a city in Misia with the temple of Asclepius, knocked out in 138 godun by the order of the wife of the ruler Adrian Sabina. In memory of Coronida, a village near Epidavros is named.
ABOUT the birth of Asclepius there are few versions. For some of them, Coronida gave birth and left the little Asclepius secret from her own father on the slopes of the Jurassic Titsion. The goat grazing there fed the hungry baby with its milk, and the dog guarding the herd took care of him until Asclepius found the shepherd Arestan. On the bronze coin of the Epidavros of the period of Antoninus Pius (138-161), the scene of the meeting of the shepherd with Asclepius, which the goat feeds, was reflected. The same scene - on one of the monuments of Epidaurus, which existed before the era of the Middle Ages. Around the head of Asclepius the baby is usually a divine halo.
According to another legend, Apollo brought him up to the wisest and most learned centaur (half-man, half-horse) Chiron, who raised him on the slopes of Mount Pelion. The image of Chiron is placed on a copper Greek coin of the second century A.D. Under his leadership, Asclepius became a similar quality doctor that he was even able to outshine his own teacher. He recognized the strength of the roots of the forest and the juices of grasses, fields and meadows. And not only healed diseases, but even brought the dead back to life, which angered the ruler of the kingdom of the dead, Hades and the thunderer Zeus (his own grandfather), violating the order he established on Earth. Enraged Zeus struck Asclepius with his own lightning.
Asclepius not only restored youth to people with the blood of Medusa the Gorgon, killed by Perseus, but also life. In one of the Greek legends, one day, Asclepius was invited to the palace of Minos in Crete to revive his dead offspring Glaucus. On his own staff he saw a snake and killed it. However, another snake appeared with medicinal herbs in its mouth and revived, killed. Asclepius used the same weed, and the deceased Glaucus revived. Asclepius really needed experience, and he freed many people from ailments. Asclepius revived Hippolytus, Kapaney, etc. For this feat or for something else, it is not clear, however, the snake is accepted as a symbol of medicine.
The cult of Asclepius
People deified the quality healer Asclepius, erected a huge number of sanctuaries in his honor, and in the midst of them is the famous sanctuary of Asclepius in Epidaurus. The cult of Asclepius was separately popular in Epidaurus, where people flocked for healing from all over Greece. Epidaurus - Athenian festival in honor of Asclepius, celebrated on the 4th day of the Eleusinian Mysteries.
In Rome, the temple of Aesculapius was also erected on the Tiber Peninsula and was consecrated on January 1, 291 BC. The cult set sail on the Greek standard, the priests were mostly Greeks. This was a notable innovation in Roman religious life, and the temple became very popular.
On the peninsula of Kos there was the famous sanctuary of Asclepius, eminent doctors of the island of Kos were considered the descendants of the god of healing and were called asclepias. According to legend, Hippocrates belongs to them. From Asclepius comes the name of the Greek specially equipped healing rooms of "Asclepions" for the reception and inpatient care of patients created at the temple of Asclepius. On coins since then it was possible to see these rooms.
Asclepius's Staff
A mandatory attribute of Asclepius was a snake (or even two), which received sacrificial offerings in the temple of Asclepius. The staff of Asclepius, around which a serpent is wrapped, was always depicted as an untreated wood stick with knots. In the early period of the cult of the god Asclepius, he himself was depicted in the form of a snake (as, for example, on the coin of Antoninus Pius, issued on the occasion of the transfer to Rome of the sacred serpent from Epidaurus in 191 BC).
In ancient times, the snake was the emblem of the Egyptian god Thoth, the patron of doctors. Sacred snakes were kept in Egyptian temples. The goddess of life and health, Isis, was always depicted with snakes symbolizing endless life. This is consistent with the belief of the Phoenicians that the snake has the power of rejuvenating the elderly. In Ancient Babylon, the god of doctors Ningishzid had his own symbol of 2 snakes entwined around a staff. The Babylonians associated with the snake rejuvenation, recovery, health, life expectancy, wisdom. A thousand years before our era, the Greeks began to worship the cult of the snake. Their snake also symbolized the wisdom of science and knowledge. One myth said that Zeus - the supreme god of the Greeks - gave people a wonderful anti-aging agent. Instead of carrying this invaluable gift themselves, people laid it on the donkey, and he gave it to the snake. Since that time, people bear the heavy burden of old age, and snakes enjoy endless youth. It is clear that snakes live for a long time and change the skin cover once a year. This ability led people to superstitious thoughts about the invariable youth of the snake, casting off its "old age" together with the skin. The ancient sayings of many nations reflect the recognition of the snake as the bearer of all knowledge, higher wisdom: "Be wise, like a serpent," etc. Some peoples have preserved legends about snake eaters, who acquired the gift of clairvoyance and knew the healing characteristics of many herbs.
According to many scholars, a completely decorated cult of the snake as the personification of omniscience, healing and honey of knowledge in Europe is an opportunity to note in Thessaly. In the midst of knowledge carriers, in general, healers stood out in an extraordinary group earlier than others because they were daily needed during childbirth, injuries, poisoning and other diseases. Their symbol remained a snake, which at first was a symbol of undifferentiated knowledge.
Images of Asclepius usually in the form of a person of mature age (similar to Zeus), as well as various moments associated with him, are found on coins of 162 cities of Ancient Greece (Spit, Phrygia, Athens, Epidavros, etc.); on many coins of Old Rome, also the ruler of Postumus (258-268), the ruler of the separated provinces - Spain, Galia, Britain, where the famous healer is depicted with a staff entwined with a snake that feeds Hygya.
Children of Asclepius
Asclepius had seven babies - Telesphora, Machaon, Podaliria, Hygieus, Panacea, Iazo and Ogle. In the "Iliad" by Homer, Machaon and Podalirius are bred as warrior doctors who enjoy the highest authority:
Late ancient tradition held Swallowtail doctor and Podaliria- the therapist. There is a legend that Podalirius, turning back from the Trojan war, stuck to the shore of Asia Minor. Then he found out that the daughter of the local king fell off the roof and lay for a number of days in the absence of consciousness. He made her bloodletting, the unhealthy perked up, and a grateful father gave her to his wife as a resourceful doctor. From this it can be seen that the origin of bloodletting as a therapeutic measure disappears in the depths of centuries. Unfortunately, it will become the main therapeutic device right up to the middle of the XIX century.
Hygieawas the goddess of health (from her name "hygiene"), Panacea- the patroness of pharmaceutical healing, Iazo- goddess of healing and Ogle- the goddess of luxury. Telesphore was considered the genius of recovery (the name in translation means "leading to a good end").
Asclepius was thought of as the hypostasis of Apollo; their common temples and attributes are known.
Doctors were called the Asklepiads, in other words the successors of Asclepius, which to a certain extent has survived to the present in the playful nickname "escupap."
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Asclepius (Aesculapius) / Ancient Greek myth for children, read online But not only Apollo is the avenger, he not only sends death with his gold ...
017. Asclepius (Aesculapius) / Ancient Greek myth
Asclepius (Aesculapius) / Ancient Greek myth for children, read online
But not only the avenger is Apollo, he not only sends death with his golden arrows; he is the doctor of the disease. The son of Apollo Asclepius is the god of doctors and medical art. The wise centaur Chiron raised Asclepius on the slopes of Pelion. Under his leadership, Asclepius became such a skilled physician that he surpassed even his teacher Chiron. Asclepius not only healed all diseases, but even brought the dead back to life. By this he angered the ruler of the kingdom of the dead Hades and the thunderer Zeus, as he violated the law and order established by Zeus on earth. The enraged Zeus threw his lightning and hit Asclepius. But people deified the son of Apollo as a healing god. They erected many shrines to him, and among them the famous sanctuary of Asclepius in Epidaurus.
Across Greece, Apollo was honored. The Greeks revered him as a god of light, a god who cleanses a person from the filth of spilled blood, as a god who divinates the will of his father Zeus, punishes, sends diseases and heals them. He was revered by the Greek youths as his patron. Apollo is the patron saint of navigation, he helps the foundation of new colonies and cities. Artists, poets, singers and musicians are under the special patronage of the leader of the choir of muses, Apollo Kifared. Apollo is equal to Zeus the Thunderer himself in the worship that the Greeks gave him.
