Asclepius (; Asklēpiós ; ) is a hero and god of medicine in ancient Greek religion and Greek mythology. He is the son of Apollo and Coronis, or Arsinoe, or of Apollo alone. Asclepius represents the healing aspect of the medical arts; his daughters, the "Asclepiades", are: Hygieia ("Health, Healthiness"), Iaso (from ἴασις "healing, recovering, recuperation", the goddess of recuperation from illness), Aceso (from ἄκεσις "healing", the goddess of the healing process), Aegle (the goddess of good health) and Panacea (the goddess of universal remedy). He has several sons as well. He was associated with the Roman/Etruscan god Vediovis and the Egyptian Imhotep.
Etymology
The etymology of the name is unknown. In his revised version of
Hjalmar Frisk Griechisches etymologisches Wörterbuch (
Greek Etymological Dictionary), R. S. P. Beekes gives this summary of the different attempts:
- "H. Grégoire (with R. Goossens and M. Mathieu) in Asklépios, Apollon Smintheus et Rudra 1949 (Mém. Acad. Roy. de Belgique. Cl. d. lettres. 2. sér. 45), explains the name as "the mole-hero", connecting σκάλοψ, ἀσπάλαξ 'mole' and refers to the resemblance of the Tholos in Epidaurus and the Molehill. (Thus Jaan Puhvel, Comp. Mythol. 1987, 135.) But the variants of Asklepios and those of the word for "mole" do not agree.
- The name is typical for Pre-Greek words; apart from minor variations (β for π, αλ(α) for λα) we find α/αι (a well known variation; Fur. 335–339) followed by -γλαπ- or -σκλαπ-/-σχλαπ/β-, i.e. a voiced velar (without -σ-) or a voiceless velar (or an aspirated one: we know that there was no distinction between the three in the substr. language) with a -σ-. I think that the -σ- renders an original affricate, which (prob. as δ) was lost before the -γ- (in Greek the group -σγ- is rare, and certainly before another consonant).
- Szemerényi's etymology ( JHS 94, 1974, 155) from Hittite language assula(a)- "well-being" and piya- "give" cannot be correct, as it does not explain the Velar plosive."
[ Greek etymology database (online source requires login and is located at iedo.brillonline.nl ). Originally: Also in: R.S.P. Beekes, Etymological Dictionary of Greek, Brill, 2009, p. 151.]
Beekes suggested a Pre-Greek proto-form *(a)-syklap-.[R.S.P. Beekes, Etymological Dictionary of Greek, Brill, 2009, p. xxv.]
His name may mean "to cut open" from a story about his birth.
Epithets
He shared with Apollo the epithet
Paean ("the Healer").
[Mitchell-Boyask, p. 141] He was called
Aulonius, derived from a temple he had in Aulon, a valley in ancient Messenia.
[Pausanias, Description of Greece 4.36.5]
Mythology
Birth
Asclepius was the son of Apollo and, according to the earliest accounts, a mortal woman named Koronis (Coronis), who was a princess of
Tricca in Thessaly.
[ Homeric Hymns to Asclepius (16), 1–4; Diodorus Siculus, 5.74.6] When she displayed infidelity by sleeping with a mortal named
Ischys, Apollo found out with his prophetic powers and killed Ischys. Coronis was killed by
Artemis for being unfaithful to Apollo and was laid out on a funeral pyre to be consumed, but Apollo rescued the child by cutting him from Coronis' womb.
[Pindar, Pythian Odes 3.5]
According to Delphian tradition, Asclepius was born in the temple of Apollo, with Lachesis acting as a midwife and Apollo relieving the pains of Coronis. Apollo named the child after Coronis' nickname, Aegle.[Isyllus, Hymn to Asclepius]
Phoenician tradition maintains that Asclepius was born of Apollo without any woman involved.[Pausanias, 7.23.7]
According to the Roman version, Apollo, having learned about Coronis' betrayal with the mortal Ischys through his raven Lycius, killed her with his arrows. Before breathing her last, she revealed to Apollo that she was pregnant with his child. He repented his actions and unsuccessfully tried to save her. At last, he removed their son safely from her belly before she was consumed by the fire.[Ovid, Metamorphoses 2.620]
In yet another version, Coronis who was already pregnant with Apollo's child, had to accompany her father to Peloponnesos. She had kept her pregnancy hidden from her father. In Epidaurus, she bore a son and exposed him on a mountain called Tittheion (from τίτθη "wet nurse", τιτθεύω "to suckle, breastfeed"). The child was given milk by one of the goats that pastured about the mountain, and was guarded by the watch-dog of the herd. Aresthanas, the owner of goats and the guard dogs found the child. As he came near, he saw lightning that flashed from the child, and thinking of it to be a sign of the divine, he left the child alone. Asclepius was later taken by Apollo.[Pausanias, 2.26.1–7]
According to Strabo and other traditions, the birthplace of Asclepius is considered to be Tricca (modern Trikala city in Thessaly).
Education and adventures
Apollo named the rescued baby "Asclepius" and reared him for a while and taught him many things about medicine.
[Diodorus Siculus, 5.64.6] However, like his half-brother,
Aristaeus, Asclepius had his formal education under the
centaur Chiron who instructed him in the art of medicine.
[Pindar, Pythian Ode 3.5 ff. (trans. Conway)]
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. Another version states that when Asclepius (or in another myth Polyidus) was commanded to restore the life of Glaucus, he was confined in a secret prison. While pondering on what he should do, a snake crept near his staff. Lost in his thoughts, Asclepius unknowingly killed it by hitting it again and again with his staff. Later, another snake came there with an herb in its mouth, and placed it on the head of a dead snake, which soon came back to life. Seeing this, Asclepius used the same herb, which brought Glaucus back.[Hyginus, De astronomia 2.14] 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.[John Tzetzes, Chiliades 10.49, p. 712–714] 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 excessive abundance of human beings, and Zeus resorted to killing him to maintain balance in the numbers of the human population.
At some point, Asclepius was among those who took part in the Calydonian Boar hunt. Also, he was one of the Argonauts.
Marriage and family
Asclepius was married to
Epione, with whom he had five daughters:
Iaso,
Panacea,
Hygieia,
Aceso, and Aegle,
[Greek Lyric V Anonymous, fr. 939 (Inscription from Erythrai) (trans. Campbell); Suda, s.v. Epione (trans. Suda On Line)] and three sons: Machaon,
Podalirius and Telesphoros. He also sired a son, Aratus, with
Aristodeme.
[Homer, Iliad 2.730 ff.; 4.193, 217 ff. & 11.518 ff. (trans. Lattimore); Diodorus Siculus, 4.71.3 (trans. Oldfather); Pausanias, 2.29.1; Lycophron, 1047 ff. (trans. Mair); Suida, s.v. Epione (trans. Suda On Line)]
Death and immortality
Asclepius once started bringing back to life the dead people like
Tyndareus,
Capaneus, Glaucus, Hymenaeus, Lycurgus and others.
[Stesichorus, fr. 147 from Sextus Empricicus, Against the Professors)] Others say he brought Hippolytus back from the dead on Artemis's request, and accepted gold for it,
[Pindar, Pythian Ode 3; Plato, Republic 408b; Philodemus, On Piety (trans. Campbell, Vol.); Greek Lyric IV; Stesichorus, fr. 147 and Cinesias, fr. 774)] or maybe he did it for love.
[Clement of Alexandria, Clementina Homilia, V, 15.] It is the only mention of Asclepius resurrecting the dead. In all other accounts he is said to use his skills simply as a physician.
However, Hades accused Asclepius of stealing his subjects and complained to his brother Zeus about it.[Diodorus Siculus, 4.71.3] According to others, Zeus was afraid that Asclepius would teach the art of resurrection to other humans as well.[Apollodorus, 3.121] Concerning the fate of Asclepius, Ovid writes that "the youth Asclepius blasted by ancestral bolts of soars from earth rising and flings his hands coiled with double snakes."[Ovid, Fasti 6, 735–762 (Translation by Boyle, A. J. & Woodard, R. D.)] Later accounts read "The Serpent-Holder. Many astronomers have imagined that he is Aesculapius Asclepius, whom Jupiter Zeus, for the sake of Apollo, put among the stars."[Pseudo-Hyginus, Astronomica 2.14] Asclepius was killed by Zeus, and by Apollo's request, was subsequently immortalized as a star.[Emma and Ludwig Edelstein, Asclepius: Collection and Interpretation of the Testimonies, Volume 1, Page 51][Sabine G. MacCormack Concise Encyclopedia of Greek and Roman Mythology p.47][Theony Condos, Star Myths of the Greeks and Romans'', p.141]
Sacred places and practices
The most ancient and the most prominent
asclepeion (or healing temple) according to the geographer of the 1st century BC, Strabo, was situated in
Trikala.
The 1st century AD Pool of Bethesda, described in the Gospel of John, chapter 5, was found by archaeologists in 1964 to be part of an asclepeion.
[ An archaeological diagram of the layout – the diagram displayed at the location itself – is visible at this link .][Jerome Murphy-O'Connor, The Holy Land, (2008), page 29] One of the most famous temples of Asclepius was at
Epidaurus in north-eastern
Peloponnese, dated to the fourth century BC.
[Edelstein, Ludwig and Emma Edelstein. Asclepius: a Collection and Interpretation of the Testimonies. Vol. 2. Baltimore: Johns Hopkins Press, 1998. p. 243] Another famous asclepeion 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 Gortys (in Arcadia), and
Pergamum in Asia.
From the fifth century BC onwards,[Wickkiser, Bronwen. Asklepios, Medicine, and the Politics of Healing in Fifth-century Greece: Between Craft and Cult. Johns Hopkins Press, 2008. p. 106] the cult of Asclepius grew very popular and pilgrims flocked to his healing temples (Asclepieion) 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.[Farnell, Chapter 10, "The Cult of Asklepios" (pp. 234–279)] 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 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 ...".
Epidauria (τὰ Ἐπιδαύρια) was a festival at Athens in honour of Asclepius.[ Harry Thurston Peck, Harpers Dictionary of Classical Antiquities (1898), Epidauria]
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"[Lucian, Alexander the False Prophet (trans A.M. Harmon) (Cambridge: Loeb Classical Library, 1936), Lucian, vol IV. Accessible online at http://www.tertullian.org/rpearse/lucian/lucian_alexander.htm] 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 facile, audacious, venturesome, diligent in the execution of its schemes, plausible, convincing, masking as good, and wearing an appearance absolutely opposite to its purpose."
The botanical genus Asclepias (commonly known as milkweed) is named after him and includes the medicinal plant A. tuberosa or "Pleurisy root".
Asclepius was depicted on the reverse of the Greek 10,000 Modern drachma banknote of 1995–2001.[ Bank of Greece . Drachma Banknotes . 10,000 drachma note (pdf) – Retrieved 26 July 2010.]
At the city of Miletus, archaeologists discovered a cave under the city's theatre which was associated with Asclepius cult.[ "Sacred Cave" in ancient Miletos awaits visitors][ The Ancient City of Miletos's "Sacred Cave" Opened to Visitors]
At Hyperteleatum, Hypsi and Hyettus there were temples of Asclepius.[ Dictionary of Greek and Roman Geography (1854), Hyperteleatum][ Dictionary of Greek and Roman Geography (1854), Hypsi][ Dictionary of Greek and Roman Geography (1854), Hyettus]
See also
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Rod of Asclepius
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Darrhon
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1027 Aesculapia
Notes
Primary sources
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Apollodorus, The Library with an English Translation by Sir James George Frazer, F.B.A., F.R.S. in 2 Volumes, Cambridge, MA, Harvard University Press; London, William Heinemann Ltd. 1921. ISBN 0-674-99135-4. Online version at the Perseus Digital Library. Greek text available from the same website.
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Apollonius Rhodius, Argonautica translated by Robert Cooper Seaton (1853–1915), R. C. Loeb Classical Library Volume 001. London, William Heinemann Ltd, 1912. Online version at the Topos Text Project.
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Apollonius Rhodius, Argonautica. George W. Mooney. London. Longmans, Green. 1912. Greek text available at the Perseus Digital Library.
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Diodorus Siculus, The Library of History translated by Charles Henry Oldfather. Twelve volumes. Loeb Classical Library. Cambridge, Massachusetts: Harvard University Press; London: William Heinemann, Ltd. 1989. Vol. 3. Books 4.59–8. Online version at Bill Thayer's Web Site
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Diodorus Siculus, Bibliotheca Historica. Vol 1-2. Immanel Bekker. Ludwig Dindorf. Friedrich Vogel. in aedibus B. G. Teubneri. Leipzig. 1888-1890. Greek text available at the Perseus Digital Library.
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Gaius Julius Hyginus, Astronomica from The Myths of Hyginus translated and edited by Mary Grant. University of Kansas Publications in Humanistic Studies. Online version at the Topos Text Project.
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Homer, Iliad with an English Translation by A.T. Murray, Ph.D. in two volumes. Cambridge, MA., Harvard University Press; London, William Heinemann, Ltd. 1924. . Online version at the Perseus Digital Library.
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Homer, Homeri Opera in five volumes. Oxford, Oxford University Press. 1920. . Greek text available at the Perseus Digital Library
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The Homeric Hymns and Homerica with an English Translation by Hugh G. Evelyn-White. Homeric Hymns. Cambridge, MA., Harvard University Press; London, William Heinemann Ltd. 1914. Online version at the Perseus Digital Library. Greek text available from the same website.
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Lycophron, The Alexandra translated by Alexander William Mair. Loeb Classical Library Volume 129. London: William Heinemann, 1921. Online version at the Topos Text Project.
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Lycophron, Alexandra translated by A.W. Mair. London: William Heinemann; New York: G.P. Putnam's Sons. 1921. Greek text available at the Perseus Digital Library.
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Cicero, Nature of the Gods from the Treatises of M.T. Cicero translated by Charles Duke Yonge (1812–1891), Bohn edition of 1878. Online version at the Topos Text Project.
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Marcus Tullius Cicero, De Natura Deorum. O. Plasberg. Leipzig. Teubner. 1917. Latin text available at the Perseus Digital Library.
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Pausanias, Description of Greece with an English Translation by W.H.S. Jones, Litt.D., and H.A. Ormerod, M.A., in 4 Volumes. Cambridge, MA, Harvard University Press; London, William Heinemann Ltd. 1918. . Online version at the Perseus Digital Library
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Pausanias, Graeciae Descriptio. 3 vols. Leipzig, Teubner. 1903. Greek text available at the Perseus Digital Library.
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Pindar, Odes translated by Diane Arnson Svarlien. 1990. Online version at the Perseus Digital Library.
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Pindar, The Odes of Pindar including the Principal Fragments with an Introduction and an English Translation by Sir John Sandys, Litt.D., FBA. Cambridge, MA., Harvard University Press; London, William Heinemann Ltd. 1937. Greek text available at the Perseus Digital Library.
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Ovid, Fasti translated by James G. Frazer. Online version at the Topos Text Project.
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Publius Ovidius Naso, Fasti. Sir James George Frazer. London; Cambridge, MA. William Heinemann Ltd.; Harvard University Press. 1933. Latin text available at the Perseus Digital Library.
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John Tzetzes, Book of Histories, Book IX-X translated by Jonathan Alexander from the original Greek of T. Kiessling's edition of 1826. Online version at theoi.com
Secondary sources
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Edelstein, Ludwig and Emma Edelstein. Asclepius: Collection and Interpretation of the Testimonies, Baltimore, The Johns Hopkins Press, 1945.
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von Ehrenheim, Hedvig. Greek Incubation Rituals in Classical and Hellenistic Times. Kernos. Supplément, 29. Liège: Presses Universitaires de Liège, 2015.
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Farnell, Lewis Richard. Greek Hero Cults and Ideas of Immortality, (Oxford Clarendon Press,1921).
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Grimal, Pierre, The Dictionary of Classical Mythology, Wiley-Blackwell, 1996, . "Asclepius" pp. 62–63
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Hart, Gerald D. MD. Asclepius: The God of Medicine (Royal Society of Medicine Press, 2000)
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Kool, S. "The Soother of Evil Pains: Asclepius and Freud." Akroterion 60, 2015, pp. 13–32.
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LiDonnici, Lynn R. The Epidaurian Miracle Inscriptions: Text, Translation, and Commentary. Atlanta: Scholars, 1995.
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Mitchell-Boyask, Robin, Plague and the Athenian Imagination: Drama, History and the Cult of Asclepius, Cambridge University Press, 2008, .
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Oberhelman, Steven M. (ed.), Dreams, Healing, and Medicine in Greece: From Antiquity to the Present. Farnham; Burlington, VT: Ashgate, 2013.
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Renberg, Gil H. "Public and Private Places of Worship in the Cult of Asclepius at Rome". Memoirs of the American Academy in Rome, 51/52, 2006, pp. 87–172.
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Riethmüller, Jürgen W. Asklepios : Heiligtümer und Kulte, Heidelberg, Verlag Archäologie und Geschichte, 2005,
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Wickkiser, Bronwen. Asklepios, Medicine, and the Politics of Healing in Fifth-century Greece: Between Craft and Cult. JHU Press, 2008.
External links
