Asclepius (Aesculapius) - Myths of Ancient Greece
Asclepius (Aesculapius)
IN ancient greek mythology- the god of healing, the son of Apollo and the nymph Coronis (according to another version - Arsinoe, daughter of Leucippus), whom Apollo killed for treason with a mortal. When the body of Coronis was burned on the funeral pyre, Hermes, at the request of Apollo, took the baby Asclepius from her womb. Apollo gave him to be raised by the wise centaur Chiron, who taught the boy the art of healing. Asclepius reached such heights in this matter that he could not only treat the sick, but also resurrect the dead, thereby depriving Hades of new subjects. The wounded Hades complained to his brother Zeus, and he killed Asclepius with Perun. The sons of Asclepius were Podalirius and Machaon, who healed the Greeks during the siege of Troy. Among the children of Asclepius are the brilliant daughters Hygieia, Panacea, sons Podalirius and Machaon, who participated in the Trojan War.
In Homer, Asclepius is a mortal, the husband of Epione. Student of Apollo and the centaur Chiron. Participant of the Argonauts' campaign. The cult and oracle of Asclepius were widespread in Epidaurus.
IN ancient roman mythology Asclepius corresponds to Aesculapius, or, more correctly, Aesculapius (Aesculapius, from the Greek Ασκληπιός) - the Greek god of medical art naturalized by the ancient Romans, who, together with his divine representative, penetrated into Rome at the beginning of the 3rd century BC. When in 293 BC, a severe pestilence visited Rome, they turned to the Sibylline books for guidance, which made it known that the epidemic would stop if the god Aesculapius was transported to Rome from his Epidaurus sanctuary. After a one-day prayer service, an embassy was sent to Epidaurus for sacred snake god, who, according to legend, voluntarily followed the Romans onto their ship and, upon arrival in Rome, chose the Tiber Island for her home; this island remains dedicated to god, in memory of which, when constructing the embankment, the shores of the island were given the shape of a sailing ship, decorated in front with a statue of Aesculapius.
In 291, the consecration of a temple in honor of Aesculapius took place here; this temple and the services held at it resembled a typical Greek Asclepieia. As in Epidaurus, in the Tiber temple of Aesculapius a method of treating the sick was practiced through incubation, during which they received the necessary advice in a dream; those who recovered dedicated votive gifts and inscriptions of gratitude to God. Together with Aesculapius, the inscriptions very often mention a goddess related to him in cult - Hygieia or Salus (Health). Another temple of Aesculapius was located in Antia (in Latium), where, according to legend, the snake of Aesculapius, upon returning to Rome of the embassy sent in 293, landed on the shore and for three days wrapped itself around a tall palm tree in the grove of Apollo. The cult of Aesculapius was Greek; the priests at the temple of God were from the Greeks; Like the Greek Asclepius, the Roman Aesculapius was sacred to the snake, dog and rooster. In the person of Aesculapius, the Greek medical art was officially accepted by the state, although the Romans, who generally viewed medicine with disgust, were inhospitable to the Greek doctors who settled in Rome. Later, medicine became a specialty of the Greeks, among whom there were always many charlatans. Superstition and suffering led people to Aesculapius; the cult of this god was one of the most popular and persistent.
Asclepius- god of medicine in ancient Greek mythology. The ancient Romans called the god of healing Aesculapius. There is reason to believe that we're talking about O real person, who lived in ancient times and treated his compatriots. After the death of the great healer, who saved many lives, he was deified and canonized. Mention of Asclepius was found in some written sources, in particular, in the treatise “Hermetics”, written by the theosophist, sage and thinker, god of literacy Hermes Trismegistus.
Biography
Asclepius was the son of Apollo, who was credited with the ability to forgive sins and cleanse the souls of murderers, as well as the talent of a healing god. The mother of Asclepius was Princess Coronis, who died at the hands of her beloved. According to other information, the young man’s mother was Arsinoe. Myths and legends about the mother of Asclepius are contradictory; different sources provide completely different information. Socrates wrote that the parents of Asclepius are not known for certain, since they threw the baby out in the forest. The hunters who accidentally discovered him took the child and handed him over to be raised by Chiron, who taught his adopted son how to heal. According to another legend, Asclepius was born to a sinful mother who conceived a child from Apollo, and then fell in love with another, for which she was burned at the stake. However, before she burned, a baby was removed from her womb, who had not yet been born. Heron, to whom the boy was given to be raised, was a noble, wise and kind centaur, unlike his brothers. He once learned from Apollo how to read and write and the art of hunting. Chiron also knew how to heal. He passed on all his knowledge to his stepson, who significantly surpassed his teacher. Asclepius was married and had seven sons, who also followed in their father's footsteps and devoted their lives to medicine. Several legends are associated with the children of Asclepius. According to one of them, the son of Asclepius made dying girl bloodletting, which saved her. This legend makes us understand that bloodletting began to be practiced even before our era. Another legend says that another son of the god removed an arrow from the body of a wounded warrior and sprinkled a miracle cure on the wound. After this, the wound quickly healed and the warrior recovered. Asclepius knew how to cure many diseases and resurrected the dead who had passed away. Zeus did not like the activities of Asclepius, who was disrupting the order of life. The healer angered Hades, who came to Zeus with a complaint against the unauthorized healer. Hades said that a mere mortal violated earthly laws, which were introduced by Zeus himself. Because of the self-willed healer, people stopped being afraid of death and became immortal, although this was exclusively the prerogative of the gods. To prevent Asclepius from resurrecting mere mortals, an angry Zeus sent lightning bolts at him, which killed the healer himself. People were upset by such injustice and, in order to perpetuate the memory of the healer, they deified him. They began to build temples everywhere, where they prayed to their defeated healer.
Image of Asclepius
In the earliest period of the cult of the god of healing in Ancient Rome, Asclepius was depicted as a snake rather than as a man. Later they began to depict him on coins as a fit and wise old man (all other gods with a human face were depicted in much the same way). Images of Asclepius have survived to this day, dating, in all likelihood, to the 2nd-3rd century BC. These are the so-called dedicatory reliefs - dedication to a face on a stone, fragments of statues, works of glyptics, coins and coinage. Asclepius was depicted with his sacred animals (snakes and roosters). Later, when Asclepius began to be considered the patron saint of all physicians, it was the snake entwining the bowl that became a symbol of medicine. This symbol was chosen because of the image of Asclepius with a staff entwined with snakes. Before the Renaissance, Asclepius was also depicted surrounded by medical instruments and medicines because he was also considered the patron saint of apothecaries.
| Famous doctors of all times | ||
|---|---|---|
| Austrian | Adler Alfred Auenbrugger Leopold Breuer Joseph Van Swieten Gaen Antonius Selye Hans Freud Sigmund | |
| Antique | Abu Ali ibn Sina (Avicenna) Asclepius Galen Herophilus Hippocrates | |
| British | Brown John Harvey William Jenner Edward Lister Joseph Sydenham Thomas | |
| Italian | Cardano Gerolamo Lombroso Cesare | |
| German | Billroth Christian Virchow Rudolf Wundt Wilhelm Hahnemann Samuel Helmholtz Hermann Griesinger Wilhelm Gräfenberg Ernst Koch Robert Kraepelin Emil Pettenkofer Max Ehrlich Paul Esmarch Johann | |
| Russian | Amosov N.M. Bakulev A.N. Bekhterev V.M. Botkin S.P. Burdenko N.N. Danilevsky V.Ya. Zakharyin G.A. Kandinsky V.Kh. Korsakov S.S. Mechnikov I.I. Mudrov M.Ya. Pavlov I.P. Pirogov N.I. Semashko N.A. Serbsky V.P. Sechenov I.M. Sklifosovsky N.V. Fedorov S.N. Filatov V.P. | |
| French | ||
Asclepius(among the Romans - Aesculapius) V ancient mythology: god of healing, son of Apollo and the nymph Coronis, daughter of the Lapith king Phlegias (according to another version, Arsinoe, daughter of Leucippus), who was killed by Apollo for treason. When Coronis's body was burned on a funeral pyre at Epidaurus, Apollo pulled the baby out of her womb. Thus, by the method of “caesarean section” (“caesarean”, in other words royal, they mean that Julius Caesar was born by the same method in 102 BC, with which the name of this operation is also associated) Asclepius was born.
Some evidence suggests that “a great and immaculate doctor” Ancient Greece Asklepios was real historical figure, then deified.
Coronis, wrapped in a shawl, is depicted on a copper coin of Pergamum, a city in Mysia with the temple of Asclepius, knocked out in 138 AD by order of the wife of the ruler Hadrian, Sabina. A village near Epidaurus is named in memory of Koronida.
ABOUT birth of Asclepius There are few versions. According to some of them, Coronis gave birth and left little Asclepius in secret from her own father on the slopes of the Jurassic Titsion. A goat grazing there fed the hungry baby with its milk, and the dog guarding the herd took care of him until the shepherd Arestan found Asclepius. On a bronze coin of Epidaurus from the period of Antoninus Pius (138-161), a scene of a meeting between a shepherd and Asclepius, who is being fed by a goat, is reflected. The same scene is on one of the monuments of Epidaurus, which existed until the Middle Ages. Around the head of the infant Asclepius there is usually a divine halo.
According to another legend, Apollo brought him to be raised by the wisest and most learned centaur (half man, half horse) Chiron, who raised him on the slopes of Mount Pelion. An image of Chiron appears on a Greek copper coin from the second century AD. Under his leadership, Asclepius became such a high-quality doctor that he was even able to outshine his own teacher. He learned the power of the roots of the forest and the juices of grass, fields and meadows. And he not only treated 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 had established on Earth. The enraged Zeus struck Asclepius with his own lightning.
Asclepius not only restored youth to people with the help of the blood of the Gorgon Medusa, killed by Perseus, but also life. One of the Greek legends tells how one day Asclepius was invited to the palace of Minos in Crete to revive his dead son Glaucus. On his own staff he saw a snake and killed it. However, another snake appeared with medicinal grass in its mouth and revived the dead one. Asclepius used the same herb, and the deceased Glaucus was resurrected. Asclepius really needed the experience, and he freed many people from illness. Asclepius revived Hippolytus, Capaneus, and others. Whether for this feat or for something else is unclear, but the snake is accepted as a symbol of medicine.
Cult of Asclepius
People deified the quality healer Asclepius, erected a huge number of sanctuaries in his honor, and among them is the famous sanctuary of Asclepius in Epidaurus. The cult of Asclepius was especially popular in Epidaurus, where people flocked for healing from all over Greece. Epidauria is an Athenian holiday in honor of Asclepius, celebrated on the 4th day of the Eleusinian Mysteries.
In Rome, the Temple of Aesculapius was also built on the Tiber Peninsula and consecrated on January 1, 291 BC. The cult followed 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 Kos peninsula there was a famous sanctuary of Asclepius; the famous doctors of the island of Kos were considered the descendants of the god of healing and were called Asclepiads. According to legend, Hippocrates belongs to them. From Asclepius comes the name of the Greek specially equipped healing rooms “asklepeions” for the reception and inpatient care of the sick, created at the temple of Asclepius. On coins from that time it was possible to see these premises.
Staff of Asclepius
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 snake coils, was always depicted as an untreated wooden stick with knots. In the early period of the cult of the god Asclepius, he himself was depicted as a snake (as, for example, on the coin of Antoninus Pius, issued on the occasion of the transfer of the sacred snake from Epidaurus to Rome 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 also consistent with the Phoenicians' belief that the snake had the power to rejuvenate the elderly. In Ancient Babylon, the god of doctors Ningishzida had as his symbol two snakes entwined around a staff. The Babylonians associated rejuvenation, recovery, health, longevity, and wisdom with the snake. A thousand years before our era, the Greeks began to revere 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 rejuvenating remedy. Instead of carrying this invaluable gift themselves, people placed it on the donkey, and he gave it to the snake. Since that time, people have been bearing the heavy burden of old age, and snakes have been enjoying endless youth. It is clear that snakes live a long time and change their skin once a year. This ability led people to superstitious thoughts about the unchangeable youth of the snake, shedding “old age” along with its skin. The most ancient sayings of many peoples reflect the recognition of the snake as the bearer of all knowledge, the highest wisdom: “Be wise, like snakes,” etc. Some peoples have preserved legends about snake-eaters who acquired the gift of clairvoyance and knew healing characteristics many herbs.
According to many scientists, the fully formed cult of the snake as the personification of omniscience, healing and medical knowledge in Europe can be noted in Thessaly. Among the bearers of knowledge, in general, healers stood out as an unusual group earlier than others, because they were needed daily for childbirth, injuries, poisoning and other diseases. The snake remained their symbol, at first former symbol undifferentiated cognition.
Images of Asclepius usually in human form mature age(similar to Zeus), also different moments, associated with him, are found on coins of 162 cities of Ancient Greece (Kos, Phrygia, Athens, Epidaurus, 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, which is fed by Hygieia.
Children of Asclepius
Asclepius had seven children - Telesphorus, Machaon, Podalirium, Hygieia, Panacea, Iazo and Ogle. In Homer's Iliad, Machaon and Podalirius are depicted as warrior doctors who enjoy the highest authority:
Late ancient tradition believed Swallowtail doctor, and Podaliriya- therapist. There is a legend that Podalirius, returning from the Trojan War, landed on the Asia Minor coast. Then he learned that the daughter of the local king had fallen from the roof and had been lying unconscious for several days. He bloodletted her, the patient revived, and the grateful father gave her to the resourceful doctor as his wife. From this it is clear that the origin of bloodletting as a therapeutic measure is lost in the mists of time. Unfortunately, it would become the main therapeutic technique until the middle of the 19th century.
Hygieia was the goddess of health (from her the name “hygiene”), Panacea- patroness of pharmaceutical healing, Iazo- goddess of healing and Ogle- goddess of luxury. Telesphorus was considered a genius of recovery (the name translated means “leading to to a good end»).
Asclepius was thought of as the hypostasis of Apollo; their common temples and attributes are known.
Doctors were called asclepiads, in other words, the heirs of Asclepius, which has been preserved to a certain extent to our times in the humorous nickname “aescupapius”.
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Some evidence suggests that the “great and immaculate physician” of Ancient Greece, Asclepius (Aesculapius - among the Romans) was a real historical figure, subsequently deified. According to Greek mythology, Asclepius is the god of healing, the son of Apollo and the nymph Coronis, daughter of the Lapith king Phlegius (according to another version, Arsinoe, daughter of Leucippus), who was killed by Apollo for treason.
When the body of Coronis was burned on a funeral pyre at Epidaurus, Apollo took the baby out of her womb. So, by “caesarean section” (“caesarean”, that is, royal; it is assumed 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. Coronis, wrapped in a shawl, is depicted on a copper coin of Pergamum, a city in the Mission with the temple of Asclepius, struck in 138 AD. e. by order of Emperor Hadrian's wife Sabina.
A village near Epidaurus is named in memory of Koronida. There are several versions about the birth of Asclepius. According to one of them, Coronis gave birth and left little Asclepius secret from her father on the slopes of Mount Tition. A goat grazing there fed the hungry child with its milk, and the dog guarding the herd protected him until Asclepius was found by the shepherd Arestan. On a bronze coin of Epidaurus from the period of Antony Pius (138–161), a scene of a meeting between a shepherd and Asclepius, who is being fed by a goat, is reflected.
The same scene is on one of the monuments of Epidaurus, which existed until the Middle Ages. Around the head of the infant Asclepius there is usually a divine halo. According to another legend, Apollo brought him to be raised by the wise and learned centaur (half man, half horse) Chiron, who raised him on the slopes of Mount Pelion. The image of Chiron is placed on a Greek copper coin of the second century AD. e. Under his leadership, Asclepius became such a skilled physician that he even managed to surpass his teacher. He knew the power of the roots of the forest and the juices of herbs, fields and meadows.
And he 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 grandfather), violating the order he had established on Earth. The angry Zeus struck Asclepius with his lightning. Asclepius not only restored youth to people with the help of the blood of the Gorgon Medusa, killed by Perseus, but also life. In one of Greek myths it is told how one day Asclepius was invited to the palace of Minos in Crete to resurrect his dead son Glaucus.
He saw a snake on his staff and killed it. But another snake appeared with healing herbs in its mouth and resurrected the dead one. Asclepius used the same herb, and the deceased Glaucus was resurrected. The experience was very useful to Asclepius, and he saved many people from illness. Asclepius resurrected Hippolytus, Capaneus and others. Whether for this feat or for something else is unknown, but the snake was adopted as the emblem of medicine. In ancient times, the snake was a symbol of the Egyptian god Thoth, the patron of doctors. The sacred snake was cultivated in Egyptian temples.
The Egyptian goddess of life and health Isis was always depicted with snakes, symbolizing eternal life. This is also consistent with the Phoenicians' belief that the snake has the power to rejuvenate the elderly. In Ancient Babylon, the god of doctors Ningishzida had as his emblem two snakes entwined around a staff. The Babylonians associated rejuvenation, recovery, health, life expectancy, and wisdom with the snake. A thousand years BC, the Greeks began to revere the cult of the snake. The snake also symbolized the wisdom of science and knowledge.
One myth said that Zeus, the supreme god of the Greeks, gave people a wonderful rejuvenating remedy. Instead of carrying this priceless gift themselves, the people placed it on the donkey, and he gave it to the snake. Since then, people have been bearing the heavy burden of old age, and snakes have been enjoying eternal youth. It is known that snakes live a long time and change their skin every year. This ability led people to superstitious thoughts about the constant youth of the snake, shedding its “old age” along with its skin.
Ancient sayings of many peoples reflect the recognition of the snake as the bearer of all knowledge, the highest wisdom: “Be wise like snakes,” etc. Some peoples have preserved legends about snake eaters who acquired the gift of clairvoyance and knew healing properties many herbs. According to many scientists, the finalized cult of the snake, as the personification of omniscience, healing and medical knowledge in Europe, can be noted in Thessaly.
Among knowledge bearers in general special group Healers were identified earlier than others, since they were needed on a daily basis for childbirth, injuries, poisoning and other diseases. Their emblem remains the snake, which was originally the emblem of undifferentiated knowledge. People deified the skilled healer Asclepius, erected many sanctuaries in his honor, and among them the famous sanctuary of Asclepius in Epidaurus. The cult of Asclepius was especially popular in Epidaurus, where people flocked for healing from all over Greece. Epidauria is an Athenian festival in honor of Asclepius, celebrated on the fourth day of the Eleusinian Mysteries.
In Rome, the Temple of Aesculapius was also built on the Tiber Island and consecrated on January 1, 291 BC. e. The cult was carried out according to the Greek model, the priests were predominantly Greeks. This was a notable innovation in Roman religious life, and the temple became very popular. On the island of Kos there was a famous sanctuary of Asclepius, famous doctors The islands of Kos were considered the descendants of the god of healing and were called Asclepiads.
According to legend, Hippocrates belongs to them. From Asclepius comes the name of the Greek specially equipped medical premises “asklepeion” for the reception and inpatient care of patients, created at the temple of Asclepius. These rooms could be seen on coins of that time. An indispensable 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 snake coils, was always depicted as an untreated wooden stick with knots. IN early period In 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 of the sacred snake from Epidaurus to Rome in 191 BC). Images of Asclepius, usually in the form of a man of mature age (similar to Zeus), as well as various moments associated with him, are found on coins of 162 cities of Ancient Greece (Kos, Phrygia, Athens, Epidaurus, etc.; on many coins Ancient Rome, as well as Emperor Postumus (258–268), ruler of the separated provinces - Spain, Galia, Britain, where the famous healer is depicted with a staff entwined with a snake, which Hygieia feeds.)
Asclepius had seven children - Telesphorus, Machaon, Podaliria, Hygieias, Panacea, Iazo and Ogle. In Homer's Iliad, Machaon and Podalirius are depicted as warrior doctors who enjoy high authority: - ... one skillful healer is worth many people. - ... he will cut out the arrow and sprinkle medicine on the wound. Late ancient tradition considered Machaon a surgeon, and Podaliria a physician.
There is a legend that Podalirius, returning from the Trojan War, landed on the Asia Minor coast. Here he learned that the daughter of the local king had fallen from the roof and had been unconscious for several days. He bloodletted her, the patient came to life, and the grateful father gave her to the resourceful doctor as his wife. From this it can be seen that the origin of bloodletting as a therapeutic measure is lost in the mists of time.
Unfortunately, it would become the main therapeutic technique until the middle of the 19th century. Hygieia was the goddess of health (from her the name “hygiene”), Panacea was the patroness drug treatment, Iazo - the goddess of healing and Ogle - the goddess of luxury. Telesphorus was considered a genius of recovery (the name translated means “leading to a good end”). Asclepius was thought of as the hypostasis of Apollo; their common temples and attributes are known.
Greek mythology
is a collection of stories written by the ancient Greeks. The main characters of these stories were, naturally, the Greek gods. The twelve main Greek gods lived on Mount Olympus. At the head of all were the God Zeus and his wife Hera. Following them were: Demeter, Poseidon, Hades, Hephaestus, Athena, Dionysus, Aphrodite, Apollo, Artemis and Hestia. This list of Olympic gods is different from different sources. But none of them, of course, mentions medical god Asclepius…
The fact is that Asclepius was not always a god. According to Greek mythology– the young man was born a mere mortal and only later became the god of medicine and healing.
But despite this, the popularity of the god Asclepius was incredible, and not only in Ancient Greece. The peoples of all countries of the basin Mediterranean Sea they went to the temples of Asclepius to bow and ask him for help. The ruins of these magnificent structures can still be seen today.
Even the ruins of the Asklepion temples amaze with their grandeur.The story of the god Asclepius is quite interesting. At its core, it is a tale of punishment.
How the god Asclepius was born
God Asclepius was the son of the god Apollo and the mortal woman Koronis. The girl, being pregnant, fell in love with a young man named Ishis. When Apollo found out about them secret romance, he sent his sister Artemis to earth to kill Coronis. Artemis killed Coronis, and she was burned on a funeral pyre. However, Apollo, tormented by guilt in front of the unborn child, saved him by tearing him out of the womb of his already burning mother.
God Apollo, patron of medicine, father of Asclepius. Detail of a bas-relief of one of the walls of the temple of the god Zeus at Olympia, (ca. 460 BC)
It is believed that this was the first C-section in the history of mankind. Apollo entrusted the child to the centaur Chiron, a strange but wise creature, half-man, half-horse, who was known for his skills in medicine. Chiron accepted Asclepius and became his mentor.
The three main medical deities of Greek mythology are Apollo, the centaur Chiron, and the god Asclepius. The image is on one of the walls that survived the eruption of Vesuvius in Pompeii (ca. 1st century AD).
Asclepius's skills and abilities
In time the future god Asclepius became a famous healer, renowned for his exceptional skills. Besides the art of surgery, Chiron taught him effective use various medical supplies(including aphrodisiacs), as well as spells.
Having already become a healer, Asclepius claimed that he received the blood of the Gorgon, which has magical properties, from the goddess Athena.
Fragment of the bas-relief of the front part of the temple of the goddess Artemis on the island of Corfu (approx. 600 - 580 BC). Probably the architects wanted, with the help of this bas-relief, to drive away evil spirits from the building, since it was believed that the gaze of the Gorgon Medusa turned everyone to stone, including evil spirits.
Gorgons are mythical monsters with the heads of women, with snakes instead of hair, with wings, with claws and with bronze eyes. These creatures could turn a person into stone. Blood from the left side of the gorgon killed all living things, while blood from the right side brought a dead person back to life. Thus, having in hand most powerful tool healing, Asclepius went from city to city and healed people.
Rod of the god Asclepius
God Asclepius in ancient times he was almost always depicted as a middle-aged man with a staff around which a snake was entwined. The snake symbolized the most serious disease, which, at that time, was almost impossible to cure, and a snake bite was considered such a disease.
However, Asclepius saved people from this scourge, as symbolized by his staff, which later became known as the rod of Asclepius . This rod (it is depicted on the site header) remains a symbol of doctors all over the world in our time.
Personal life of Asclepius
ABOUT privacy Very little is known about Asclepius. It can be said for certain that he was married to Epione and had nine children (three sons and six daughters). Children also had a penchant for healing. According to some evidence, the future God Asclepius participated in the Trojan War, on the Greek side, and there he saved Philotstetes, the famous ancient Greek hero, who was bitten by a snake.
God Asclepius. The figure is on the metope of the temple at Epidaurus (ca. 4th century BC).
What did Asclepius die from?
Asclepius, during the years of his medical practice, performed many miraculous healings and brought back to life countless numbers of already dead people, also making them immortal. This practice greatly angered God underworld Aida. God Hades believed that dead Souls rightfully belongs to him. Moreover, Zeus, the main Olympian god, agreed with Hades, believing that the activities of Asclepius violated the normal state of affairs in nature. Because people are born to die, not to live forever. Imagining the problems that would arise in the future if all people could live forever, Zeus, at the instigation of Hades, decided to punish Asclepius.
A bronze helmet decorated with the ancient medical symbol of two intertwined snakes. It was believed that such a helmet could provide magical protection to its owner (approx. 9th - 3rd century BC).
One day, when Zeus's patience ran out, he struck Asclepius with lightning, showing all people that any person, even one whose father is God, has only one option for ending life path. Moreover, no mortal is allowed to cross the forbidden line beyond his competence. And whoever allows himself to do this will be mercilessly punished. Zeus also showed people that, no matter how great a person is, there is an abyss between him and God that no mortal can overcome. However, Zeus was a fairly fair god; he recognized Asclepius’ services to humanity, and as a reward for them, he turned the healer into a constellation so that he could live forever in the sky.
Well, what if we translate all this into modern language, then we can answer briefly - Asclepius died from.
Temples of Asclepius
After the death of Asclepius, people began to praise him as a god. It was believed that even the dead Asclepius was able to heal the sick, relieving them of suffering. Grateful recovered patients began to build beautiful temples in honor of Asclepius. These temples were called Asklepion. These were prototypes of future hospitals. Both the suffering and those who studied medicine hurried there in order to learn new secrets of healing. It is said that Hippocrates, the father of medicine, studied and began his medical career at Asklepion on the island of Kos.
Graphic reconstruction of the Asklepion temple.
God Asclepius was almost the only hope for sick people of that time. His cult began to weaken with the spread of Christianity. But even now you can still find the ruins of these once beautiful temples and meet those who believe that it was God Asclepius.
Drawing on an ancient Greek bowl. The picture depicts the evil sorceress Circe and the navigator Ulysses. Circe has already given the magic potion to Ulysses' companions and they have turned into pigs. Now Cercea wants to turn Ulysses into a pig too. However, Circe's plan does not work because Ulysses received an antidote from the god Hermes.
Before Asclepius, all healers more often harmed people than healed them. The main representative of such “healers” was Circe, who practiced turning people into pigs.