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AESCULAPIUS (Gr. 'AoKXiprtos)

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Originally appearing in Volume V01, Page 276 of the 1911 Encyclopedia Britannica.
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AESCULAPIUS (Gr. 'AoKXiprtos) , the legendary See also:Greek See also:god of See also:medicine, the son of See also:Apollo and the nymph Coronis. Tricca in See also:Thessaly and See also:Epidaurus in Argolis disputed the See also:honour of his birthplace, but an See also:oracle declared in favour of Epidaurus. He was educated by the centaur Cheiron, who taught him the See also:art of healing and See also:hunting. His skill in curing disease and restoring the dead to See also:life aroused the anger of See also:Zeus, who, being afraid that he might render all men immortal, slew him with a See also:thunder-See also:bolt (See also:Apollodorus iii. 1o; See also:Pindar, Phthia, 3; Diod. Sic. iv. 71). See also:Homer mentions him as a skilful physician, whose sons, Machaon and Podalirius, are the physicians in the Greek See also:camp before See also:Troy (Iliad, ii. 731). Temples were erected to Aesculapius in many parts of See also:Greece, near healing springs or on high mountains. The practice of sleeping (incubatio) in these sanctuaries was very See also:common, it being supposed that the god effected See also:cures or pre-scribed remedies to the sick in dreams.

All who were healed offered sacrifice—especially a cock—and hung up votive tablets, on which were recorded their names, their diseases and the manner in which they had been cured. Many of these votive tablets have been discovered in the course of excavations at Epidaurus. Here was the god's most famous See also:

shrine, and See also:games were celebrated in his honour every five years, accompanied by See also:solemn processions. See also:Herodas (Mimes, 4) gives a description of one of his temples, and of the offerings made to. him. His See also:worship was introduced into See also:Rome by See also:order of the Sibylline books (293 B.c.), to avert a pestilence. The god was fetched from Epidaurus in the See also:form of a snake and a See also:temple assigned him on the See also:island in the See also:Tiber (See also:Livy x. 47; See also:Ovid, Metam. xv. 622). Aesculapius was a favourite subject of See also:ancient artists. He is commonly represented See also:standing, dressed in a See also:long cloak, with See also:bare See also:breast; his usual attribute is a See also:club-like See also:staff with a See also:serpent (the See also:symbol of renovation) coiled See also:round it. He is often accompanied by See also:Telesphorus, the boy See also:genius of healing, and his daughter See also:Hygieia, the goddess of See also:health. Votive reliefs representing such See also:groups have been found near the temple of Aesculapius at See also:Athens.

The See also:

British Museum possesses a beautiful See also:head of Aesculapius (or possibly Zeus) from Melos, and the Louvre a magnificent statue.

End of Article: AESCULAPIUS (Gr. 'AoKXiprtos)

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