Asclepius

How was Asclepius born?

Like many other important mythological figures, Asclepius was not born under the best of conditions. He was conceived from the union of the god Apollo and the Thessalian princess Coronis or Arsinoe (there were different versions). But when Coronis/Arsinoe was unfaithful to Apollo, the god had her killed.

As his former lover lay on her funeral pyre, Apollo cut her unborn child from her womb. Apollo gave the child—Asclepius—to the wise centaur Chiron, who raised him and taught him important skills.

What were Asclepius’ attributes?

Asclepius was the prototypal physician of Greek mythology. He was usually represented with a beard and long, curly hair, wearing a coak that left his chest exposed.

Asclepius’ most distinctive attribute was his staff or rod. A snake—which the Greeks associated with healing and medicine—was often shown coiled around this rod. Dogs were also dear to Asclepius.

Was Asclepius a god?

Asclepius was one of the few figures of Greek mythology who was worshipped as both a hero and a god. Though mortal by birth, he became the most important healing god of the Greek pantheon. Asclepius had sanctuaries throughout the Greek world, including a particularly famous one at Epidaurus.

Asclepius Cures Death

In myth, Asclepius’ healing skills eventually grew so formidable that he was able to cure death. But bringing a dead man back to life was seen as a dangerous infringement on the powers of the gods. Thus, to preserve the cosmic order (and his own authority), Zeus killed Asclepius by striking him down with a thunderbolt.

Asclepius’ father Apollo was devastated at the death of his son. In a fit of heartbroken fury, he killed the Cyclopes, the one-eyed creatures who had fashioned Zeus’ thunderbolts for him. Eventually, however, Asclepius ascended to the ranks of the immortals, becoming the Greek god of healing.

Pronunciation

Alternate Names

In ancient Greece, Asclepius’ name existed in a number of different variants. The most common form was Ἀσκληπιός (Asklēpios), but other attested forms include the Doric and Aeolian Ἀσκλαπιός (Asklapios) and the Boeotian Ἀσχλαπιός or Αἰσχλαβιός (Aschlapios or Aischlabios).

In one little-known tradition, recorded by the Byzantine scholar and poet John Tzetzes, Asclepius’ name was originally Hepius and was only changed to Asclepius after he cured the Epidaurian king Ascles.^[2]

The Romans, who adopted the worship of Asclepius relatively early, Latinized his name as Aesculapius (which remains a common alternate spelling).

Titles and Epithets

Asclepius had a large number of epithets in the ancient world, an indication of his significance as a hero and god. Some of his most important and familiar epithets include iatros (“healer”), amymōn (“peerless”), and sōtēr (“savior”). Asclepius was also sometimes addressed as paian, a distinctive title usually used to call on a god as healer (and most often associated with Asclepius’ father, Apollo).

Family Tree

Origins

The mythology of Asclepius’ origins is rather tangled. From an early date, there were two different genealogies in circulation: in one, Asclepius was the son of Apollo and Coronis, daughter of the Thessalian Phlegyas; in another, he was the son of Apollo and Arsinoe, daughter of the Messenian Leucippus. Thus, both Thessaly (in northern Greece) and Messenia (in southern Greece) laid claim to Asclepius, though the Thessalian version was probably more widely accepted.

Regardless of the genealogy, the myth of Asclepius’ birth seems to have generally been the same. Coronis (or Arsinoe) was loved by Apollo and became pregnant with Asclepius. But Coronis/Arsinoe ultimately married a mortal named Ischys. When Apollo heard about the marriage from a raven, he punished the bird for his ill tidings by turning him black. Then he (or his sister Artemis) killed Coronis/Arsinoe. 

When Coronis/Arsinoe lay upon the funeral pyre, Apollo (or his brother Hermes) saved his son by cutting open the dead girl’s womb and snatching him away. Asclepius was then raised by the wise centaur Chiron.^[16]

In a later version of the myth, Asclepius was again the son of Apollo and Coronis. This time, however, Coronis gave birth to the child while traveling with her father and subsequently abandoned him in the city of Epidaurus (in central Greece). There, the baby was suckled by a goat and guarded by a dog before being found and raised by a shepherd named Arethanas.^[17]

Asclepius and the Art of Medicine

Asclepius grew up to become a remarkably talented physician. According to Pindar,

those who came to him afflicted with congenital sores, or with their limbs wounded by gray bronze or by a far-hurled stone, or with their bodies wasting away from summer's fire or winter's cold, he released and delivered all of them from their different pains, tending some of them with gentle incantations, others with soothing potions, or by wrapping remedies all around their limbs, and others he set right with surgery.^[18]

Asclepius eventually became so skilled in the art of medicine that he could even cure death. According to one tradition, he was ordered to restore the life of Glaucus, the son of the powerful King Minos, and was locked up in a dungeon until he complied. 

While in the dungeon, Asclepius saw a snake and promptly killed it. Later, he spied another snake entering the dungeon carrying an herb. When this snake put the herb in the mouth of the dead snake, the deceased creature came back to life. Upon seeing this, Asclepius used the herb to bring Glaucus back from the dead.^[19]

According to a different tradition, it was the goddess Athena who gave Asclepius what he needed to raise the dead: the blood of the Gorgon Medusa. Asclepius realized that while the blood from the left side of the monster was poisonous, the blood from the right side was a powerful panacea that could cure death.^[20]

In some traditions, Asclepius was one of the Argonauts^[21] and participated in the Calydonian Boar Hunt.^[22]

Death and Deification

Asclepius’ astonishing abilities eventually provoked the anger of the gods. By raising the dead (including Glaucus, Theseus’ son Hippolytus, and the Spartan king Tyndareus, according to various sources), Asclepius became guilty of violating the natural order of the cosmos. Fearing that there would soon be nobody left in the Underworld, Zeus killed Asclepius with a lightning bolt.^[23]

Enraged, Asclepius’ father Apollo lashed out. He did not dare to attack the all-powerful Zeus directly, so he took out his anger on the Cyclopes (or, in some versions, their sons), who were responsible for fashioning the lightning bolt Zeus had used to strike down Asclepius.^[24] Zeus, in turn, punished Apollo by forcing him to become the slave of the mortal Admetus.

Asclepius, however, did not remain dead for long. Indeed, the Greeks worshipped him as a god (not just a hero), suggesting that at some point he was resurrected, made immortal, and deified.^[25]

Temples

There were hundreds of temples of Asclepius (called Asclepiaea, or Asclepiaeon in the singular) in the ancient world. One of the oldest ones was in Tricca, regarded locally as the place where the god had been born.^[26] There was another impressive (but likely more recent) temple of Asclepius at Messenia, which a rival local tradition also claimed as the site of the god’s birth.^[27]

The cult of Asclepius began rapidly expanding during the fifth century BCE. It was during this time that the two most important ancient cults of Asclepius were established on the Aegean island of Cos and in the central Greek city of Epidaurus.

Both Cos and Epidaurus boasted a great Asclepiaeon. Cos was also home to a school of physicians known as the Asclepiadae.^[28] Hippocrates, the most famous physician of ancient Greece, was a member.

The Asclepiaeon of Epidaurus became particularly renowned. It was surrounded by a sacred complex and a grove in which it was forbidden for anyone to die or be born.^[29]

The cult of Asclepius continued to spread throughout Greece, with special help from Epidaurus.^[30] Asclepius thus came to Sicyon,^[31] Aegina,^[32] Tegea,^[33] and Athens, where he was worshipped first at the harbor of the Piraeus and then, by the end of the fifth century BCE, on the slopes of the Acropolis.^[34]

The cult also spread to other, more distant sites, including Pergamum and Smyrna in modern-day Turkey and even Italy. The Asclepiaeon of Rome, established in 293 BCE, became quite important. Suffering from a severe plague, the Romans had been instructed by an oracle to import the cult of Asclepius from Epidaurus. A great temple was built on Tiber Island after the sacred snake of Asclepius, brought by boat from Epidaurus, chose it as its new home.^[35]

Asclepiaea temples tended to share certain features. For example, they were usually located outside of the main town, often in a valley or by the seashore.^[36] Like the temples of other gods, Asclepiaea also included a statue or “cult image” of Asclepius, situated in a prominent place; particularly famous was the giant chryselephantine cult image in the Asclepiaeon of Epidaurus.^[37] Most Asclepiaea also had a sacred snake who lived in the sanctuary, and some, like the one at Epidaurus, had a sacred dog.

The central feature of the Asclepiaea was an incubation room (called an enkoimētērion in Greek). Sick worshippers could sleep in this special room in the hope that Asclepius would appear to them and cure them, or tell them in a dream how they could cure themselves. Those who had been cured in this way would dedicate a tablet or stele in which they described how the god had helped them and gave thanks. Many such tablets still survive, detailing some remarkable illnesses and cures.^[38]

Finally, Asclepius was frequently worshipped together with the other members of his healing family: his father Apollo, his sons Machaon and Podalirius, and his daughters (especially Hygieia).

Festivals and Holidays

The festival of Asclepius, called the Asclepiaea, was celebrated wherever there was an Asclepiaeon (a temple of Asclepius). The Asclepiaea of Epidaurus, held every fifth year, were particularly important. These included athletic as well as musical competitions.^[39]

Athens, which had another important sanctuary of Asclepius, celebrated both an Asclepiaea (twice per year) and an Epidauria (to commemorate the day when Asclepius was brought to Athens from Epidaurus).^[40]

On feast days and in his various temples, Asclepius received different types of sacrifices. These included standard burnt sacrifices,^[41] but also hair sacrifices to him or his daughter Hygieia.^[42]