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Rod of Asclepius

April 26, 2024

For the symbol with two snakes that signifies swiftness, see Caduceus.

In Greek mythology, the Rod of Asclepius (⚕; Ancient Greek: Ῥάβδος τοῦ Ἀσκληπιοῦ, Rhábdos toû Asklēpioû, sometimes also spelled Asklepios), also known as the Staff of Aesculapius and as the asklepian,[1] is a serpent-entwined rod wielded by the Greek god Asclepius, a deity associated with healing and medicine. In modern times, it is the predominant symbol for medicine and health care, although it is sometimes confused with the similar caduceus, which has two snakes and a pair of wings.[1]

The emergency medical services' Star of Life features a rod of Asclepius

Greek mythology and Greek society edit

 
Asclepius with his serpent-entwined staff; Archaeological Museum of Epidaurus

The Rod of Asclepius takes its name from the Greek god Asclepius, a deity associated with healing and medicinal arts in ancient Greek religion and mythology. Asclepius' attributes, the snake and the staff, sometimes depicted separately in antiquity, are combined in this symbol.[2][full citation needed]

The most famous temple of Asclepius was at Epidaurus in north-eastern Peloponnese. Another famous healing temple (or asclepeion) was located on the island of Kos, where Hippocrates, the legendary "father of medicine", may have begun his career. Other asclepieia were situated in Trikala, Gortys (Arcadia), and Pergamum in Asia.

In honour of Asclepius, a particular type of non-venomous rat snake was often used in healing rituals, and these snakes – the Aesculapian snakes – crawled 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. From about 300 BCE onwards, the cult of Asclepius grew very popular and pilgrims flocked to his healing temples (Asclepieia) 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.[3] Some healing temples also used sacred dogs to lick the wounds of sick petitioners.[4][5]

The original Hippocratic Oath began with the invocation "I swear by Apollo the Healer and by Asclepius and by Hygieia and Panacea and by all the gods ..."[4]

The serpent and the staff appear to have been separate symbols that were combined at some point in the development of the Asclepian cult.[6] The significance of the serpent has been interpreted in many ways; sometimes the shedding of skin and renewal is emphasized as symbolizing rejuvenation,[7][a] while other assessments center on the serpent as a symbol that unites and expresses the dual nature of the work of the Apothecary Physician, who deals with life and death, sickness and health.[9] The ambiguity of the serpent as a symbol, and the contradictions it is thought to represent, reflect the ambiguity of the use of drugs,[7] which can help or harm, as reflected in the meaning of the term pharmakon, which meant "drug", "medicine", and "poison" in ancient Greek.[10] However the word may become less ambiguous when "medicine" is understood as something that heals the one taking it because it poisons that which afflicts it, meaning medicine is designed to kill or drive away something and any healing happens as a result of that thing being gone, not as a direct effect of "medicine". Products deriving from the bodies of snakes were known to have medicinal properties in ancient times, and in ancient Greece, at least some were aware that snake venom that might be fatal if it entered the bloodstream could often be imbibed. Snake venom appears to have been 'prescribed' in some cases as a form of therapy.[11]

The staff has also been variously interpreted. One view is that it, like the serpent, "conveyed notions of resurrection and healing", while another (not necessarily incompatible) is that the staff was a walking stick associated with itinerant physicians.[12] Cornutus, a Greek philosopher probably active in the first century CE, in the Theologiae Graecae Compendium (Ch. 33) offers a view of the significance of both snake and staff:

Asclepius derived his name from healing soothingly and from deferring the withering that comes with death. For this reason, therefore, they give him a serpent as an attribute, indicating that those who avail themselves of medical science undergo a process similar to the serpent in that they, as it were, grow young again after illnesses and slough off old age; also because the serpent is a sign of attention, much of which is required in medical treatments. The staff also seems to be a symbol of some similar thing. For by means of this it is set before our minds that unless we are supported by such inventions as these, in so far as falling continually into sickness is concerned, stumbling along we would fall even sooner than necessary.[8]: 13 

In any case, the two symbols certainly merged in antiquity as representations of the snake coiled about the staff are common.[5]

Egypt edit

Depictions of one or two staffs with winding snake(s) are known from bronze age Egypt, such as the famous 13th century BCE relief depicting Thoth giving life to the deceased Seti I in the temple of Abydos. Thoth, master of the underworld but also one of half a dozen Egyptian gods involved in medicine, holds two staves in his left hand. Each staff has a winding cobra around it, with each snake wearing a miniature royal headdress of respectively the upper versus lower halves of Egypt, while raising its upper body in typical uraeus posture with splayed hood.

A biblical equivalent edit

In the biblical Book of Numbers and Books of Kings, the nehushtan (Hebrew: נחשתן‎ or נחש הנחושת‎) was a brass or bronze serpent on a pole that God told Moses to erect, saying that anyone who saw it would be protected from dying from the bites of the "fiery serpents" that God had sent to punish them for speaking against him and Moses.[13][14] The image of a snake wrapped around a staff or a dagger is common in Jewish and modern-day Israeli symbols of medicine, with origins often attributed to the nehushtan's healing powers.[15]

Confusion with the caduceus edit

Main article: Caduceus as a symbol of medicine
 
The US Army Medical Corps plaque. The adoption, in 1902, of the caduceus for US Army medical officer uniforms popularized the (mis)use of the symbol throughout the United States' medical field

It is relatively common, especially in the United States, to find the caduceus, with its two snakes and wings, (mis)used as a symbol of medicine instead of the Rod of Asclepius, with only a single snake. This usage was popularized by the adoption of the caduceus as its insignia by the U.S. Army Medical Corps in 1902 at the insistence of a single officer (though there are conflicting claims as to whether this was Capt. Frederick P. Reynolds or Col. John R. van Hoff).[16][17]

The Rod of Asclepius is the dominant symbol for professional healthcare associations in the United States. One survey found that 62% of professional healthcare associations used the rod of Asclepius as their symbol.[18] The same survey found that 76% of commercial healthcare organizations use the caduceus. The author of the study suggests that professional associations are more likely to have a historical understanding of the two symbols, whereas commercial organizations are more likely to be concerned with the visual impact a symbol will have on its sales.[18]

The long-standing historical association of the caduceus with commerce has engendered significant criticism of its use in medicine. Medical professionals argue that the Rod of Asclepius better represents the field of medicine.[19]

As god of the high-road and the market-place Hermes was perhaps above all else the patron of commerce and the fat purse: as a corollary, he was the special protector of the traveling salesman. As spokesman for the gods, he not only brought peace on earth (occasionally even the peace of death), but his silver-tongued eloquence could always make the worse appear the better cause.[20] From this latter point of view, would not his symbol be suitable for certain Congressmen, all medical quacks, book agents and purveyors of vacuum cleaners, rather than for the straight-thinking, straight-speaking therapeutist? As conductor of the dead to their subterranean abode, his emblem would seem more appropriate on a hearse than on a physician's car.

— Stuart L. Tyson, "The Caduceus", in the Scientific Monthly, 1932[21]

Unicode edit

⚕
Staff of Aesculapius
In UnicodeU+2695 ⚕ STAFF OF AESCULAPIUS
Related
See alsoU+269A ⚚ STAFF OF HERMES

A symbol for the rod of Asclepius has a code point (U+2695 ⚕ STAFF OF AESCULAPIUS) in the Miscellaneous Symbols table of the Unicode Standard: the spelling is theirs.

Modern use edit

 
The flag of the World Health Organization, with a rod of Asclepius

A number of organizations and services use the rod of Asclepius as their logo, or part of their logo. These include:

Asia edit

Africa edit

South Pacific edit

Canada edit

Europe edit

United States edit

Worldwide edit

Variation edit

In Russia, the emblem of Main Directorate for Drugs Control features a variation with a sword and a snake on the shield.

See also edit

Notes edit

  1. ^ This interpretation was current in Antiquity, as can be seen in an account of Apollodorus: "your marvel at the serpent curling around him and say that it is the symbol of the healing art, because just as the serpent sloughs the skin of old age, so the medical art releases from illness."[8]: 12 

References edit

  1. ^ a b Wilcox, Robert A; Whitham, Emma M (15 April 2003). "The symbol of modern medicine: why one snake is more than two". Annals of Internal Medicine. 138 (8): 673–7. doi:10.7326/0003-4819-138-8-200304150-00016. PMID 12693891. S2CID 19125435. Retrieved 15 June 2007.
  2. ^ See for example Pausanias, Description of Greece 2.26.1–28.1 (here translated by Jones) 2nd A.D.: "The image of Asklepios is, in size, half as big as Zeus Olympios at Athens, and is made of ivory and gold. An inscription tells us that the artist was Thrasymedes, a Parian, son of Arignotos. The god is sitting on a seat grasping a staff; the other hand he is holding above the head of the serpent."
  3. ^ Sigerist, Henry Ernest (1987). "3, Religious medicine: Asclepius and his cult". A History of Medicine. Vol. 2: Early Greek, Hindu and Persian medicine. Oxford University Press. pp. 64, 65.
  4. ^ a b Farnell, Lewis Richard (1921). "Chapter 10, "The Cult of Asklepios"". Greek hero cults and ideas of immortality : the Gifford lectures delivered in the University of St. Andrews in the year 1920. Oxford: Clarendon Press.
  5. ^ a b Hart, Gerald David; Forrest, Martin St. J. (1999). Asclepius: The God of Medicine. London: Royal Society of Medicine Press. p. 42. ISBN 9781853154096. OCLC 42579033.
  6. ^ Lock, Stephen; Last, John M.; Dunea, George (2001). The Oxford Illustrated Companion To Medicine (3rd ed.). Oxford University Press. p. 261. ISBN 9780192629500. OCLC 46678589. In early statues of Asclepius the rod and serpent were represented separately.
  7. ^ a b Jonsen, Albert R. (1990). The New Medicine and the Old Ethics. Harvard University Press. pp. 122, 123. ISBN 9780674617254. OCLC 21227464. Asklepios' reptile was a healing creature: in ancient mythology the snake, whose skin was shed and rejuvenated, symbolized eternity and restoration of life and health
  8. ^ a b Edelstein, Emma J; Edelstein, Ludwig, eds. (1975) [1945]. Asclepius: A Collection and Interpretation of the Testimonies. New York: Arno Press. ISBN 9780405070099. OCLC 2021782.
  9. ^ Schouten, Jan (1967). The Rod and Serpent of Asklepios, Symbol of Medicine. Amsterdam: Elsevier. p. 2. OCLC 657667. [...] the ancient conception of the serpent as the embodiment of the mystery of one absolute life of the earth, which entails a continual dying and resurrection [...] the combination of corruption and salvation, of darkness and light, of good and evil in the Asklepian symbol.
  10. ^ Sigerist, Henry Ernest (1987). "2, Homeric medicine". A History of Medicine. Vol. 2: Early Greek, Hindu and Persian medicine. Oxford University Press. pp. 27–28.
  11. ^ Kelhoffer, James A. (2000). Miracle and mission : the authentication of missionaries and their message in the longer ending of Mark. Tübingen: Mohr Siebeck. pp. 438–439. [...] it was known, at least by some people in antiquity, that a snake's venom is not harmful if imbibed, but rather only if it enters directly into a person's blood stream. For example, the first-century CE historian Lucan writes that the younger Cato, when leading his troops through Libya during the Roman Civil War, informed his men about this very point [...] 'The poison of snakes is only deadly when mixed with the blood; their venom is in their bite, and they threaten death with their fangs. There is no death in the cup.'" He also mentions an account of Cornelius Celsus (first century CE) "'For a serpent's poison, like certain hunter's poisons..., does no harm when swallowed, but only in a wound'". "Likewise, Galen relates a rather peculiar healing by Asclepius involving viper's venom. The god appeared to a wealthy man in Pergamum and prescribed 'that he should drink every day of the drug produced from the vipers and should anoint the body from the outside.' [...] The elder Philostratus describes a similar practice of 'the wise Asclepiads,' who 'heal the bites of venomous creatures... using the virus itself as a cure of many diseases'.
  12. ^ Menez, Andre (2003). The Subtle Beast, Snakes From Myth to Medicine. London: Taylor & Francis. p. 14. ISBN 9780415284981. OCLC 59462472.
  13. ^ Numbers 21:8
  14. ^ 2 Kings 18:4
  15. ^ "Israeli Doctors' Day: symbol of health" (PDF). United Jewish Israel Appeal.
  16. ^ F.H. Garrison, "The Use of the Caduceus in the Insignia of the Army Medical Officer", in Bull. Med. Lib. Assoc. IX (1919-20), 13-16
  17. ^ Engle, Bernice (December 1929). "The Use of Mercury's Caduceus as a Medical Emblem"". The Classical Journal. 25 (1): 205.
  18. ^ a b Friedlander, Walter J (1992). The Golden Wand of Medicine: A History of the Caduceus symbol in medicine. Greenwood Press. ISBN 0-313-28023-1.
  19. ^ Bohigian, George (2019). "The Caduceus vs. Staff of Aesculapius - One Snake or Two?". Missouri Medicine. 116 (6): 476–477. "The Staff of Aesculapius has represented medicine since 800 BCE and most authorities support its use as the symbol of medicine
  20. ^ An allusion to John Milton's description of Belial in Paradise Lost II.113-114.
  21. ^ Tyson, Stuart L (1932). "The Caduceus". Scientific Monthly. 34 (6): 495.

External links edit

  •   Media related to Rod of Asclepius at Wikimedia Commons

April 26, 2024
asclepius, symbol, with, snakes, that, signifies, swiftness, caduceus, greek, mythology, ancient, greek, Ῥάβδος, τοῦ, Ἀσκληπιοῦ, rhábdos, toû, asklēpioû, sometimes, also, spelled, asklepios, also, known, staff, aesculapius, asklepian, serpent, entwined, wielde. For the symbol with two snakes that signifies swiftness see Caduceus In Greek mythology the Rod of Asclepius Ancient Greek Ῥabdos toῦ Ἀsklhpioῦ Rhabdos tou Asklepiou sometimes also spelled Asklepios also known as the Staff of Aesculapius and as the asklepian 1 is a serpent entwined rod wielded by the Greek god Asclepius a deity associated with healing and medicine In modern times it is the predominant symbol for medicine and health care although it is sometimes confused with the similar caduceus which has two snakes and a pair of wings 1 The emergency medical services Star of Life features a rod of Asclepius Contents 1 Greek mythology and Greek society 1 1 Egypt 1 2 A biblical equivalent 1 3 Confusion with the caduceus 2 Unicode 3 Modern use 3 1 Asia 3 2 Africa 3 3 South Pacific 3 4 Canada 3 5 Europe 3 6 United States 3 7 Worldwide 3 8 Variation 4 See also 5 Notes 6 References 7 External linksGreek mythology and Greek society edit nbsp Asclepius with his serpent entwined staff Archaeological Museum of Epidaurus The Rod of Asclepius takes its name from the Greek god Asclepius a deity associated with healing and medicinal arts in ancient Greek religion and mythology Asclepius attributes the snake and the staff sometimes depicted separately in antiquity are combined in this symbol 2 full citation needed The most famous temple of Asclepius was at Epidaurus in north eastern Peloponnese Another famous healing temple or asclepeion was located on the island of Kos where Hippocrates the legendary father of medicine may have begun his career Other asclepieia were situated in Trikala Gortys Arcadia and Pergamum in Asia In honour of Asclepius a particular type of non venomous rat snake was often used in healing rituals and these snakes the Aesculapian snakes crawled 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 From about 300 BCE onwards the cult of Asclepius grew very popular and pilgrims flocked to his healing temples Asclepieia 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 3 Some healing temples also used sacred dogs to lick the wounds of sick petitioners 4 5 The original Hippocratic Oath began with the invocation I swear by Apollo the Healer and by Asclepius and by Hygieia and Panacea and by all the gods 4 The serpent and the staff appear to have been separate symbols that were combined at some point in the development of the Asclepian cult 6 The significance of the serpent has been interpreted in many ways sometimes the shedding of skin and renewal is emphasized as symbolizing rejuvenation 7 a while other assessments center on the serpent as a symbol that unites and expresses the dual nature of the work of the Apothecary Physician who deals with life and death sickness and health 9 The ambiguity of the serpent as a symbol and the contradictions it is thought to represent reflect the ambiguity of the use of drugs 7 which can help or harm as reflected in the meaning of the term pharmakon which meant drug medicine and poison in ancient Greek 10 However the word may become less ambiguous when medicine is understood as something that heals the one taking it because it poisons that which afflicts it meaning medicine is designed to kill or drive away something and any healing happens as a result of that thing being gone not as a direct effect of medicine Products deriving from the bodies of snakes were known to have medicinal properties in ancient times and in ancient Greece at least some were aware that snake venom that might be fatal if it entered the bloodstream could often be imbibed Snake venom appears to have been prescribed in some cases as a form of therapy 11 The staff has also been variously interpreted One view is that it like the serpent conveyed notions of resurrection and healing while another not necessarily incompatible is that the staff was a walking stick associated with itinerant physicians 12 Cornutus a Greek philosopher probably active in the first century CE in the Theologiae Graecae Compendium Ch 33 offers a view of the significance of both snake and staff Asclepius derived his name from healing soothingly and from deferring the withering that comes with death For this reason therefore they give him a serpent as an attribute indicating that those who avail themselves of medical science undergo a process similar to the serpent in that they as it were grow young again after illnesses and slough off old age also because the serpent is a sign of attention much of which is required in medical treatments The staff also seems to be a symbol of some similar thing For by means of this it is set before our minds that unless we are supported by such inventions as these in so far as falling continually into sickness is concerned stumbling along we would fall even sooner than necessary 8 13 In any case the two symbols certainly merged in antiquity as representations of the snake coiled about the staff are common 5 Egypt edit Depictions of one or two staffs with winding snake s are known from bronze age Egypt such as the famous 13th century BCE relief depicting Thoth giving life to the deceased Seti I in the temple of Abydos Thoth master of the underworld but also one of half a dozen Egyptian gods involved in medicine holds two staves in his left hand Each staff has a winding cobra around it with each snake wearing a miniature royal headdress of respectively the upper versus lower halves of Egypt while raising its upper body in typical uraeus posture with splayed hood A biblical equivalent edit In the biblical Book of Numbers and Books of Kings the nehushtan Hebrew נחשתן or נחש הנחושת was a brass or bronze serpent on a pole that God told Moses to erect saying that anyone who saw it would be protected from dying from the bites of the fiery serpents that God had sent to punish them for speaking against him and Moses 13 14 The image of a snake wrapped around a staff or a dagger is common in Jewish and modern day Israeli symbols of medicine with origins often attributed to the nehushtan s healing powers 15 Confusion with the caduceus edit Main article Caduceus as a symbol of medicine nbsp The US Army Medical Corps plaque The adoption in 1902 of the caduceus for US Army medical officer uniforms popularized the mis use of the symbol throughout the United States medical field It is relatively common especially in the United States to find the caduceus with its two snakes and wings mis used as a symbol of medicine instead of the Rod of Asclepius with only a single snake This usage was popularized by the adoption of the caduceus as its insignia by the U S Army Medical Corps in 1902 at the insistence of a single officer though there are conflicting claims as to whether this was Capt Frederick P Reynolds or Col John R van Hoff 16 17 The Rod of Asclepius is the dominant symbol for professional healthcare associations in the United States One survey found that 62 of professional healthcare associations used the rod of Asclepius as their symbol 18 The same survey found that 76 of commercial healthcare organizations use the caduceus The author of the study suggests that professional associations are more likely to have a historical understanding of the two symbols whereas commercial organizations are more likely to be concerned with the visual impact a symbol will have on its sales 18 The long standing historical association of the caduceus with commerce has engendered significant criticism of its use in medicine Medical professionals argue that the Rod of Asclepius better represents the field of medicine 19 As god of the high road and the market place Hermes was perhaps above all else the patron of commerce and the fat purse as a corollary he was the special protector of the traveling salesman As spokesman for the gods he not only brought peace on earth occasionally even the peace of death but his silver tongued eloquence could always make the worse appear the better cause 20 From this latter point of view would not his symbol be suitable for certain Congressmen all medical quacks book agents and purveyors of vacuum cleaners rather than for the straight thinking straight speaking therapeutist As conductor of the dead to their subterranean abode his emblem would seem more appropriate on a hearse than on a physician s car Stuart L Tyson The Caduceus in the Scientific Monthly 1932 21 Unicode edit Staff of AesculapiusIn UnicodeU 2695 STAFF OF AESCULAPIUSRelatedSee alsoU 269A STAFF OF HERMES A symbol for the rod of Asclepius has a code point U 2695 STAFF OF AESCULAPIUS in the Miscellaneous Symbols table of the Unicode Standard the spelling is theirs Modern use edit nbsp The flag of the World Health Organization with a rod of Asclepius A number of organizations and services use the rod of Asclepius as their logo or part of their logo These include Asia edit Beijing University of Chinese Medicine Chinese Medical Association Armed Forces Medical Services Army Medical Corps India Dental Council of India International Medical University Malaysia Ministry of Health Cambodia Ministry of Health and Welfare Republic of China Ministry of Health of the People s Republic of China Ministry of Health Vietnam Medical Council of India Pakistan Army Medical Corps Medical Corps Israel Africa edit Kenya Medical Research Institute Kenya Medical Training College Nigerian Medical Association South African Medical Research Council former coat of arms South African Military Health Service South Pacific edit Australian Medical Association Australian Medical Students Association Medical Council of New Zealand Royal New Zealand Army Medical Corps Royal Australian Army Medical Corps Canada edit Alberta Medical Association Canadian Association of Physicians for the Environment Canadian Dental Association Canadian Medical Association College of Physicians and Surgeons of Manitoba Medical Council of Canada Ottawa Paramedic Service Paramedic Association of Canada Royal Canadian Medical Service Royal College of Physicians and Surgeons of Canada Europe edit Association of Anaesthetists of Great Britain and Ireland British Medical Association British Royal Army Medical Corps Emergency medical services in France SAMU SMUR et al Emergency medical services in Italy Emergency medical services in the Netherlands Emergency medical services in the United Kingdom Emergency medical services in Portugal The London Clinic Royal College of Psychiatrists UK Royal Society of Medicine UK University of Copenhagen Faculty of Health and Medical Sciences Jessenius Faculty of Medicine SVK United States edit Alabama College of Osteopathic Medicine American Academy of Family Physicians American Academy of Psychiatry and the Law American College of Osteopathic Internists American Medical Association American Medical Response American Medical Student Association American Osteopathic Association American Veterinary Medical Association Blue Cross Blue Shield Association U S Geisel School of Medicine at Dartmouth Heritage College of Osteopathic Medicine Hofstra School of Medicine Idaho College of Osteopathic Medicine International Medical Corps MedicAlert U S Michigan State Medical Society Morehouse School of Medicine National Athletic Trainers Association National Association of Emergency Medical Technicians National Registry of Emergency Medical Technicians New York University School of Medicine Stanford University School of Medicine Kansas City University of Medicine and Biosciences Student National Medical Association Student Osteopathic Medical Association U S United States Air Force Medical Corps University of Minnesota Medical School Yale University School of Medicine Worldwide edit Medical Protection Society Star of Life symbol of emergency medical services World Health Organization Variation edit In Russia the emblem of Main Directorate for Drugs Control features a variation with a sword and a snake on the shield See also editBowl of Hygieia Symbol of pharmacy Iron crutch symbol of Traditional Chinese medicine Aaron s rod Staves carried by Moses s brother Aaron in the Torah Chakra Subtle body psychic energy centers in the esoteric traditions of Indian religions Naga Serpentine mythological creatures in Indian religions Nehushtan Brass serpent in Torah Ningishzida Mesopotamian god Phurba Tibetan ritual implementNotes edit This interpretation was current in Antiquity as can be seen in an account of Apollodorus your marvel at the serpent curling around him and say that it is the symbol of the healing art because just as the serpent sloughs the skin of old age so the medical art releases from illness 8 12 References edit a b Wilcox Robert A Whitham Emma M 15 April 2003 The symbol of modern medicine why one snake is more than two Annals of Internal Medicine 138 8 673 7 doi 10 7326 0003 4819 138 8 200304150 00016 PMID 12693891 S2CID 19125435 Retrieved 15 June 2007 See for example Pausanias Description of Greece 2 26 1 28 1 here translated by Jones 2nd A D The image of Asklepios is in size half as big as Zeus Olympios at Athens and is made of ivory and gold An inscription tells us that the artist was Thrasymedes a Parian son of Arignotos The god is sitting on a seat grasping a staff the other hand he is holding above the head of the serpent Sigerist Henry Ernest 1987 3 Religious medicine Asclepius and his cult A History of Medicine Vol 2 Early Greek Hindu and Persian medicine Oxford University Press pp 64 65 a b Farnell Lewis Richard 1921 Chapter 10 The Cult of Asklepios Greek hero cults and ideas of immortality the Gifford lectures delivered in the University of St Andrews in the year 1920 Oxford Clarendon Press a b Hart Gerald David Forrest Martin St J 1999 Asclepius The God of Medicine London Royal Society of Medicine Press p 42 ISBN 9781853154096 OCLC 42579033 Lock Stephen Last John M Dunea George 2001 The Oxford Illustrated Companion To Medicine 3rd ed Oxford University Press p 261 ISBN 9780192629500 OCLC 46678589 In early statues of Asclepius the rod and serpent were represented separately a b Jonsen Albert R 1990 The New Medicine and the Old Ethics Harvard University Press pp 122 123 ISBN 9780674617254 OCLC 21227464 Asklepios reptile was a healing creature in ancient mythology the snake whose skin was shed and rejuvenated symbolized eternity and restoration of life and health a b Edelstein Emma J Edelstein Ludwig eds 1975 1945 Asclepius A Collection and Interpretation of the Testimonies New York Arno Press ISBN 9780405070099 OCLC 2021782 Schouten Jan 1967 The Rod and Serpent of Asklepios Symbol of Medicine Amsterdam Elsevier p 2 OCLC 657667 the ancient conception of the serpent as the embodiment of the mystery of one absolute life of the earth which entails a continual dying and resurrection the combination of corruption and salvation of darkness and light of good and evil in the Asklepian symbol Sigerist Henry Ernest 1987 2 Homeric medicine A History of Medicine Vol 2 Early Greek Hindu and Persian medicine Oxford University Press pp 27 28 Kelhoffer James A 2000 Miracle and mission the authentication of missionaries and their message in the longer ending of Mark Tubingen Mohr Siebeck pp 438 439 it was known at least by some people in antiquity that a snake s venom is not harmful if imbibed but rather only if it enters directly into a person s blood stream For example the first century CE historian Lucan writes that the younger Cato when leading his troops through Libya during the Roman Civil War informed his men about this very point The poison of snakes is only deadly when mixed with the blood their venom is in their bite and they threaten death with their fangs There is no death in the cup He also mentions an account of Cornelius Celsus first century CE For a serpent s poison like certain hunter s poisons does no harm when swallowed but only in a wound Likewise Galen relates a rather peculiar healing by Asclepius involving viper s venom The god appeared to a wealthy man in Pergamum and prescribed that he should drink every day of the drug produced from the vipers and should anoint the body from the outside The elder Philostratus describes a similar practice of the wise Asclepiads who heal the bites of venomous creatures using the virus itself as a cure of many diseases Menez Andre 2003 The Subtle Beast Snakes From Myth to Medicine London Taylor amp Francis p 14 ISBN 9780415284981 OCLC 59462472 Numbers 21 8 2 Kings 18 4 Israeli Doctors Day symbol of health PDF United Jewish Israel Appeal F H Garrison The Use of the Caduceus in the Insignia of the Army Medical Officer in Bull Med Lib Assoc IX 1919 20 13 16 Engle Bernice December 1929 The Use of Mercury s Caduceus as a Medical Emblem The Classical Journal 25 1 205 a b Friedlander Walter J 1992 The Golden Wand of Medicine A History of the Caduceus symbol in medicine Greenwood Press ISBN 0 313 28023 1 Bohigian George 2019 The Caduceus vs Staff of Aesculapius One Snake or Two Missouri Medicine 116 6 476 477 The Staff of Aesculapius has represented medicine since 800 BCE and most authorities support its use as the symbol of medicine An allusion to John Milton s description of Belial in Paradise Lost II 113 114 Tyson Stuart L 1932 The Caduceus Scientific Monthly 34 6 495 External links edit nbsp Media related to Rod of Asclepius at Wikimedia Commons Retrieved from https en wikipedia org w index php title Rod of Asclepius amp oldid 1218310507, wikipedia, wiki, book, books, library,

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