Timeline: Asclepius – Mythical God of Medicine

Even though Asclepius is not a real person, he is mythical, we figured he had a place on our timeline of extraordinary people in healthcare because his echo is still around today in the serpent-and-staff symbol used by the medical profession.

A figure of Greek mythology, Asclepius was later adopted into the Roman pantheon under the similar name, Aesculapius. His story goes like this: Asclepius's father, Apollo (the god of music, light, and more), sent his son to be raised by a centaur named Chiron, who taught him the art of surgery (Asclepius's name means "cut up"), drugs, potions, incantation, and medicine. Asclepius learned so well that he figured out how to bring the dead back to life.

Unfortunately, Zeus, the chief of the Greek gods, was not pleased. In one version of the myth, Zeus was angry because bringing people back to life upsets the natural order. In another, Zeus was upset because Asclepius charged money to bring people back to life. Whatever the reason, Zeus killed Asclepius with a thunderbolt. However, deciding that Asclepius had done some good for humankind, Zeus transformed him into the constellation Ophiuchus (the serpent-bearer). Serpents were one of the creatures sacred to Asclepius. Though, technically, Asclepius' symbol had only one snake, the modern version, the caduceus, has had, since about the 16th century, two snakes.

The cult of Asclepius had its major centre in Epidaurus, in Greece's Peloponnesian Peninsula and worship of Asclepius became very popular around 300 BCE. Two of his daughters (in some versions of the legend, two of his sisters) were Hygieia and Panacea, and some said that Hippocrates (c. 460–370 BCE) Hippocrates was a descendant of Asclepius.

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