Asclepius

Asclepius

English

The rod of Asclepius
(symbol: ⚕)

Alternative forms

• Asclepios, Asklepios

Etymology

Borrowed from Latin Asclepius, from Ancient Greek Ἀσκληπιός (Asklēpiós).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /əˈskliːpi.əs/, /æsˈkliːpi.əs/

Proper noun

Asclepius

1. (Greek mythology) A Greek mythological deity, the god of doctors, medicine and healing; a son of Apollo and the Thessalian princess Coronis, husband to the goddess Epione and father of the Asclepiades; identified with the Roman god Aesculapius.
   • 1961, Henry E. Sigerist, A History of Medicine, Volume II: Early Greek, Hindu, and Persian Medicine, Oxford University Press, 1987, Paperback, page 44,

     We found religious medicine in the Homeric poems, and there was no century without healing cults. The cult of Asclepius was by no means the only one, but, for reasons that will be discussed later, it dominated the scene and set a pattern for the cults of other healing deities.

   • 2002, Jerome Murphy-O'Connor, St. Paul's Corinth: Texts and Archaeology, Liturgical Press, page 186,

     The temple of Asclepius is located just inside the north wall (Fig. 5) and is referred to by Pausanias (p. 34), who notes that the site was a place of refreshment in summer.

   • 2015, Paula Landart, Finding Ancient Rome: Walks in the City, E-Book, page 16,

     The story of Tiber Island is similar: in 293 BC, the inhabitants of Rome started to fall sick and die from an unknown disease, and the city fathers sent an expedition to Epidaurus in Greece to retrieve one of the snakes sacred to Asclepius (Greek Asklepiós, Aesculapius in Latin), god of medicine and healing, thus bringing the god to Rome. The story told by Livy was that as the ship carrying this snake came up the Tiber, the snake escaped and swam to the island. The Romans immediately concluded that Asclepius wished to dwell there (it would appear that clever Asclepius had immediately recognised an excellent place of quarantine), and built a temple to the god on the island.

2. (astronomy) The Apollo asteroid 4581 Asclepius.

Usage notes

• Not to be confused with Asclepias, a plant genus named after the deity.

Derived terms

• Asclepian

Translations

Greek god of medicine and healing

Alemannic German: Asklepios Ancient Greek: Ἀσκληπιός (Asklēpiós) Arabic: أَسْقَلِيبِيُوس‎ (ʾasqalībiyūs) Asturian: Asclepiu Belarusian: Асклепій (Askljepij) Bengali: আস্ক্লেপিউস (asklepius) Breton: Asklepios Bulgarian: Асклепий (Asklepij) Catalan: Asclepi Chinese: Mandarin: 阿斯克勒庇俄斯 (Āsīkèlēibì'ésī) Czech: Asklépios Danish: Æskulap Dutch: Asclepius Esperanto: Asklepio Estonian: Asklepios Finnish: Asklepios French: Asclépios (fr) Galician: Asclepio Georgian: ასკლეპიოსი (asḳleṗiosi) German: Äskulap (de) m, Äskulapius m, Asklepius m, Asklepios m Greek: Ασκληπιός (el) m (Asklipiós) Ancient: Ἀσκληπιός m (Asklēpiós) Hebrew: אסקלפיוס‎ Hungarian: Aszklépiosz Italian: Asclepio Japanese: アスクレーピオス (Asukurēpiosu) Korean: 아스클레피오스 (Aseukeullepioseu) Latin: Aesculāpius (la) m, Asclēpius m Lithuanian: Asklepijas Luxembourgish: Asklepios Norwegian: Asklepios Occitan: Asclèpi Persian: آسکلپیوس‎ Polish: Asklepios (pl) m, Eskulap (pl) m Portuguese: Asclépio (pt) m Romanian: Asclepios Russian: Аскле́пий (ru) m (Asklépij) Serbo-Croatian: Cyrillic: Асклепије Roman: Asklepije (sh) Slovak: Asklepios Slovene: Asklépij (sl) m, Eskuláp m Spanish: Asclepio Swedish: Asklepios (sv) Turkish: Asklepios Ukrainian: Асклепій (Asklepij)

near-Earth asteroid

Finnish: Asclepius

See also

• Aesculapius
• Asclepiad
• Asclepiades
• Asclepias (plant genus named after the god)

Further reading

• Asclepius on Wikipedia.Wikipedia
  • Asclepiad (title) on Wikipedia.Wikipedia
  • Asclepiades on Wikipedia.Wikipedia
  • Rod of Asclepius on Wikipedia.Wikipedia
• 4581 Asclepius on Wikipedia.Wikipedia

Anagrams

• capsulise