Ancient Greece In Greek mythology, snakes are seen as sacred creatures associated with wisdom, healing, and resurrection. Asclepius, the god of medicine, was granted the gift of healing.

Chief among these is the Greek demigod Asclepius. Demigods were those characters in ancient mythology who were the son or daughter of a mortal and a god, and so were often human but with ...

Leaving mythology behind, Asclepius was later worshipped as a god in actual human history with temples being raised up to him across Greece. The most famous of these was Epidarus.

The Hippocratic Oath, named after the ancient Greek physician Hippocrates (460-377 B.C.) – often regarded as the Father of Medicine – begins, "I swear by Apollo Physician and Aesculapius and ...

Hart's Asclepius reminds me of Ralph Jackson's Doctors and Diseases in the Roman Empire (British Museum Press, 1988), a book not readily available on this side of the Atlantic. Hart makes appropriate ...

The symbol originated by Asclepius is often confused with the Caduceus, which includes a similar staff or rod, with two snakes and wings, as shown in Figure 2. This symbol also has roots in Greek ...