By: Susan-Marie Cronkite, PhD.
Asklepius (Asclepius, Asklepios, Latin: Aesculapius) the ancient Greek god of medicine.
In myth, Asklepius was the son of the god Apollo and a mortal woman named Coronis. Apollo slept with Coronis and she became pregnant. Fearing no one would believe that she was in-child by a god, Coronis married another man. A crow witnessed the wedding and flew to Apollo and told him what had happened. In blind rage, Apollo killed Coronis. Apollo also vented his anger on the tattle-tale crow. The crow, at this time a resplendent, snow white bird with a beautiful singing voice, was changed to ashen black with a harsh, squawking voice; fit punishment for meddling in the realm of the gods and a symbol of Apollo’s sorrow over his unfaithful lover.
The unborn child, however, was spared the god’s wrath. Apollo rescued the mortal baby boy – Asklepius – from Coronis’ womb and he was given over to the centaur Chiron to raise. Chiron was a highly skilled healer and he taught Asklepius all he knew. As the boy grew to manhood, he far surpassed Chiron’s skill, having inherited some of his father’s healing powers. Asklepius then began to treat the general health, diseases and injuries of mankind; people came to him from all over the Greek world to be cured.
For a time, the many gods did not concern themselves with the petty problems of mankind, until Asklepius took his healing abilities too far. One day, Askelpius cured a man of the ultimate ‘illness’ – death. The Greek gods were outraged and in a panic. The dead belonged to Hades; Asklepius, for all intents and purposes, had actually stolen from the god of the Underworld. And, how dare a mere mortal meddle in what was rightfully the power of the gods ? And even more worrying, if mortals no longer feared death, why would they bother to worship the gods any more ? If no one feared and worshiped the gods, they would in turn lose their powers and fade away…
The gods approached Zeus, the ruler of gods and men, and complained. Zeus, too, considered that Apollo’s son had, indeed, gone beyond the realms of acceptable mortal behaviour, so he killed Asklepius with a single bolt of lightening. The gods were happy and relieved, but mankind was desolate. They begged Zeus to help them, to save them from disease and to cure their injuries. Zeus considered for a time and then agreed to bring back Asklepius, but with limitations. Asklepius could help mankind, but anyone who belonged to the gods (i.e. was beyond medical help) was to be comforted, but left to the gods. Asklepius, now a god himself, was returned from the underworld to aid mankind.
Healing sanctuaries of Asklepius sprang up all over the Greek and later the Roman world. Many of these sanctuaries became the first western teaching hospitals, including the sanctuary on Kos where Hippocrates taught and the sanctuary at Pergamon, home of the great physician Galen. The focus of these sanctuaries was not only to heal the injured, but also to watch over the general health and well-being of mankind.
