ART AND MEDICINE
His birth
His
death
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Aesculapius accompanied by his daughter, the goddess Hygeia
(goddess of healing) and by a serpent. (Marble statue, The Louvre
Museum)
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Aesculapius was the Greeks’ legendary god of
medicine. Homer called him “blameless physician.” His attribute is a
staff with a single snake coiled around it and is the ancient symbol of
medicine.
In classical antiquity, temples dedicated to him were
common throughout the Mediterranean, attracting patients in hopes of
miraculous cures. Shrines and temples of healing known as Asclepieia
were erected throughout Greece where the sick would come to worship and
seek cures for their ills. Sick patients would sleep in the Asclepieia.
In their dreams, Aesculapius would reveal to them how they could be cured.
In the dream, he was accompanied by his daughter, the goddess Hygeia
(goddess of healing) and by a serpent, which followed him wherever he
went. The serpent would lick the patient’s wounds and in the morning,
the patient would awaken healed. Snakes seem to have played an important
part of the healing ritual and were held to be the sacred servants of
Aesculapius.
Aesculapius bears a resemblance to the Egyptian Imhotep (c. 3500 BC),
inventor of the pyramids. Both were mortals who later became gods of
medicine. Throughout antiquity followers of these two legendary physicians
practiced in temples, ministering to the sick. Both gods healed, with the
physicians’ or priests’ help, while the patient was asleep. It is said
that Aesculapius had his origins in the Egyptian Imhotep.
In Greek myth, Aesculapius was the son of Apollo who
was the god of agriculture and of light and truth. Apollo taught humans
the art of healing.
Legend says that Apollo fell in love with Coronis, a
beautiful mortal maiden. However, she was unfaithful. It is said that the
news was brought to him by his bird, the raven, then pure white with
beautiful snowy plumage. Apollo, in a fit of rage, unjustly punished the
faithful bird-messenger by turning his feathers black. Some say that the
god killed her himself; others that he got his sister, Artemis, to shoot
her unerring arrows at Coronis.
As Apollo watched the maiden placed on the funeral pyre
and the flames roar up, he discovered that she was pregnant with his
child. Grief-stricken and filled with remorse, he snatched the unborn
child from his dying lover’s womb. He took the infant to Chiron, the
wise and kindly old Centaur, to bring up in his cave and told him to call
the child Aesculapius.
The birth of Aesculapius from the womb of his dying mother symbolizes
the ability of the physician to seize life from death. Aesculapius is
often depicted holding a surgical knife or even performing surgery. These
early images demonstrate the existence of invasive life-saving procedures
such as surgery, long before modern science and technology.
Chiron was the teacher and foster father to many Greek
heroes, among them Hercules and Achilles but Aesculapius was the dearest
to Chiron. He taught him the arts of healing. Aesculapius became very
skilled in surgery and the use of medicinal plants that he “prevented
the death of many.” Men sang his praises:
A gentle craftsman who drove pain away,
Soother of cruel pangs, a joy to men,
Bringing them golden health.
However, Aesculapius ventured to transgress the laws of
nature by bringing the dead back to life. And the myths do mention the
names of those said to have been raised from death by him.
Zeus, the Greek King of Gods and Men, fearing that he might render all
men immortal, killed Aesculapius with a thunderbolt. Zeus resented
Aesculapius because he was worshipped on earth as a demigod. He had discovered how to make men potential rivals to the gods and threatened
their power.
But the poet Pindar (c.520 – 442 BC) claims that even
Aesculapius was “seduced by a splendid fee of gold. . . to bring back
from death one who already was its lawful prey.” Needless to say, the
Pindarian version of the myth has many critics, among them Plato: “But
we refuse to believe. . . if he was the son of a god, he was not
avaricious. . . and if he was greedy of gain he was not the son of a
god.” Pindar’s interpretation of the myth of Aesculapius is most
frequently cited as a warning to physicians to avoid putting material gain
above the duty to serve a patient’s best interests
The
story of Aesculapius demonstrates the inherent
nature of the physician – to expand the art of
healing ultimately to defy death, a tradition,
which continues into modern medicine. Physicians
today are accused of “playing god” by defying
the natural boundaries of life and death, of artificially
prolonging life. Nevertheless, modern medicine
has saved countless lives; we have the ability
to delay death or to literally seize life from
the jaws of death, which is in keeping with the
best Asklepian tradition. The public views the
medical profession with ambivalence: Hostility
and admiration. As human beings we are unable
to reconcile conflicting desires and beliefs within
ourselves about our own mortality. This is the
root of the conflict between the medical profession
and the public.
Human beings throughout the ages
expect physicians to practice their craft without
regard for the social status of their patients,
personal risk, or financial gain. Aesculapius,
depicted in myth as physician-hero and later as
physician-god, represented the ideal physician
to whom people in ancient times turned for healing
and relief of suffering. Thomas Carlyle, the 19th
century English philosopher stated: It is in and
through symbols that man, consciously or unconsciously,
lives, works, and has his being. As physicians,
we should emulate the example of Aesculapius by
negotiating the inherent contradictions of human
nature and understanding the powers and limitations
of our profession.
Rachel Hajar, MD
1. Edelteins EJ. Aesculapius:
a collection and interpretation of testimonies.New
York, NY:Arno Press Inc; 1975.
2. Bailey JE. Aesculapius:ancient hero of medical
caring. Ann Intern Med. 1996;124:257 – 263.
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Aesculapius’
Birth And Death Are Highly Symbolic