Asclepius: Myth, Worship, and Symbolism

Abstract

Abstract:
Asclepius is one of the gods that the Greeks portrayed while living on
Mount Olympus, so the Iliad described him as the earthly ruler of the world,
and opinions differed about his lineage, but the gods predicted his future and
stated that he would be a bringer of health to the whole world, so he is the
first physician worked in the country of the Greeks.
Asclepius was the first founder of the surgery science and using drugs
and herbs for treatment in his temples spread throughout the Greek world,
which had a great impact on the healing of patients who frequented these
temples and received the highest levels of medical care there, and the temples
of Asclepius were more like health resorts in which all means existed for rest
and enjoyments, as the priests of these temples enjoyed the highest authority
of being clerics and medical sciences at the same time.

The snake is the symbol taken by Asclepius, it is one of the oldest
symbols in the Greek beliefs, as it symbolizes protection, healing,
regeneration, fertility and revelation, as Greek mythology states that snakes
taught Asclepius the secrets and properties of medicinal herbs, so the
followers of Asclepius used the symbol of the snake wrapped around a wand
as a magic amulet for treatment .