ROD OF AESCULAPIUS: ORIGIN, MEANING AND WHAT IT REPRESENTS - MEDICINE - 2024

The rod or staff of Aesculapius is a staff with a coiled serpent on it. According to Greek mythology, the rod is carried with him by the god Aesculapius, who is associated with health and medicine. The healing connotation of this symbol has caused it to continue to be used as an identification of medicine in the modern era.

Many health institutions today use the rod of Aesculapius. Although the symbol is originally Greek, its connotation has transcended borders and is used in various parts of the world. Interestingly, there is great confusion between this symbol and the caduceus.

The caduceus is a symbol associated with the Greek god Hermes, which consists of two serpents coiled on a two-winged rod. This symbol really represents the economy, but since the beginning of the 20th century it has been wrongly used to represent medicine.

Origin

Mythology

According to Greek legend, Aesculapius is the son of the god Apollo and the nymph Coronis. It is said that while Coronis was pregnant with Aesculapius, he got a mortal lover. This did not sit well with Apollo, so the god ended his life.

During the funeral rites, Apollo opened the stomach of the goddess and rescued her son. The god named her son Aesculapius. Once she grew up, the centaur Cheiron was charged with teaching her the art of medicine. As the story goes, Aesculapius learned so much about health that he was able to bring one of his deceased patients back to life.

There are two additional stories to explain the rest of the life of Aesculapius. In one of these stories Zeus fears that mortals will begin to gain the ability to be immortal with the abilities of Aesculapius. As a consequence of this, Zeus hits him with thunder, ending the life of Apollo's son.

However, in other versions of the myth Aesculapius becomes a god. After his conversion, he began to open hospitals and clinics throughout Greece. Thanks to this story, a cult was created in ancient Greece towards this deity, which was dedicated to medicine.

Possible Christian origin

The origin of the symbol has also been associated with Christianity. According to Catholic belief, Moses used a bronze staff covered with a decoration of a serpent.

Apparently, when someone was bitten by a poisonous snake, Moses used the staff to cure the sufferer of the poison.

Meaning

There are several myths that associate the snake with medicine in ancient times. Not all were related to the Greek world, but the most logical explanation for the presence of the serpent on the staff does come from Greece.

Some medicinal rituals in ancient times were carried out by followers of Aesculapius. It is said that in these rituals the floor of the temple was crowded with a large number of snakes. These snakes were also present during the inauguration of the new temples of Aesculapius.

Snakes are thought to have been used because they represented regeneration. As snakes tend to change their skin from time to time, the regenerative process of their cells could have been used as a reference for ancient doctors.

Another of the theories that are had about the use of the serpent was duality between life and death that the animal represents. The poison can be used both in healing rituals and to end the life of a human being.

Moreover, the staff is believed to be a representation of the wands used by ancient doctors who traveled from city to city in the ancient world. Greek culture combined these two symbols at some point in its history, giving rise to the rod of Aesculapius.

Cornuto's explanation

The Greek philosopher Cornutus also gave an additional explanation with his interpretation of the use of the staff and the serpent. According to the philosopher, those who are treated in the world of medicine go through a process similar to that of the snake, as they must fight aging.

The staff is also interpreted in an unconventional way by the philosopher. According to Cornuto, people would fall again and again without necessary support, which is represented by the cane.

The cane also refers to new inventions in the world of medicine that improve the treatment of each patient.

Represents?

Generally speaking, the rod of Aesculapius represents medical care, health and medicine on a global level. In addition, there is another representation of the rod - also related to medicine - that originated several centuries ago.

According to current theories, the staff of Aesculapius can represent two things. The first and most common is simply a snake coiled around a cane. The second refers to an additional theory about the medical practices that were carried out in ancient times (particularly in Egypt).

Several centuries ago, it was very common for people to be infected with parasitic worms. Doctors used to pierce the skin to remove these worms, then place a small rod in the perforated area so that the worm exits using the rod as an escape route.

When they left the body of the infected person, the worms wrapped themselves around the rod used by doctors. It is believed that ancient doctors used the symbol of the rod with a worm to represent that they provided the service of extracting parasites.

Difference with the caduceus of Hermes

There is a symbol quite similar to the rod of Aesculapius that represents something else entirely. This symbol is the caduceus, a rod with two snakes and a pair of wings, which represents the economy.

This symbol was wrongly adopted at the beginning of the last century by the doctors of the United States Army, which generated a confusion that continues to this day.

Many doctors today confuse both symbols, but really the only one that represents health is the rod of Aesculapius.

References

1. Staff / Rod of Asclepius as a Medical Symbol - The Symbol of Medicine and Its Meaning, The Mythologian, (nd). Taken from mythologian.net
2. Medical Symbols in Practice: Myths vs Reality, Various Authors, 2014. Taken from nih.gov
3. Rod of Asclepius, Ancient Symbols, (nd). Taken from ancient-symbols.com
4. Rod of Asclepius, Wikipedia in English. 2018. Taken from wikipedia.org
5. The Origin of Medical Symbol - Asclepian or Caduceus ?, Medium Website, 2016. Taken from medium.com