Rod of Asclepius

In Greek mythology, the Rod of Asclepius (; sometimes also spelled Asklepios or Aesculapius), also known as the asklepian, is a serpent-entwined rod wielded by the Greek god Asclepius, a deity associated with healing and medicine. The symbol has continued to be used in modern times, where it is associated with medicine and health care, yet frequently confused with the staff of the god Hermes, the caduceus. Theories have been proposed about the Greek origin of the symbol and its implications.
==Greek mythology and Greek society==
The Rod of Asclepius takes its name from the god Asclepius, a deity associated with healing and medicinal arts in Greek mythology. Asclepius's attributes, the snake and the staff, sometimes depicted separately in antiquity, are combined in this symbol.See for example Pausanias, Description of Greece 2.26.1-28.1 (here translated by Jones) 2nd A.D.: "The image of Asklepios is, in size, half as big as Zeus Olympios at Athens, and is made of ivory and gold. An inscription tells us that the artist was Thrasymedes, a Parian, son of Arignotos. The god is sitting on a seat grasping a staff; the other hand he is holding above the head of the serpent."
The most famous temple of Asclepius was at Epidaurus in north-eastern Peloponnese. Another famous healing temple (or asclepieion) was located on the island of Kos, where Hippocrates, the legendary "father of medicine", may have begun his career. Other asclepieia were situated in Trikala, Gortys (in Arcadia), and Pergamum in Asia.
In honor of Asclepius, a particular type of non-venomous snake was often used in healing rituals, and these snakes — the Aesculapian Snakes — crawled around freely on the floor in dormitories where the sick and injured slept. These snakes were introduced at the founding of each new temple of Asclepius throughout the classical world. From about 300 BCE onwards, the cult of Asclepius grew very popular and pilgrims flocked to his healing temples (Asclepieia) to be cured of their ills. Ritual purification would be followed by offerings or sacrifices to the god (according to means), and the supplicant would then spend the night in the holiest part of the sanctuary - the abaton (or adyton). Any dreams or visions would be reported to a priest who would prescribe the appropriate therapy by a process of interpretation.Sigerist. Chapter 3, Religious medicine: Asclepius and his cult, p. 63ff. Some healing temples also used sacred dogs to lick the wounds of sick petitioners.Farnell, Chapter 10, "The Cult of Asklepios" (pp.234-279)
The original Hippocratic Oath began with the invocation "I swear by Apollo the Physician and by Asclepius and by Hygieia and Panacea and by all the gods ..."
The serpent and the staff appear to have been separate symbols that were combined at some point in the development of the Asclepian cult.Stephen Lock, John M. Last, George Dunea, The Oxford Illustrated Companion To Medicine, 2001, p261 "In early statues of Asclepius the rod and serpent were represented separately." The significance of the serpent has been interpreted in many ways; sometimes the shedding of skin and renewal is emphasized as symbolizing rejuvenation,"Asklepios' reptile was a healing creature: in ancient mythology the snake, whose skin was shed and rejuvenated, symbolized eternity and restoration of life and health" Albert R. Jonsen, The New Medicine and the Old Ethics, Harvard University Press, 1990, p122; this interpretation was current in Antiquity, as can be seen in an account of Apollodorus: "your marvel at the serpent curling around him and say that it is the symbol of the healing art, because just as the serpent sloughs the skin of old age, so the medical art releases from illness." (in E. Edelstein and L. Edelstein (eds.), Asclepius: A Collection and Interpretation of the Testimonies, Baltimore, 1945, p12) while other assessments center on the serpent as a symbol that unites and expresses the dual nature of the work of the physician, who deals with life and death, sickness and health."[...] the ancient conception of the serpent as the embodiment of the mystery of one absolute life of the earth, which entails a continual dying and resurrection [...] the combination of corruption and salvation, of darkness and light, of good and evil in the Asklepian symbol." Jan Schouten, The Rod and Serpent of Asklepios, Symbol of Medicine, 1967, p2 The ambiguity of the serpent as a symbol, and the contradictions it is thought to represent, reflect the ambiguity of the use of drugs,Albert R. Jonsen, The New Medicine and the Old Ethics, Harvard University Press, 1990, p122-123 which can help or harm, as reflected in the meaning of the term pharmakon, which meant "drug", "medicine" and "poison" in ancient Greek.Henry E. Sigerist, A History of Medicine, Oxford University Press, 1987, p27-28 Products deriving from the bodies of snakes were known to have medicinal properties in ancient times, and in ancient Greece, at least some were aware that snake venom that might be fatal if it entered the bloodstream could often be imbibed. Snake venom appears to have been 'prescribed' in some cases as a form of therapy.James A. Kelhoffer, Miracle and Mission, Mohr Siebeck, 2000, p438-439 "[...] it was known, at least by some people in antiquity, that a snake's venom is not harmful if imbibed, but rather only if it enters directly into a person's blood stream. For example, the first-century CE historian Lucan writes that the younger Cato, when leading his troops through Libya during the Roman Civil War, informed his men about this very point [...] 'The poison of snakes is only deadly when mixed with the blood; their venom is in their bite, and they threaten death with their fangs. There is no death in the cup.'" He also mentions an account of Cornelius Celsus (first century CE) "'For a serpent's poison, like certain hunter's poisons..., does no harm when swallowed, but only in a wound'". "Likewise, Galen relates a rather peculiar healing by Asclepius involving viper's venom. The god appeared to a wealthy man in Pergamum and prescribed 'that he should drink every day of the drug produced from the vipers and should anoint the body from the outside.' [...] The elder Philostratus describes a similar practice of 'the wise Asclepiads,' who 'heal the bites of venomous creatures... using the virus itself as a cure of many diseases.'"
The staff has also been variously interpreted. One view is that it, like the serpent, "conveyed notions of resurrection and healing", while another (not necessarily incompatible) is that the staff was a walking stick associated with itinerant physicians.Andre Menez, The Subtle Beast, Snakes From Myth to Medicine, 2003, p14 Lucius Annaeus Cornutus, a Greek philosopher probably active in the first century CE, in the Theologiae Graecae Compendium (Ch. 33) offers a view of the significance of both snake and staff:
Asclepius derived his name from healing soothingly and from deferring the withering that comes with death. For this reason, therefore, they give him a serpent as an attribute, indicating that those who avail themselves of medical science undergo a process similar to the serpent in that they, as it were, grow young again after illnesses and slough off old age; also because the serpent is a sign of attention, much of which is required in medical treatments. The staff also seems to be a symbol of some similar thing. For by means of this it is set before our minds that unless we are supported by such inventions as these, in so far as falling continually into sickness is concerned, stumbling along we would fall even sooner than necessary.
In any case the two symbols certainly merged in antiquity as representations of the snake coiled about the staff are common. It has been claimed that the snake wrapped around the staff was a species of rat snake, Elaphe longissima.Gerald David Hart, Martin St. J. Forrest, Asclepius: The God of Medicine, 2000, p42
===Theories===
Some commentators have interpreted the symbol as a direct representation of traditional treatment of Dracunculus medinensis, the Guinea worm. The worm emerges from painful ulcerous blisters. The blisters burn, causing the patient to immerse the affected area in water to cool and soothe it. The worm senses the temperature change and discharges its larva into the water. The traditional treatment was to slowly pull the worm out of the wound over a period of hours to weeks and wind it around a stick. The modern treatment may replace the stick with a piece of sterile gauze but is otherwise largely identical.
Some commentators have linked the symbol to the Nehushtan, a sacred object consisting of a serpent wrapped around a pole mentioned in the Bible in the Book of Numbers (Numbers 21:6-9).
The section in the Book of Numbers reads as follows:
Then the LORD sent fiery serpents among the people, and they bit the people, so that many people of Israel died. And the people came to Moses and said, "We have sinned, for we have spoken against the LORD and against you. Pray to the LORD, that he take away the serpents from us." So Moses prayed for the people. And the LORD said to Moses, "Make a fiery serpent and set it on a pole, and everyone who is bitten, when he sees it, shall live." Moses made a bronze serpent and set it on a pole. And if a serpent bit anyone, he would look at the bronze serpent and live. 
==Modern use==
A number of organizations and services use the rod of Asclepius as their logo, or part of their logo. These include:
*NHS ambulance services in England and Wales
*American Academy of Physician Assistants
*Academy of Medicine of Malaysia
*American Osteopathic Association
*American Medical Association
*American Medical Response
*American Academy of Family Physicians
*American College of Osteopathic Internists
*American Academy of Psychiatry and the Law
*American Hippocratic Registry
*American Medical Student Association
*American Veterinary Medical Association
* Army Medical Department of the U.S. Army (AMEDD)
*Australian Medical Association
* Australian Veterinary Association
*British Medical Association
* British Royal Army Medical Corps
*Canadian Association of Physician Assistants
*Canadian Medical Association
*Canadian Forces Medical Service
*International Medical University, Malaysia
*Pakistan Army Medical Corps
*Royal Australian Army Medical Corps
* Malaysian Medical Council
*Medical Council of India
*MedicAlert
*Spanish National Council of Medical Student's Association (CEEM)
*Student Osteopathic Medical Association
*Star of Life, symbol of emergency medical services
* United States Navy Hospital Corps
*United States Air Force Medical Corps
*World Health Organization
==Standard representation==
The rod of Asclepius has a representation on the Miscellaneous Symbols table of the Unicode Standard at U+2695 ().
== See also ==
* Kundalini
* Aaron's rod
== References ==
Category:Symbols
Category:Greek Mythology
Category:Mythological objects