God of healing in Ancient Greece: history and interesting facts

The ancient Greek god of healing was Asklepios. The circumstances of his life are known due to numerous mythological sources. In the heyday of ancient Greece, there were about 300 Asclepius temples in the country, where the priests treated their compatriots with the help of magical and empirical techniques.

Son of Apollo

There are several theories about the origin of Asclepius. According to the most common of them, the god of healing was the son of Apollo and the nymph of Koronida. Other sources call mother Arsinoe, daughter of Leucippus. Nymph Coronida was the lover of Apollo, but, being pregnant by God, betrayed him with a mortal man, Ishii. On Olympus they decided to punish both. Ishii was asleep with lightning. The depersonalized Koronid Apollo struck one of his solar arrows. Then he burned the nymph, first snatching the baby from the womb. This was the god of healing Asclepius.

Apollo gave the boy for the education of the centaur Chiron. He was very different from most of his relatives. Almost all centaurs were known for their drunkenness, riot and dislike for people. Chiron was famous for his kindness and wisdom. When he was brought up by the Greek god of healing, the centaur lived in Pelion, a mountain in the southeast of Thessaly.

Learning from Chiron

Although Asclepius is known as the god of healing in Ancient Greece, at birth he did not have any super abilities. His patron Chiron began to teach the boy medicine, and soon he achieved amazing success. At some point, Asclepius in his skill even surpassed the wise centaur. He began to travel through Greece and treat people, and residents of the island of Kos even taught some of his secrets (this is mentioned in the Annals by Tacitus).

Asclepius succumbed to deadly diseases. Refining his art, Asclepius (god of healing in Ancient Greece) has learned to resurrect people. Thanks to his help, the usual inhabitants of Hellas gained immortality. The secret of Asclepius' unique ability was the Gorgon's blood. The doctor received it from the goddess of war, Athena. Ferekid (one of the most revered ancient Greek seven wise men) in his writings mentioned that Asclepius resurrected all the inhabitants of Delphi, where the temple of his father Apollo was located.

Death

When Asclepius - the god of healing from the Greeks - began to massively resurrect mortals, his rituals caused resentment among the other gods. Living on the edge of the world Thanatos, who became the embodiment of death for the Hellenes, went with a complaint about what is happening to the main Olympian Zeus. Resurrection violated the world order. Having received immortality, ordinary people no longer differed from the gods. This turn of events did not like the majority of Olympians. The gods thirsted for punishment.

After some hesitation, Zeus decided to punish Asclepius. The ancient god of healing was struck by the thunder of the Thunderer. Apollo, learning about the death of his son, was enraged. He could not take revenge on the mighty Zeus and instead attacked the Cyclops, who forged forged the lightning. As a result, all these one-eyed creatures were killed.

Until now, Asclepius was still considered mortal. Killed by the lightning of Zeus, he got to the spirits of destiny moiram. It was they who determined the moment of birth and death of each person. After the death of Asclepius, they decided to bring him back to life. So the resurrected son of Apollo became a god. Later common biographical features inherited the Roman analogue of Asclepius - the ancient Roman god of healing Escalapius.

The Staff of Asclepius

In any mythology, the gods-patrons of healing have their own easily recognizable symbols. At Asclepius such a sign was his staff, entangled in a snake. From the ancient Greeks this image passed to the Romans, and then spread to most of human civilization. Today the staff of Asklepia is an international medical symbol.

His story is related to one of the myths about the god of healing. According to the legend, Asclepius arrived in Crete to resurrect the son of the famous King Minos. Walking along the road, he came across a snake. The animal wrapped around the staff, and Asclepius, not for a second, killed him. Immediately there was a second snake with grass in the mouth, with the help of which it miraculously resurrected the first. The astonished Asclepius began to look for a miracle cure and after a while found it. Since then, the god of healing from the ancient Greeks has always had at hand a drug made from the Cretan herb. The staff of Asclepius is traditionally depicted in the form of a wooden stick stuck in a snake.

In modern medicine, the influence of Hellenic mythology was reflected not only in the form of graphic symbols. Much of the medical terms have roots that relate to the ancient Greek past. The origins of traditional medical devices first appeared in literature written in this ancient language. Even more important for modern international medicine is Latin, but for the most part of their knowledge the Romans were indebted to the Greeks.

Cult

Like any other ancient Greek cult, the cult of Asclepius was especially popular in a certain region of the country. With the greatest zeal this deity was revered in Epidaurus, a city located in the northeast of the Peloponnese Peninsula. Today, in its place were only the ruins of the ancient theater and, most importantly, the churches of Asclepius. There were also swimming pools with healing thermal waters. They were hiding in the vault of the temple, built in the V century BC. E. The famous architect Poliklet Younger. The sanctuaries of Asclepius were often built on the site of mineral springs and the cypress groves that were distinguished by the healing air. At the excavations in Epidaurus were found the ruins of columns, on the stelae of which were carved descriptions of happy cases of healing of patients. In addition, the sanctuary was filled with rare artifacts - made of gold, silver and marble images of the cured parts of the body (hands, feet, hearts, eyes and ears). They got to the temple as a payment for services.

The sanctuaries of Asclepius existed according to a set of sacred rules. For example, they could not die in them. Because of this, the incurably ill (even those who arrived from the other end of the country) were not allowed into the church. They had no right to go inside and have a child. The priests of Asclepius were guided by rigid principles. For them, treatment was not a medical service, but rather a religious ritual, the rules of which were formed according to a strictly specified canonical rite. In particular, the rules prescribed to exclude from the sanctuary everything connected with birth and death. Another important feature of the temple of Asclepius is the observance of crystal purity. Each newcomer should first of all wash in the source.

The first sanctuaries in honor of Asclepius, asclepidones, appeared in Greece in the VI-IV centuries. BC. E. In addition to Epidaurus and Kos, the center of medicine was also the Thessalian Trikka. In total, in the sources of ancient authors, historians have found evidence of more than 300 sanctuaries of Asclepius scattered throughout ancient Greece. Compared with modern medical institutions, they were rather therapeutic sanatoria, and not hospitals. In the temples there were combined both magical and secular methods of treatment. In ancient Greek medicine, the two schools were not opposed to each other. For example, if an especially heavy patient came to the temple of Asklepy, the priests could consult with their secular colleagues who did not work in the sanctuaries.

Priests

The ancient god of medicine and healing had his own priests, who took patients-compatriots. After healing to them, people came from all parts of Hellas. The health of the ancient Greeks was associated with sports, the poet all the same Epidaurus was famous for its stadium, gymnasium and competitions dedicated to Asclepius. There were also temples of his daughter Hygiia, Aphrodite, Artemis and Themis. Rites of treatment were accompanied by animal sacrifices (most often roosters), so the obligatory attribute of any sanctuary was a large altar.

The god of healing acquired his cult around the 7th century BC. E. Historians believe that this mythological character had a real prototype - the legendary during the Trojan War doctor with exactly the same name - Asclepius. Moreover, he was also the king of Thessaly, and also the creator of his own family medical school.

Ancient Greek medical education had some common features with the modern. Archaeologists and historians have proved that real medical schools took place in Pergamum and Kos. To serve in the temple allowed to give a sacred oath and joined the community of ascetic societies. For the first time this term appeared in ancient Greek literature in the 6th century BC. E.

Ancient Greek Medicine

The healing in the temples combined magical and empirical techniques. The most common remedies were medicines, water sources and gymnastic exercises. The rite of sacred healing each time ended with a ritual of incubation, held in a long gallery along the walls of the temple, where you could get it only with a special permission. Priests with the help of narcotic substances and hypnosis techniques introduced patients into a state of artificial sleep. The ritual was famous for theatrical performances (the phenomenon of sacred snakes or even God himself).

In 430 BC. E. Greece was struck by a terrible plague, which claimed thousands of lives. Traditional medicine was powerless before the epidemic, so the population began to pay more and more attention to all sorts of magical practices. Then the sacred serpent of Asclepius was moved from Epidaurus to Athens, where a new temple was built in the Acropolis. The cult of the god of healing shone with unprecedented power. Religious rituals brought to the priests of Asclepius enormous revenues. The ancient temples of this god were distinguished by the outstanding wealth of their decoration.

It is curious that not all Greeks treated incubation and fiction of the priests with religious piety. In the famous comedy "Plutos" (388 BCE), the author Aristophanes tells of the many bitter disappointments in the effectiveness of the magic sleep ritual.

The Place of Asclepius in the Ancient Greek Pantheon

The mythological image of Asclepius with all its characteristic attributes has certain roots. The God of healing Greece was often associated with a chthonic snake-healer. In the whole ancient world this animal was revered as a symbol of renewal, wisdom and power of natural forces.

The other side of the image of Asclepius is its belonging to the generation of children of the gods (heroes) who encroached on the establishment of a new world order. The healer has learned to resurrect the dead, thereby violating the world balance. The rules set by the Olympians were under threat, and it was for this that Asclepius paid for it. The God of healing with his destiny resembles other heroes who rebelled against their omnipotent parents.

Every god of the ancient Greek pantheon had his own "economy". Although Asclepius is associated with healing, some of its functions are characteristic of other Olympians. Sister Apollo Artemis was not only the mistress of beasts and the patroness of hunting, she was revered as a defender of women in childbirth, children and female chastity. The wife of Zeus, Hera took care of marriage and well-being of the family. Approximately the same is associated Hestia - the goddess of the home, happiness and health. You can not forget about Hypnos. This god, who lived on the edge of the world, watched the full and healthy sleep of people.

Family and descendants

According to legend, Asclepius married Epione, the daughter of the ruler of the island of Kos Merops. In the ancient era, this place has become one of the most important centers of ancient medicine.

Asclepius had several children who also became famous characters of ancient Greek myths. The god of healing was the father of Machaon, the famous physician and surgeon. It is believed that he even participated in the Trojan War and brought with him 20 ships. Machaon not only fought on the side of the Greeks (Achaeans), but also treated the wounded. The surgeon helped a famous archer Philoctete, bitten by a poisonous snake. The wound was terrible, pus dripped from his leg. Those who besieged Troy in the meantime could not take the city in any way. They were in dire need of their best shooter. Then the Greeks helped the gods. Apollo plunged the Troyan coast into a magical dream, and his grandson Machaon operated Philotte. Later, the recovered archer killed Paris and, in the company of his comrades, hid in the Trojan horse, with the help of which the Achaeans nevertheless captured an impregnable city. From the biologist Karl Linnaeus, a popular family of butterflies was named Makhaon in honor of his son Asclepius.

The oldest daughter of the god of healing is Hygia, the goddess of health. The Greeks depicted her as a young woman feeding a snake from a bowl. By the name of Hygiei, the scientific discipline of hygiene is called. In addition, the symbols of the bowl and snake became international attributes of medicine and pharmacy. The Vessel of Hygiene can be found in any pharmacy and hospital. Like the ancient Greek god of healing, it is associated with a snake - the traditional chthonic creature of ancient Greek mythology. Vessel of Hygiene again became known to Europeans at the end of the XVIII century, when this symbol was engraved on a commemorative coin, of which the Paris Society of Pharmacy was the customer.

The next daughter of Asclepius is Panakeya, who became the embodiment of healing. According to her name is called a panacea - a legendary cure for all diseases. Interest in the miraculous drug again increased in the Middle Ages. European alchemists of that era used ancient sources, trying to synthesize this unknown vaccine. Nobody ever found a panacea, but the phraseology has survived. Other less well-known daughters of Asclepius are Iazo, Agleia, Meditrina and Acezo. All of them were trained in the art of healing from their wise father.

The God of healing in ancient Greek mythology was considered a distant ancestor of many famous ancient doctors whose existence is documented. The descendant of Asclepius was Hippocrates (he was born on Kos in 460 BC) and even Aristotle (his father worked as a court physician for the Macedonian king).

Aesculapius

In the year 293 BC. E. In Rome an epidemic of pestilence erupted. People died hundreds, and the city authorities could do nothing with a terrible natural misfortune. Then the Roman sages advised us to build on the banks of the Tiber a sanctuary of the ancient Greek god of healing Asclepius.

A magnificent embassy set off for Epidaurus. The Romans managed to find a common language with the priests of the ancient deity. When guests returned to their ship, they were followed by a sacred temple serpent - the symbol and personification of Asklepius. The animal was settled on a small Tiburt island (Tiberine) located in the city of Rome. In the year 291 BC. E. On this patch of land, the temple of Asclepius was built and consecrated. The god of healing in Roman mythology was given the name of Aesculapius. The first time his priests in Rome were the Greeks. Like many other gods of the pantheon of the Eternal City, Aesculapius borrowed many traits from his Greek predecessor. For example, in a sacrifice to him in the same way brought cocks. The God of healing among the Romans enjoyed special popularity among the people. His cult has disappeared one of the last after the adoption of the Roman Empire by Christianity.