| Part of Speech | Definition | |
| Noun | 1. Son of Apollo; a hero and the Roman god of medicine and healing; his daughters were Hygeia and Panacea.[Wordnet]
2. The god of medicine and healing.[Wordnet] 3. The god of medicine. Hence, a physician.[Websters]. | |
Sources: WordNet 3.0 Copyright © 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved. Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary (1913) | Top | |
Date "Aesculapius" was first used in popular English literature: sometime before 1588. (references) |
| Etymology:AEsculapius \[AE]s`cu*la"pi*us\, noun. [Latin expression Aesculapius, Greek]. (references) |
Specialty Definition: Aesculapius
| Domain | Definition | ||
| Antiquities | Aesculapius or AsclÄ“pius (Asklêpios). The god of the medical art. In Homer he is not a divinity, but simply the “blameless physician†whose sons, Machaon and Podalirius, were the physicians in the Greek army. The common story relates that Aesculapius was a son of Apollo and Coronis, and that when Coronis was with child by Apollo she became enamored of Ischys, an Arcadian. Apollo, informed of this by a raven, killed Coronis and Ischys. When the body of Coronis was to be burnt, the child Aesculapius was saved from the flames, and was brought up by the centaur Chiron, who instructed him in the art of healing and in hunting. There are other tales respecting his birth, according to some of which he was a native of Epidaurus, and this was a common opinion in later times. After he had grown up, he not only cured the sick, but recalled the dead to life. Zeus, fearing lest men might contrive to escape death altogether, killed Aesculapius with his thunderbolt; but, on the request of Apollo, Zeus placed him among the stars. He was married to Epioné, by whom he had the two sons spoken of by Homer, and also other children. The chief seat of the worship of Aesculapius was Epidaurus, where he had a temple surrounded with an extensive grove. Serpents were sacred to him, because they were a symbol of renovation, and were believed to have the power of discovering healing herbs. The cock was sacrificed to him. At Rome the worship of Aesculapius was introduced from Epidaurus in B.C. 293, for the purpose of averting a pestilence. The supposed descendants of Aesculapius were called by the patronymic name of Asclepiadae, and their principal seats were Cos and Cnidus. They were an order or caste of priests, among whom the knowledge of medicine was regarded as a sacred secret, and was transmitted from father to son in these families. (references) | ||
| Literature | AEsculapius The Latin form of the Greek word Asklepios, the god of medicine and of healing. Now used for "a medical practitioner." Source: Brewer's Dictionary. | ||
Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits. | Top | ||
