bronze statue of Asklepios god of medicine and healing

Asklepios, god of medicine and healing, was the son of Apollo and Coronis. As a child, he was entrusted by his father to the care and civilising influence of the gentle centaur Chiron, who taught him the secret arts of healing. Asklepios' children include Hygieia, goddess of health and cleanliness, Iaso, goddess of recovery from illness, Aceso, goddess of the healing process, and Panacea, the goddess of universal remedy.

Asklepios' cult was centred on Epidavros, famous for its magnificent theatre, a focal point of this wonderful sanctuary or 'Asklepieion'. While Epidaurus was the main healing centre, there were over 300 other sanctuaries throughout ancient Greece, the most significant of which were located on the island of Kos, on the southern slope of the Akropolis in Athens, at the isthmus of Corinth, at Trikka in Thessaly, and at Pergamon in modern day Turkey.

The sanctuary on Kos became one of the ancient world's top medical and religious facilities. Located on a hillside with stunning sea views, its fame skyrocketed due to its close ties with the legendary physician Hippokrates and his medical guild. Unlike other sites that relied more on divine dreams, Kos focused heavily on scientific, physical treatments and clinical observation.

Some modern scholars have suggested that the rituals at Epidavros and elswhere constituted an early form of psychotherapy. The process functioned as a psychological 'priming loop', namely that by removing patients from daily stressors and using storytelling to instil absolute belief in the process of healing, priests triggered a powerful placebo effect, allowing the subconscious to resolve somatic illnesses through symbolic visions. The core ritual was incubation (literally a 'sleeping in' a sacred place, in this instance), where patients, once they had fasted and undergone a purification ritual, slept in a darkened dormitory called the abaton, meaning 'an inaccessible place'. Lulled into a hypnotic state, they awaited a dream visit from the god Asklepios to perform phantom surgeries or to dictate a cure. Finally, sacred snakes roamed the halls, licking wounds to seal the cure.

The staff or rod of Asklepios with intertwining healing serpent remains a symbol of medicine and healthcare today. It is incorporated into the logos of many organisations worldwide, including the World Health Organisation and the British Medical Association.

Asklepios was eventually deified and became a constellation..... It's a great story!

King Minos ordered Asklepios to resurrect his son Glaukos, who had drowned in a pithos of honey. Finding himself locked up in a dungeon with the dead Glaukos, Asklepios killed a snake which was making his way towards him. Seconds later, a second snake slid into the room, with a herb in its mouth, which it placed on the body of its dead snake friend, which promptly came back to life! Asklepios took the herb and put it on the body of Glaukos, who similarly returned from the dead!

Armed with this new secret herb, Asklepios was soon reversing the process of death all over Greece.

Hades, concerned that there were fewer souls coming down to his underworld, complained to his brother Zeus, who acted immediately, afraid that if mortals could avoid death, the distinction between mortal and immortal would be horribly blurred, thereby irrevocably disrupting the status quo of the cosmos. Asklepios was killed instantly by one of Zeus' thunderbolts.

This caused inevitable chaos among the gods. Apollo, heartbroken by his son's death, retaliated by killing the Cyclopes whose job it was to forge Zeus' thunderbolts, and Zeus punished Apollo by making him serve a year of hard labour as a mortal shepherd, tending the cattle of king Admetus in Thrace.

Eventually, the rift was healed, Apollo released, and Asklepios was transformed by Zeus into the constellation Ophiochos ('the serpent-bearer') and deified as a full Olympian, on condition that he never tried to resurrect the dead again... Ophiochos sits above Scorpio and next to Sagittarius. It is a massive constellation, but relatively faint and hard to find. People have heard more about it in recent decades, as it sits directly on the ecliptic. Every year, the Sun passes directly through the constellation boundaries of Ophiochos from about November 29 to December 18,

so for anyone who has a birthday between those dates, the Sun was mathematically shining right in front of the Serpent-Bearer (Asklepios) on the day you were born!

other spellings include Asclepius and Aesculapius.

As a symbol of healing and protection, the serpent was associated with the cult of Asklepios, god of medicine, who is represented in ancient Greek art with his serpent entwined staff. Twin intertwining serpents were also an integral part of the kerykeion of Hermes (aka the caduceus of Mercury) the messenger god and the god of transitions.

The Greeks feared it for its tremendous powers, but it was also revered as a defender and guardian. It was a symbol of regeneration and renewal, and the Romans later regarded it as representing the spirit, or 'genius', of the family.

The bronze pieces are cast in Greece using the traditional lost wax method. As nothing is mass-produced, there will inevitably be slight variations in texture, patina, and colour. No two pieces are ever the same. If mounted on a marble base, it will be a black or very dark grey base. There may be a variation of some millimetres in the dimensions of the base from time to time.

It's All Greek is so grateful and so proud to have been working closely with the Semitekolo family foundry since 1999. It has been a privilege and a joy to handle, live with, to photograph and describe these gorgeous pieces, before passing them on to enthusiastic customers all over the world.