Asclepias, half mortal, half god, was the ancient healer.
His symbol, a staff with an entwined serpent survives today as the symbol of medicine. Many temples were erected in his honor.
Asclepias, the immortal god of medicine, the healer of healers, sprang from the union of the god, Apollo, with a mortal, Coronis. The young demigod was accepted by Chiron, a centaur, as an apprentice healer. The student excelled the master. Sufferers throughout Greece began coming to Asclepias to be healed. Being both divine and mortal, Asclepias used both spiritual and practical techniques. He is credited with discovering how foods influenced health, and using surgical techniques - including extracting teeth.
His children followed in his footsteps. Two sons were mentioned, as mortal and as army surgeons by Homer. Panacea, daughter, came to represent healing with medicinal herbs. Hygeia, her sister, understood preventive health. Hygeia was often represented with her father, the healer, indicating ancient Greeks understood both prevention and cure. A son, Telesphorus, wearing a cape and pointed hood, taught the power of recovery.
In many civilizations, snakes represent healing. Lives close on the earth, serpentsare in contact with most healing substances. Then, there is the shedding of skin, the ability to renew and heal. The name Asclepias may have come from the Greek, askabalos, and serpent. Asclepias’ staff has a single serpent entwined around it. This staff, known as the caduceus, is the symbol of the medical profession today.
By the fourth century BC, Asclepian temples of healing had been erected all over the Greece, often near an inspiring view or a mineral spring. Commonly, snakes were bred in the temples for use for the healing ceremonies. Patients would come to the temple and would be instructed to sleep near the statues.
Gods might come into their dreams and offer a cure. Priests never claimed a healing knowledge. They merely provided a place where Asclepias could be invoked.
When admitted, patients were attended by priests, bath masters, caretakers of the sacrificial alter. Eventually the head priest would offer counsel before each patient went to bed for their healing sleep.
Before sleep, payment was offered, according to financial condition. The poorest gave their shoes. The best offering was a rooster. At dawn, patients arose, shared their visions, and left. Dormitories became necessary part as more and more sufferers appeared.
There is evidence that surgery was occasionally performed in the temples. Asclepian temples survived for centuries, into the Christian era, with a gradual shift of emphasis. While Asclepias was still consult, the remedies were often herbal. Today, Asclepias is remembered, most often by modern herbalists, as his name is the species name for milkweed, often used to heal.

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