The relics of ancient medicine in the Mediterranean world ; Asclepian worship and Hippocrates

Abstract

The familiar emblem of medical schools shows a winged staff with two snakes entwined around it. The significance and historical background of this design may be explaind by analyzing a bas-relief called “Hermes of Samos”. The relief presents a huge serpent to receive three worshippers sitting on a rock with a staff at its foot. The staff is a typical attribute of Hermes as herald of the Olympian gods. Snakes, feared and revered in the ancient world because of their poisonous and tenacious vitality, were believed to have an ability to communicating with the underworld. Asclepius was worshipped in the ancient world as a medical deity and had many shrines over the Mediterranean area. He was represented as a thoughtful man leaning upon a staff with a serpent clinging to it, which suggests that the god himself might embody the healing power of snakes. Hippocrates was a member of the priesthood that served in a famous shrine and medical center on the island of Cos. He had accumulated medical knowledge and experience during this service which enabled him to edit a huge corpus of medical works. The emblem of medical schools must have resulted from confusion between Hermes and Asclepius, since both gods were assoclated with snakes.