Asclepius

In Greek mythology, the god of medicine (Roman Aesculapius); son of Apollo; father of Panacea and Hygieia, goddess of health. His emblem was the caduceus, a winged staff encoiled by two snakes; the creatures appear to renew life by shedding their skin. His worship originated in Thessaly in northern Greece, but the major sanctuary of the classical period was at Epidaurus. Patients slept in his temple overnight, and treatment was based on their dreams. The cult spread to Rome in 293 BC.

Asclepius's healing powers were inherited from Apollo, and he was further instructed in medicine and hunting by the centaur Chiron (a creature half human, half horse). When he angered Pluto, the king of the underworld, by restoring even the dead to life, Zeus killed but then immortalized him.

The Asclepiadae, supposed descendants of Asclepius, were an order of priests claiming a knowledge of medicine. Their principal seats were on the island of Cos and Cnidus on the southwest Aegean coast.