Asclepius

How to recognise Asclepius

1. StaffA single plain wooden staff, held in one hand or leaned on; it has no wings, which sets it apart from the winged caduceus of Hermes.
2. One serpentExactly one calm serpent coils around the staff; Greek coins show the slender, non-venomous Aesculapian snake, a being the Greeks counted sacred to healing, wisdom and renewal.
3. Beard and hairHe is a mature man with a full beard and long, curly hair, never youthful or beardless.
4. CloakA long himation is draped over one shoulder, leaving the chest bare and covering the body below the waist.
5. Hygieia and TelesphorosHis daughter Hygieia, who feeds a serpent from a bowl, may stand beside him, along with the small hooded child Telesphoros, a later addition from the 2nd century CE; both are always smaller than he is.
6. Sacred animalsThe serpent, the dog (temple dogs were thought to heal by licking) and the rooster, the usual thank-offering to him, are his animals.
7. Calm bearingHe stands or leans on his staff, as on Greek and Roman coins, with the kindly, attentive look of a benevolent god who visits the sick in dreams.

Names and titles

• Healer of the SickHe is the Greek god of medicine and healing, and the sick came to his sanctuaries seeking cures
• Pupil of ChironThe centaur Chiron raised him and taught him the art of healing
• The Staff and the SerpentHis rod with a single coiled serpent became the lasting emblem of medicine
• Healer in DreamsPilgrims slept in his sanctuary at Epidaurus hoping he would visit them in a dream with a cure
• A Rooster for AsclepiusA rooster was the usual thank-offering to him, and it features in Socrates' last request to Crito

Feast days

• Asklepieia17 March 2027 (date to be confirmed)

  The Asklepieia was one of Asklepios's two state festivals at Athens. It fell in the spring month of Elaphebolion, alongside the City Dionysia, and honoured the healing god. It is the counterpart of the Epidauria, held six months later.

  How it's celebrated. Little is recorded about how the ancient Athenians kept it. Today Hellenic polytheist groups list it in their festival calendars. One modern ritual outline suggests offerings such as a cock, barley meal and wine, and notes that he was also honoured on the eighth of each month. Some modern lists use the names Asklepieia and Epidauria interchangeably, but ancient Athens had two distinct festivals.

  Sources: ADF: Asklepios, Finest of Healers · Elaion: Hellenic Calendar · Baring the Aegis: the Asklepieia

• Epidauria18 September 2027 (date to be confirmed)

  The Epidauria was Asklepios's autumn festival at Athens, kept within the Eleusinian Mysteries. Tradition holds that it commemorates his arrival from Epidauros and his initiation into the Mysteries after he came late. It is the counterpart of the Asklepieia, held six months earlier.

  How it's celebrated. Ancient evidence points to a procession of women carrying offerings and a banquet with a couch set for the god. An inscription from 136 BCE attests an all-night vigil. Sources differ on the day, giving the 17th, the 18th, or, in older scholarship, the 19th. Modern Hellenic groups such as Hellenion list it in their calendars, and individual groups shape their own rites.

  Sources: Hellenion: Epidauria · Wikipedia: Epidauria (festival) · ADF: Asklepios, Finest of Healers