Asclepius with bacteria – 23cm

Asclepius, whose name is pre-Greek, is the god of medicine and mythologized, according to the prevailing tradition, as the son of Apollo and Coronis. According to the legend, Coronis was united to Apollo, but hid her love affair and prepared to marry her official suitor. This angered Apollo, who killed Coronis with his arrows, took the unborn Asclepius from her body and entrusted him to the care of the wise Centaur Chiron, at Pelion. Asclepius was taught by Chiron the treatment of every disease and wound by spells, herbs or surgery. In later times, his participation in the Argonautic expedition, in the hunting of the Calydonian boar, etc. was mentioned. Not only did he heal multitudes of sick people, but he also resurrected the dead, including well-known heroes. This activity of his was considered by the gods as hubris, (i.e. arrogance and disrespect for the divine order), and caused Zeus to kill him by striking him with a thunderbolt.

The oldest confirmed cult of Asclepius is of Epidaurus and goes back to the 6th c. BC. In the 4th c. a large temple with a golden and ivory statue of God was built in Asclepieion. Asclepius is considered to be originally a chthonian demon and is one of the so-called gentle gods, who when propitiated with suitable offerings can prolong people's lives. For this reason he was associated early on with the chthonic reptile par excellence, the snake, which accompanies him in many of his statues, either rooted in his bacteria or next to him, and often in larger dimensions than him. In Rome the cult of Asclepius (Aesculapius) was transmitted at the beginning of the 3rd century BC.