The association of hygieia with asklepios in Graeco-Roman asklepieion medicine

Journal of the History of Medicine and Allied Sciences

Volumn 57, Issue 3, 2002, Pages 312-329

  Compton, Michael T ^a  

^a NONE

Author keywords

[No Author keywords available]

Indexed keywords

ARTICLE; CULTURAL ANTHROPOLOGY; HISTORY; HUMAN; HYGIENE; LITERATURE; PUBLIC HEALTH;

GREEK WORLD; HISTORY, ANCIENT; HUMANS; HYGIENE; MYTHOLOGY; PUBLIC HEALTH; ROMAN WORLD;

EID: 0036651476     PISSN: 00225045     EISSN: None     Source Type: Journal    
DOI: 10.1093/jhmas/57.3.312     Document Type: Article

References (57)

1. Cunningham commented that Herondas' s poems are short, dramatic character-sketches, depicting persons from the lower strata of society in their everyday lives. Herodas, Mimiambi, I. C. Cunningham, ed. (Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1970), p. 3.
2. M. T. Compton, "The Union of Religion and Health in Ancient Asklepieia," J. Relig. Health, 1998, 37, 301-12.
3. E. Edelstein and L. Edelstein, Asclepius: A Collection and Interpretation of the Testimonies, 2 vols. (New York: Arno Press, 1975), 11, 216.
4. K. Kerényi, Asklepios: Archetypal Image of the Physician's Existence, Ralph Manheim, trans. (New York: Pantheon Books, 1956), pp. 35, 33, 72, 38.
5. K. C. Hurd-Mead, A History of Women in Medicine: From the Earliest Times to the Beginning of the Nineteenth Century (Haddam, Conn.: The Haddam Press, 1938), p. 36.
6. T. S. Sozinskey, Medical Symbolism (Philadelphia: F. A. Davis, 1891), p. 125.
7. W. Wroth, "Hygieia," J. Hellenic Stud., 1885, 5, 82-101. Specifically, Wroth posited that the Hygieian representations could depict the act of serpent-divination.
8. N.J. Norman, "Asklepios and Hygieia and the Cult Statue at Tegea," Am. J. Archacol., 1986, 90, 425-430.
9. Penn commented on Pausanias's descriptions in relation to the study of ancient coins. "Pausanias probably came from Greek Asia Minor and travelled extensively in Greece in the second century CE. He recorded everything that he thought noteworthy and was especially interested in the history of mythology and religion in the places he visited. A Guide to Greece is a mine of information. Pausanias' descriptions can be illustrated by coins which provide a confirmation or extension of what he wrote." R. G. Penn, Aspects of Ancient Classical Coins: Medicine on Ancient Greek and Roman Coins (London: B. T. Batsford Ltd., 1994), P. 17.
10. Pausanias, Description of Greece, J. G. Frazer, trans. (London: Macmillan and Co., Ltd., 1898), pp. 87-88 (book II, xi, 6).
11. Ibid., p. 106 (book II, xxiii, 4).
12. Ibid., p 33 (book I, xxiii, 5), p. 32 (book I, xxxiv, 2).
13. Penn, Aspects, pp. 30-31. See also S. V. McCasland, "The Asklepios Cult in Palestine," J. Bib. Lit., 1939, 58, 221-27.
14. Penn, Aspects, pp. 30-31. See also S. V. McCasland, "The Asklepios Cult in Palestine," J. Bib. Lit., 1939, 58, 221-27.
15. O. Temkin and C. L. Temkin, eds., Ancient Medicine: Selected Papers of Ladwig Edelstein, C. Lilian Temkin, trans. (Baltimore, Md.: The Johns Hopkins Press, 1967), p. 6.
16. Edelstein and Edelstein, Asclepius, II, 200.
17. A. N. Athanassakis, The Orphic Hymns: Text, Translation and Notes (Missoula, Mont.: Scholars Press, 1977), pp.80-90. In his introduction to his translation, Athanassakis noted that a good guess for a date of the Hymns is in the second part of the third century CE, and that Asia Minor may have been their place of origin (ibid., pp. vii-xiv): "They do give the impression of being the work of a religious antiquary who had ready access to some sort of concordance from which he marshaled forth hosts of epithets which he then linked together as hexameters. . . . It seems quite clear that the Hymns were used by a religious association of people who . . . invoked the deity and asked for its presence or for the gift of some blessing, such as wealth, peace, health, and not infrequently for 'a blameless end to a good life.' . . . Most of the hymns are addressed to divinities and concepts of the Hellenic pantheon and its train of lesser divine or semi-divine figures."
18. In any discussion of Hygieia, the Roman goddess Salus should not go without mention. Salus was the Roman equivalent of Hygieia, and she accompanied Aesculapius in the Roman cult. For example, Vitruvius mentioned the two in his De Architecture, wherein he seemed to readily associate the god and goddess. (Vitruvius, On Architecture, Frank Granger, ed. and trans. [Cambridge, Mass.: Harvard University Press, 1983], pp. 29-31.) Many Roman coins also confirm the association between Roman Aesculapius and Salus. The name SALUS appears on many Roman coins; this is often not in a true medical context but rather in a political sense that peace and safety prevailed in the state (Penn, Aspects, p. 59). To the Romans, the goddess seemed to represent a broader concept of health, including the health of the state. "Salus" literally means safety, salvation, and the like; it comes to mean "hygieia" only by extension. Salus, too, was represented with the serpent and was at times seen in union with Apollo and Aesculapius. She likely represented health, as did Hygieia, though her mastery of health seemed to be generalized to broader functions for the Romans. Commonly referred to as savior (soter), Asklepios himself was worshipped as a general protector from peril, so this protective stance of Salus is not different from the model of Hygieia as an enlargement and emanation of the powers of her father.
19. In any discussion of Hygieia, the Roman goddess Salus should not go without mention. Salus was the Roman equivalent of Hygieia, and she accompanied Aesculapius in the Roman cult. For example, Vitruvius mentioned the two in his De Architecture, wherein he seemed to readily associate the god and goddess. (Vitruvius, On Architecture, Frank Granger, ed. and trans. [Cambridge, Mass.: Harvard University Press, 1983], pp. 29-31.) Many Roman coins also confirm the association between Roman Aesculapius and Salus. The name SALUS appears on many Roman coins; this is often not in a true medical context but rather in a political sense that peace and safety prevailed in the state (Penn, Aspects, p. 59). To the Romans, the goddess seemed to represent a broader concept of health, including the health of the state. "Salus" literally means safety, salvation, and the like; it comes to mean "hygieia" only by extension. Salus, too, was represented with the serpent and was at times seen in union with Apollo and Aesculapius. She likely represented health, as did Hygieia, though her mastery of health seemed to be generalized to broader functions for the Romans. Commonly referred to as savior (soter), Asklepios himself was worshipped as a general protector from peril, so this protective stance of Salus is not different from the model of Hygieia as an enlargement and emanation of the powers of her father.
20. Regarding the dwarf-like personification of convalescence, one writer has commented that "Asklepios is illuminated on his bright side by Hygieia, and on his dark side by Telesphoros . . . we see his daughter Hygieia (sun or light) inducing healing, and Telesphoros (night or death) inducing life through rebirth." M. M. Weiss, "Telesphoros: Neglected Son of Asklepios," J. Paleopathol., 1993, 5, 53-59.
21. W. A. Jayne, The Healing Gods of Ancient Civilizations (New Haven, Conn.: Yale University Press, 1925), p. 333.
22. W. H. D. Rouse, Greek Votive Offerings: An Essay in the History of Greek Religion (London: C. J. Clay and Sons/Cambridge University Press, 1902), p. 194.
23. Edelstein and Edelstein, Asclepius, II, 88.
24. Roebuck commented, "It is probable, on the whole, that the Corinthian Asklepieion had only a local popularity. The absence of literary references to it and its comparatively small size are evidence of this." Nonetheless, the Corinthian Asklepieion had a definite Hygieian element. C. Roebuck, Corinth: Results of Excavations Conducted by The American School of Classical Studies at Athens: Volume XIV: The Asklepieion and Lerna, Based on the Excavations and Preliminary Studies of F. J. De Waele (Princeton, N.J.: The American School of Classical Studies at Athens, 1951), p. 159. See also F. J. De Waele, "The Sanctuary of Asklepios and Hygieia at Corinth," Am. J. Archaeol., 1933, 37, 449.
25. Roebuck commented, "It is probable, on the whole, that the Corinthian Asklepieion had only a local popularity. The absence of literary references to it and its comparatively small size are evidence of this." Nonetheless, the Corinthian Asklepieion had a definite Hygieian element. C. Roebuck, Corinth: Results of Excavations Conducted by The American School of Classical Studies at Athens: Volume XIV: The Asklepieion and Lerna, Based on the Excavations and Preliminary Studies of F. J. De Waele (Princeton, N.J.: The American School of Classical Studies at Athens, 1951), p. 159. See also F. J. De Waele, "The Sanctuary of Asklepios and Hygieia at Corinth," Am. J. Archaeol., 1933, 37, 449.
26. J. Larson, Greek Heroine Cults (from the Wisconsin Studies in Classics, gen. ed. Richard Daniel DePuma and Barbara Hughes Fowler; Madison: The University of Wisconsin Press, 1995), pp. 62, 85. She also noted that "Hygieia as a constant companion to Asklepios represents the archetype of a male-female pair, even though she is his daughter by most accounts."
27. H. E. Sigerist, A History of Medicine, vol. II: Early Greek, Hindu, and Persian Medicine (New York: Oxford University Press, 1961), p. 62.
28. Aelius P. Aristides, The Complete Works: vol. II: Orations XVII-LIII, Charles A. Behr, trans. (Leiden, The Netherlands: E. J. Brill, 1981), p. 248. Aristides was born in 117 CE to a wealthy family in northern Mysia. He was educated as an orator and turned to the healing gods Asklepios and Serapis due to chronic physical illnesses. An extensive account of his illnesses, incubations, and dreams is recorded in his Sacred Tales.
29. Sigerist, History, p. 47.
30. M. Alic, Hypatia's Heritage: A History of Women in Science from Antiquity to the Late Nineteenth Century (London: The Women's Press, 1986), pp. 17-18; Sozinskey, Medical Symbolism, p. 124.
31. M. Alic, Hypatia's Heritage: A History of Women in Science from Antiquity to the Late Nineteenth Century (London: The Women's Press, 1986), pp. 17-18; Sozinskey, Medical Symbolism, p. 124.
32. Alic, Hypatia's Heritage, p. 18.
33. R. E. Witt, Isis in the Ancient World (Baltimore, Md.: The Johns Hopkins University Press, 1971), p. 19.
34. C. A. Meier, Ancient Incubation and Modern Psychotherapy, Monica Curtis, trans. (Evanston, Ill.: Northwestern University Press, 1967), p. 47. See also J. B. de C. M. Saunders, The Transitions from Ancient Egyptian to Greek Medicine (Lawrence: University of Kansas Press, 1963), p. 12. Interestingly, Serapis and Isis were associated with the cult of Asklepios in several sources. Pausanias described a temple at Aegira in Achaia containing a statue image of Asklepios, along with Serapis and Isis, in Pentelic marble (Edelstein and Edelstein, Asclepius, I, 356). Also, in his details of the Epidaurian sanctuary, he described "a temple to Health, as well as to Asclepius, and Apollo, with the surname 'Egyptians.'" Similar to Hygieia, the sacred asp, the mark of divine majesty and the invincibility of royal power, grew to be one of the best-known emblems of Isis (Witt, Isis, p. 34). The similarities between the two cults is impressive, including that incubatio was used for healing, that thank offerings of body parts were dedicated symbolically, that the gods were seen as saviors of mankind, and that the divinities were discoverers of many health-giving drugs and were restorers of health.
35. C. A. Meier, Ancient Incubation and Modern Psychotherapy, Monica Curtis, trans. (Evanston, Ill.: Northwestern University Press, 1967), p. 47. See also J. B. de C. M. Saunders, The Transitions from Ancient Egyptian to Greek Medicine (Lawrence: University of Kansas Press, 1963), p. 12. Interestingly, Serapis and Isis were associated with the cult of Asklepios in several sources. Pausanias described a temple at Aegira in Achaia containing a statue image of Asklepios, along with Serapis and Isis, in Pentelic marble (Edelstein and Edelstein, Asclepius, I, 356). Also, in his details of the Epidaurian sanctuary, he described "a temple to Health, as well as to Asclepius, and Apollo, with the surname 'Egyptians.'" Similar to Hygieia, the sacred asp, the mark of divine majesty and the invincibility of royal power, grew to be one of the best-known emblems of Isis (Witt, Isis, p. 34). The similarities between the two cults is impressive, including that incubatio was used for healing, that thank offerings of body parts were dedicated symbolically, that the gods were seen as saviors of mankind, and that the divinities were discoverers of many health-giving drugs and were restorers of health.
36. C. A. Meier, Ancient Incubation and Modern Psychotherapy, Monica Curtis, trans. (Evanston, Ill.: Northwestern University Press, 1967), p. 47. See also J. B. de C. M. Saunders, The Transitions from Ancient Egyptian to Greek Medicine (Lawrence: University of Kansas Press, 1963), p. 12. Interestingly, Serapis and Isis were associated with the cult of Asklepios in several sources. Pausanias described a temple at Aegira in Achaia containing a statue image of Asklepios, along with Serapis and Isis, in Pentelic marble (Edelstein and Edelstein, Asclepius, I, 356). Also, in his details of the Epidaurian sanctuary, he described "a temple to Health, as well as to Asclepius, and Apollo, with the surname 'Egyptians.'" Similar to Hygieia, the sacred asp, the mark of divine majesty and the invincibility of royal power, grew to be one of the best-known emblems of Isis (Witt, Isis, p. 34). The similarities between the two cults is impressive, including that incubatio was used for healing, that thank offerings of body parts were dedicated symbolically, that the gods were seen as saviors of mankind, and that the divinities were discoverers of many health-giving drugs and were restorers of health.
37. C. A. Meier, Ancient Incubation and Modern Psychotherapy, Monica Curtis, trans. (Evanston, Ill.: Northwestern University Press, 1967), p. 47. See also J. B. de C. M. Saunders, The Transitions from Ancient Egyptian to Greek Medicine (Lawrence: University of Kansas Press, 1963), p. 12. Interestingly, Serapis and Isis were associated with the cult of Asklepios in several sources. Pausanias described a temple at Aegira in Achaia containing a statue image of Asklepios, along with Serapis and Isis, in Pentelic marble (Edelstein and Edelstein, Asclepius, I, 356). Also, in his details of the Epidaurian sanctuary, he described "a temple to Health, as well as to Asclepius, and Apollo, with the surname 'Egyptians.'" Similar to Hygieia, the sacred asp, the mark of divine majesty and the invincibility of royal power, grew to be one of the best-known emblems of Isis (Witt, Isis, p. 34). The similarities between the two cults is impressive, including that incubatio was used for healing, that thank offerings of body parts were dedicated symbolically, that the gods were seen as saviors of mankind, and that the divinities were discoverers of many health-giving drugs and were restorers of health.
38. Witt, Isis, pp. 22, 185-197, 316-317.
39. Aristides, Complete Works, II, pp. 261-268, pp. 316-317.
40. Ibid., p. 238.
41. Athanassakis, Orphic Hymns, p. 90.
42. Meier, Ancient Incubation, p. xv.
43. R. Caton, The Temples and Ritual of Asklepios: At Epidanros and Athens, 2nd ed. (London: C. J. Clay and Sons/Cambridge University Press, 1900), p. 28.
44. During the expansion of Christianity in the first several centuries CE, Jesus was proclaimed by his followers to be a healer and savior. For a discussion of the influence of the cult of Asklepios on early Christianity, see R. J. Ruttimann, "Asclepius and Jesus: The Form, Character, and Status of the Asclepius Cult in the Second-Century CE and Its Influence on Early Christianity" (thesis, The Divinity School of Harvard University; Ann Arbor, Mich.: UMI Dissertation Services, 1986). Hart also discussed the topic of Christianity and the Asklepieion tradition in his book, Asclepius: The God of Medicine (London: Royal Society of Medicine Press, 2000), pp. 183-99. Although there are no obvious references to Asklepios in the canonical New Testament, Hill noted that Paul's reference to dismembered body parts in I Corinthians 12: 12-26 may have been influenced in part by the practice of votive offerings of replicas of the affected body parts at the local Asklepieion adjacent to the northern wall of the city of Corinth. "It is a 'local' illustration particularly significant for the church of God at Corinth because of their familiarity with the Asclepium. . . . Paul could have deliberately chosen this body illustration to communicate important theological principles to the Corinthian church because he deemed it the most effective way to illustrate the relationship of Christians to each other and to Christ." A. E. Hill, "The Temple of Asclepius: An Alternate Source of Paul's Body Theology," J. Bib. Lit., 1980, 99, 437-39.
45. During the expansion of Christianity in the first several centuries CE, Jesus was proclaimed by his followers to be a healer and savior. For a discussion of the influence of the cult of Asklepios on early Christianity, see R. J. Ruttimann, "Asclepius and Jesus: The Form, Character, and Status of the Asclepius Cult in the Second-Century CE and Its Influence on Early Christianity" (thesis, The Divinity School of Harvard University; Ann Arbor, Mich.: UMI Dissertation Services, 1986). Hart also discussed the topic of Christianity and the Asklepieion tradition in his book, Asclepius: The God of Medicine (London: Royal Society of Medicine Press, 2000), pp. 183-99. Although there are no obvious references to Asklepios in the canonical New Testament, Hill noted that Paul's reference to dismembered body parts in I Corinthians 12: 12-26 may have been influenced in part by the practice of votive offerings of replicas of the affected body parts at the local Asklepieion adjacent to the northern wall of the city of Corinth. "It is a 'local' illustration particularly significant for the church of God at Corinth because of their familiarity with the Asclepium. . . . Paul could have deliberately chosen this body illustration to communicate important theological principles to the Corinthian church because he deemed it the most effective way to illustrate the relationship of Christians to each other and to Christ." A. E. Hill, "The Temple of Asclepius: An Alternate Source of Paul's Body Theology," J. Bib. Lit., 1980, 99, 437-39.
46. During the expansion of Christianity in the first several centuries CE, Jesus was proclaimed by his followers to be a healer and savior. For a discussion of the influence of the cult of Asklepios on early Christianity, see R. J. Ruttimann, "Asclepius and Jesus: The Form, Character, and Status of the Asclepius Cult in the Second-Century CE and Its Influence on Early Christianity" (thesis, The Divinity School of Harvard University; Ann Arbor, Mich.: UMI Dissertation Services, 1986). Hart also discussed the topic of Christianity and the Asklepieion tradition in his book, Asclepius: The God of Medicine (London: Royal Society of Medicine Press, 2000), pp. 183-99. Although there are no obvious references to Asklepios in the canonical New Testament, Hill noted that Paul's reference to dismembered body parts in I Corinthians 12: 12-26 may have been influenced in part by the practice of votive offerings of replicas of the affected body parts at the local Asklepieion adjacent to the northern wall of the city of Corinth. "It is a 'local' illustration particularly significant for the church of God at Corinth because of their familiarity with the Asclepium. . . . Paul could have deliberately chosen this body illustration to communicate important theological principles to the Corinthian church because he deemed it the most effective way to illustrate the relationship of Christians to each other and to Christ." A. E. Hill, "The Temple of Asclepius: An Alternate Source of Paul's Body Theology," J. Bib. Lit., 1980, 99, 437-39.
47. Davenport, Seven Greeks, p. 206.
48. Edelstein and Edelstein, Asclepius, II, 90.
49. Wroth, "Hygieia," p. 83.
50. Hurd-Mead, History of Women, p. 36.
51. I. S. Wile, "The Worship of Asklepios: With Special Reference to the Tholos and the Theater," Ann. Med. Hist., 1926, 8, 432.
52. T. Papadakis, Epidauros: The Sanctuary of Asclepios (München and Zürich: Verlag Schnell and Steiner, 1972), p. 16.
53. For example, Pausanias had some trouble identifying images at Lebadeia in Doeotia as belonging to the cult of Asklepios versus the cult of Trophonius: "In the cave are sources of the river and standing images, and serpents are coiled around their scepters. One might conjecture the images to be of Asclepius and Health, but they might be Trophonius and Hercyna, because they think that serpents are just as much sacred to Trophonius as to Asclepius." (Edelstein and Edelstein, Asclepius, I, 361.)
54. Larson, Greek Heroine Cults, p. 63. Also, Wroth "Hygieia," p. 82) noted that "the almost constant association of Hygieia with her father brought her into the fullest prominence as a medical divinity, though at the same time it, to a great extent, prevented her from attaining to an independent exercise of power."
55. Larson, Greek Heroine Cults, p. 63. Also, Wroth "Hygieia," p. 82) noted that "the almost constant association of Hygieia with her father brought her into the fullest prominence as a medical divinity, though at the same time it, to a great extent, prevented her from attaining to an independent exercise of power."
56. Larson, Greek Heroine Cults, p. 63.
57. This argues against Farnell, who found little importance in the family members of Asklepios, as in the following: "the only figures with whom Asklepios is habitually grouped in the art-monuments are the members of his own family; and these, apart from the 'heroic' pair Podaleirios and Machaon, are merely abstract personifications of hygiene or the healing art, Hugieia, Iaso, Panakeia." L. W. Farnell, Greek Hero Cults and Ideas of Immortality (Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1921), p. 245.