Asclepius
Asclepius
- Fritz Graf
Extract
Asclepius (Ἀσκληπιός, Dor.-Aeol. Ἀσκλαπιός, Boeot. also Ἀσχλαπιός, Αἰσχλαβιός; Lat. *Aesculapius), hero and god of healing.In *Homer's Iliad, he is a hero, the ‘blameless physician’ (formula in Il. 4. 194, 11. 518), taught by the *centaur Chiron (Il. 4. 219); his two sons, the physicians *Machaon and *Podalirius, lead a contingent from Tricca in *Thessaly (Il. 2. 729–33). Late Archaic authors fit him into two different genealogies: in a Thessalian version alluded to in a Hesiodic poem (fr. 60 M–W; see hesiod) and narrated more fully in *Pindar (Pyth.3), he was the son of *Apollo and *Coronis, daughter of *Phlegyas. Coronis had become Apollo's beloved, but then married the mortal Ischys; when a raven denounced the girl to the god, he (or his sister *Artemis) killed her, but snatched the unborn baby from the pyre, and entrusted him to Chiron (see centaurs).Subjects
- Greek Myth and Religion