Definition of Aesculapius

Aesculapius: That stick with the snake curled
around it is the staff (the
rod) of Aesculapius (also called Asklepios), the ancient
god of medicine.
His Greek name was Asklepios and his Roman name
Aesculapius.
In reality,
Asklepios may have been a real person who was renowned for
his gentle,
humane remedies and his humane treatment of the mentally
ill. His followers
established temples called asclepions, temples of
Asklepios, temples of
healing. The greatest asklepion was in a grove of trees
south of Corinth,
Greece where the sick had to spend a night while the proper
remedies were
revealed during a dream to the priests of the temple and
the cured had to
make a suitable sacrifice (usually a rooster) to the god.
According to
mythology, Asculapius had a number of children including
Hygieia, the
goddess of health (from whose name comes the word
"hygiene") and Panaceia,
the godess of healing (from whose name comes the word
"panacea" for a
universal remedy).
Today, the staff of Aesculapius is a
commonly used symbol
of medicine. It is the symbol of the American Medical
Association (AMA) and
many other medical societies.