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Staff of Asclepius

The document discusses the Rod of Asclepius, an ancient Greek symbol that has become internationally recognized as representing medicine. It depicts a serpent entwined around a staff and is associated with the Greek demigod Asclepius, known for his healing powers. The Rod of Asclepius symbolizes the dual nature of medicine involving both sickness and health as well as life and death. It was displayed at healing temples in the Greco-Roman world and later adopted by doctors worldwide. The symbol remains dominant in representing healthcare, healing, and medicine globally.

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Arvin O-Café
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125 views

Staff of Asclepius

The document discusses the Rod of Asclepius, an ancient Greek symbol that has become internationally recognized as representing medicine. It depicts a serpent entwined around a staff and is associated with the Greek demigod Asclepius, known for his healing powers. The Rod of Asclepius symbolizes the dual nature of medicine involving both sickness and health as well as life and death. It was displayed at healing temples in the Greco-Roman world and later adopted by doctors worldwide. The symbol remains dominant in representing healthcare, healing, and medicine globally.

Uploaded by

Arvin O-Café
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
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Download as DOCX, PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
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Name: Café, Arvin O.

November 30, 2021

Rod Of Asclepius – “the only true symbol of medicine”


 The Rod of Asclepius (or Staff of Asclepius) is an ancient Greek symbol that has
become an internationally recognized symbol of medicine. It depicts a serpent
entwined around a staff that is traditionally a knotty tree limb. The symbol is
associated with the Greek demigod, Asclepius who was renowned for his
unsurpassed medical prowess and healing powers. According to myths, he got his
medical knowledge through the whispering of snakes that have the ability to
periodically shedding their skin and emerging bigger, healthier, and shinier than before.
 The Rod of Asclepius is a befitting representation of the physician’s art of healing because
of its combination of the staff, which is symbolic of authority and the snake, which denotes
rebirth, fertility, revitalization, and rejuvenation. Moreover, snake venom has been found to
be fatally poisonous and, at the same time, have medicinal properties. Therefore, the
serpent is also seen as symbolic of the dual nature of a physician’s work that involved
sickness & health, life & death. It even signifies the dual powers of medicine – the
dosage and the situation determine if it will heal or harm. The symbol was displayed
at the Temples of Asclepius that became popular healing centers of the Greco-Roman
world. Later, it came to be adopted by doctors all over the world.
 Some scholars assert that the Rod of Asclepius represents a parasitic worm coiled around
a stick. In the ancient times, people used to be commonly infected by parasitic worms like
the guinea worm. The physicians treated them by piercing the skin and extracting the
worm’s underneath by wrapping them on a rod or stick. The physicians are believed to
have advertised this service by putting up the sign of a worm on a stick.
 Whatever the origin of the Rod of Asclepius may have been, it remains a dominant global
symbol of healthcare, healing, and medicine.
Significance and Symbolism
 The other element of this symbol, the serpent, was seen by the Greeks as a symbol of
healing
and renewal due to the continual shedding of skin and was often worshipped to protect one’s health.
While the staff is not often associated with other conventions, the serpent also serves
as a symbol in the Judeo-Christian tradition, and the meaning is worth looking into as it relates to the health
care profession.
 Sacred writings shared by both Judaism and Christianity represent serpents not only as healers and saviors,
but also as destroyers. The idea of the serpent as a destroyer originated in the Book of Genesis in the Old
Testament.
 The application of this duality to medicine is unfortunately altogether too real. Most doctors, if not all, have
seen, either as patient or health care professional, both the “destroyer” and “savior” in medicine. The
destroyer often shows itself in a negative health care professional who damages hope in the patient.
 The symbol of medicine, the staff of Asclepius, is one that has represented healing and renewal for
millennia. However, as evident in the Judeo-Christian tradition, it often represents a destroyer in addition to
a savior. This is evident every day in medicine, as the physician can act as either emotional and
psychological destroyer or savior for their patients. As we be-come more aware of how the little things—a
look, tone of voice, and certainly our actions—can affect our patients, we will come to represent the
intended meaning of the serpent—healing and renewal, in body and spirit—and the destroyer will remain a
symbol from civilizations past

Reference:
https://www.ancient-symbols.com/symbols-directory/rod_of_ascilepius.html
Jones, Kyle. (2008). The staff of Asclepius: a new perspective on the symbol of medicine. WMJ: official
publication of the State Medical Society of Wisconsin. 107. 115-6.

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