Hey everyone, welcome to Mythology Explained. The topic of this video is Asclepius,
the greatest healer in all of Greek mythology. He became so adept at healing that his powers
became transcendent: able to bring the dead back to life, restoring soul to
inanimate body, no longer limited by the fragility and perishability of flesh.
He was the son of Apollo, the god of healing among other things. He was trained in the healing arts
by the immortal centaur Chiron, and though he brought much good into the world with his
restorative power, he would eventually be killed by Zeus, who believed that the powers Asclepius
had cultivated were too potent to be wielded by mortal hands. It was Zeus’ belief that,
unless Asclepius’ life was put to an end, the crystalline divide that separated the
realm of mortality from the realm of divinity would be compromised,
upsetting the natural order. Ultimately, Zeus’ execution of Asclepius precipitated a cascading
sequence of events that resulted in the death of the cyclopes who forged Zeus’ thunderbolts,
which then resulted in Apollo becoming the slave of a mortal man for one year as punishment.
Though Asclepius was ripped from the world too soon, robbed of life as he had worked
to save it – the vain and wrathful whim of a god worried his own light would be dimmed – his legacy
stands the test of time, made enduring through posthumous ascension and prominent symbolism:
at Apollo’s behest, he was set in the sky as a constellation; despite not achieving
godhood in life, he was later deified as a god of healing and medicine; and even today,
the Rod of Asclepius (a serpent-entwined staff) serves as a symbol emblematic of medicine,
one incorporated into the logo of the World Health Organization, and many other institutions.
Incidentally, this is not to be confused with the Staff of Hermes, also known as the Caduceus,
which is a staff entwined by twin serpents, its length punctuated at the top by a pair of wings.
Alright, let's get into it.
Asclepius was a man renowned for his miraculous healing ability, later attaining his apotheosis
when he became deified as a god of healing and medicine. There are many versions of his
parentage, each one with Apollo as the father. Most commonly it was Coronis, a Thessalian
princess, who was the mother. With her there are varying accounts of Aslcepius’s birth. In one,
after engaging in relations with Apollo, she later shared the bed of another, a mortal man,
whom she actually favored over the god. This enraged Apollo, vanity-fueled ire spurring him
to murderous violence. Another account says that it was the golden arrows of Artemis that killed
Coronis, her protective instincts wound too tight. Though the scorned heart of a besotted god had
precipitated the murder of an innocent, Coronis’s body was laid to rest with due reverence,
furnished with the proper rites and not denied the customary course of ritual. But before her
flesh was consumed by the intensifying flames of the funeral pyre, either Apollo or Hermes
descended to her burning body, cutting open her belly and pulling the child free from her,
this making for one of the more gruesome and unconventional births in Greek mythology.
In another version, after Apollo seduced and impregnated Coronis, she concealed her pregnancy
from her father and later gave birth in secret, abandoning the child in the foothills of Mount
Myrtion. Without a mother or father to look after him, Infant Asclepius was nourished and
watched over by animals, receiving succor from the wilderness. A she-goat came and suckled him,
and a dog came and stood guard, warding off any animals who would think to make a meal of
a helpless babe in the woods. The shepherd who owned these two animals later found Asclepius,
but he was of little use. He was quick to turn and flee once his eyes perceived what
he had happened upon. His mind, suited for the mundane of remote, rustic living, was overcome,
triggering flight. You see, what the shepherd came across wasn’t just the unusual sight of
beasts nurturing and protecting a boy; depending on the description, Asclepius was either swathed
in brilliant light or wreathed in lightning, the supernatural scene frightening away the shepherd.
Pedigree aside, Asclepius was given into the care of Chiron, an immortal centaur famous for training
heroes. Of all he was taught, it was medicine Asclepius most had an affinity for, quickly
becoming a young prodigy in the healing arts. As the story goes, Asclepius became so adept at
curing illness and mending injury that his talents came to encompass more than a genius for keeping
people alive, eventually including the ability to bring the dead back to life. Ironically, it would
be this very power, the power to reverse death, that would come to bring about his own demise.
Explaining how exactly he came to possess this power, there are two versions. The first,
given by Apollodorus, says that he achieved this power with the use of gorgon blood gifted
to him by Athena. Here’s the passage from the Library of Greek Mythology that describes this:
“Asclepios became a surgeon, and he developed the art to such a degree that he not only prevented
some people from dying, but even raised them from the dead. For he had received from Athena
blood that had flowed from the veins of the Gorgon; and he used the blood that had flowed
from the veins on the left side to put people to death, and that which had flowed from the right,
to save them - and it was by this means that he raised the dead.”
The second version, given by Hyginus, tells of a peculiar development that transpired
when Asclepius was tasked with bringing Glaucus, the son of King Minos, back to life. Hitherto,
prying someone away from the clutches of death was a feat Asclepius had never accomplished,
meaning how he was to go about bringing back Glaucus, not from the brink of death, but from
the finality of death, wasn’t immediately apparent to him. While he was figuring out what to do,
groping around the darkness of the unexplored and the unattempted, a snake coiled its way up
his staff. Unbeknownst to him, this was the epitome of serendipity, the solution to his
problem soon to be revealed. Asclepius quickly killed the snake. Snakes were venomous lethality
incarnate and the slithering antithesis of what Asclepius had dedicated his life to. However,
in a singular and unexpected turn, a second snake then also coiled its way up his staff, this one
with an herb carefully carried in its mouth, as gingerly as a great hunting cat with a cub in its
maw. It placed the herb on the head of the dead snake, and a moment later, it was brought back
to life, both of them slithering away together. Grasping the miracle that had unfolded before him,
Asclepius then used the same herb in the same manner to bring Glaucus back to life. Though
royalty had been restored, Glaucus amazingly imbued with life once more, Asclepius had set
in motion events that inexorably moved him towards the cliff’s edge, his life soon to be snuffed out.
What he did was an unprecedented feat, a feat, sadly, that would never be performed again,
for here the heights of achievement and the depths of peril coincided; unwittingly, Asclepius had
signed his masterpiece and his own death warrant at the same time. His success condemned him,
a condemnation that would precipitate a chain of events of considerable significance.
Zeus believed that such incredible power (the power to bring the dead back to life) wielded
by a mortal would disrupt the natural order that structured the universe, blurring the line between
mortality and divinity. Moreover, Zeus worried that Asclepius would pass on his knowledge to
others, empowering people to come to each other's aid, thus lessening humanity’s reliance on the
gods, which would further upset the dynamic - basically that of master and servant - that had
always existed between Olympus and humanity. To preempt any issues that might have arisen from
this distinction becoming less stark, Zeus smote Asclepius with a thunderbolt, striking him dead
instantly. Upon learning of this, Apollo flew into a rage, taking revenge by killing the cyclopes who
forged Zeus’ thunderbolts. For this transgression, Zeus was prepared to cast his son into the depths
of Tartarus; but Leto, Apollo’s mother, interceded, convincing the king of the gods,
her lover of yore, to commit himself to a more merciful course of action. Instead of oblivion
in the abyss that yawned beneath the foundation of the earth, imprisoned there for days unending as
the Titans were, Apollo was made a slave to a man, Admetus, who was the son of a king. And perhaps it
was that the standing of Apollo’s mortal master, a prince and not one of lowly and shabby stock,
helped assuage the humiliation a little. During this time, Apollo primarily served as a herdsman,
and the fruits of his labors were richer and more abundant than those the efforts
of any human could have produced. Under his care, all of Admetus’S animals were blessed
with twin offspring when they gave birth. Zeus, for his part, was remorseful, and so he honored
Apollo’s request to have Asclepius set in the stars as a constellation.
In the Library of History, written by Diodorus Siculus, a different version of the events that
led to Asclepius’ end is given. According to Diodorus, Asclepius was so proficient at
bringing people back from the brink of death that there was a noticeable decrease in the number of
people dying each year. This dismayed Hades, who felt that the reduction in the number of
souls entering his domain was diminishing his power. He brought his grievance before Zeus,
who was angered on his brother’s behalf, resolving to strike Asclepius dead. Here’s the passage:
“And so far did he advance along the road of fame that, to the amazement of all, he healed many sick
whose lives had been despaired of, and for this reason it was believed that he had brought back
to life many who had died. Consequently, the myth goes on to say, Hades brought accusation
against Asclepius, charging him before Zeus of acting to the detriment of his own province, for,
he said, the number of the dead was steadily diminishing, now that men were being healed
by Asclepius. So Zeus, in indignation, slew Asclepius with his thunderbolt.”
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