Dictionary

Asclepius en · PROPN

Pronunciation

• (Southern-England) audio
• /æsˈkliːpi.əs/
• /əˈskliːpi.əs/

Etymology

Borrowed from Latin Asclēpius, from Ancient Greek Ἀσκληπιός (Asklēpiós).

Meanings

1. (Greek) A Greek mythological deity, the god of doctors, medicine and healing; a son of Apollo and the Thessalian princess Coronis, husband to the goddess Epione and father of the Asclepiades; identified with the Roman god Aesculapius.
   • The temple of Asclepius is located just inside the north wall (Fig. 5) and is referred to by Pausanias (p. 34), who notes that the site was a place of refreshment in summer. 2002, Jerome Murphy-O'Connor, St. Paul's Corinth: Texts and Archaeology, Liturgical Press, page 186:
   • The story of Tiber Island is similar: in 293 BC, the inhabitants of Rome started to fall sick and die from an unknown disease, and the city fathers sent an expedition to Epidaurus in Greece to retrieve one of the snakes sacred to Asclepius (Greek Asklepiós, Aesculapius in Latin), god of medicine and healing, thus bringing the god to Rome. The story told by Livy was that as the ship carrying this snake came up the Tiber, the snake escaped and swam to the island. The Romans immediately concluded that Asclepius wished to dwell there (it would appear that clever Asclepius had immediately recognised an excellent place of quarantine), and built a temple to the god on the island. 2015, Paula Landart, Finding Ancient Rome: Walks in the City, E-Book, page 16:
   • We found religious medicine in the Homeric poems, and there was no century without healing cults. The cult of Asclepius was by no means the only one, but, for reasons that will be discussed later, it dominated the scene and set a pattern for the cults of other healing deities. 1961, Henry E. Sigerist, “A History of Medicine, Volume II: Early Greek, Hindu, and Persian Medicine”, in Paperback, Oxford University Press, published 1987, page 44:
2. A male given name of historical usage
3. The Apollo asteroid 4581 Asclepius.

Forms

Deriveds

Asclepian · staff of Asclepius

Relateds

rod of Asclepius · Asclepias · Asclepiad · Asclepiades · Aesculapius

Translations (57)

sh Asklepije (Greek god of medicine and healing) · ca Asclepi (Greek god of medicine and healing) · fi Asklepios (Greek god of medicine and healing) · pt Asclépio (Greek god of medicine and healing) · hy Ասկլեպիոս (Greek god of medicine and healing) · lt Asklepijas (Greek god of medicine and healing) · sh Асклепије (Greek god of medicine and healing) · de Asklepios (Greek god of medicine and healing) · la Asclēpius (Greek god of medicine and healing) · nl Asclepius (Greek god of medicine and healing) · br Asklepios (Greek god of medicine and healing) · ja アスクレーピオス (Greek god of medicine and healing) · pl Asklepios (Greek god of medicine and healing) · tr Asklepios (Greek god of medicine and healing) · or ଏସ୍ଲେପିଅସ୍ (Greek god of medicine and healing) · he אסקלפיוס (Greek god of medicine and healing) · eo Asklepio (Greek god of medicine and healing) · grc Ἀσκληπιός (Greek god of medicine and healing) · it Asclepio (male given name) · ar أَسْقَلِيبِيُوس (Greek god of medicine and healing) · no Asklepios (Greek god of medicine and healing) · el Ασκληπιός (Greek god of medicine and healing) · fr Asclèpe (Greek god of medicine and healing) · grc Ἀσκληπιός (Greek god of medicine and healing) · fi Asclepius (near-Earth asteroid) · es Asclepio (Greek god of medicine and healing) · sk Asklepios (Greek god of medicine and healing) · de Äskulapius (Greek god of medicine and healing) · ast Asclepiu (Greek god of medicine and healing) · cmn 阿斯克勒庇俄斯 (Greek god of medicine and healing) · be Асклепій (Greek god of medicine and healing) · gsw Asklepios (Greek god of medicine and healing) · ko 아스클레피오스 (Greek god of medicine and healing) · ru Аскле́пий (Greek god of medicine and healing) · da Æskulap (Greek god of medicine and healing) · ka ასკლეპიოსი (Greek god of medicine and healing) · fr Asclèpe (male given name) · hu Aszklépiosz (Greek god of medicine and healing) · oc Asclèpi (Greek god of medicine and healing) · sl Asklépij (Greek god of medicine and healing) · la Aesculāpius (Greek god of medicine and healing) · it Asclepio (Greek god of medicine and healing) · sl Eskuláp (Greek god of medicine and healing) · de Asklepius (Greek god of medicine and healing) · lb Asklepios (Greek god of medicine and healing) · fa آسکلپیوس (Greek god of medicine and healing) · pl Eskulap (Greek god of medicine and healing) · uk Асклепій (Greek god of medicine and healing) · ro Asclepios (Greek god of medicine and healing) · bg Асклепий (Greek god of medicine and healing) · cs Asklépios (Greek god of medicine and healing) · fr Asclépios (Greek god of medicine and healing) · et Asklepios (Greek god of medicine and healing) · sv Asklepios (Greek god of medicine and healing) · gl Asclepio (Greek god of medicine and healing) · bn আস্ক্লেপিউস (Greek god of medicine and healing) · de Äskulap (Greek god of medicine and healing)