Asklepios
was a quite popular hero. He was the god of heeling and
the son of Apollo and Koronis (another
version tells that his mother was Arsinoe) and,
as many other gods, he got raised up by the centaur Chiron.
Asklepios had such a good control
of the art of heeling that people said he could even resuscitate the dead. This made Zeus afraid and he killed him
with his thunder. As a revenge, Apollo killed the
Cyclopes.
His wife was
Epione
and she gave birth to two boys and five girls during
their marriage. The boys were called Podalirios and
Machaon and
became also good doctors; from the daughters, the most known was
Hygieia who together
with her father got adored for mental and physical health. The
further descendants of Asklepios, such as
Hippokrates, also became connected with the art of heeling.
Asklepios is often
shown with a stick and a snake wound around it (the snake is the sign of
reincarnation), what is known as the sign of the pharmacies today.
The Beginning / Gods of the Olympus / Smaller Gods
