It is believed that mythology is folkloric in representing fundamental narratives within a society and always will be part of human culture. The rich stories, legends, and wisdom given bring human conditioning to realization; deeply covering the universal themes of love, death, morality, and, for this article, vitality.

“The greatest mistake in the treatment of diseases is that there are physicians for the body and physicians for the soul, although the two cannot be separated.”

– Plato

One such story comes from Anceint Greek mythology centering around Ascelipus, the god of medicine and healing. Asclepius was born to Apollo and the mortal woman Coronis. While pregnant with Asclepius, Coronis fell in love with a second suitor, a mortal named Ischys, which angered Apollo. Enraged, Apollo dispatched his twin sister to murder her. As Coronis lay upon her funeral pyre, remorse swept across Apollo, causing him to save the unborn child by taking him out of the womb.

This miraculous birth set the stage for Ascelpius’ future as a healer.

All his childhood, it was up to Asclepius to take care of the know-all centaur Chiron. He used to be a renowned master in medicine and healing. Thanks to the centaur, Asclepius grew up to be an outstanding expert in medicine, ahead of the teaching of his mentor. He gained a broad knowledge of the properties of medicinal plants, operations, and the principles of integral treatment.

This included spiritual, psychological, and physical treatments, considering health a sense of harmony and balance within all subsets of the body. His healing practices included positive visualization, herbal medicine, diet and lifestyle, and spiritual offerings. These were believed to invoke divine favour and assistance in healing the well-being of every mortal.

Over time, Asclepius’s powers grew into miraculous treatments and resurrections where he would bring back life from the dead; a clear example is in the case of revival with Hippolytus. This new power to revert death caused disturbances among the gods, particularly Hades; the god of the underworld, who felt that what Asclepius was doing would affect the balance of life and death.

Unable to tolerate any more arrogance and pride of humanity, Zeus, the king of gods, felt the necessity to rebalance nature by killing Asclepius at once with a thunderbolt. As an immediate result, Apollo, being visually damaged by his son’s death, killed the Cyclopes, who were in charge of crafting Zeus’ thunderbolts. This act of vengeful expression led to Apollo’s expulsion from Olympus.

But Asclepius, even after his death, was still revered and regarded as a god of medicine. He was later deified and placed among the stars as the constellation Ophiuchus, the Serpent Bearer, symbolizing his association with health and his emblem: the rod entwined by a serpent. These healing centres, better known as Asclepieia, were spread throughout ancient Greece. The most famous was the Asclepieion at Epidaurus. These were used as hospitals, flowering with both spiritual and practical healing methods. To save time for the dream sequence, the patients had to undergo rituals under the healer’s care, where Asclepius would appear to them in their sleep for diagnoses or cures.

The mythology surrounding Asclepius marked the initial step in forming the Hippocratic tradition, which is grounded in observations, diagnosis, and treatment—all governed by rational principles. As a result, The Rod of Asclepius continues to serve as a prominent and enduring symbol of the medical profession, representing the legacy of medical wisdom and holistic healing practices that trace back to ancient times.

The mythology of Asclepius was not just a collection of ancient stores, but a cornerstone in the development of medical principles which are still relevant today, particularly in defining and understanding vitality. This is due to his encapsulation of all relevant environments, and provisions of a rich foundation for such an integrative concept.

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