AESCULAPIUS (Gr. 'AoKXiprtos)  , the legendary Greek god of medicine, the son of Apollo and the nymph Coronis . Tricca in Thessaly and Epidaurus in Argolis disputed the honour of his birthplace, but an oracle declared in favour of Epidaurus . He was educated by the centaur Cheiron, who taught him the art of healing and hunting . His skill in curing disease and restoring the dead to life aroused the anger of Zeus, who, being afraid that he might render all men immortal, slew him with a thunder-bolt (Apollodorus iii . 1o; Pindar, Phthia, 3; Diod . Sic. iv . 71) . Homer mentions him as a skilful physician, whose sons, Machaon and Podalirius, are the physicians in the Greek camp before Troy (Iliad, ii . 731) . Temples were erected to Aesculapius in many parts of Greece, near healing springs or on high mountains . The practice of sleeping (incubatio) in these sanctuaries was very common, it being supposed that the god effected cures or pre-scribed remedies to the sick in dreams . All who were healed offered sacrifice—especially a cock—and hung up votive tablets, on which were recorded their names, their diseases and the manner in which they had been cured .

Many of these votive tablets have been discovered in the course of excavations at Epidaurus . Here was the god's most famous

shrine, and games were celebrated in his honour every five years, accompanied by solemn processions . Herodas (Mimes, 4) gives a description of one of his temples, and of the offerings made to. him . His worship was introduced into Rome by order of the Sibylline books (293 B.c.), to avert a pestilence . The god was fetched from Epidaurus in the form of a snake and a temple assigned him on the island in the Tiber (Livy x . 47; Ovid, Metam. xv . 622) . Aesculapius was a favourite subject of ancient artists . He is commonly represented standing, dressed in a long cloak, with bare breast; his usual attribute is a club-like staff with a serpent (the symbol of renovation) coiled round it . He is often accompanied by Telesphorus, the boy genius of healing, and his daughter Hygieia, the goddess of health . Votive reliefs representing such groups have been found near the temple of Aesculapius at Athens . The British Museum possesses a beautiful head of Aesculapius (or possibly Zeus) from Melos, and the Louvre a magnificent statue .