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-Z- (z@gundam.com)
Tue, 28 Nov 2000 20:44:24 -0800
> > Ophiuchus is a symbol of health and healing because of the
> > connection with the
> > serpent, which was a symbol of rebirth in the classical culture.
> > It was thought
> > that the serpent was reborn when it shed its skin each spring.
>
> Is this the reason for the twin snakes perch on a branch on so many things
> medical?
Yes and no. Here, the snakes originally represented immortality or eternity, in
much the same fashion as the Midgard serpent or the Ouroborus worm, which eats
its own tail and thus feeds on itself forever, constantly renewed even as it's
consumed. It was very much later, during the Renaissance, that the health and
healing aspect was applied.
The symbolic staff surmounted by two wings and entwined with two snakes is
called the Caduceus, from the Latin form of the Greek word "karykeion" (herald).
Among the ancient Greeks, the caduceus was carried by heralds and ambassadors as
a badge of office and a mark of personal inviolability, because it was the
symbol of Hermes, the messenger of the gods. According to Book IV of Virgil's
Aeneid, the Greek god Apollo gave the staff to Hermes in return for the lyre.
In Roman mythology, the symbol is associated with the god Mercury. The staff of
Aesculepius, the Greek god of healing, which didn't have wings and was entwined
by a SINGLE snake, was also called a caduceus.
The Hermetic caduceus was adopted as the symbol of the medical profession in
1588. A new form, replacing the twined snakes with a stylized double-helix, is
under consideration as the symbol for medical genetic engineering.
-Z-
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