rod of Asclepius

rod of Asclepius, staff with a single serpent wrapped around it associated with Asclepius, the Greco-Roman god of medicine. It is used as a symbol of the medical profession and as the logo of several medical associations, including the American Medical Association (AMA). Its Unicode character is ⚕ (“U+2695”).

Origins in mythology

The rod of Asclepius has roots in Greco-Roman mythology dating as far back as 1500 bce. According to ancient Greeks the rod was a stick or staff belonging to the god Asclepius (Greek: Asklēpios; Latin: Aesculapius), the son of the god Apollo and the mortal Coronis. Asclepius learned the healing arts from the centaur Chiron. In one tale explaining his association with snakes, Asclepius killed a serpent with his staff. He then watched a second serpent with herbs in its mouth bring the dead serpent back to life. He used the same herbs to revive a man and gained renown for his healing ability. In another story, a serpent whispered the secrets of healing into his ear.

Homer mentions Asclepius in the Iliad as a skilled physician and the father of two doctors in Troy. In later centuries he came to be venerated as a god; in 293 bce a temple was built for his worship in Rome. Classical depictions show him holding a staff with a serpent coiling around it; this came to be called the rod or staff of Asclepius. Nonvenomous snakes of the species Zamenis longissimus, known commonly as the Aesculapean snake and native to southern Europe and the northern coast of the Mediterranean Sea, would be allowed to live freely in healing centers, whose physicians were called Therapeutae (a term used then to refer to worshippers or medical attendants) of Asclepius, or Asclepiads. Hippocrates, the father of medicine, is believed to have been an Asclepiad.

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Some historians believe that the staff entwined with a serpent predates the worship of Asclepius in Greece by 700 years, tracing it to the biblical story of the Exodus of the Israelites from Egypt in the 13th century bce. According to Numbers 21:4–9, the Israelites were plagued with serpents, and Moses set up a pole with a bronze serpent wrapped around it. Those who gazed upon the pole were cured. Scientists have speculated that the serpents in this story may represent guinea worms, which grow parasitically in human hosts and have to be carefully extracted from the body by wrapping them around a stick and gently pulling them out.

Both the biblical and Greek tales may be derived from earlier references to snakes as agents of healing; ancient Sumerians, Akkadians, Babylonians, and Egyptians had snake deities who served as healers or protectors. The Canaanite gods Asherah and Nahaš were associated with serpents and were often depicted atop poles.

Modern symbol of medicine

The rod of Asclepius is a symbol of the medical profession and is found in the logos of many medical organizations. These include the American Medical Association (AMA), the World Health Organization (WHO), and medical associations in Canada, Great Britain, and New Zealand, among other countries. The Star of Life, a symbol used on emergency vehicles across the globe, including by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA), features the rod of Asclepius as well.

The rod of Asclepius vs. the caduceus

The rod of Asclepius is often confused with the caduceus (Greek: kērykeion), a winged staff with two serpents coiled around it (☤ or “U+2624” in Unicode). The caduceus is associated with the Roman god Mercury and his Greek equivalent, Hermes. Hermes was not directly associated with medicine; he was the messenger of the gods as well as the god of merchants, shepherds, athletes, and thieves, among other things. The caduceus was originally a rod entwined with garlands or ribbons; over time the garlands were modified to snakes, and wings were added to reflect the god’s speed.

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The caduceus has often been used in medical contexts despite a lack of mythological basis; some historians believe this may be rooted in the historic use of astrology in healing. The Swiss medical printer Johann Froben (1460–1527) used the caduceus without wings as his printer’s device, as did John Churchill, a medical publisher in 19th-century London. Churchill’s use of the caduceus as a printer’s mark likely drew on its association with Hermes as the god of trade. Medical publishers in the United States soon adopted this symbol.

The U.S. military’s medical divisions have subsequently used both the caduceus and the rod of Asclepius as their symbols. In 1818 the rod of Asclepius was used in the coat of arms for the U.S. Hospital Department. In 1856 some hospital staff began to wear the caduceus, presumably to show that they were not combatants; the symbol continued to be used during the American Civil War. The caduceus, not the rod of Asclepius, became the symbol of the U.S. Marine Hospital Service in 1871 and of the U.S. Army Medical Corps in 1902.

Several articles in the early 20th century helped illustrate the history of the two symbols. In the decades since, there have been multiple protests against the use of the caduceus as a medical symbol, including articles in medical literature and letters to publishers. Detractors have focused on Hermes being the god of trade and thieves, as well as the god who leads dead souls to the underworld. However, the caduceus persists in the U.S. medical field. A rebranding effort at the National Museum of Civil War Medicine in 2020 underscored how interchangeable the rod of Asclepius and the caduceus have become in military culture. There was an energetic debate over which to use, and personnel eventually chose the caduceus over the rod of Asclepius, as the former had already been used during the war. They further justified their choice by stating that the two serpents represented medical personnel from both the North and the South, who were dedicated to a common cause of saving the wounded. Finally, they found the symmetrical nature of the caduceus more pleasing than the design of the rod of Asclepius. As the rod of Asclepius continues to be the symbol of prominent organizations including the AMA and WHO, both symbols will presumably continue to be used.