Ophiuchus the Serpent Bearer
The Myth of the God of Medicine
Asclepius (or Aesculapius) is the Greco-Roman god of medicine who's sons fought for Greece in the Trojan War. His extraordinary birth is told in The Metamorpheses of Ovid. Asclepius is the son of Apollo, who shot an arrow through his lover, Coronis, while she was pregnant with Asclepius. He did this because he found out that she had lain with a Thessalonian youth.
Regretting his decision to kill Coronis, Apollo "turn[ed] in vain to useless remedies, / the arts of medicine--as if he could / inflict defeat on death" (Ovid 62). While Cornis laid upon her pyre, Apollo cut the child Asclepius from her womb, and delivered him to Chiron the centuar.
When Chiron received Asclepius as an infant from Apollo, he "swelled with pride: / he now was foster-father of a child of godly stock" (62). Chiron taught Asclepius the arts of medicine, and when a plague threatened to exterminate Rome, Asclepius came to save them. Ovid writes that "[h]e held a rustic staff in his left hand;'" (540), saying "'Fear not; I'll go with you--I shall give up my sanctuary. But observe this serpent / that coils around my staff: do not forget / just how he looks. For I myself shall change myself into this erpent, but I shall be larger...'" (540). Those that were suffering gathered at the temple the next day, and after they had prayed, the giant serpent-form of Asclepius appeared to them. It is for this reason the the cult of Asclepius traditionally gathered inside his temple to cure their sicknesses.
Zeus was threatened by the healing abilities of Asclepius, fearing that human beings would achive immortality. To keep Asclepius from curing the mortal disease, Zeus struck Asclepius with a bolt of thunder, killing him. Apollo was enraged by this offense to his blood, and appealed to Zeus. In an act to apease Apollo, Zeus resurrected Asclepius as the constellation Ophiuchus, serpent-bearing god of medicine ("Star Tales").
The Staff of Asclepius
The Staff of Asclepius, a rod with a snake coiled around it, has become a symbol of medicine. It represents health and life. This is an interesting contrast to the symbol of the serpent in Christian mythology, which is generally a symbol of evil. In Book III of Plato's Republic, Socrates discusses the practice medicine in relation to Asclepius. This appears to be part of the origin of the philosophy of medicine, which is symbolized by the serpent-coiled staff of Asclepius.
Literary References to Ophiuchus
One example of references to Ophiuchus is a scene in Philip Pullman's His Dark Materials in which Ophiuchus the constellation is mentioned. In The Subtle Knife, angels are seen flying through the constellation on their way to the North (Pullman 123). While the use of this constellation seems arbitrary, the contrasting symbolism of the serpent plays on the themes of obscuring religious paradigms found throughout the trilogy.
Conclusion
One of the lesser-known myths, Ophiuchus is an excellent example of a story in which the serpent signifies something other than evil. This is why it is intriguing when references to Ophiuchus suddenly appear in literature. It forces a reexamination of the symbolism being used by the author, and creates a broader arena of understanding and meaning for the reader.
Sources
Homer. The Iliad. Trans by Robert Fagles. New York: Penguin, 1991.
Ovid. The Metamorphoses. Trans by Allen Mandelbaum. New York: Harcourt, 1993.
Pullman, Philip. The Subtle Knife. New York: Laurel-Leaf, 1997.
Illustration by Kepler from his book De Stella Nov
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Rod of Asclepius
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