Aesculapius in Roman mythology (equivalent to the Greek "Asclepius") was the father of medicine. "Asclepius", in Greek mythology, was the god of medicine. He was a son of the god Apollo and Coronis, a beautiful maiden of Thessaly (Thessalia). Angry because Coronis was unfaithful to him, Apollo killed her and tore the unborn Asclepius from her womb. He later sent Asclepius to the centaur Chiron to be raised. Asclepius learned all that Chiron knew about the art of healing and soon became a great physician. Because Asclepius threatened the natural order by raising people from the dead, the god Zeus killed him with a thunderbolt. The cult of Asclepius was centered in Epidaurus, but it was popular throughout the Greco-Roman world. The sanctuaries of Asclepius functioned as health resorts, where therapeutic regimens such as exercise and diets were prescribed. The most important practice associated with the cures was the ritual of incubation, in which afflicted people slept within a temple or sacred enclosure in the hope that the god would come to them in dreams and prescribe cures for their illnesses. Bulfinch, Thomas. Bulfinch's Mythology: The Age of Fable, The Age of Chivalry, Legends of Charlemagne. New York: Random House, 1934, quoted from Microsoft Encarta.
Aesculapius in Roman mythology (equivalent to the Greek "Asclepius") was the father of medicine. "Asclepius", in Greek mythology, was the god of medicine. He was a son of the god Apollo and Coronis, a beautiful maiden of Thessaly (Thessalia). Angry because Coronis was unfaithful to him, Apollo killed her and tore the unborn Asclepius from her womb. He later sent Asclepius to the centaur Chiron to be raised. Asclepius learned all that Chiron knew about the art of healing and soon became a great physician. Because Asclepius threatened the natural order by raising people from the dead, the god Zeus killed him with a thunderbolt. The cult of Asclepius was centered in Epidaurus, but it was popular throughout the Greco-Roman world. The sanctuaries of Asclepius functioned as health resorts, where therapeutic regimens such as exercise and diets were prescribed. The most important practice associated with the cures was the ritual of incubation, in which afflicted people slept within a temple or sacred enclosure in the hope that the god would come to them in dreams and prescribe cures for their illnesses. Bulfinch, Thomas. Bulfinch's Mythology: The Age of Fable, The Age of Chivalry, Legends of Charlemagne. New York: Random House, 1934, quoted from Microsoft Encarta.