Aesculapius

The Roman name for Asclepius, the Greek god of healing. In 293 BCE a plague spread through the land and, after consulting the Sibylline books, his cult was transferred from Epidaurus in Greece to Rome. A shrine was built on the Tiber island. The cult retained most of the Greek characteristics.

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References

Sources

  • Livy. The History of Rome x, 47; xxix, 11.
  • Ovid. Metamorphoses xv, 620 ff.
  • Smith, William. (1870). Dictionary of Greek and Roman Biography and Mythology. London: Taylor, Walton, and Maberly.
  • Suetonius. Divus Claudius, 25.
  • Valerius Maximus, i, 8.2.