Asklepios

Archetypal Image of the Physician's Existence (Archetypal Images in Greek Religion, Volume 3)

Carl Kerényi, Ralph Manheim

• Publisher: Princeton University Press
• Year: 2026
• Print ISBN:
  9780691281827
  9780691281834
• eBook ISBN:
  9780691291659
• Topic: Theology & Religion
• Subtopic: Greek Ancient History

A landmark account of the divine physician of the Greeks in myth and archetype

To the physicians of classical antiquity, Asklepios was the ideal of their existence as healers. In this book, acclaimed mythologist and historian of religion Carl Kerényi takes readers on a tour of the sacred sites of the Greek god of medicine to investigate the origins and archetypal significance of Asklepios as the divine physician. Drawing on mythology to trace the obscure beginnings of the cult, Kerényi argues that Asklepios was an aspect of his father, the god Apollo, closely associated with the light of rising sun and embodying the qualities of a healing deity. He shows how the Greeks revered Asklepios as the divine ancestor and prototype of mortal physicians and explores the role of the Asklepios archetype in modern psychology.

Table of contents

• Cover
• Title Page
• Copyright
• Contents
• List of Illustrations
• Chronological Table
• Preface
• I. Asklepios in Rome
• II. Epidauros
• III. The Sons of Asklepios on Kos
• IV. Hero Physicians and the Physician of the Gods in Homer
• V. The Origins in Thessaly
• Postscript: On Snakes and Mice in the Cults of Apollo and Asklepios
• Abbreviations
• Notes
• List of Works Cited
• Index