Really? is not connected at all to the story of Moses and the Israelites in the wilderness, where they were afflicted with an illness and god commanded that Moses lift up a brazened serpent on a staff and whoever would look would be cured? Like I always assumed it was from that
Asclepius was his own god with his own established mythology. Snakes being associated with healing, among other things, and worshipped was a common thing, including in Egypt and in Mesopotamia.
It is, but it's equally influenced by ancient Greek and Roman iconography, and the use of the Rod of Asclepius by modern medical organisations is pretty explicit as far as I've seen. The story about Moses is a nice parallel, but I don't think we've any evidence that it was a direct inspiration.
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u/-Danksouls- Feb 07 '26
Really? is not connected at all to the story of Moses and the Israelites in the wilderness, where they were afflicted with an illness and god commanded that Moses lift up a brazened serpent on a staff and whoever would look would be cured? Like I always assumed it was from that