Rod of Asclepius VS The Caduceus

[Æon Flux]

My husband won't stay quiet about it. The problem with medical institutions and ambulances using the wrong symbol.

The rod of Asclepius is the rod associated with medicine and healing, and it looks like this:
http://www.newswithviews.com/Hayes/images/Rod%20of%20Asclepius.gif

The caduceus is the Herald's staff and symbolizes commerce, deception, lies and death and looks like this:
http://www.soulsofdistortion.nl/images/caduceus.gif

The confusion started in 1902 when one single officer wanted it as the symbol for the US medical corps, and from there it has snowballed. It drives my husband crazy, and it's a bit distasteful considering what the caduceus symbolizes.

What's your opinion on the confusion. Could we petition the places who use the wrong symbol to change it? *shrugs* Does it annoy you as much as it does my husband.

I suppose one could argue that the caduceus could be appropriate for private and commercial health care... :hyper:

[Agaliha]

Yeah, it is the incorrect symbol.
I think it's too late to change it totally.

Though Hermes was the one to take people from the living to the real of the dead as a psychopomp. It's a stretch to link this to ambulances, but it does sort of fit in the sense that people in ambulances can be in a sort of liminal realm-- between life and death. And Hermes was associated with liminality.

ETA: It could work with morgues I think, where people would be dead and leaving to the underworld (according to Greek mythology/views) and Hermes would be the one to lead them there.

But obviously the people that used the caduceus for medical symbols weren't considering those things.

ETA:
Does it annoy you as much as it does my husband?

No. :lol: I would correct or explain it to someone if need-be, but I wouldn't be ranting over it.

[Æon Flux]

My husband goes bonkers over it. :hahugh:

It didn't annoy me that badly until my husband started yelling every time he sees it being misused though.

[Agaliha]

My husband goes bonkers over it. :hahugh:

It didn't annoy me that badly until my husband started yelling every time he sees it being misused though.

I understand! :uhhuhuh:

I'm the same way with Islam. When I hear people on the news or even in documentaries or real life say something incorrectly (like "Muslims (can) worship Jesus" ...but mostly the ignorant, Islamophobe comments are the ones that do it for me), it annoys me to no end. I caught part of the CNN documentary about Muslims being unwelcome in this town (forget the title) and I became so annoyed after 30 seconds of this guys ignorant speech that I had to turn the channel. I get annoyed with people incorrectly saying things about other faiths and deities, but perhaps because I was a Muslim and still have an affinity for the faith, that triggers my irritation more when people get things wrong. :hrmm:

[blithespirit]

As a devotee of Apollo, I much prefer the real rod of Asclepius. It does annoy me, but I think it's too far gone at this point to do anything about it. The cadeuceus has taken on a meaning of its own by now, wrong as its origins may be. I will correct people whenever the subject arises, of course. Gotta stir the pot when and where we can!

[Daecon]

Well, the most common myth of the caduceus is that it was originally owned by Apollo, who was, along with His other attributes, a god of healing. It was given to Hermes as a peace offering in return for Hermes' lyre (and the return of Apollo's stolen cattle.) It's use by the medical corps, therefore, probably had more to do with it being a symbol of peace and diplomacy, than medicine per se. The healing association is certainly well established now, of course, whatever its classical meaning was.

[Agaliha]

Here are the mentions of it on Theoi in case anyone is interested in the sources:


HERALD'S ROD OF HERMES Hermes wielded a golden herald's staff as a symbol of his role as the herald of the gods. It was called "kerykeion" by the Greeks and "caduceus" by the Romans.

"He [Hermes] caught up the staff (rhabdos), with which he mazes the eyes of those mortals whose eyes he would maze, or wakes again the sleepers. Holding this in his hands, Kratus (strong) Argeiphontes winged his way onward." - Homer, Iliad 24.339
"There were sentries ... but about these the courier Argeiphontes drifted sleep, on all [with his wand]." - Homer, Iliad 24.443

"And he [Hermes] took the rod that lulls men’s eyes for him, at his pleasure, or awakens others when they slumber. With this in hand Kratus (strong) Argeiphontes (Radiant One) began his flight." - Homer, Odyssey 5.28

"Hermes Kyllenios (of Mt Kyllene) began to summon the suitors’ ghosts [at dawn’s first light]; he held in his hand the golden rod that he uses to lull men’s eyes asleep when he so wills, or again to wake others from their slumber; with this he roused them and led them on [to the underworld], and they followed him, thinly gibbering." - Homer, Odyssey 24.1


"Apollon sware also [to Hermes]: 'Verily I will make you only to be an omen for the immortals and all alike, trusted and honoured by my heart. Moreover, I will give you a splendid staff of riches and wealth: it is of gold, with three branches, and will keep you scatheless, accomplishing every task, whether of words or deeds that are good, which I claim to know through the utterance of Zeus." - Homeric Hymn 4 to Hermes 528

"Hermes was tending the cattle, this time he fashioned a shepherd’s pipe which he proceeded to play. Covetous also of this, Apollon offered him the golden staff which he held when he herded cattle." - Apollodorus, The Library 3.115
"[At Olympia] is another image, Hermes with a herald's wand." - Pausanias, Guide to Greece 5.27.8

"Hermes ... messenger of Zeus ...whose hand contains of blameless peace the rod, Korykion, blessed." - Orphic Hymn 28 to Hermes

"At Apollo’s request he [Hermes] gave him permission to claim the invention of the lyre, and received from him a certain staff as reward. When Mercury [Hermes], holding it in his hand, was journeying to Arcadia and saw two snakes with bodies intertwined, apparently fighting, he put down the staff between them. They separated then, and so he said that the staff had been appointed to bring peace. Some, in making caducei, put two snakes intertwined on the rod, because this seemed to Mercury a bringer of peace. Following his example, they use the staff in athletic contests and other contests of this kind." - Hyginus, Astronomica 2.7

"[Hermes] grasped in his fist the wand that charms to sleep, put on his magic cap, and thus arrayed ... sprang from his father’s citadel down to earth [to slay the monster Argos Panoptes]. There he removed his cap, laid by his wings; only his wand he kept ... Cyllenius [Hermes] saw all Argus’ eyelids closed [after soothing him with the music of a shepherd's-pipe] and every eye vanquished in sleep. He stopped and with his wand, his magic wand, soothed the tired resting eyes and sealed their slumber." - Ovid, Metamorphoses 1.583

"[Hermes] saw that his wand, the wand he wields to bring and banish sleep, shone with a polish." - Ovid, Metamorphoses 2.730

"The god with his wand, his magic wand, opened the door." - Ovid, Metamorphoses 2.708
"Mercurius [Hermes] with his wand that soothes to slumber touched her [Khione] on the lips; touch-tranced she lay and suffered his assault [he lay with her]." - Ovid, Metamorphoses 11.301

"Cloud-wrapt Arcadian [Hermes] with rod of power leads in separate throng [the Shades of] the pious denizens of Elysium." - Statius, Thebaid 4.410
"The herald’s staff and the wand which he carried identified him as Mercurius [Hermes]." - Apuleius, The Golden Ass 10.30
http://www.theoi.com/Olympios/HermesTreasures.html#Rod
Even though Apollo have Hermes the staff, it doesn't appear to have retained any of the qualities associated with Apollo-- medicine, health, etc. That's found with the Rod of Asclepius. The Caduceus would be a good symbol for anestheticans, who put people to sleep, though!

[antiquitas]

I suppose one could argue that the caduceus could be appropriate for private and commercial health care... :hyper:
LMFAO!!!!!!
:rotfl:

I always thought this funny/unfortunate too.

[Kaylara]

Moved to the History Forum.