Asclepius's major shrine was at Epidauros, which is where the name "Epidauria" comes from. As for where the sacred snake stuff comes from, well, snakes have been associated with youth and immortality since prehistoric times because of their ability to shed their skins. Some scholars say they are also associated with fertility because of their resemblance to a phallic symbol!

Snakes were especially sacred to the Athenians, who associated them with the Athenian god-king Erechthonius, supposedly the offspring of Hephaestus and Athene. We already encountered him briefly in our textbook and in last week's Featured Deity pages, and you'll see more on him in the selection from Ovid, below.

Here are two accounts of Asclepius's birth, one by the Greek poet Pindar and one by the first-century Roman poet Ovid. But before you click on the links, please continue to scroll down this page and read my commentary underneath.

Pindar, Pythian Three
Ovid, selection from Metamorphoses, Book Two

The difference between these two versions of the same story is a fascinating example of the flexibility of mythology and how it was adapted during ancient times to fit the storyteller's needs. We've been discussing this over the past couple of weeks, and I have to confess that for me it's one of the most interesting things about mythology. Through the way people described their gods, we can get a feeling for what the people themselves were like, their values and their concerns. Here's some background on Pindar and Ovid that might help clarify some of the details in the two texts:

Pindar was a professional Greek poet living at the height of the classical period in the 5^th century B.C.E., which made him a contemporary of Pericles, Aeschylus, and Socrates, though he was from the northern city of Thebes rather than Athens. He made his living by composing odes in favor of wealthy patrons who supported him in return for the privilege of being immortalized in his poetry. Usually these patrons had a stake in the sacred athletic competitions at the Olympic, Nemean, Pythian, or Isthmian games. The Olympian and Nemean games were sacred to Zeus, the Isthmian games were sacred to Poseidon, and the Pythian games were sacred to Apollo.

You might wonder how a pampered king--and a sick one at that--could be the victor of a brutally competitive horse race, but that's easily answered. The winners of equestrian events, such as horse or chariot races, were the owners, not the riders. In that way it's more like our Kentucky Derby than like today's Olympic games: it's not the jockey, but the horse itself and the owner of the stable who get most of the credit.

In "Pythian Three," the third of his surviving odes to a patron of the Pythian games, Pindar addresses Hieron, the ruler of Syracuse. Hieron was in poor health at the time, so Pindar chose to use the games' association with Apollo to introduce the myth of Apollo's son, the famous healer. The way in which he adapts the myth is significant: he uses it to make a comment on the dangers of wanting too much or reaching too high, a typical example of the Greek emphasis on "Nothing in Excess." The desire for "things remote" and the appetite that causes her to anticipate her marriage vows are, literally, the death of Asclepius's mother Koronis.

At the end of the ode, Pindar also meditates on the fact that the only road to immortality is through your progeny--a typical theme in the poetry of both Greece and Rome, and indeed in most poetic traditions of the pre-Christian era. In the case of "Pythian Three," the concept of progeny extends to cover the literature or art that you leave behind as opposed to actual children, another common idea in ancient Greece and Rome. Thus, Pindar reminds Hieron that it is important to consider the legacy one leaves behind (and it's important to pay a good poet to ensure that legacy is an enduring one!).

Ovid, on the other hand, was a sophisticated Roman living at the court of Caesar Augustus in the 1^st century B.C.E. Life under the Roman emperors was very different from life in a Greek polis, especially if you lived at court. One of the first rules you learned was to keep your mouth shut and not to expose yourself. The imperial court was a dangerous place to live. Idle gossip could, and frequently did, get people killed. Thus, the story of the fate of the gossipy raven. Whether or not Ovid meant specifically to warn his audience against the dangers of idle gossip, the theme would have been a familiar one to them and would have been natural for him to incorporate into his rendition. It's a pity he didn't take his own advice; eventually Ovid found himself in exile, and died miserably, as a result of some of his more indiscreet poetry.

Ovid's purpose in writing the Metamorphoses was to use various stories of metamorphosis, or change, as a theme to tie together the old myths. That's where the title comes from, and that's why the description of the raven's metamorphosis has such an important position at the end of his account.

Pindar's purpose, on the other hand, is to soothe and please his ailing patron, using the myth as a cautionary tale about wanting more than we are fated to have and not being content with what we've got.

Notice how Ovid nests other stories (the one about the crow, and inside that, the story of Athene's owl, Nyctimene) inside his tale of Asclepius's birth. This was typical of his elaborate literary style, very different from Pindar's straightforward delivery that was intended for oral performance.

Side note: Pindar begins his ode with a mention of the centaur Chiron. Chiron cropped up very briefly in the introduction to Prometheus Bound in your textbook; he's the centaur who, according to some sources, volunteered to die as a substitute for Prometheus (in the fourth edition you'll find this on page 124). All centaurs, but Chiron in particular, were supposed to have a remarkable gift of healing. Chiron also had a direct connection with Achilles, the great hero who was the son of the sea nymph Thetis; he had such a great reputation as a teacher he served several of the heroes, including Achilles and Jason. More details about this connection can be found here (not my page--this link will take you off-site, so I've set it to open a new window on your web browser). His home was on Mount Pelion.