Asclepius statue with his serpent-entwined staff

Asclepius, son of Apollo and the mortal Coronis, was the Greek god of medicine and healing. His staff — entwined by a single serpent — remains the universal symbol of medical practice to this day. His great sanctuary at Epidaurus drew the sick from across the Mediterranean for nearly a thousand years, and the Hippocratic Oath was sworn in his name long after Greek paganism itself had faded.