The Birth and Death of Asclepius
Apollo rescues the unborn Asclepius after the death of Coronis, and the child grows into a healer whose power eventually challenges death itself.
The Story
Coronis became pregnant by Apollo.
The child she carried was Asclepius.
But the relationship between Apollo and Coronis ended violently.
In a major tradition Coronis took another lover while carrying Apollo's child.
Apollo learned what had happened.
Ancient sources differ over exactly who killed Coronis.
Some make Apollo responsible.
Others give the act to Artemis.
As Coronis' body was being consumed on the funeral pyre, Apollo saved the unborn child.
Asclepius survived.
He was raised and became extraordinarily skilled in medicine.
His ability surpassed that of ordinary healers.
Eventually Asclepius was said not merely to cure disease but to restore the dead to life.
That power threatened the boundary separating mortals from the gods.
Zeus struck Asclepius with a thunderbolt.
Apollo was enraged by the death of his son.
In important traditions he retaliated against the Cyclopes who had fashioned Zeus' thunderbolts.
Asclepius nevertheless did not disappear from Greek religion.
He became honoured as a divine healer.
His sanctuaries developed into major centres where people sought cures through ritual, dreams and medical treatment.
The mortal healer killed for overcoming death therefore became one of the most important gods of medicine in the ancient Greek world.
Key Figures
Why It Matters
The myth explains the divine origins of Asclepius and the tension between healing and the ultimate limit of death.
Traditions & Variations
Ancient traditions differ over the identity of Asclepius' mother, the circumstances of Coronis' death, who kills her, and exactly why Zeus destroys Asclepius. Coronis is the mother in the most familiar tradition.