Source: EMS (gov)
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Its easy to see the origins of the God Complex found within the medical industry, when one understand that medicine and science is rooted in the non-traditional religion of astrology, the study of celestial entities, leading to the science of astronomy. Indeed the Greco-Roman gods and goddesses born out of these forms of worship often had children with humans. Two of the humans these gods and goddesses supposedly birthed were the two brothers responsible for establishing the Roman Empire (April 21, 753 B.C). Mythology has it that the war god Mars (the celestial entity) fathered Romulus and Remus. They were the sons of Rhea Silvia, the daughter of King Numitor of Alba Longa, a mystical city located in Alban Hills southeast of what would become Rome according to History. It was common practice for Roman rulers to deify themselves and to have a form of royal connection or some type of stature, such as priest (of a non-traditional religion). From the mythology of Romulus and Remus we can see where this tradition (deification) likely came from and consequently the God Complex, the gods associated with medicine and the symbols of medicine are detailed below.
Staff of Asclepius (Greek) / Aesculapius (Roman)
Asclepius was the Greek god of medicine. In Greek mythology he was the son of Apollo (god of light, truth, and prophecy) and the nymph Coronis. The centaur Chiron taught him the art of healing, but Zeus (the king of gods), afraid that he might render all men immortal, slew him with a thunderbolt. Homer, in the iliad, mentions him only as the skilled or "peerless physician" and further identifies him as the father of Podaleirus and Machaeon, physicians to the Greeks in the Trojan War. In later times, however, he was honored as a hero and eventually worshipped as a god. The cult of Asclepius began in Thessaly, but spread to many parts of Greece. Since it was supposed that he effected cures or prescribed remedies to the sick in dreams, the practice of sleeping in his temples became common.
Asclepius was frequently represented standing, dressed in a long cloak, with bare breast; his usual attribute was the staff with a serpent coiled around it. The staff is the only true symbol of medicine. The Caduceus with its winged staff and intertwined serpents, used as a medical emblem by the Military Medical Corps and some physicians, is without medical relevance in its origin since it represents the magic wand of Hermes (in Greek mythology a deity; herald and messenger of the gods; gods of roads, commerce, invention, cunning, and theft; patron of traders and rogues; and conductor of the dead to Hades) and Mercury of Roman mythology, often identified with Hermes, who served also as messenger to the other gods and was god of commerce, travel and thievery.
In 293 B.C. because of the plague, the Romans adopted the cult of Aclepius who became known in Roman mythology as Aesculapius.
It is considered most appropriate to call attention to the other significant reference to the serpent on a staff associated with healing as follows:
"Moses accordingly made a bronze serpent and mounted it on a pole and whenever anyone who had been bitten by a serpent looked at the bronze serpent, he recovered." Numbers 21:9. It was common practice after the conversion of Constantine's to Christianity for pagans to blend their beliefs with the Christian faith with Constantine's convert to Christianity being a social political move motivated by greed rather than faith or belief in the religion.
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