Final Draft - Preview Matter - Florida State University
Final Draft - Preview Matter - Florida State University
Final Draft - Preview Matter - Florida State University
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creature of the earth, and even his frequent possession of the mallet may be indicative of this.<br />
Charu(n)’s hammer, which may menace the dead or unbar the door to allow entry into the<br />
underworld, 155 is likely parallel to the hammer held by Athrpa, the Etruscan Atropos, represented<br />
on the Athrpa mirror (Fig. VI.2), i.e. it is meant to denote finality and the inescapable nature of<br />
death. 156 There is no celestial Charu(n) as opposed to a figure such as Turms (Etruscan Hermes)<br />
who sometimes appears as Turms Aitas, the Turms of Aita (Etruscan Hades); thus Charu(n) is<br />
strictly chthonic but not necessarily malevolent.<br />
There are other serpent deities who are wholly beneficial to man. Apollo’s son,<br />
Aesculapius, savior of man and patron of healers, is one such benevolent serpent divinity. 157<br />
While he is not consistently depicted as a serpent in art or literature, cultic traditions indicate that<br />
his worshippers believed that the god could manifest himself in the sacred snakes associated with<br />
his temples, particularly when new sanctuaries were founded. 158 This animal was so closely<br />
associated with Aesculapius that poets could refer to the “Epidaurian snake,” and their audience<br />
would immediately know that they meant the god of healing, for Aesculapius was brought to<br />
Italy from his sanctuary at Epidauros. 159 The persistence of the association of god and serpent<br />
can be seen in the emblem of the American Medical Association, Aesculapius’ staff. 160<br />
A brief discussion of select myths associated with Aesculapius is in order to illuminate<br />
the nature of this god. There are several different accounts of Aesculapius’ birth, yet none of<br />
them directly associate him with serpents. On the other hand, the stories of his origins do accord<br />
with a god directly associated with the boundary between life and death. Servius records one<br />
version of Aesculapius’ birth and death in his commentary on the Aeneid.<br />
155 Jannot 2005, 65.<br />
156 Beazley (1949, 13) and Krauskopf (1987, 47) note this connotation of the hammer in relation to Athrpa. I would<br />
argue for a similar interpretation of Charu’s hammer. For the varied uses of Charu(n)’s hammer, see De Grummond<br />
2006a, 215.<br />
157 Schouten (1967, 7) notes that Aesculapius’ name is spelled many ways including Haisklapios, Aisklapios,<br />
Aischlabios, Aiskalapios, Aisclapius, Aisculapius, and Aescolapius as well as Asklepios or Asclepius. De<br />
Grummond (2006a, 187) notes that this god’s name was Esplace in Etruria. For consistency, I shall use Aesculapius<br />
unless quoting another scholar’s text or a primary source.<br />
158 Edelstein and Edelstein (1945, n. 16) state that the practice of venerating the snake as a representation of<br />
Aesculapius indicates the persistence of theriomorphic form throughout antiquity and that Aesculapius was not<br />
unique in being worshipped in animal form. They go so far as to suggest that all the gods were worshipped in<br />
animal form due to myths which record the shape-changing of gods into animals. While I agree that theriomorphic<br />
gods were venerated throughout antiquity, I am less convinced that all of the gods were worshipped in this way.<br />
159 Edelstein and Edelstein 1945, 231.<br />
160 American Medical Association, 2006. Hermes also bore a rod entwined with a serpent, the caduceus.<br />
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