News 36 - 290 BC l Can Asclepius and his Snake stop Ancient Rome's Epidemic?

An epidemic hit Ancient Rome again in 293 BC and the Roman priests and/or augurs were consulted as to what can the Romans do to end the epidemic. The Roman priests/augurs consulted the prophetic Books of Sibylline and the Books recommended that Asclepius, the Greek god of medicine should be asked to come to Rome to stop the epidemic. Will Asclepius be able to come? Watch this report by Agent MC, the spy cat of WiN'R - What is News in Ancient Rome, together with his friend Snakey Serpentes, the snake friend of Asclepius, no less!
Just a fun fact - If you ever wonder why you see in hospitals or doctors clinics an image of a snake coiling in a staff, it is because of Asclepius. Once a story is told that a snake licked or whispered to Asclepius' ears the secrets of the world of medicine! Could this be true?

Image Credits :

- Johannis Vercruys’s engraving of the Asclepius and Hygieia diptych, in Giovanni Battista Passeri, In monumenta sacra eburnea a clarissimo Antonio Francisco Gorio ad quartam huius operis partem reservata expositiones… Florentiae, 1759, 62–64, pls XX–XXI; [Public domain], via Wikimedia Commons.
- Snake by Dugald Stewart Walker, 1921 [Public domain], via Wikimedia Commons;
- Asklepios (Paris, Louvre), circa 1885 [Public domain], via Wikimedia Commons;
- View of the Isola Tiberina on a print by Giovanni Piranesi, , Francesco Piranesi e d'altri. Firmin Didot Freres, Paris, 1835-1839. Tomo 16. Scans from www.coe.l.u-tokyo.ac.jp [Public domain], via Wikimedia Commons.

Видео News 36 - 290 BC l Can Asclepius and his Snake stop Ancient Rome's Epidemic? канала Jkids - Bits of Classics & History