Caduceus

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Short description: Staff carried by Hermes in Greek mythology
Modern depiction of the caduceus as the symbol of logistics
Hermes Ingenui[lower-alpha 1] carrying a winged caduceus upright in his left hand. A Roman copy after a Greek original of the 5th century BCE (Museo Pio-Clementino, Rome).

The caduceus (☤; /kəˈdjuːʃəs, -siəs/; Latin: cādūceus, from Greek: κηρύκειον kērū́keion "herald's wand, or staff")[lower-alpha 2] is the staff carried by Hermes in Greek mythology and consequently by Hermes Trismegistus in Greco-Egyptian mythology. The same staff was borne by other heralds like Iris, the messenger of Hera. The short staff is entwined by two serpents, sometimes surmounted by wings. In Roman iconography, it was depicted being carried in the left hand of Mercury, the messenger of the gods.

Some accounts assert that the oldest imagery of the caduceus is rooted in Mesopotamia with the Sumerian god Ningishzida; his symbol, a staff with two snakes intertwined around it, dates back to 4000 BC to 3000 BC.[3]

As a symbol, it represents Hermes (or the Roman Mercury), and by extension trades, occupations, or undertakings associated with the god. In later Antiquity, the caduceus provided the basis for the astronomical symbol for planet Mercury. Thus, through its use in astrology, alchemy, and astronomy it has come to denote the planet Mercury and by extension the eponymous planetary metal. It is said that the wand would wake the sleeping and send the awake to sleep. If applied to the dying, their death was gentle; if applied to the dead, they returned to life.[4]

By extension of its association with Mercury and Hermes, the caduceus is also a symbol of commerce and negotiation, two realms in which exchange balanced by reciprocity is recognized as an ideal.[5][6][7] This association is ancient, and consistent from classical antiquity to modernity.[8][9] The caduceus is also a symbol of printing, by extension of the attributes of Mercury associated with writing and eloquence.

Although the Rod of Asclepius, which has only one snake and no wings, is the traditional and more widely used symbol of medicine, the Caduceus is sometimes used by healthcare organizations. Given that the caduceus is primarily a symbol of commerce and other non-medical symbology, many healthcare professionals disapprove of this use.[10]

Classical antiquity

The Caduceus in classical imagery
  • Fresco from Pompeii of the punishment of Ixion, showing the god Mercury holding a Caduceus

    Fresco from Pompeii of the punishment of Ixion: in the center is Mercury holding the caduceus

  • Iris with the caduceus

    Iris with the caduceus in detail from an Attic red-figure pelike, middle of fifth century BC (Agrigento, Sicily)

  • Coin from Sardis with caduceus

    Coin from Sardis (Turkey) with caduceus (c. 140-144 CE)

Mythology

The Homeric hymn to Hermes relates how his half brother Apollo was enchanted by Hermes's music from his lyre fashioned from a tortoise shell, which Hermes kindly gave to him. Apollo in return gave Hermes the caduceus as a gesture of friendship.[11] The association with the serpent thus connects Hermes to Apollo, as later the serpent was associated with Asclepius, the "son of Apollo".[12]

The association of Apollo with the serpent is a continuation of the older Indo-European dragon-slayer motif. Wilhelm Heinrich Roscher (1913) pointed out that the serpent as an attribute of both Hermes and Asclepius is a variant of the "pre-historic semi-chthonic serpent hero known at Delphi as Python", who in classical mythology is slain by Apollo.[13]

One Greek myth of origin of the caduceus is part of the story of Tiresias,[14] who found two snakes copulating and killed the female with his staff. Tiresias was immediately turned into a woman, and so remained until he was able to repeat the act with the male snake seven years later. This staff later came into the possession of the god Hermes, along with its transformative powers.

Another myth suggests that Hermes (or Mercury) saw two serpents entwined in mortal combat. Separating them with his wand he brought about peace between them, and as a result the wand with two serpents came to be seen as a sign of peace.[15]

In Rome, Livy refers to the caduceator who negotiated peace arrangements under the diplomatic protection of the caduceus he carried.[16]

Iconography

In some vase paintings ancient depictions of the Greek kerukeion are somewhat different from the commonly seen modern representation. These representations feature the two snakes atop the staff (or rod), crossed to create a circle with the heads of the snakes resembling horns. This old graphic form, with an additional crossbar to the staff, seems to have provided the basis for the graphical sign of Mercury (☿) used in Greek astrology from Late Antiquity.[17]

Origin and comparative mythology

Hermes hastens bearing his kerukeion, on an Attic lekythos, c. 475 BC, attributed to the Tithonos Painter

The term kerukeion denoted any herald's staff, not necessarily associated with Hermes in particular.[18]

In his study of the cult of Hermes, Lewis Richard Farnell (1909) assumed that the two snakes had simply developed out of ornaments of the shepherd's crook used by heralds as their staff.[19] This view has been rejected by later authors pointing to parallel iconography in the Ancient Near East. It has been argued that the staff or wand entwined by two snakes was itself representing a god in the pre-anthropomorphic era. Like the herm or priapus, it would thus be a predecessor of the anthropomorphic Hermes of the classical era.[20]

Ancient Near East

The Caduceus, symbol of God Ningishzida, on the libation vase of Sumerian ruler Gudea, c. 2100 BCE.
Caduceus symbol on a punch-marked coin of king Ashoka in India , third to second century BC

William Hayes Ward (1910) discovered that symbols similar to the classical caduceus sometimes appeared on Mesopotamian cylinder seals. He suggested the symbol originated some time between 3000 and 4000 BC, and that it might have been the source of the Greek caduceus.[21] A.L. Frothingham incorporated Ward's research into his own work, published in 1916, in which he suggested that the prototype of Hermes was an "Oriental deity of Babylonian extraction" represented in his earliest form as a snake god. From this perspective, the caduceus was originally representative of Hermes himself, in his early form as the Underworld god Ningishzida, "messenger" of the "Earth Mother".[22] The caduceus is mentioned in passing by Walter Burkert[23] as "really the image of copulating snakes taken over from Ancient Near Eastern tradition".

In Egyptian iconography, the Djed pillar is depicted as containing a snake in a frieze of the Dendera Temple complex.

India

The caduceus also appears as a symbol of the punch-marked coins of the Maurya Empire in India, in the third or second century BC. Numismatic research suggest that this symbol was the symbol of the Buddhist king Ashoka, his personal "Mudra".[24] This symbol was not used on the pre-Mauryan punch-marked coins, but only on coins of the Maurya period, together with the three arched-hill symbol, the "peacock on the hill", the triskelis and the Taxila mark.[25] It also appears carved in basalt rock in few temples of western ghats.

Early modern use

During the early modern period, the caduceus was used as a symbol of rhetoric (associated with Mercury's eloquence).[26]

  • Engraving by Hendrik Goltzius (1558–1617)

  • La Retorique (1633–35)

  • Allegory of Rhetoric (1650)

Modern use

Symbol of commerce

A simplified caduceus is found in dictionaries, as a "commercial term" entirely in keeping with the association of Hermes with commerce. In this form the staff is often depicted with two winglets and the snakes omitted or reduced to a small ring in the middle.[5] The customs service of the former German Democratic Republic demonstrated the caduceus' association with thresholds, translators, and commerce in the service medals issued to their staff. The caduceus is also the symbol of the customs agency of Bulgaria and of the financial administration of the Slovakia[27] (Tax and Customs administration). The emblems of Belarus Customs[28][29] and China Customs[30] are a caduceus crossing with a golden key. The emblem of the Federal Customs Service of Russia has a caduceus crossing with a torch on the shield. The coat of arms of Kyiv National University of Trade and Economics of Ukraine has two crossed torches surmounted by a caduceus on the shield.

Confusion with Rod of Asclepius

Computer coding

☤
Caduceus
In UnicodeU+2624 ☤ CADUCEUS
Related
See also
U+263F ☿ MERCURY
U+269A ⚚ STAFF OF HERMES
U+1F750 🝐 ALCHEMICAL SYMBOL FOR CADUCEUS
U+2BDA ⯚ HYGIEA
Different from
Different fromU+2695 ⚕ STAFF OF AESCULAPIUS
U+1F54F 🕏 BOWL OF HYGIEIA

For use in documents prepared on computer, the symbol has code point in Unicode, at U+2624 ☤ CADUCEUS. There is a similar glyph encoded at U+269A ⚚ STAFF OF HERMES, an alchemical symbol at U+1F750 🝐 ALCHEMICAL SYMBOL FOR CADUCEUS, and an astrological one at U+2BDA ⯚ HYGIEA. [For information on how to enter the symbol, see Unicode input (or copy/paste it directly).] These symbols are not provided in all fonts, especially older ones.

Coats of arms and flags

The symbol is depicted on multiple coats of arms and flags.

Caduceus in coats of arms and flags
  • Caduceus on the coat of arms of Jyväskylä, Finland

    Caduceus on the coat of arms of Jyväskylä, Finland

  • Gules a bend sinister wavy accompanied in chief by a hammer and in base by a caduceus all Or.

    Coat of arms of Tampere, Finland

  • Argent a caduceus azure

    Coat of arms of Lassay-les-Châteaux, France

  • Azure, a caduceus or; upon the chief azure, a fleur-de-lis between two towers, all or.

    Coat of arms of Saint-Pantaléon, France

  • Azure, in base a wavy stripe argent, in chief a caduceus at the dexter and an anchor at the simister, all or.

    Coat of arms of Gmina Nur, Poland

  • Vert bordure or a torch and a caduceus or saltirewise; for a Crest, a double-headed eagle displayed, twice imperially crowned, all Or, In chief another larger imperial crown with issuant and pendent therefrom a ribbon of the Order of St. Andrew the First-Called, also Or

    Emblem of the Federal Customs Service of Russia

  • Per fess argent and gules, in chief a saltire azure, in base a caduceus or and a saber or saltirewise.

    Coat of arms of Irbit, Russia

  • Gules, a bridge argent surmounted by a caduceus argent.

    Coat of arms of Bengtsfors Municipality, Sweden

  • Azure bordure or, a sheaf of six garbs or charged with a caduceus or, and overall surmounted by a mural crown argent.

    Coat of arms of Balta, Ukraine

  • Vert bordure or, a caduceus or and an axe argent saltirewise, four octagrams or in chief, in base and in fess, and overall surmounted by a mural crown argent.

    Coat of arms of Berdychiv, Ukraine

  • Vert bordure or, a caduceus argent and or, and a cornucopia or with fruits and vegetables proper saltirewise.

    Coat of arms of Kharkiv, Ukraine

  • A caduceus between two globes, overlaid with the text "Menade Bal Püki Bal".

    Emblem of the Volapük language

  • Customs flag of Belarus, with a Caduceus crossed with a golden key at the center

    Customs flag of Belarus , with a Caduceus crossed with a golden key at the center

  • Customs flag of China, with a Caduceus crossed with a golden key at the lower fly half

    Customs flag of China , with a Caduceus crossed with a golden key at the lower fly half

  • Flag of the City of Brisbane

    Flag of the City of Brisbane, Australia [31]

  • Unofficial flag of Vancouver Island

    Flag of Vancouver Island, Canada (unofficial)

See also

Notes

  1. ↑ It is unclear whether the inscription refers to a patron who paid for the statue, or to the sculptor of the statue.
  2. ↑ The Latin word cādūceus is an adaptation of the Greek word, itself derived from κῆρυξ kêrux "messenger, herald, envoy".[1][2]

Sources

  • Friedlander, Walter J. (1992). The Golden Wand of Medicine: A History of the Caduceus Symbol in Medicine. Greenwood Press. ISBN 978-0-313-28023-8. .
  • Tyson, Stuart L. (1932). "The Caduceus". The Scientific Monthly 34 (6): 492–498. Bibcode: 1932SciMo..34..492T. 

References

  1. ↑ Liddell and Scott, Greek–English Lexicon
  2. ↑ Tyson 1932, p. 493.
  3. ↑ Gary Lachman, "The Quest for Hermes Trismigestus", 2011, Chapter 3, p. x.
  4. ↑ William Godwin (1876). "Lives of the Necromancers". p. 37. https://archive.org/details/livesnecromance04godwgoog. 
  5. ↑ 5.0 5.1 "Miscellaneous Symbols". Unicode Consortium. https://www.unicode.org/charts/nameslist/n_2600.html. "U+269A ⚚ STAFF OF HERMES signifies a commercial term or commerce" 
  6. ↑ Friedlander 1992, p. 83.
  7. ↑ Howey, M. Oldfield (1955). The Encircled Serpent: A Study of Serpent Symbolism in All Countries And Ages. New York. p. 77. "In modern times the caduceus figures as a symbol of commerce, since Mercury is the god of commerce" 
  8. ↑ Bonnefoy, Yves, ed (1992). Roman and European Mythologies. University of Chicago Press. p. 135. "The name of the god Mercury cannot be disassociated from the word merx, which means merchandise. Such was the sentiment of the ancients." 
  9. ↑ Bakich, Michael E. (2000). The Cambridge Planetary Handbook. Cambridge University Press. p. 85. "Mercury was the Roman name for the Greek god Hermes. His Latin name was apparently derived from merx or mercator, a merchant." 
  10. ↑ Cite error: Invalid <ref> tag; no text was provided for refs named Engle
  11. ↑ Tyson 1932, p. 494.
  12. ↑ Deldon, Anne McNeely (1996). Mercury rising: women, evil, and the trickster gods. Spring Publications. p. 90. ISBN 978-0-88214-366-8. "Homer tell us that Hermes' caduceus, the golden wand, was acquired by Hermes from Apollo in exchange for the tortoise-lyre; later the caduceus changed hands again from Hermes to Apollo's son, Asclepius." 
  13. ↑ S. Davis (citing W. H. Roscher, Omphalos (1913)) (1953). "Argeiphontes in Homer – The Dragon-Slayer". Greece & Rome 22 (64): 33–38. doi:10.1017/S0017383500011712. 
  14. ↑ Blayney, Keith (September 2002). "The Caduceus vs the Staff of Asclepius". http://drblayney.com/Asclepius.html. 
  15. ↑ Tyson 1932, p. 495.
  16. ↑ Livy: Ab Urbe Condita Libri, 31,38,9–10
  17. ↑ "Signs and Symbols Used In Writing and Printing", p 269, in Webster's New Twentieth Century Dictionary of the English Language, unabridged, New York, 1953. Here the symbol of the planet Mercury is indicated as "the caduceus of Mercury, or his head and winged cap".
  18. ↑ Oxford Classical Dictionary, third edition, ed. Hornblower and Spawforth, s.v. "Hermes".
  19. ↑ Farnell, The Cults of the Greek States, vol. 5, p. 20, cited in Tyson 1932:494.
  20. ↑ A. L. Frothingham (1916). "Babylonian Origin of Hermes the Snake-God, and of the Caduceus I". American Journal of Archaeology 20, No. 2 (April–June, 1916) (2): 175–211. doi:10.2307/497115.  Frothingham characterizes Farnell's simplistic view of the origin of the symbol as a "frivolous and futile theory".
  21. ↑ William Hayes Ward, The Seal Cylinders of Western Asia, Washington, 1910
  22. ↑ A.L. Frothingham, "Babylonian Origins of Hermes the Snake-God, and of the Caduceus", in American Journal of Archaeology, Vol. 20, No. 2, pp. 175–211
  23. ↑ Burkert, Greek Religion 1985: II.2.8, p. 158; Burkert notes H. Frankfort, in Iraq, 1 (1934:10) and E.D. van Buren, in Archiv für Orientforschung, 10 (1935/36:53-65).
  24. ↑ Damodar Dharmanand Kosambi, Indian Numismatics, Orient Longman, New Delhi 1981, p. 73 (online).
  25. ↑ Kailash Chand Jain, Malwa Through the Ages. From the Earliest Time to 1305 A.D., Motilal Banarsidass, Delhi et al. 1972, p. 134 (online).
  26. ↑ Noldus, B.; Roding, J., eds (2007). Pieter Isaacsz (1569-1625): Court Painter, Art Trader and Spy. Brepol. pp. 280, 288. ISBN 9782503524665. 
  27. ↑ "Logo of the Financial Administration of the Slovak Republic". https://www.financnasprava.sk/_img/pfsedit/Dokumenty_PFS/Legislativa/IRA/smer/2015/2018.07.23_Smer_2015_04_pril01.pdf. 
  28. ↑ Belarus Customs. "Customs heraldy". http://www.customs.gov.by/en/history-en/. 
  29. ↑ "Belarus - Customs Flag". FOTW. https://www.fotw.info/flags/by-cust.html. 
  30. ↑ 海关关徽 .
  31. ↑ "Brisbane City Council: Symbols used by Council". Brisbane City Council. https://www.brisbane.qld.gov.au/about-council/council-information-and-rates/council-history/symbols-used-by-council. 

Further reading

  • Bunn, J. T. Origin of the caduceus motif, JAMA, 1967. United States National Institutes of Health: National Center for Biotechnology Information. PMID 4863068
  • Burkert, Walter, Structure and History in Greek Mythology and Ritual, Translation, University of California, 1979.

External links



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