Section: RESPUBLICA (The State). View all emblems in this section.
Link to an image of this page [L1v p162]
Salus publica.
The nation’s health
Phoebigena erectis Epidaurius insidet aris,[1]
Mitis, & immani conditur angue Deus.
Accurrunt aegri, veniatque salutifer orant.
Annuit, atque ratas efficit ille preces.
The Epidaurian scion of Phoebus broods on the altars built for him, and the god, all gentle, is concealed in a huge snake. The sick come running and beg him to draw near with healing. He consents and ratifies their prayers.
1. ‘The Epidaurian scion of Phoebus’, i.e. Aesculapius, son of Phoebus [Apollo] and god of medicine and healing. His main sanctuary and centre of healing was near Epidaurus in Greece. The god’s epiphany and symbol was a snake, and a number of sacred snakes were kept at the sanctuary. One of these was brought to Rome in 293 BC in hopes of stopping an outbreak of plague. The snake made its home on the Island in the Tiber, where a shrine and medical centre was subsequently built. See Ovid, Metamorphoses, 15.626ff.
Related Emblems
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Iconclass Keywords
Relating to the image:
- adult man (+ more than eight persons) [31D14(+79)] Search | Browse Iconclass
- Aesculapius in the shape of a serpent (or dragon) arrives at Rome and hides himself among the reeds of the Tiber island (+ variant) [92F27913(+0)] Search | Browse Iconclass
- altar ~ Greek religion - EE - in the open air [12EE62] Search | Browse Iconclass
- arm raised upward - AA - both arms or hands (+ speaking) [31AA2511(+9321)] Search | Browse Iconclass
- clouds [26A] Search | Browse Iconclass
- dress, gown (+ men's clothes) [41D211(+81)] Search | Browse Iconclass
- hands folded [31A2522] Search | Browse Iconclass
- head-gear (+ men's clothes) [41D221(+81)] Search | Browse Iconclass
- leaning forward [31A2321] Search | Browse Iconclass
- looking upwards [31B6211] Search | Browse Iconclass
- mountains [25H11] Search | Browse Iconclass
- snakes (+ animal rotating, twisting) [25F42(+5253)] Search | Browse Iconclass
- snakes (+ animal with tongue stuck out) [25F42(+57321)] Search | Browse Iconclass
- sunbeams [24A81] Search | Browse Iconclass
- veneration of Aesculapius [92F279] Search | Browse Iconclass
- worship and devotion (in general) ~ Greek religion [1.20E+212] Search | Browse Iconclass
Relating to the text:
- healing of sick person [49G230] Search | Browse Iconclass
- Health, 'Sanitas'; 'Sanità ' (Ripa) [31A4690] Search | Browse Iconclass
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