Caduceus

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Caduceus with two snakes
Badge of the US Army Medical Corps

The Caduceus (Gr.) Or Caduceus ( Latin caduceus , ancient Greek κηρύκειον kerykeion from κῆρυξ Keryx "Herold"; also ῥάβδος rhabdos "bar") is a rod with two wings , the two snakes is wrapped with mutually facing heads.

In ancient times the herald's staff was the identification mark of the heralds , which was supposed to signal the immunity of these bearers of military orders or secret messages and to ensure their safe return. In later times the herald's staff, as a Mercury staff, was a symbol of trade, also in heraldry ( Mercury staff ). The most famous staff bearer was the Greek god Hermes , who was called Mercurius (Mercury) by the Romans .

The design is interpreted in different ways: on the one hand as a connection of opposing forces (this interpretation was later used mainly by the alchemists ), on the other hand, also as a symbol of fertility, whereby the staff was seen as a phallic symbol , above which two snakes mate. In addition to Hermes / Mercury, the Greek messenger of the gods Iris and the Roman goddess of fortune Felicitas are also represented with a herald's staff.

Nowadays the Hermes staff is mostly a symbol for economy and trade . The administrative services of German armies, police and shipping companies sometimes used the Mercury staff as an additional emblem on their rank badges; so also the customs administration of the GDR . In the USA it is sometimes used as a symbol of medical institutions since it was introduced by the American Air Force as a symbol of their medical service and confused with the Aesculapian staff .

Coins from the Dutch Mint have had a Mercury staff since 1830 .

The Unicode symbol of the Caduceus is U + 2624 ☤ CADUCEUS.

History of origin

Hermes with wing shoes and staff, Attic lekythos , 5th century BC Chr.

According to Greek mythology, Hermes was born on the Kyllene Mountains in Arcadia as the son of Zeus and a nymph . On the day of his birth he stole 50 cattle from his brother Apollon , which he had to tend on behalf of King Admetus in Thessaly . Dragged in front of Olympus by the raging Apollo, the amused Zeus ordered him to return the stolen cattle. Instead, Hermes beguiled Apollo by playing his self-invented lyre and persuaded him to take this lyre instead of the cattle. On top of that, he also received a golden wand (= rhabdos chryseie) from Apollo, which sends sleep, including eternal sleep, and which can turn everything it touches into gold. His main attribute, in addition to the winged shoes and the wide-brimmed, shadow-giving travel hat (which can later also be found with a wing), is the herald's staff (Greek-Doric κηρúκειον = kerykeion, in Homer also: kerykeion skeptron). In earlier times, this staff is said to have been represented as a rod, consisting of an olive or laurel branch with two knotted tips.

On vase pictures and coins you usually find a thin rod (rod) with a circle at the end and a semicircle (or crescent moon) over it. The same shape is said to be found among Phoenicians and Hittites and possibly represent a combination of the sun and crescent moon. In India, the symbol of the sun and crescent is said to have existed as the " Trishula " even earlier . In alchemy and astrology , the Caduceus still stands for "Mercurius" (mercury) and the planet Mercury. One of the earliest depictions of two snake heads on a caduceus is a bronze caduceus from the 5th century BC. In the National Museum of Palermo . Here, too, the caduceus essentially consists of a circle with a semicircle on the staff, only that the ends of the semicircle are shown as snake heads. The earliest depiction of wings on the staff of Hermes is found on a statue from the 1st century AD. Wings and snakes on the caduceus have only been regularly found since the 15th or 16th century.

Through contacts between Greek and Egyptian culture, at least since the conquest of Egypt by Alexander the Great , a link between the Greek Hermes and the Egyptian god Thoth developed . Often depicted as a baboon or an ibis , Thoth was considered to be the inventor of timekeeping, writing and the sciences, especially mathematics and astronomy, and was the god of laws, wisdom, magic, prophecy and sacred books. He served as scribe and recorder of the gods and noted the judgment when the souls of the deceased were weighed against the pen of truth Maat in the underworld . Like Hermes, he was considered a transmitter of the decisions of the gods. The caduceus of Hermes had various meanings for the Greeks. Originally a magic wand, it was later mainly used as a symbol of the herald and a symbol of peace. According to a legend, Hermes once found two snakes intertwined in a violent fight. He separated the fighters with an olive branch, and in thanks they wrapped the staff peacefully and turned to one another in love. Hermes with its symbol was henceforth a peacemaker. This is the most positive meaning that the Caduceus has acquired. With the Romans it was not only a symbol of peace but also a symbol for trade and traffic. In Rome, the merchants celebrated a festival in his honor on May 15th. They sprinkled themselves with water in order to “cleanse themselves of the perjuries that they had committed in their trade and conduct up to then”.

See also

literature

Web links

Commons : Caduceus  - collection of images, videos and audio files
Wiktionary: Caduceus  - explanations of meanings, word origins, synonyms, translations

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Collections and exhibitions on the GDR customs administration
  2. ↑ Identification tag of the GDR customs investigation service.  ( Page no longer available , search in web archives )  Info: The link was automatically marked as defective. Please check the link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. Zoll.de, find of the month June 2004@1@ 2Template: Dead Link / www.zoll.de  
  3. ↑ Hans Schadewaldt : Äskulapschlange. In: Werner E. Gerabek u. a. (Ed.): Encyclopedia of medical history. De Gruyter, Berlin / New York 2005, ISBN 3-11-015714-4 , p. 15 f.
  4. ^ A b Walter J. Friedlander: The Golden Wand of Medicine. A History of the Caduceus Symbol in Medicine .