Asclepius: Collection and Interpretation of the Testimonies

8vo (super). xxvii, 470 p.p., xxxvi, 277 p.p. Two volumes bound as one. First Thus. First puplished in 2 vols in 1945. Pictorial soft cover with Greek palm design. A few scuffs to tail edge, but otherwise a fine copy. Throughout nearly all of antiquity, the legendary Greek physician, Asclepius, son of Apollo and Coronis, was not only the primary representative of divine healing, but also so influential in the religious life of later centuries that, as Emma J. Edelstein and Ludwig Edelstein point out, "in the final stages of paganism, of all genuinely Greek gods, [he] was judged the foremost antagonist of Christ." Providing an overview of all facets of the Asclepius phenomenon, this book comprises a unique collection of the literary references and inscriptions in ancient texts-given in both the original and translation-to the deity, his life, his deeds, his cult, and his temples, as well as an extended analysis of them.