A card for a doctor - I decided to use this symbol, which
base are two different anctious myths:
The image of serpents wrapped around a staff is a familiar
one in the medical field. Snakes bites are generally bad news, and so the
animal might seem ill-fitting as the symbol of the medical profession, but the
ancient emblem actually has a quite a story behind it.
There are actually two versions of the symbol. The winged version
is known as a caduceus, and the stick is actually a staff that was carried by
the Olympian god Hermes. In Greek mythology, Hermes was a messenger between the
gods and humans (which explains the wings) and a guide to the underworld (which
explains the staff). Hermes was also the patron of travelers, which makes his
connection to medicine appropriate because, in the olden days, doctors had to
travel great distances by foot in order to visit their patients.
Another, earlier depiction of the medical symbol is the
staff of Asclepius, thought it has no wings and only one snake. The son of
Apollo and the human princess Coronis, Asclepius is the Greek demigod of
medicine . According to mythology, he was able to restore the health of the
sick and bring the dead back to life.
