Since it’s Christmastime, I’m taking up related topics for my theme this week. The being featured here is of course not Saint Nick, but the Greco-Roman God Asclepius — whose birth, life, and death stories were extremely popular during Jesus’ lifetime. Turns out, the two deities had a lot in common.
The story of the Virgin Mary becoming impregnated by the Holy Spirit is found in two of the Gospels (Matthew and Luke). Similarly, early accounts (5th c BCE) of Asclepius tell of his birth from a divine father (Apollo) and mortal mother. Both Jesus and Asclepius were eventually killed but resurrected after their deaths. In particular, both figures were famous healers, to the extent that miracle stories were told in which each actually brought the deceased back to life.
In fact, it is likely that those who were part of the Jesus movement (1st and 2nd centuries) found themselves in competition with people who were strong adherents of the cult of Asclepius. Even though Jesus of course lived in the first century, when Asclepius already had been worshipped for over half a millennium, the two belonged to the same cultural stew that was so compelling for Ancient Romans of the time.
Source(s): “Talitha Qum! An exploration of the image of Jesus as healer-physician-savior on the Synoptic Gospels in relation to the Asclepius cult,” by Frances Flannery in _The Permeability of Past and Present, Mortality and Immortality, Death and Life in the Ancient Mediterranean _ B. Rice, ed F Tappenden and Carly Daniel-Hughes, McGill University Library, 2017, pp407-434. Also”Asclepius of Epidaurus and Jesus of Nazareth” by Hansie Dollar and, department of Greek and Latin Studies, Univ of Johannesburg, Johannesburg, South Africa.
