B.C. Colonists carried the cult of Æsculapius far and wide: at Cos, Cnidos, and Pergamon were famous temples. In consequence of a plague, the god was brought to Rome in 293 B.C., and his temple established on the island in the Tiber. Æsculapius had temples in nearly two hundred places. His sanctuaries were sought by the sick, and his priests undertook the cure of disease. The patient, after certain religious ceremonies, slept in a hall near the temple, and during the night the god was believed to manifest himself in a vision, which, when interpreted by the priests, furnished directions for the treatment. After the cure the patient left an account of his case and an offering for the god. It seems likely that the priests had acquired considerable skill in treating the sick, and that the sacred sleep was merely a device to preserve the credit of the god. See Epidaurus.
It should be said that in the Iliad, Æsculapius is not spoken of as a god, and his sons Machaon and Podalirius differ from the other heroes only in their superior skill in treating wounds. It seems evident, however, that he was originally a divinity who later became subordinate to the great Apollo cult. Much points to Æsculapius as a chthonic god, though many regard him as connected with the light. Whatever his nature, Æsculapius early became fixed as a god of healing, perhaps losing his other functions through association with Apollo. His sons Machaon and Podalirius play a considerable rôle in heroic legend, and were claimed as ancestors by the Asclepiadæ (q.v.). His daughters, Hygeia (health). Panacea (all-healing), Iaso, Aigle, and others, bear names that show them to be merely personifications of abstract ideas connected with healing.
The myths connected with the life of Æsculapius varied in different localities; but the one which has become canonical appeared in a lost Hesiodic poem (the Eoaæ), and is known to us from a poem by Pindar and some scattered allusions. Apollo loved Coronis, daughter of Phlegyas, but she proved faithless and wedded the Lapith, Ischys. The news was brought to Apollo by the raven, who was punished for his message by being changed from white to black. Apollo slew Ischys; Artemis, Coronis; but while her body was on the funeral pile Apollo rescued his yet unborn son and took him to the centaur Chiron, who trained him in the healing art, in which he became so expert that he even raised the dead. For this presumption Zeus slew him with his thunderbolt. In art, Æsculapius is usually represented as a bearded man, wearing a mantle which leaves the right shoulder and breast bare. A beautiful head from Melos in the British Museum is probably an Æsculapius of the Praxitelean school. Consult: Walton. The Cult of Asklepios (New York, 1894); and Wilamowitz-Möllendorf, Isyllos von Epidauros (Berlin, 1886).
ÆS'CULUS. See Horse Chestnut.
ÆSIR, a'sir or e'sir (pl. of As, Icel. ass,
god, demi-god). The gods of the Northmen of Scandinavia and Iceland. There were eleven chief gods or Æsir besides Odin (the "all-father"), viz.: Thor, Balder, Ty or Tyr, Bragi, Heimdal, Höd, Vidar, Vali, Ull, Forseti, and Loki or Lopt. To these may be added Njörd and his son Frey, who were not originally Æsir. The naming of the gods differs in different parts of the Younger Edda (q.v.). The chief goddesses of Asgard, the Scandinavian Olympus, were: Frigga, Freyja, Nanna, Sif, Saga. Hel, Gefjon, Eir, Hlin, Lofn, Vör, and Snotra. These names, considered in the primary old Norse signification of the words, in most instances allude to some characteristics; yet it is impossible to determine whether they personify merely certain physical powers of nature, or were originally the names of individuals in the prehistoric period. Probably they have a mixed origin, and combine real names with physical powers. The principal source of information concerning these gods is the Eddas (q.v.), collections of the oldest songs and traditions of the people of Scandinavia.
Thor, son of Odin and Frigga ("the vivifying"), is the strongest of the Æsir. He seems to have been a god of that Phœnician form of nature worship which was superseded in Scandinavia and northern Germany by the faith of Odin. From Thor's hammer flashed lightning, and his chariot wheels made thunder as he went through the air, cleaving mountains, loosening frozen streams and pent-up rivers, and slaying giants and monsters. He was seldom in Asgard with the other Æsir, but dwelt in his mansion Bilskirner, in the densest gloom of the clouds. With his hammer he consecrated the newly wedded, and the sign of the hammer was made by Northmen when they took an oath or any serious obligation. The early Christian missionaries in Scandinavia, finding the faith in Thor too strong to be suddenly uprooted, tried to transfer many of his characteristics to their zealous convert, St. Olaf, who was said to have resembled the old Norse god in his comeliness of person, his bright red beard, hot, angry temper, and personal strength; while some of the monks of a later period tried to persuade the Northmen that in Thor their forefathers had worshipped Christ, and that his mallet was a rude image of the cross. Slaves and thralls killed in battle were believed to be under the protection of Thor, who, as the god of the Finns before the spread of the As religion, was honored as their special guardian against the tyranny of their old masters.
In Balder the Norsemen honored the beautiful, the eloquent, the wise, and the good, and he was the spirit of activity, joy, and light. His name signifies the "strong in mind." His wife Nanna reflected these attributes in a less degree. On his life depended the activity and happiness of all the Æsir except Loki, the "earthly fire" or incarnation of evil; and hence Loki, from envy of the beauty and innocence of Balder, accomplished his death, and afterward hindered his release from the power of Hel, the goddess of death. As the death of Balder was to be followed by the fall of all the Æsir, the gods had caused all things to swear not to injure him. But the insignificant mistletoe was overlooked or thought unimportant. Loki secured an arrow of mistletoe, and when the gods were amusing themselves by shooting at the invulnerable Balder, Loki gave this arrow to Höd, the blind god, and directed his aim so as to hit Balder, who was killed. The death of this beneficent god signifies the fading of summer before the blind and fierce winter, her preordained destroyer. The myth continues: After Balder's death, the gods captured Loki and shut him up in a mountain, where he will remain until the earth and all therein and the gods themselves shall be destroyed by fire (the powers of evil), the com-
