He was originally a Thessalian chieftain, whose sons, Machaon and Podalirius, became famous physicians and fought in the Trojan War.

Nestor, you may remember, carried off the former, declaring, in the oft-quoted phrase, that a doctor was better worth saving than many warriors unskilled in the treatment of wounds.

Later genealogies trace his origin to Apollo,( 10) as whose son he is usually regarded.

"In the wake of northern tribes this god Aesculapius--a more majestic figure than the blameless leech of Homer's song--came by land to Epidaurus and was carried by sea to the east-ward island of Cos....

Aesculapius grew in importance with the growth of Greece, but may not have attained his greatest power until Greece and Rome were one."(11) (10) W.H.Roscher: Lexikon der griechischen und romischen Mythologie, Leipzig, 1886, I, p.