The origin of the cup as a symbol of medicine is explained by the tradition of preparing medicine in a ritual vessel or by the fact that in the arid desert regions of the East, precious moisture pouring from heaven and bringing life was collected in the vessel.
It is unknown who united the cup and the snake into a single whole. Found images of a snake and a bowl date back to 600 BC. e. On them Greek goddess health Hygeia, daughter of Aesculapius, feeds a snake (snake) from a charm, she holds it in one hand and the snake in the other.
It was the snakes that were considered the owners of magical healing power and lived in the treatment center of the god of healing Aesculapius. IN ancient world they embodied a good beginning, guaranteed the well-being of the home and the health of the people living in it.
Symbol of Russian military medicine
Subsequently, this emblem was forgotten and only in the 16th century, according to Academician E.N. Pavlovsky, a snake appeared, entwined around the bowl, thanks to the famous physician Paracelsus at that time.The meaning of this sign and the contents of the cup are still controversial. It is logical to assume that the bowl contains snake venom, which is known to have healing properties. Therefore, this emblem is considered the most acceptable for pharmacology.
The snake is a symbol of wisdom and immortality. There is an opinion that this tells the doctor that he must be reasonable and draw wisdom from the cup of knowledge of nature. One of the first to think about the contents of the cup was the historian and doctor F. R. Borodulin. He suggested that chara is a symbol of reason, embracing the knowledge of the world.
In Russia, a cup entwined with a snake appeared under Peter I as a distinction of military medicine. This symbol was also inscribed on, granted along with the nobility to the Assessor of Pharmacy of Lublin, the Apothecary Karl Friedrich son of Hinch, by Emperor Nicholas I for loyalty to the throne.
The young Soviet government took the baton from the tsarist government and the symbol of military medicine - a snake entwined around a cup and bowing its head over it - was approved in 1924 by the Revolutionary Military Council. This sign is still the common emblem of the Russian military medical service today.
An image of a bowl with a snake decorating the signs of pharmacies and other medical institutions, familiar from childhood. Adults answer the question “What does this mean?” They like to answer that “this is how snake venom is collected, from which medicine is then made.” The version is widespread, although somewhat naive. You might think that all medicines are made only from poison. In fact, the entire pharmaceutical industry around the world uses only a few hundred grams of this substance per year. With the same success, the symbol of medicine could be, for example, a bee, or deer antlers, or something even more exotic.
Despite the ubiquity of this symbol, called the "Hippocratic Cup", its exact origin and interpretation are still unknown. The author of the version about the poison is the famous researcher Zabludovsky. In his opinion, this image appeared at the turn of our era. According to other researchers, in particular Academician Pavlovsky, this image began to be used as a symbol of medicine only in the 16th century with light hand famous Paracelsus.
However, both the cup and the snake, albeit separately, were used as various symbols back in 800 - 600. BC e., including as attributes of the ancient Greek goddesses of health Hygeia (from whose name the word “hygiene” came) and Saluta.
The snake has always symbolized wisdom, knowledge, longevity and eternal youth - the annual change of skin symbolized rejuvenation.
However, there is an opposite opinion that the basis of “snake symbolism” in medicine is a person’s fear of the snake, the desire to appease the formidable “goddess of death” or to scare off illness using the formidable appearance of the snake.
The use of the bowl as a symbol of healing is associated with the healing properties of water and the tradition of preparing medicinal potions in ritual bowls.
However, even in much more distant times, a bowl with a snake was used in symbolism Ancient Egypt. The ancient Egyptian deity Knef or Kematef, a self-created creator who formed the world from chaos, was depicted in the form of a snake. The bowl in this image symbolized a vessel containing primordial matter - the physical basis of everything. Knef in the form of a snake bends over the bowl with the First Mother and spiritualizes it with his breath, awakening it to life. Agree, it’s very beautiful and symbolic, although it’s a little far from medicine. By the way, it is known that Paracelsus, who first proposed this combination as a medical symbol, was an alchemist and mystic well acquainted with ancient esoteric knowledge. He certainly knew the exact meaning of this image.
During the time of Peter I, a bowl with a snake or two snakes was introduced as a sign of medical service in the army. In 1924, the Hippocratic Cup was approved as a symbol of military medicine by the Revolutionary Military Council and still remains the emblem of military medical units in Russia. And the most common is the use of this symbol in pharmaceutical activities. It was decorated with the Hippocratic cup and badges issued in the USSR to graduates of medical universities.
One of the modern historians of medicine who turned to the analysis of the symbolism of a cup entwined with a snake, Borodulin, said this: “We are inclined to consider this emblem as a reminder to the doctor of the need to be wise, and to draw wisdom from the cup of knowledge of nature.”
By the way, the official symbol of medicine is not the Hippocratic cup, but a snake wrapped around a staff ancient Greek god healing by Asclepius. This image was adopted by the World Health Organization (WHO) of the United Nations (UN) at its First World Assembly in Geneva in 1948.
To conclude the story of the Hippocratic Cup, it remains to add that this symbol is popularly interpreted as “The mother-in-law eats ice cream.”
By the way…
The Red Cross is not a symbol of medicine
Another common symbol for “everything medical” is the red cross. Surprisingly, in most cases this emblem is used illegally.
History of the Red Cross 
The red cross became a symbol in the 19th century. During the Franco-Austrian War, the Swiss Henry Dunant was so impressed by what he saw on the battlefields that he wrote an article asking whether it was possible to create a charitable organization to help the wounded during armed conflicts. Dunant's publication attracted the attention of the Geneva Benevolent Society, which created a committee of 5 people to practical implementation these ideas. Later this committee received the name of the International Committee of the Red Cross - ICRC.
The first meeting of the ICRC took place in 1873 in Switzerland, and in tribute to the country, which historically maintained neutrality towards the warring parties and organized the first Geneva Conference, the national flag of Switzerland was adopted as the basis for the ICRC emblem, but with the colors replaced, that is, the red cross on a white background. The four parts of this cross symbolize the four virtues: moderation, prudence, justice and courage.
During Russian-Turkish War (1877-1878) Ottoman Empire allowed the activities of the Red Cross on its territory, however, obliging the ICRC to change its symbols to the Red Crescent.
Thus, this emblem was originally created to represent the medical services of the armed forces and provide protection for the sick and wounded, as a symbol of impartial humanitarian assistance provided to all who suffer. It is designed to protect doctors, hospitals, the wounded and sick during military conflicts. This is a completely special symbolism, an “emergency” image to which the eye cannot be “accustomed.”
According to the Geneva Conventions of 1949, the emblem of the Red Cross is assigned to humanitarian and medical transports, buildings, convoys and missions in order to protect them from attacks by conflicting parties. Only the medical service of the army of a state party to the Geneva Conventions has the right to use it. These emblems are depicted on the roofs and sides of buildings, hoods and doors of military vehicles, tents and other objects where wounded and sick soldiers, military doctors, and injured civilians are located.
In peacetime, the emblem is used as a distinctive sign by national Red Cross and Red Crescent societies, as well as by ambulances and ambulance stations, provided that first aid stations provide treatment exclusively free of charge.
This emblem has another feature that distinguishes it from ordinary trademarks or brands. You cannot purchase a license to use it even for the most noble purposes. This is a symbol of impartial medical care to all sufferers, regardless of nationality, race and religion.
By joining the Geneva Conventions, the state undertakes an obligation not only to promote the development of the national Red Cross and Red Crescent Society, but also to protect its symbols at the legislative level. According to the Red Cross Society, misuse This symbol can lead to damage and discrediting of the existing image, confusion leading to serious consequences. Therefore, the authorities of many countries, on the recommendation of the ICRC, have adopted laws restricting the use of the official ICRC emblem. The official emblem of this organization should be used exclusively as a symbol of salvation during hostilities and emergencies, so that the emblem does not become familiar or become something commonplace.
Medical EMBLEMS(Greek emblema insert, convex decoration) - images symbolizing medicine in general, belonging to the medical profession, various directions and areas of medicine, individual medical specialties.
Over the course of centuries of development, medicine has had many Emblems, some of them have not lost their meaning to the present day, others have become a thing of the past. At the XIII International Congress on the History of Science (Moscow, 1971), a classification of medical emblems was proposed, according to which they are divided into two groups: general and private medical emblems. General medical emblems symbolize medicine in general, private medical emblems designate its individual branches or areas. This classification is conditional since in the history of medicine, individual general emblems became private over time and, conversely, private emblems acquired the meaning of general ones. The same private emblem in different historical periods and in different countries ah could symbolize different branches and areas of medicine.
Common medical emblems may include various images of a snake, including in combination with a staff, a bowl, a candle, etc., images of a burning torch, a lamp, a heart in the palm. The most common emblems depicting a snake.
IN primitive society When totemism and animalism took shape, reflecting the helplessness of primitive man in front of the outside world, the snake was one of the main totemic animals. Since the advent of the cult of the snake, it has been attributed double role- evil and good. On the one hand, the snake was a symbol of cunning and deceit, on the other - immortality, wisdom and knowledge (color fig. 1 and 2). In the cultural monuments of Mesopotamia (III millennium BC), the snake is depicted on various objects associated with the god of fertility and healing Ningishzida (Fig. 1). This is probably one of the first ever depictions of a snake as a medical emblem. As an emblem of medicine, the snake was initially depicted without any attributes (Fig. 4). Later, images of a snake appeared in combination with various items. So, from about the 8th century BC, one of the symbols of medicine is the staff of the god of healing Asclepius (Aesculapius) - a gnarled stick around which a snake is wrapped head up (Fig. 2, as well as flower, table, art. 170, Fig. 3 ). In one of ancient greek myths is told. that Asclepius was invited to the palace of Minos, the king of Crete. to resurrect his dead son. On the way, he saw a snake on his staff and killed it, but a second snake appeared with healing herb in her mouth and raised the dead. Subsequently, Asclepius treated sick people with this herb. The staff of Asclepius should not be confused with the caduceus - an attribute of the god of trade Hermes (Mercury). representing a staff with wings on top, entwined with two snakes (Fig. 5). In the ancient world, this emblem was not medical. Only from the 15th-16th centuries did the caduceus become a symbol of medicine. Since the 19th century, the caduceus has been used as an official medical emblem in a number of countries in America (for example, the USA), Africa and Asia.
The first images of a bowl with a snake date back to 800-600 BC. The snake and the cup were depicted separately and were attributes mainly of the goddesses of health Hygeia (Fig. 3 and 8) and Saluta (color Fig. 6). Images of an amphora or bowl entwined with a snake appeared much later (Fig. 6 and 7, as well as color Fig. 5). In the ancient world, the emblem of medicine was not a poisonous snake, but a harmless snake.
Rice. 10. Ancient Greek coin depicting Asclepius and two centaurs. holding torches.
The emblem of medicine is known in the form of Apollo’s tripod entwined with a snake (Fig. 8). In Europe (France, Belgium, Greece, etc.) since the 18th century, there has been a medical emblem in the form of a mirror entwined with a snake (Fig. 9). The mirror was a symbol of purity and caution - qualities necessary for a doctor.
Rice. 11. Ancient Egyptian image. At the top is Imhotep's ankh (cross-shaped loop) and two snakes.
Along with the emblems of healing, which depicted a snake, others have existed since ancient times. The ancient Egyptian god of medicine Imhotep (who comes in peace) was depicted with a cross-shaped loop in his hands - the so-called. ankom of Imhotep. This symbol meant well-being, life and health (Fig. 11). Later it was known as the “tau cross” (an image of the Greek letter “tau” was used as an amulet). There are medical emblems in the form of a burning torch or lamp (later candles). For many peoples, fire was considered one of the main elements of nature. Fire, according to the teachings of Heraclitus of Ephesus (6-5 centuries BC), was considered in medicine as a last resort, all-healing remedy, which was turned to in case of failure of medical and surgical treatment. On some sculptures and bas-reliefs, the image of Asclepius is combined with the image of a burning torch (Fig. 10). The varying degrees of convergence between the snake-wound staff and the burning torch reflect the tendency for both emblems to merge, especially in Roman images where the snake is wrapped around a burning torch. By the end of the Middle Ages, the ancient torch in images was replaced by a candle due to the fact that the candle was a religious attribute (Fig. 12). The image of a candle was accompanied by the sayings: “Aliis lucens uror” (“By shining for others, I burn”), “Aliis in serviendo ipse consumor” (“By serving others, I destroy myself”), etc. Many doctors and medical societies in the 17th and 18th centuries used emblems , where instead of a snake a candle was depicted, as evidenced, in particular, by the works that have come down to us visual arts(Fig. 13). Currently, a burning torch is the emblem of health education (Fig. 14).
In the USSR, as in some other countries, the main state general medical emblem is the image of a bowl entwined with a snake (color Fig. 4). In many foreign countries, the official emblem of medicine is a stylized image of a staff entwined with a snake (Fig. 16).
WHO, at the 1st World Health Assembly in Geneva (1948), approved the international medical emblem, which is the UN emblem (a world map surrounded by a wreath of golden olive branches on a light blue background in combination with a staff entwined with snakes (Fig. 15).
Rice. 14. Commemorative medal of the IV International Conference on Health Education with the image of a burning torch against the backdrop of the globe. Rice. 15. Emblem of the World Health Organization.
In addition to general medical emblems, there are many private emblems denoting certain branches of medicine. During the medieval period, doctors in Europe were divided into two groups: internists (general practitioners) and surgeons. One of the most ancient emblems of therapy is the image of the lily of the valley flower, medicines from which were already widely used in the Middle Ages to treat heart diseases (Fig. 1). Other symbols of therapy were images of a vessel for collecting urine - urinaria (color fig. 7), a hand feeling the pulse, a rooster, etc. The emblem of the Pythagorean doctors of the ancient world - a pentagram (a five-pointed star drawn with intersecting lines) - became an emblem in the Middle Ages surgeons (Fig. 19). Symbols of surgery also served as images of various surgical instruments(Fig. 22). The emblem of pharmacists, who in the Middle Ages in Europe united in their guilds separately from therapists and surgeons, had images of various animals (crocodile, rhinoceros, etc.) and plants (lilies), but most often - an apothecary mortar and pestle. The emblem of pediatricians in a number of countries (Italy, Russia, etc.) has become the image of a “Florentine baby” - a child swaddled to the waist. This image was first executed by Andreadella Robbia (A. della Robbia, 15th century) on faience medallions that decorated the building of an orphanage in Florence (Fig. 20). In Russia, since the 18th century, the emblem of departments involved in the care and treatment of children has been the image of a pelican. According to medieval legend, during a drought and famine, a pelican saved its chicks by tearing its chest and feeding them its blood. The image of a pelican, along with a drop of blood, was used in a number of countries as an emblem of donation (Fig. 23).
The emblem of gerontology is the image of a century-old tree (Fig. 24). It is possible that the prototype of this emblem is the plane tree of Hippocrates - a centuries-old tree growing on the island of Kos, where Hippocrates lived and worked (color book fig. 8). The emblem of orthopedics and traumatology is a broken young tree tied to a post (Fig. 25). The emblem of Soviet healthcare at exhibitions abroad and the emblem of cardiology is the image of a heart in the palm of the hand (Fig. 26). In 1962, WHO proposed a special emblem for the fight against malaria - an image against the background of the globe of a spear entwined with a snake and pointing its tip at a malaria mosquito (color fig. 9). Symbol of fight against oncological diseases- a crab pierced by an arrow and a sword (color fig. 10).
Geneva Conventions). This convention established the distinctive sign of societies for the relief of the wounded and sick: a red cross on a white field. The four parts of the cross symbolize the four virtues: moderation, prudence, justice and courage. The prototype of the sign was the national flag of Switzerland (a white cross on a red field).
This symbol serves as the emblem of the International Red Cross and most national Red Cross societies (color fig. 11). The emblem of similar societies in Muslim countries - Afghanistan, Pakistan, Turkey, Iran (since 1980), Arab countries, as well as in the Azerbaijani, Tajik, Turkmen and Uzbek SSR - is the red crescent, in Iran until 1980 years - red lion and sun (color fig. 12). The emblem of the all-Union voluntary mass public organization uniting the Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies of the USSR combines a red cross and a red crescent (see Union of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies of the USSR
Rice. 26. Badge of the 1st All-Union Congress of Cardiologists with an image of a heart on the palm.
Rice. 27. Foreign emblems of the military medical service.
Anti-tuberculosis organizations took for their distinctive sign the image of the Lorraine cross (a cross with two horizontal lines) and white chamomile (Fig. 18). The International League Against Tuberculosis at the international anti-tuberculosis conference in 1902 (Berlin) approved the red cross of Lorraine as the international emblem of the fight against tuberculosis.
A separate group of medical emblems consists of military medical emblems. In most countries of the world, general medical emblems in various modifications are used as insignia of the military medical service (Fig. 27). In some countries, special decals military medical service.
Bibliography: Gribanov E.D. Medicine in numismatics, M., 1962; aka, History of international medical emblems, M., 1976, bibliogr.; Gribanov D. D. and Georgadze V. I. Emblems of medicine, Tbilisi, 1979, bibliogr.; Zabludovsky P.E. Medical emblem, in the book: From the history of medicine.. ed. K. G. Vasilyeva et al., vol. 5, p. 133, Riga, 1963; TarasonovV. M. Symbols of medicine as a reflection of the healing of ancient peoples, M., 1985; Lipp A.u. Gruber O. V. Die Kerze als Symbol dee Arzttums. Lpz., 1959. Bibliogr.; Schouten J. The rod and serpent of Asklepios, Symbol of medicine, Amsterdam a. o., 1967, bibliogr; aka, The pentagram as a medical symbol; an iconotogical study, Nieuwkoop, 1968.
E. D. Gribanov.
The history of the development of medicine, the most humane of sciences, is a chronicle of the heroic struggle for life and health, inexhaustible self-sacrifice in the search for truth, clashes with ignorance, superstition and prejudice, perseverance and heroism in the face of failures and disappointments.
The first doctor was a contemporary of the first man. As the great Russian scientist Ivan Petrovich Pavlov said: “In the doctor’s laboratory there is all sick humanity... their activity is the same age as the first man.” The centuries-old struggle of man against disease and suffering has been difficult.
Throughout its development, medicine has had many symbolic images, primarily because it is most closely associated with the joy, good, or sorrow of people. Some of these symbols have gone into the distant past and are forgotten forever, while others still exist today.
Medical symbolism has constantly attracted and continues to attract the attention of people of various professions: doctors, historians, archaeologists, linguists, art historians and many others. The lack of publications on this topic, as well as discrepancies in the interpretation of the same symbols, prompted the author to in-depth study question about their origin and content. Real work is only part of a study dedicated to depicting world medicine in small forms of fine art. The research is based on the author’s collection, collected over 50 years, containing over 15 thousand exhibits, including coins, banknotes, medals, orders, badges, stamps, bookplates and other objects of material culture from different countries and peoples.
Studying the origin and internal content of a symbol is a very complex but fascinating activity. Any symbol, having its own history, in different time takes on different shades of meaning.
The symbol in the usual sense (from the Greek simbolon) - symbol, widely known and used for purely practical purposes. But he may turn out to be secret sign, the meaning of which is known only to initiates. For example, as indicated in the Brockhaus and Efron Encyclopedic Dictionary, among the ancient Greeks a symbol meant a material sign known to a certain public group people, a secret society, etc. Over time, the symbol acquired the nature of an emblem; it became a visible reflection of some phenomenon, idea or object.
According to the definition of an outstanding Russian doctor of the 18th century. N. M. Maksimovich-Ambodik, the author of the first manual on obstetrics in our country, “The Art of Midwifery” (1784), who also published two editions of the book “Emblems and Symbols” (1788 and 1811), “... a symbol is a short inscription consisting of a witty utterance of a few words containing a perfect meaning, which, being connected with the symbol, guide us to the knowledge of another thing..., historical, political, moral or mysterious meaning, or a similar signification of the containing one.”
The emblem “... is a witty image or... a picture that represents to the eye any... substance..., with an inscription belonging to it, consisting of short words saying."
A more detailed definition of an emblem and symbol is given by the above-mentioned dictionary, which states that an emblem is a conventional image of a concept, idea in drawing and plastic art. An emblem differs from a symbol in that the meaning of its allegory is established and is not subject to interpretation. The emblems should be clear and simple, the viewer should see in them what they wanted to say. On the contrary, a symbol can be understood in completely different ways, regardless of the artist’s intention, i.e. a symbol embodies an idea, and an emblem is a conventional sign that replaces it, its hieroglyph. "Where abstraction is translated into the form of a material allegory, we have an emblem: it is not a symbol, but an allegory - a prosaic diagram, ready idea, dressed in the shell of a real image." Among the ancient Greeks and Romans, the word "emblem" meant relief decorations on an object made of expensive material.
It is currently accepted that an emblem (from the Greek emblema) is a conventional image of a concept or idea. For example, the hammer and sickle are the emblem of the union of workers and peasants; the beehive is an emblem of hard work; anchor - emblem of hope; lyre - emblem of poetry and music, etc.
The symbolism associated with plants and animals is as old as the world. Even in ancient times, plants and animals became symbols of certain qualities. Oak and lion personified strength and strength, cedar and raven - longevity, laurel and palm tree - victory and triumph. A blooming pomegranate became a sign of friendship, a dove - a symbol of peace, and two doves - eternal love.
The symbolism was once known to everyone and played important role in a person’s life, in his communication with other people. It is reflected in numerous emblems, among which images of plants occupy a special place. For example, in the book by N. M. Maksimovich-Ambodik, where each emblem is accompanied by an inscription in five languages (Russian, Latin, French, German and English), it is indicated that evergreens - laurel, spruce, etc. - symbolize immutability and constancy; The rose signifies all that is sublime, mercy and justice.
Medicine also has its own specific symbols and emblems. Data have been published in the world literature indicating the dependence of the emergence of symbols in medicine on certain historical conditions for the development of human society, their direct connection with the origins of empirical medicine. Clarification of these connections, of course, helps to reveal the original semantic content of the symbols of medicine, which probably appeared as a figurative expression of ideas ancient man about natural and everyday phenomena that have both positive and negative impacts on him. Not understanding the essence of these inexorable and powerful phenomena, man identified them with various animate and inanimate objects.
With the development of society and the accumulation of knowledge about the world around us initial presentations were rethought, and symbols personifying various phenomena acquired new forms and meanings. As a result, symbolism at different stages of the historical development of society contained different ideological content. Currently, there is a multifaceted interpretation of the semantic content of the symbols and emblems of medicine that have come down to us.
In the process of work, it was possible to identify and collect more than 50 conventional representations of the oldest of professions - healing. Attempts to decipher them using any one research method (historical, linguistic or any other), as was done before, today lead to a one-sided, limited, and sometimes erroneous explanation. The current level of development of scientific thought is characterized by interaction, interpenetration and synthesis of seemingly distant disciplines.
When studying the history of the emergence and development of medical symbolism, one has to turn to the sciences and art of many countries and peoples, for medicine (and with it its symbols and emblems) has developed throughout its existence in close connection with financial condition and the common culture of all countries and peoples.
Along with using many scientific methods The study of medical symbolism was based on the historical research method, which allows us to consider the problem in all its connections and interdependencies with the phenomena of history, culture, science and art.
Valuable sources for studying the history of symbols and emblems of medicine are numismatics - an auxiliary historical discipline that studies coins, medals, orders and tokens, as well as bonistics, the subject of research of which is banknotes in economic, historical, and artistic terms. The term "numismatics" comes from the Latin word Numisma - coin. The first coins known in the world appeared in Lydia (Asia Minor) in the 7th century. BC. Greek and Roman coins, for example, are one of the main material sources for studying the culture of the ancient world. It was about them that Goethe said: “On these coins we are pleased with the endless spring of flowers and the spring of art.” Numismatics developed as a branch of historical science only in the 15th century. Many symbols and emblems of healing can be found on coins from different eras, and in some cases coins are the only evidence of them that has come down to us.
Common medical emblems include:
1. just a snake;
2. a snake entwining a staff (staff of Asclepius-Aesculapius);
3. a snake entwining a bowl;
4. a snake entwining the tripod of Apollo;
5. snake entwining the omphalos (Delphic navel);
6. two snakes entwining a staff (rod of Hermes-Mercury);
7. a snake (or two snakes) entwining a candle (or lamp);
8. snake entwining a mirror;
9. ank Impotech;
11. burning torch or burning candle;
12. lamp;
14. heart in the palm, etc.
Private medical emblems include:
1. image of a lily of the valley;
2. Florentine baby;
3. urinaria;
3. clyster;
4. hand feeling the pulse-emblem of a therapeutic profile;
5. pentagrams, some surgical instruments (scalpel, scissors, etc.);
6. a drop of blood - the emblem of a surgical profile;
7. mortars, mortars and pestles - emblems of pharmacy, emblems of medical societies;
8. military medical emblems, etc.
Thus, general medical emblems symbolize healing in general, and private ones are symbols of individual sections and areas of medical activity.
AmbleeWe medical (Greek) emblem insert, convex decoration) - images symbolizing medicine in general, belonging to the medical profession, various directions and areas of medicine, individual medical specialties.
Over the course of centuries of development, medicine has had many emblems, some of them have not lost their meaning to this day, others have become a thing of the past. At the XIII International Congress on the History of Science (Moscow, 1971), a classification of medical emblems was proposed, according to which they are divided into two groups:
General medical emblems;
Private medical emblems.
Common medical logos symbolize medicine in general, private medical logos designate its individual branches or directions.
Common medical logos
Common medical emblems may include various images of a snake, incl. in combination with a staff, a cup, a candle, etc., images of a burning torch, lamp, heart in the palm. The most common emblems depicting a snake.
In primitive society, when totemism and animalism took shape, reflecting the helplessness of primitive man in front of the outside world, the snake was one of the main totem animals. With the emergence of the cult of the snake, a dual role was attributed to it: evil and good. On the one hand, the snake was a symbol of cunning and deceit, on the other - immortality, wisdom and knowledge.
In the ancient world, medicine was symbolized not by a poisonous snake, but by a harmless snake. Records of ancient medical authors indicate that snakes crawled around the house during “sacred sleep”, often licking sore spots - eyes, wounds. The Romans kept them at baths and swimming pools. It is believed that the Aesculapian snake came to some European countries thanks to the Roman conquerors.
There are different explanations for the fact that many peoples have long associated snakes with healing the sick.
Some researchers believe that illness, and especially death, have always been mysterious and incomprehensible phenomena for people. The causes of illness and death were also unclear. The snake, too, has always remained a mysterious and incomprehensible creature. Perhaps, researchers believe, people associate strange phenomena with strange creatures.
It is assumed that the snake symbol was first used as an emblem of healing around the 2nd millennium BC in Ancient Babylon, where animal worship was maintained during the era of slavery.
On the one hand, the snake was a symbol of cunning and deceit, on the other - immortality, wisdom and knowledge. As an emblem of medicine, the snake was originally depicted without any attributes.
Later, images of snakes appeared in combination with various objects. So, from about the 8th century. BC. one of the symbols of medicine is staff of the god of healing Asclepius (Aesculapius) - a gnarled stick around which a snake is coiled, head up.
One of the ancient Greek myths tells that Asclepius was invited to the palace of Minos, the king of Crete, to resurrect his dead son. On the way, he saw a snake on his staff and killed it, but another snake appeared with healing herbs in its mouth and resurrected the dead one. Subsequently, Asclepius treated sick people with this herb.
This legend explains why in most cases Asclepius is depicted standing, wearing a long cloak, holding a staff entwined with a snake. His figure became the first international emblem of medicine.
Currently, a vertically positioned staff entwined with a snake, depicted against the backdrop of a globe bordered by laurel branches, is emblem of the World Health Organization (WHO) at the United Nations.
This emblem was adopted at the First World Health Assembly in Geneva (1948) and consists of two emblems: the UN emblem (a globe framed by laurel branches) and the emblem of medicine (a staff entwined with a snake). The symbolism of this emblem reflects the dominance of medicine over the healing, life-protecting forces of nature.
The Staff of Asclepius should not be confused with caduceus (“a sign of the authority of the messenger”) - an attribute of the Greek god of trade Hermes (among the Romans Mercury).
It is a symbol of balanced and virtuous behavior, representing a staff with wings on top, entwined with two snakes. In Roman mythology, Mercury used a rod to reconcile two fighting snakes.
A rod entwined with two snakes combines several fundamental symbolic elements: the central rod symbolizes the Tree of Life (meaning the connection between heaven and earth): the double spiral formed by snakes is a symbol of cosmic energy, duality, as well as the unity of opposites; the snakes themselves are the fruitful forces of the earthly and otherworldly worlds. In the ancient world, this emblem was not medical. Only from the 15th–16th centuries. The caduceus became a symbol of medicine. Since the 19th century The caduceus is used as an official medical emblem in a number of countries in America (for example, the USA), Africa and Asia.
The association with medicine was due to the presence of snakes in the caduceus - as in the staff of Aesculapius. The famous psychologist Carl Jung considered the caduceus an emblem of homeopathic medicine - the snake signifies both poison and medicinal potion.
The caduceus began to be used as a sign protecting the secrecy of commercial or political correspondence. Currently it is an emblem of medicine or commerce.
First images bowls with snake date back to 800–600. BC. The snake and the cup were depicted separately and were attributes mainly of the goddess of health Hygieia, who was usually depicted with a snake in one hand and a cup in the other.
Images amphora or bowl entwined with a snake , appeared much later.
There was no exact and legalized symbol of medicine in the form of a snake coiled around a bowl or depicted next to it, either in ancient times or much later.
According to Academician E.N. Pavlovsky, a bowl with a snake as a symbol of medicine appeared only in the 16th century thanks to the famous physician Paracelsus, who first proposed a similar combination instead of the caduceus, traditional at that time. In the ancient world, the emblem of medicine was not a poisonous snake, but a harmless snake.
It is possible that this emblem represents the healing properties of snake venom, so widely used in medicine, and means the vessel where snake venom was stored. The snake symbolizes wisdom, knowledge, immortality and, in general, all good principles.
One of the first Russian historians medicine, who turned to the analysis of the content of the symbol of a bowl entwined with a snake was F.R. Borodulin. He put it this way: “We are inclined to regard this emblem as a reminder to the physician of the need to be wise, and to draw wisdom from the cup of knowledge of nature.” That is, in our time, the cup in the medical emblem is defined by him as the cup of the human mind, which embraces the whole world.
In ancient mythology, the gods drank the drink of immortality from a cup. Therefore, the cup in the medical emblem can be interpreted as a symbol of the healing powers of nature in general.
In Russia, this emblem, called the “Hippocratic Cup,” became the main medical symbol in the 18th century.
As a distinction of medical service in the army, a bowl with a snake was introduced back under Peter 1. A snake entwined around the leg of the bowl and bowing its head over the bowl itself, as a symbol of military medicine, was approved in the USSR in 1924. This sign is still preserved in Russia as the official emblem of the military medical personnel of all branches of the military.
The most common is the use of an emblem in the form of a bowl with a snake for pharmaceutical activities.
Known emblem of medicine in the form of Apollo's tripod entwined with a snake.
In Europe (France, Belgium, Greece, etc.) from the 18th century. there was medical emblem in the form of a mirror entwined with a snake . The mirror is a classic symbol of purity and caution - qualities necessary for a doctor, but since the mirror is also a symbol of luxury, to avoid confusion, it began to be depicted as a symbol of caution together with a snake - the most cautious of animals.
Along with the emblems of healing, which depicted a snake, others have existed since ancient times.
The ancient Egyptian god of healing Imhotep (who comes in peace) was depicted with cross-shaped loop in hands - the so-called ankh of Imhotep. This symbol meant well-being, life and health. Later it was known as the “tau cross” (the image of the Greek letter “tau” was used as an amulet).
There are medical emblems in the form burning torch or lamp (later candles).
Fire, according to the teachings of Heraclitus of Ephesus (6th–5th centuries BC), was considered in medicine as a last resort, all-healing remedy, which was turned to in case of failure of medical and surgical treatment. By the end of the Middle Ages, the ancient torch in images was replaced by a candle due to the fact that the candle was a religious attribute. The image of a candle was accompanied by the saying: “By shining for others, I burn,” “By serving others, I destroy myself,” etc.
Currently, a burning torch is the emblem of health education.