[Aesculapius Presents Himself in the Form of a Snake] · Centre for Early Modern Visual Culture

Title: [Aesculapius Presents Himself in the Form of a Snake]
Period: 1550-1600;
Geographic: Ancient Greece; Ancient Rome; Italy; Epidaurus
Description: This engraving depicts the god of healing, Aesculapius, transformed in the form of a winged snake. He is illustrated just outside of his own temple. There are men standing in front of Aesculapius who appear to be extremely afraid of the snake. These men, as told by Ovid, are Romans who sought the help of Aesculapius as their city was ravaged by the plague. Aesculapius had appeared to one of these Roman delegates in his dream to inform him that he would help their city and accompany them back to Rome on their ships in the form of a serpent.
Image Creator: Virgil Solis (Engraver)
Type: Text; Woodcut Engraving
Identifier: mta:11900
Language: spa
Source Name: Las Transformaciones de Ovidio en lengua Española, repartidas en quinze libros, con las Allegorias al fin dellos, y sus figuras, para prouecho de los Artifices [The Transformations of Ovid in the Spanish language, distributed in fifteen books, with the allegories at the end of them and their figures, for the benefit of the creators]
Parent Collection: Las Transformaciones de Ovidio en lengua Española. Woodcut engravings by Virgil Solis (1595)
Image: mta_11900_OBJ.jpg
Collection: Ovid's Metamorphoses
Subject: Aesculapius; Gods; Roman Mythology; Plague