A Dictionary of Greek and Roman biography and mythology. By various writers. Ed. by William Smith. Illustrated by numerous engravings on wood.

46 AESON.
~ 3), Argos (ii. 23. ~ 4), Aegium (ii. 23. ~ 5),
Pellene (vii. 27. ~ 5), Asopus (iii. 22. ~ 7),
Pergamum (iii. 26. ~ 7), Lebene in Crete,
Smyrna, Balagrae (ii. 26. ~ 7), Ambracia (Liv.
xxxviii. 5), at Rome and other places. At Rome
the worship of Aesculapius was introduced from
Epidaurus at the command of the 'Delphic oracle
or of the Sibylline books, in B. c. 293, for the
purpose of averting a pestilence. Respecting the
miraculous manner in which this was effected see
Valerius Maximus (i. 8. ~ 2), and Ovid. (Met.
xv. 620, &c.; comp. Niebuhr, Hist. of Rome,
iii. p. 408, &c.; Liv. x. 47, xxix. 11; Suet.
Claud. 25.)
The sick, who visited the temples of Aesculapius, had usually to spend one or more nights in
his sanctuary (iaesiEEtY, incusbare, Paus. ii. 27
~ 2), during which they observed certain rules
prescribed by the priests. The god then usually
revealed the remedies for the disease in a dream.
(Aristoph. Plut. 662, &c.; Cic. De Div. ii. 59;
Philostr. Vita Apollon. i. 7; Jambl. De Myst. iii.
2.) It was in allusion to this incubatio that many
temples of Aesculapius contained statues representing Sleep and Dream. (Paus. ii. 10. ~ 2.)
Those whom the god cured of their disease offered
a sacrifice to him, generally a cock (Plat. Phaed.
p. 118) or a goat (Paus. x. 32. ~ 8; Serv. ad Viryg.
Georg. ii. 380), and hung up in his temple a
tablet recording the name of the sick, the disease,
and the manner in which the cure had been
effected. The temples of Epidaurus, Tricca, and
Cos, were full of such votive tablets, and several of
them are still extant. (Paus. ii. 27. ~ 3; Strahb.
viii. p. 374; comp. Dict. of Ant. p. 673.) Respecting the festivals celebrated in honour of Aesculapins see Diet. of Ant. p. 103, &c. The various
surnames given to the god partly describe him as
the healing or saving god, and are partly derived
from the places in which he was worshipped.
Some of his statues are described by Pausanias.
(ii. 10. ~ 3, x. 32. ~ 8.) Besides the attributes
mentioned in the description of his statue at Epidaurus, he is sometimes represented holding in one
hand a phial, and in the other a staff; sometimes
also a boy is represented standing by his side, who
is the genius of recovery, and is called Telesphorus,
Euamnerion, or Acesius. (Paus. ii. 11. ~ 7.) We
still possess a considerable number of marble
statues and busts of Aesculapius, as well as many
representations on coins and gems. (Bottiger,
Amalthea, i. p. 282; ii. p. 361; Hirt. Mythol.
Bilderb. i. p. 84; Muller, H1'andb. der Arcislol.
p. 597, &c. 710.)
There were in antiquity two works which went
under the name of Aesculapius, which, however,
were no more genuine than the works ascribed to
Orpheus. (Fabricius, Bibl. Graec. i. p. 55, &c.)
The descendants of Aesculapius were called by
the patronymic name Asclepiadae. ('Aor/Acxr7ilSa.)
Those writers, who consider Aesculapius as a real
personage, must regard the Asclepiadae as his real
descendants, to whom he transmitted his medical
knowledge, and whose principal seats were Cos
and Cnidus. (Plat. de Re Publ. iii. p. 405, &c.)
But the Asclepiadae were also regarded as.an
order or caste of priests, and for a long period
the practice of medicine was intimately connected
with religion. The knowledge of medicine was
regarded as a sacred secret, which was transmitted
from father to son in the families of the Asclepia

AESOPUS.
dae, and we still possess the oath which every one
was obliged to take when lie was put in possession
of the medical secrets. (Galen, Analt. ii. p. 128;
Aristid. Orat. i. p. 80; comp. K. Sprengel, Gesch.
der Medicin. vol. i.) [L. S.]
AESERNI'NUS. [MARCELLUS.]
AE'SION (Aloiwv), an Athenian orator, was a
contemporary of Demosthenes, with whom he was
educated. (Suidas, s. v. AicULoao0viIs.) To what
party he belonged during the Macedonian time is
uncertain. When he was asked what he thought
of the orators of his time, he said, tlhat when ihe
heard the other orators, he admired their beautiful
and sublime conversations with the people, but
that the speeches of Demosthenes, when read, excelled all others by their skilful construction and
their power. (Hermippus, ap. Plit. Dem. 10.)
Aristotle (Rhet. iii. 10) mentions a beautiful expression of Aesion. [L. S.]
AESON (Aiswv), a son of Cretheus, the founder
of Iolcus, and of Tyro, the daughter of Salmoneus.
He was excluded by his step-brother Pelias from
his share in the kingdom of Thessaly. He was
father of Jason and Promachus, but the name
of his wife is differently stated, as Polymede,
Alcimede, Amphinome, Polypheme, Polymele,
Arne, and Scarphe. (Apollod. i. 9. ~ II and ~ 16;
Hom. Od. xi. 258; Tzetz. ad Lycopnr. 872; Diod.
iv. 50; Schol. ad Apollon. i. 45; Schol. ad lHom.
Od. xii. 70.) Pelias endeavoured to secure the
throne to himself by sending Jason awav with the
Argonauts, but when one day he was surprised
and frightened by the news of the return of the
Argonauts, he attempted to get rid of Aeson by
force, but the latter put an end to his own life.
(Apollod. i..9.. 27.) According to an account in
Diodorus (iv. 50), Pelias compelled Aeson to kill
himself by drinking ox's blood, for he had received
intelligence that Jason and his companions had
perished in their expedition. According to Ovid
(Met. vii. 163, 250, &c.), Aeson survived the
return of the Argonauts, and was made young
again by Medeia. Jason as the son of Aeson is
called Aesonides. (Orph. Arg. 55.) [L. S.]
AESO'NIDES. [AESON.]
AESO'PUS (A'l'awcros), a writer of Fables, a
species of composition which has been defined
" analogical narratives, intended to convey some
moral lesson, in which irrational animals or objects
are introduced as speaking." (Philolog. Museums, i.
p. 280.) Of his works none are extant, and of
his life scarcely anything is known. He appears
to have lived about B.c. 570, for Herodotus (ii. 134)
mentions a woman named Rhodopis as a fellowslave of Aesop's, and says that she lived in the
time of Amasis king of Egypt, who began to reign
u. c. 569. Plutarch makes him contemporary with
Solon (Sept. Sap. Cosnv. p. 152, c.), and Laertius
(i. 72) says, that he flourished about the 52th
Olympiad. The only apparent authority against
this date is that of Suidas (s. v. A'lco'ros); but
the passage is plainly corrupt, and if we adopt the
correction of Clinton, it gives about B. c. 620 for
the date of his birth; his death is placed B. c. 564,
but may have occurred a little later. (See Clinton,
Fast. Hell. vol. i. pp. 213, 237, 239.)
Suidas tells us that Samos, Sardis, Mesernbria
in Thrace, and Coticeum in Phrygia dispute the
honour of having given him birth. We are told
that he was originally a slave, and the reason of
his first writing fables is given by Phaedrus. (iii.