"The Serpent Bearer"
Mythology:
Ophiuchus is almost directly on top of the constellation Serpens, and as
a result, is often imagined as a man holding or wrestling a snake.
Classically, Ophiuchus is the son of Apollo and Coronis (the daughter of
King Phlegyas of the Lapiths) and is the God of Healing (he is mentioned
in the Hippocratic Oath). While pregnant with Asclepius, Coronis
betrayed Apollo and established a relationship with Ischys. When
Apollo became suspicious of Coronis' behavior, he sent his Crow Corvus
to spy on her. When Corvus reported back to Apollo about Coronis'
betrayal, it is said that Apollo took his anger out out the Crow -- turning
it from pure white to the pure black color we still see today.
Apollo was furious at Coronis, and asked his sister Artemis to kill her
with her bow and arrow. As Coronis was being burned at her funeral,
Apollo asked yet another of his siblings -- Hermes -- to cut Asclepius
out of Coronis' belly. The premature infant was entrusted to Chiron
the Centaur to be raised.
There are inconsistencies in the rest of the story. Some versions
claim that Asclepius learned the art of healing from a snake: When
Asclepius killed a snake, another serpent restored it to life using herbs,
which Asclepius then took. This is why the symbol of medicine today,
the Caduceus, has two serpents wrapped around a staff. (Note:
ancient cultures associated rebirth with snakes, imagining them being revived
when they shed their skins.) Another version tells how the Goddess
Athena gave Asclepius two containers of blood from the Gorgon Medusa (slain
by Perseus). One container contained blood from the right side of
Medusa's body, which restored life and health; the other container contained
blood from Medusa's left side, which was death (poison).
Asclepius healed people all over the land, with both compassion and caring.
Some of his more famous patients are:
1. Orion the Hunter, who was killed by the sting of Scorpio the Scorpion
(because Orion offended Artemis).
2. Hippolytus, son of Theseus, who was killed in a chariot race,
and now is represented by the constellation Auriga.
3. King Minos of Crete, who died, interestingly enough, in a vat
of honey.
The stories claim that Asclepius was so motivated to heal and restore the dead that the underworld was becoming short of souls. This upset Hades (or the Roman Pluto), the God of the Underworld, who complained to Zeus about the decline in the number of his subjects. Zeus considered Hades position, and decided to strike Asclepius with one of his famous thunderbolts. In retaliation, Apollo killed the race of beings known as the Cyclopes, who were responsible for making the thunderbolts for Zeus. In one of the few instances where revenge didn't result in more revenge among the Olympian Gods, Zeus sympathized with Apollo's grief over the loss of his son, so in a great leap of irony, Zeus restored Asclepius, and placed him in the sky as the constellation Ophiuchus in honor and respect for his selfless acts of healing.