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A health deity is a god or goddess in mythology or religion associated with health, healing and wellbeing. They may also be related to childbirth or Mother Goddesses . They are a common feature of polytheistic religions.
- Patti Wigington
- Asclepius (Greek) Asclepius was a Greek god who is honored by healers and physicians. He is known as the god of medicine, and his serpent-draped staff, The Rod of Asclepius, is still found as a symbol of medical practice today.
- Airmed (Celtic) Airmed was one of the Tuatha de Danaan in the Irish mythological cycles, and was known for her prowess in healing those who fell in battle.
- Aja (Yoruba) Aja is a powerful healer in Yoruba legend and thus, in Santerian religious practice. It is said that she is the spirit who taught all other healers their craft.
- Apollo (Greek) The son of Zeus by Leto, Apollo was a multi-faceted god. In addition to being the god of the sun, he also presided over music, medicine, and healing.
- Asclepius: The Greek God of Health. In the world of ancient myths, Asclepius stands out as a shining example of a healer. His tale begins as the son of Apollo—god of many things including healing—and Coronis.
- Sekhmet: The Lioness of War and Healing. In a land shaped by the sun’s heat and the Nile’s life-giving waters, ancient Egyptians looked up to Sekhmet.
- Kumugwe: Chief Undersea Healer. Among the tales passed down through the ages by the Kwakwaka’wakw peoples of the Pacific Northwest is a story about Kumugwe.
- Gula/Ninkarrak: Mesopotamian Goddess of Healing. In ancient Mesopotamia, there was a powerful goddess named Gula, also known as Ninkarrak. She was known to the people as the one who could heal them from their diseases and care for them when sick.
- Aceso - goddess of the healing process. She was represented as the one responsible for healing wounds and curing illnesses. It was believed that she was a daughter of Asclepius and Epione.
- Aegle - goddess of radiant good health. She was a daughter of Asclepius and Epione and an attendant of her father.
- Asclepius - god of medicine and healing. A son of Apollo and Coronis was raised by the centaur called Chiron, after Hermes cut him from her mother's body while she was already aflame.
- Epione - goddess of the soothing of pain. She was a wife of Asclepius and a mother of Aceso, Hygieia, Iaso and Panacea.
- Sekhmet: The Lioness of War and Life
- Gula/Ninkarrak: The Healer with A Love of Dogs
- Verminus: The Obscure Protector of Cattle
- Apollo: God of Health in Greece and Rome
While Asclepius was solely the god of medicine, the Egyptian goddess Sekhmet played multiple roles. Not only was she the goddess of health, she was also the goddess of war. Since early times, Egyptian artwork depicted Sekhmet with the head of a lion, symbolizing her ferocity. Countless Egyptian rulers claimed Sekhmet as their own during wartime, ch...
We move on to Mesopotamia— possibly the earliest region on the planet where humans constructed complex towns and cities. During ancient times, this region along the Tigris and Euphrates rivers was decentralized. Like in ancient Greece, different city-states existed apart from each other, with different patron gods. Yet some of these deities did dev...
This one was more of a god of sickness than a healing deity. Out of all the gods of health and disease on this list, Verminus is the one we know the least about today. A truly obscure deity, Verminus does not appear to have been widely worshipped by the Romans. Few written sources describing the god have survived, but what is clear is that Verminus...
Here, our look at eight gods of health and disease comes full circle. We will end our journey with Apollo, the god of health and the sun to both the ancient Greeks and Romans. The father of our first god, Asclepius, Apollo was definitely one of the most versatile gods in ancient Greek religion. Not only did he function as the sun god (his greatest ...
Jan 9, 2024 · Gods and Goddesses of Healing. Disease has terrorized mankind since ancient times. Indeed, there are few things more frightening than an invisible enemy that none are immune from. It could even be said that illnesses, i.e. pestilence, are more effective than wars at wiping out entire populations.
Aug 24, 2011 · He started as a mortal, then a demigod, thirdly a minor deity, until he became the most important medical deity of the Greek world. If we look at comparative mythology, does this make Hygieia more important?
