Mythology and Health

I am taking a Microbiology Infectious Diseases class this semester, and as I was in the process of doing some research on Florence Nightingale/ the Miasma Theory of Disease and how she helped keep the air, and the hospital equipment stay clean, I just happened to run across Hygieia, the goddess/personification of health, cleanliness, and sanitation. I thought this had to be a sign of something for me to blog about. I wasn't even looking for her, she just came to me. With that said, let me tell you a little bit about Hygieia's story.

Hygieia, as I mentioned before, is the goddess/personification of health, cleanliness, and sanitation. She was the daughter of Asclepius, who is the god of Medicine, and Epione who is the goddess of the soothing of pain. While Hygieia was more associated with the prevention of sickness and the continuation of good health, her father was more associated with healing, and her mother obviously pain. The Romans imported her as the goddess Valetudo, the goddess of personal health. However, in time she started to be increasingly recognized with the ancient Italian goddess of social welfare, Salus. Her name is the source of the word Hygiene. She is often identified with health and is sometimes called The Health. She was worshipped and celebrated together with her father on many places (Asklepieion) of the Greek and Roman world.

Anyway, I find it very interesting that there is a god for just about everything. I would have never have thought of finding one mixed into the medical field somehow. Just goes to show what little I know about Mythology, but also what I am learning. I have a lot of respect for the medical field, and found Hygieia's story to be intriguing, also what Florance Nightingale was in the mid to late 1800; and now what nurses and doctors have become today. It's amazing how things intertwine together. Looks like my Microbiology class and Mythology class is going to mix just fine together.