Paean (god)

In Greek mythology, Paean (Paeëon or Paeon) was the Greek doctor of the gods.[1]

Homer and Hesiod

In the Iliad, book 5, the Olympian god of war Ares is wounded by mortal hero Diomedes. Ares is to Olympus in a hurry, where Paeon applies medicine that gave an instant relief.[2] Hades too was helped by Paeon when he was shot with an arrow by Heracles.[3] Hesiod says Paeon is an individual god and not a group of people.[4]

In time, Paeon (more usually spelled Paean) became a name used for Apollo. This is because Apollo was able to bring disease. Later, Paeon became a name used for Asclepius, the healer-god.[5]

References

  1. ↑ Liddell and Scott, "Paean"; Connor, p. 1069; PA-JA-WO in Linear B at Mycenaean Knossos attests the name as an individual Mycenaean deity (Chadwick, John. The Mycenaean World. Cambridge University Press, 1976, p. 88).
  2. ↑ Homer. The Iliad, 5.899.
  3. ↑ Homer. The Iliad, 5.401.
  4. ↑ Hesiod & Evelyn-White 2007, p. 159; Graf 2009, pp. 66–67.
  5. ↑ Eustathius on Homer §1494; Virgil. Aeneid, vii. 769.
  • Connor, Peter, "Paeon" in Gods, Goddesses, and Mythology, Publisher: Marshall Cavendish Corporation (January 2005). ISBN 978-0-7614-7559-0.
  • Hesiod; Evelyn-White, Hugh G. (2007). Hesiod the Homeric Hymns and Homerica. BiblioBazaar, LLC. ISBN 978-1-4264-7293-0.
  • Graf, Fritz (2009). Apollo. Taylor & Francis. ISBN 978-0-415-31711-5.
  • Homer. The Iliad with an English Translation by A.T. Murray, Ph.D. in two volumes. Cambridge, MA., Harvard University Press; London, William Heinemann, Ltd. 1924.
  • Homer. The Odyssey with an English Translation by A.T. Murray, PH.D. in two volumes. Cambridge, MA., Harvard University Press; London, William Heinemann, Ltd. 1919.
  • Liddell, Henry George; Scott, Robert (1940). A Greek-English Lexicon. Oxford: Clarendon Press.
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