Hygieia

Statuette of the goddess Hygieia made of Pentelic marble and found in the sanctuary of Asklepios at Epidauros. According to the inscription carved on its base, the statuette was offered to the goddess as a thanks-offering by Gaius. In Greek as well as Roman mythology, Hygieia, was one of the Aeclepiadae; the sons and daughters of the god of medicine, Asclepius, and the goddess of healing, Epione. She was the goddess/personification of health, cleanliness and hygiene. Hygieia as well as her four sisters each performed a facet of Apollo’s art: Hygieia (“Hygiene” the goddess/personification of health, cleanliness, and sanitation); Panacea (the goddess of Universal remedy); Iaso (the goddess of recuperation from illness); Aceso (the goddess of the healing process); and Aglaïa (the goddess of beauty, splendor, glory, magnificence, and adornment). Hygieia also played an important part in her father’s cult. While her father was more directly associated with healing, she was associated with the prevention of sickness and the continuation of good health. Her name is the source of the word “hygiene”. She was imported by the Romans as the goddess Valetudo, the goddess of personal health, but in time she started to be increasingly identified with the ancient Italian goddess of social welfare, Salus.