The rod of Asclepius is a rod with a single snake coiled around it.
The Caduceus is a winged staff with two snakes intertwined around it.
Asclepius was the Greek god of medicine and healing.
Hermes (Mercury) who wielded the Caduceus was the messenger of the gods, and also the god who came to take people to Hermes after they died.
The caduceus is sometimes erroneously used as a symbol of medicine. The traditional symbol is the Rod of Asclepius. See links.
The doctors' staff is the Rod of Asclepius, Asclepius being a Greek god associated with medicine and healing. It has one snake and is not winged. The caduceus of Hermes has two snakes and is winged. In modern times, it is a symbol of commerce.
The Caduceus (a staff with two snakes intertwined around it and wings) was confused with the Rod of Asclepius (a staff with a single snake curling around it). The Greek God Asclepius was the god of medicine and healing. Ironically, Mercury (or Hermes), the god who wielded the Caduceus was associated with taking people to Hades after death. Technically, the Caduceus should be more associated with death than healing!
The logo of a doctor featuring a snake wrapped around a staff is called the Rod of Asclepius, which originates from Greek mythology. Asclepius was the god of healing and medicine, and the snake symbolizes renewal and healing due to its shedding of skin. This symbol has been associated with medicine and healthcare for centuries.
Caduceus represents Hermes (Mercury) and so represents planet Mercury. It's also a symbol of medicine and sometimes commerce, and is the sign you usually see next to a pharmacy's name. It's use in medicine was a mistake made by confusion with the rod of Asclepius, a rod with a single snake wrapping around it as opposed to the two intertwining snakes wrapped around the rod as with the Caduceus.
Its a caduceus, symbol the god Mercury/Hermes and sybolic of doctors and healing
The most common insignia used by doctors is the Rod of Asclepius, a single snake wrapped around a rod. It symbolizes healing and medicine and is often seen on medical badges, uniforms, and logos.
That is the Rod of Asclepius. It is a popular misconception that the Caduceus, a winged rod with two encircling snakes, is the symbol of medicine; it is not. The symbolism of the Rod of Asclepius is vague, and there are various interpretations. Some have to do with the dual nature of some medicines, being poison or cure, depending on how it is prepared and taken. It also might be that the shedding of skin by snakes is a symbol of the renewal of life. See links for more.
It depends which symbol you mean. There are two possibilities - the Rod of Asclepius - and the Caduceus (used to symbolise the medical profession) See links for related articles.
The medical symbol of a snake coiled around a rod comes from ancient Greek mythology. Asclepius was the Greek deity associated with healing and medicine. The rod's formal name is the Rod of Asclepius.Note that there is only one snake coiled on the Rod of Asclepius. The staff surrounded by two snakes is mistakenly used for medical professions occasionally; this staff, called the caduceus is actually the staff carried by Hermes, the messenger of the gods and guide to the dead.
Hippocrates' role in the symbol for medicine has a long and complicated history which is based primarily on Greek mythology. To put it simply, the Roman god Mercury (Greek Hermes) was the god of medicine/science in the ancient world while Asclepius was the Roman god of healing. These Greco-Roman gods later became associated with the ancient Greek physician Hippocrates (460-370 BC), who some call the "father of modern medicine" because, like modern doctors, he did not believe disease was caused by the anger of the gods but by scientifically explained circumstances. In North America, the staff of Mercury called the Caduceus is the symbol for medicine, but the Caduceus is based on the staff of the Greek god of healing Asclepius, called the rod of Asclepius. Like the staff of Mercury, the rod of Asclepius is entwined with a serpent, but the Caduceus sometimes bears a pair of wings at the top, representing the wings/agility of Mercury, while the rod of Asclepius usually does not. So in other words, you might find both the Caduceus (with wings) and the rod of Asclepius (without wings) as modern symbols for medicine. The serpent became associated with medicine because the ancients wrongly believed the snake was the only creature immune from disease. This is why Hippocrates and the serpent combined as symbols and became associated with the modern medical profession. All modern doctors take the "Hippocratic oath" (i.e. principles derived from the teachings of Hippocrates: to cure to the best of the ability and never wilfully harm a patient) upon entering the medical profession.
The symbol of Asclepius is the Rod of Asclepius. It is a snake wrapped around a rod. This is associated today with the medical fields. They are usually on ambulances.