n :  a conventionalized representation of a staff branched at the top with a single snake twined around it that is used as a symbol of medicine and as the official insignia of the American Medical Association - called also Aesculapian staff  - compare CADUCEUSa  
 
Aesculapius or  As*cle*pi*us  mythological character. Aesculapius was the god of medicine in Greek and Roman mythology. Snakes were the god's sacred emblems, and the god was believed to be incarnate in them. According to myth, the chief god Zeus struck him with a lightning bolt for daring to bring the dead back to life.
 
 
 
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