Editing Telesphorus (mythology) (section)

== Origin and duties ==
Telesphorus is assumed to have been a [[Celtic god]] in origin, who was taken to Anatolia by the [[Galatia]]ns in the 3rd century BC, where he would have become associated with the Greek god of medicine, Asclepius, perhaps in [[Pergamon]] (an Asclepian cult center) and spread again to the West due to the rise of the [[Roman Empire]], in particular during the 2nd century AD, from the reign of [[Hadrian]].<ref>{{Cite journal|last=Heichelheim|first=Fritz M|date=1935|title=Genii Cucullati|url=https://doi.org/10.5284/1059949|journal=Archaeologia Aeliana|language=en|volume=12|pages=187–194|doi=10.5284/1059949|via=}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |first= Henri |last= Lavagne |title= Les Dieux de la Gaule romaine |location= Luxembourg |date= 1989}}</ref> Telesphorus has been identified with the [[Genii Cucullati|Genius Cucullatus]] invoked on two inscriptions in Noricum.<ref name=":6" />

It is suggested by many scholars that Telesphorus was a protector of children for the healing gods.<ref name=":5">{{Cite journal|last=Timea|first=Varga|title=Telesphorus. A healing child god in Roman Dacia |journal=Studia Universitatis Babeș-Bolyai. Historia |volume= 60 |number= 1 |date= 2016 |url=https://www.academia.edu/31787004|language=en}}</ref> Ancient hymns honor and thank Telesphorus for guarding and favoring the birth of their healthy children.<ref name=":5" /> He is also depicted as the protective divinity of an Attican fraternity in lists from the third century BC.<ref name=":5" /> Statuettes recovered from two children's graves in [[Stobi]], dated to the second century BC, depict Telesphorus together with a child and lead many scholars to believe that Telesphorus was thought to protect children even in death.<ref name=":5" /> Other representations of the deity have him depicted as a child as well.<ref>{{Cite journal|last=Epstein|first=Angelique Gulermovich|date=1994|title=Gods in the Hood|url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/20557277|journal=Proceedings of the Harvard Celtic Colloquium|volume=14|pages=90–105|jstor=20557277|issn=1545-0155}}</ref>