Editing Hygieia

{{short description|Ancient Greek goddess of good health and cleanliness}}
{{Other uses}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=October 2022}}
{{Infobox deity
| type = Greek
| name = Hygieia
| image = Hygea, copia romana da originale greco del III sec. ac.JPG
| alt = 
| caption = 1st-century Roman statue of the goddess
| god_of = Goddess of good health, cleanliness, and sanitation
| abode = [[Mount Olympus]]
| symbol = 
| consort = 
| parents = [[Asclepius]] and [[Epione]]
| siblings = [[Iaso]], [[Panacea]], [[Aceso]], [[Aegle (mythology)|Aegle]]
| children = 
| mount = 
| Roman_equivalent = Valetudo, [[Salus]]
}}
[[File:Statue of Hygieia (cropped).jpg|thumb|upright|Image of a marble statue depicting the lower portion of the goddess Hygieia while seated with a portion of a snake coiled atop the legs. Located in the Roman collection in The [https://www.metmuseum.org/art/collection/search/246996 Metropolitan Museum of Art, inv: 03.12.11a] Dates to the 1st or 2nd century, A.D.]]
[[File:BudynekFeniksa-RzeźbaNarożna-RynekGłówny-POL, Kraków.jpg|thumb|Statue of Hygieia in [[Art Deco]] style in [[Kraków]], Poland (1932)]]

'''Hygieia''' is a goddess from [[Greek mythology]] (more commonly spelled '''Hygeia''', sometimes '''Hygiea'''; {{IPAc-en|h|aɪ|ˈ|dʒ|iː|ə}};<ref>Jones, Daniel; Roach, Peter, James Hartman and Jane Setter, eds. ''Cambridge English Pronouncing Dictionary''. 17th edition. Cambridge UP, 2006.</ref> {{langx|grc|Ὑγιεία}} or {{lang|grc|Ὑγεία}}, {{langx|la|Hygēa}} or {{lang|la|Hygīa}}). Hygieia is a goddess of health ({{langx|el|ὑγίεια}} – ''hugieia''<ref>[https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.04.0057%3Aentry%3Du%28gi%2Feia^ ὑγίεια], Henry George Liddell, Robert Scott, ''A Greek-English Lexicon'', on Perseus</ref>), cleanliness and hygiene. Her name is the source for the word "[[hygiene]]". Hygieia developed from a light personification to a full goddess within the cult of Asklepios. Together with her father, she appeared in dreams of patients who visited their temples. Patients performed the healing ritual temple sleep to get healed.<ref> [https://www.academia.edu/49453855/Mark_Beumer_A_Woman_s_Touch_Hygieia_Health_and_Incubation_in_Journal_of_History_of_Sciences_and_Technology_DVT_Dejiny_ved_a_techniky_Volume_LV_Number_1_2_2022_25_55 Mark Beumer, 'A Woman’s Touch. Hygieia, Health and Incubation', in: Journal of History of Sciences and Technology/DVT - Dejiny ved a techniky, Volume LV – Number 1-2 (2022) 25-55].</ref>

Hygieia is related to the Greek god of medicine, [[Asclepius]], who is the son of the Olympian god [[Apollo]]. Hygieia is most commonly referred to as a daughter of Asclepius<ref>{{Cite journal|last=Norman|first=Naomi J.|date=1986|title=Asklepios and Hygieia and the Cult Statue at Tegea|url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/506027|journal=American Journal of Archaeology|volume=90|issue=4|pages=429|doi=10.2307/506027|jstor=506027 |issn=0002-9114}}</ref> and his wife [[Epione]]. Hygieia and her four sisters each performed a facet of [[Apollo]]'s art: Hygieia (health, cleanliness, and sanitation); [[Panacea]] (universal remedy); [[Iaso]] (recuperation from illness); [[Aceso]] (the healing process); and [[Aegle (mythology)|Aegle]] (radiant good health).

== The role of Hygieia in antiquity ==
One notable reference regarding Hygieia's role as a goddess of health can be found within the [[Hippocratic Oath|Hippocratic oath.]] This oath is used by physicians in order to swear before various healing gods, one of which being Hygieia, that they would follow a code of established ethical standards of practice.

Section of the translated oath from Greek to English:

: I swear by Apollo Healer, by Asclepius, by Hygieia, by Panacea, and by all the gods and goddesses, making them my witnesses, that I will carry out, according to my ability and judgment, this oath and this indenture.<ref>{{Cite journal|last=Hippocrates of Cos|date=1923|title=The Oath|url=http://www.loebclassics.com/view/hippocrates_cos-oath/1923/work.xml|journal=Loeb Classical Library|volume=147|pages=298–299|doi=10.4159/dlcl.hippocrates_cos-oath.1923|via=Harvard University Press}}</ref>

== Hygieia and Asclepius ==
The worship of Hygieia was closely associated with the [[Asclepeion|cult of Asclepius]]. While Asclepius was more directly associated with healing, Hygieia was associated with the [[Preventive healthcare|prevention of sickness]] and the continuation of good health. In the second century CE, the famous traveler [[Pausanias (geographer)|Pausanias]] provided an account based on what he witnessed within the state of Greece.<ref>{{Cite web|title=Pausanias, Description of Greece, Arcadia, chapter 47|url=http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus:text:1999.01.0160:book=8:chapter=47&highlight=health|access-date=3 June 2021|website=www.perseus.tufts.edu}}</ref> In his encyclopedic text ''Description of Greece'', written circa 160 CE to 174 CE, Pausanias described encountering statues of Asclepius and Hygieia, located at [[Tegea]].<ref>{{Cite journal|last=Compton|first=M. T.|date=1 July 2002|title=The Association of Hygieia with Asklepios in Graeco-Roman Asklepieion Medicine|url=http://dx.doi.org/10.1093/jhmas/57.3.312|journal=Journal of the History of Medicine and Allied Sciences|volume=57|issue=3|pages=316|doi=10.1093/jhmas/57.3.312|pmid=12211974 |issn=0022-5045}}</ref>

In addition to statues which represent the two figures, the incorporation of Hygieia within the cult of Asclepius can also be seen in medical iconography on numerous ancient [[Ancient Greek coinage|Graeco]]-[[Roman currency|Roman coins]]. The close association between Hygieia and Asclepius indicates the important place she held in the cult of Asclepius.<ref>{{Cite journal|last=Compton|first=M. T.|date=1 July 2002|title=The Association of Hygieia with Asklepios in Graeco-Roman Asklepieion Medicine|url=http://dx.doi.org/10.1093/jhmas/57.3.312|journal=Journal of the History of Medicine and Allied Sciences|volume=57|issue=3|pages=318|doi=10.1093/jhmas/57.3.312|pmid=12211974 |issn=0022-5045}}</ref>

==Worship==
[[File:Hygieia by Alexander Handyside Ritchie, College of Physicians, Queen Street, Edinburgh.jpg|thumb|Hygieia by [[Alexander Handyside Ritchie]], College of Physicians, Queen Street, [[Edinburgh]]|left|upright]]
Hygieia's primary temples were in [[Epidaurus]], [[Corinth, Greece|Corinth]], [[Kos|Cos]] and [[Pergamon]]. At the [[Asclepeion]] of [[Titani|Titane]] in [[Sicyon]] (founded by [[Alexanor]], Asclepius' grandson), the Greek historian [[Pausanias (geographer)|Pausanias]] remarked that a statue of Hygieia was covered by women's hair and pieces of [[Babylon]]ian clothes.<ref>{{Cite journal|last=COMPTON|first=MICHAEL T.|date=2002|title=The Association of Hygieia with Asklepios in Graeco-Roman Asklepieion Medicine|url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/24623700|journal=Journal of the History of Medicine and Allied Sciences|volume=57|issue=3|pages=317|doi=10.1093/jhmas/57.3.312 |jstor=24623700 |pmid=12211974 |issn=0022-5045}}</ref> According to inscriptions, similar sacrifices such as this were offered at [[Paros]].<ref>{{Cite web|title=Pausanias, Description of Greece, Corinth, chapter 11|url=http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus:text:1999.01.0160:book=2:chapter=11&highlight=health|access-date=3 June 2021|website=www.perseus.tufts.edu}}</ref>

Hygieia was also associated with the Greek goddess [[Athena]]. In the 2nd century AD, [[Pausanias (geographer)|Pausanias]] noted statues both of Hygieia and of Athena Hygieia near the entrance to the [[Acropolis]] of Athens.<ref>Pausanias, I.23.4; the statement in [[Pliny's Natural History]] (xxxiv.80) ''[[Pyrrhus of Athens|Pyrrhus]] fecit Hygiam et Minervam'' has been applied to these statues: see H. B. Walters, "Athena Hygieia", ''The Journal of Hellenic Studies'' '''19''' (1899:165–168) p. 167.</ref> "Athena Hygieia" was one of the cult titles given to [[Athena]], as Plutarch recounts of the building of the [[Parthenon]] (447–432 BC):
{{blockquote|A strange accident happened in the course of building, which showed that the goddess was not averse to the work, but was aiding and co-operating to bring it to perfection. One of the artificers, the quickest and the handiest workman among them all, with a slip of his foot fell down from a great height, and lay in a miserable condition, the physicians having no hope of his recovery. When Pericles was in distress about this, the goddess [Athena] appeared to him at night in a dream, and ordered a course of treatment, which he applied, and in a short time and with great ease cured the man. And upon this occasion it was that he set up a brass statue of Athena Hygieia, in the citadel near the altar, which they say was there before. But it was [[Phidias]] who wrought the goddess's image in gold, and he has his name inscribed on the pedestal as the workman of it.<ref>Plutarch. ''Life of Pericles'' 13.8, [https://penelope.uchicago.edu/Thayer/E/Roman/Texts/Plutarch/Lives/Pericles*.html#13 on-line text].</ref>}}[[File:Hugieia-pentagram.svg|thumb|160px|''"Hugieia"'' ({{big|ύγιεία}}: health) was used as a greeting among the [[Pythagoreans]].<ref name="Allman1889">{{cite book |last=Allman |first=George Johnston |title=Greek Geometry from Thales to Euclid |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=-gYCAAAAYAAJ&pg=PA26 |year=1889 |publisher=Hodges, Figgis, & Co. |page=26}}</ref>]]However, the cult of Hygieia as an independent goddess did not begin to spread until the [[Delphic oracle]] recognized her, after the devastating [[Plague of Athens]] (430–427 BC), and in Rome after the [[293 BC|293 BC plague]] there.

The poet [[Ariphron]], from the Greek city-state [[Sicyon]], wrote a well-known [[hymn]] during the 4th century BC which celebrated Hygieia.<ref>Athenaeus, ''Deipnosophists'', xv.702, [http://www.attalus.org/old/athenaeus15.html#702 on-line text].</ref> Statues of Hygieia were created by [[Scopas]], [[Bryaxis]] and [[Timotheus (sculptor)|Timotheus]], among others, but there is no clear description of what they looked like. In the surviving depictions, she is often shown as a young woman feeding a large snake that was wrapped around her body or drinking from a jar that she carried.<ref>Similar images, though of a goddess in a more warlike aspect, represent Athena and [[Erichthonius of Athens|Erichthonius]].</ref> These attributes were later adopted by the [[Gallo-Roman]] healing goddess, [[Sirona (goddess)|Sirona]].

Hygieia was modified by the Romans into the goddess Valetudo, the goddess of personal health. There exists some debate about whether Hygieia can also be identified with the Roman goddess of social welfare, [[Salus]]; however, this has yet to be fully substantiated.

== Recent discoveries ==
In August 2021, archaeologists from [[Kütahya Dumlupınar University|Dumlupınar University]] announced the discovery of statue of Hygieia in the [[Ancient Greek]] city [[Aizanoi]]. The human sized statue was portrayed with a snake in its arms. The statue was revealed inside the columned gallery throughout the south wing of the agora.<ref>{{Cite web|title=Statue of Greek health goddess Hygieia unearthed|url=https://www.hurriyetdailynews.com/statue-of-greek-health-goddess-hygieia-unearthed-167210|access-date=29 August 2021|website=Hürriyet Daily News|date=20 August 2021 |language=en}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|title=Statue of Greek Goddess Hygieia Unearthed in Turkey|url=https://www.amhenews.gr/statue-of-greek-goddess-hygieia-unearthed-in-turkey/|access-date=29 August 2021|language=el|archive-date=29 August 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210829185635/https://www.amhenews.gr/statue-of-greek-goddess-hygieia-unearthed-in-turkey/|url-status=dead}}</ref>

==See also==
* [[10 Hygiea]], a [[main belt asteroid]] named after Hygieia
* [[Ancient Greek medicine]]
* [[Bowl of Hygieia]]
* [[College of Aesculapius and Hygia]]
* [[Eir]], Norse healing goddess
* [[List of health deities]]
* [[Pericles]]

== Citations ==
{{Reflist}}

== General and cited references ==
* Mark Beumer, 'A Woman’s Touch. Hygieia, Health and Incubation', in: ''Journal of History of Sciences and Technology/DVT - Dejiny ved a techniky'', Volume LV – Number 1-2 (2022) 25-55.
* [[William Smith (lexicographer)|Smith, William]]; ''[[Dictionary of Greek and Roman Biography and Mythology]]'', London (1873). [https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.04.0104%3Aalphabetic+letter%3DH%3Aentry+group%3D17%3Aentry%3Dhygieia-bio-1 "Hygieia"].

== External links ==
{{Commons}}
{{Wiktionary}}
* [https://iconographic.warburg.sas.ac.uk/category/vpc-taxonomy-000318 The Warburg Institute Iconographic Database (images of Hygeia)]
* http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus:text:1999.01.0160:book=2:chapter=11&highlight=health
* {{Cite EB1911|wstitle=Hygieia}}

{{Greek religion|state=collapsed}}
{{Greek mythology (deities)|state=collapsed}}
{{Authority control}}

[[Category:Greek goddesses]]
[[Category:Health goddesses]]
[[Category:Children of Asclepius]]