Rod of Asclepius, a collection with artisan manufacturing and exclusive MeriTomasa design for today's and tomorrow's doctors, in sterling silver with darkened recesses

Robot portrait of a Rod of Asclepius.

Some of my collections are based on traditional jewelry designs, such as the vintage-looking French claws of my Illusions Collection or the ancestral designs of my Atlantis Rings or my Sant Jordi Roses. In other cases, such as the Band-Aids or Minimal Collections, they are original designs from The MeriTomasa's Treasures Factory. The Rod of Asclepius Collection belongs to the first group, an ancient jewel that I have modeled for an endless number of personalized jewels created since 2008 from small orders. Turning it into a small seriation allows me to offer you better prices and faster service of my treasures.

Rod of Asclepius is the MeriTomasa collection for doctors of today and tomorrow. To give away or self-gift. For those who have been exercising for years, and for those who face years of study to become the doctors of tomorrow.

The design is based on the properties of silver, combining the darkened finish with the polished finish to increase the three-dimensional effect. The cane is textured and finished with darkened recesses to mimic the bark of a tree. Coiled over it, the snake has a polished finish to gain contrast. This generates a greater depth effect that makes it easier to recognize the snake climbing the stick, and also gives more beauty to this little treasure.

The Rod of Asclepius (or Aesculapius , in the Roman tradition) is the symbol of medicine. It is usually called in different ways and they all refer to the same thing: Rod of Asclepius, Aesculapius staff, the asklepian.... It consists of a cane with a coiled snake. It is an old emblem: it appears some 800 years before Christ, in the time of Homer, the author of the Odyssey or the Iliad.

Nowadays the Rod of Asclepius is the emblem and symbol of Medicine. Many doctors wear it as a particular amulet or talisman, or simply as a symbol of their love for their profession. In 1912, the American Medical Association adopted the Aesculapius symbol as the official emblem. The World Health Organization (WHO) has been using it since its founding in 1947.

A great idea to give to your particular Asclepius in the form of a keychain

Rod of Asclepius Keychain in its Meritomasa packaging.

Whoever has a particular Asclepius... has a treasure! And what better talisman to give him when a special date arrives than the symbol of his profession? The Asclepius Collection is a great gift idea...

• For doctors, when an auspicious occasion arrives like a birthday or at special dates. Give your private Aesculapius a surprise with a MeriTomasa treasure that will serve as a talisman against the challenges of everyday life or simply to boast that vocation of service that is the profession of medicine.
• For the doctors of tomorrow: an ideal gift to make to family and good friends who face each and every one of the challenges of that very loooooooooooong career that is to be a doctor, from the first tests to get a place in the degree to the fearsome exams to access as resident doctor in some hospital :)

"Asclepius" for the Greeks. "Aesculapius" for the Romans. The symbol of medicine for millennia

Asclepius really existed in Thessaly, and was a famous physician in his time. To say it in contemporary, was an influencer of those who earn a millionaire. After his death he was turned into a god and the legend began. He was venerated in Athens and Corinth, and in Pergamum, the city where Galen was born. Its attributes, the serpent and the rod, already pre-existing in antiquity, are combined in its symbology. The rod is the symbol of the medical profession, and the snake, which periodically sheds its skin, symbolizes rejuvenation. The Greeks called it Asklepios and the Romans called Aesculapius.

The snake represented on the staff of Aesculapius corresponds to the species Elaphe longissima, yellow and black in color and one to two meters long. It is common to find it in the ruins of Roman temples in southern Europe. Ancient literature attributes to the priests of Epidaurus that under their influence they obtained miraculous cures and also that these snakes suck the wounds of patients, something very unlikely from a scientific point of view. There is a Italian saying for this: «se non è vero, è ben trovato».

Asclepius was a young Homeric hipster, with a mane for which all Trojans sighed.

Asclepius is one of the mentors by which doctors commit themselves by taking the Hippocratic Oath, in its original version:

I swear by Apollo Physician, 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.

To hold my teacher in this art equal to my own parents; to make him partner in my livelihood; when he is in need of money to share mine with him; to consider his family as my own brothers, and to teach them this art, if they want to learn it, without fee or indenture; to impart precept, oral instruction, and all other instruction to my own sons, the sons of my teacher, and to indentured pupils who have taken the physician’s oath, but to nobody else.

I will use those dietary regimens which will benefit my patients according to my greatest ability and judgement, and I will do no harm or injustice to them. Neither will I administer a poison to anybody when asked to do so, nor will I suggest such a course. Similarly I will not give to a woman a pessary to cause abortion. But I will keep pure and holy both my life and my art. I will not use the knife, not even, verily, on sufferers from stone, but I will give place to such as are craftsmen therein.

Into whatsoever houses I enter, I will enter to help the sick, and I will abstain from all intentional wrong-doing and harm, especially from abusing the bodies of man or woman, bond or free. And whatsoever I shall see or hear in the course of my profession, as well as outside my profession in my intercourse with men, if it be what should not be published abroad, I will never divulge, holding such things to be holy secrets.

Now if I carry out this oath, and break it not, may I gain for ever reputation among all men for my life and for my art; but if I break it and forswear myself, may the opposite befall me.

Suckled by a goat, sponsored by a centaur and accompanied by a snake

The Chiron centaur instructing the good of Aesculapius, in a Homeric vessel.

According to Greek mythology, Asclepius was son of Apollo and Coronis, daughter of Phlegias, king of Thessaly. Apollo was enraged that Coronis was in love with Ischis, son of Eilat, and conceived a son with him, Aclepius (Aesculapius, in Roman tradition).

At birth, Apollo abandoned him on Mount Títion, where he was suckled by a goat. A pastor found the boy and handed him over to the Centaur Chiron, who taught him medicine.

As an adult, Asclepius was assisting Glaucus when, suddenly, he was mortally wounded by lightning. A snake appeared in the room and Asclepius killed it with his staff. Then another snake entered and revived the first one by putting some herbs in its mouth. With these same herbs, Asclepius managed to resurrect Glaucus.

At the request of Pluto (Hades, in the Greek tradition), God of Hell, Jupiter (or Zeus, in the Greek tradition) killed Asclepius because he cured too many sick people and raised the dead, such as Hippolytus, son of Theseus, and the underworld was being deserted.

Apollo interceded for him, and finally Asclepius was immortalized among the stars in the sky. According to another legend, Zeus chose to nullify the ability (today we would say "the superpower") of resurrection and allowed only that of healing. Hence Asclepius/Aesculapius is the patron of medicine..

Kilometer 0: designed and modeled in my Manresa workshop

Artisanal manufacture of the Rod of Asclepius in silver.

Asclepius is a collection designed and modeled in my Manresa workshop, based on custom jewelry orders since 2008. Making a small seriation allows me to offer it to you at cheaper prices and bring it home in a very short time frame. In any case, you can boast of wearing a jewel kilometer zero of artisanal manufacturing.

The MeriTomasa's Treasures Factory is specialized in custom jewelery tailor-made for all tastes and budgets: wedding rings, headbands, earrings, pendants, brooches, bracelets, rings, tiaras…

My value proposition is to create quality jewelry, designed and manufactured by hand, with a focus on personalization. That is why I join campaigns like Fashion Revolution or enjoy to be accredited with the craft product badge (D'A), which certifies that my jewelry is of own production and is made by hand using the processes of my trade and produced in my workshop in Manresa, kilometer zero.

I offer a more intimate, romantic, exclusive and quality jewelry.

And if you like it but would prefer it with some changes... please tell me and we will talk about it :)