The Orphic Hymns

Of Asclepius. Incense: frankincense powder. Healer of all, Asclepius, lord Paian, you who charm away the painful sufferings that disease brings to people,

In Homer, Asclepius is still a man. The Iliad calls him "the blameless healer," amymōn iētēr, and his two sons, Machaon and Podaleirios, lead a contingent to Troy and tend the wounded there. The hymn opens on that same word, iētēr, "healer," but now he is the healer of all. Paian was at first the physician of the gods: in the Iliad he heals Hades and later Ares when they are wounded. The name became a title of Apollo, and here of his son, and the paean, the song of thanksgiving, is named for him; its refrain was the cry iē Paian. Thelgōn, "charming," is a strong word. Homer uses it for the wand of Hermes, the spells of Circe and the song of the Sirens. Healing and charming stayed close in Greek: in the Odyssey the bleeding of the young Odysseus, gashed by a boar, is stopped with a chant.