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在沒有明月的夏夜，遠離市區光害，很易就在天蠍座的北面找到蛇夫座。蛇夫座的形象是一個雙手握着巨蛇的人物，在古希臘，蛇夫代表神醫阿斯克勒庇厄斯。
阿斯克勒庇厄斯是太陽神阿波羅與情婦科羅尼斯之子，阿波羅以為科羅尼斯對他不忠，把她殺死，然後把兒子交由半人半馬的喀戎撫養，喀戎把醫術傳授給阿斯克勒庇厄斯，令他成為名醫。有一次當阿斯克勒庇厄斯為一個已死的小孩診視時，剛巧有一條蛇經過，他在情急之下拿起木棒把蛇打死；過一會兒，另一條口含草藥的蛇出現，活蛇把草藥放在死蛇上，死蛇隨即復活。阿斯克勒庇厄斯便採摘此仙草，放在小孩身上，小孩真的復活。
從此阿斯克勒庇厄斯之名不脛而走，冥王恐怕陰界從此關門大吉，便慫恿宙斯用雷電把阿斯克勒庇厄斯轟斃。宙斯雖殺死阿斯克勒庇厄斯，但賞識其醫術，遂把他帶到天空成為蛇夫座。
Ophiuchus
If you stay away from the polluted city sky in the summer evening, you have no difficulty in finding Ophiuchus. In ancient Greece, Ophiuchus represented the healer Asclepius.
Asclepius was the son of Apollo and Coronis. Coronis was killed for being unfaithful to Apollo. Apollo took the infant to Chiron, the centaur, who raised the boy and taught him the art of healing. On one occasion while Asclepius was inspecting the body of a boy who was drowned, a snake slithered by. Asclepius quickly killed the snake. Then a second snake came along with a herb and placed it on the body of the dead snake. The dead snake magically returned to life. Asclepius laid the herb on the dead boy who was resurrected too.
Hades, god of the underworld, was outraged. He persuaded Zeus to kill Asclepius with a thunderbolt. Zeus placed the dead Asclepius among the stars as the constellation Ophiuchus. ■圖片鳴謝：USNO/STScI ■甄枝強 資深天文愛好者
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