Caduceus
κηρύκειον
Caduceus (κηρύκειον) was the staff or mace carried by Greek heralds and ambassadors in time of war. [PRAECO] (Pollux, 8.138; Thuc. 1.53; Hdt. 9.100.) This name is also given to the staff with which Hermes or Mercury is usually represented. The caduceus was originally only an olive branch with garlands (στέμμαρα), which were afterwards formed into snakes. (Müller, Archäol. der Kunst, p. 504.) Later mythologists invented tales about these snakes. Hyginus (Astron. 2.7) tells us that Mercury once found two snakes fighting, and separated them with his wand; from which circumstance they were used as an emblem of peace. (Macr. 1.19; Plin. Nat. 29.54.)
From caduceus was formed the word caduceator, which signified a person sent to treat for peace (Liv. 32.32; Nep. Hannib. 11; Amm. Marc. 20.7; Gel. 10.27). The persons of the caduceatores were considered sacred (Cato, ap. Fest. s.v. Cic. de Orat. 1.46, 202). The caduceus was not used by the Romans. They used instead verbenae and sagmina, which were carried by the Fetiales (Dig. 1, tit. 8, s. 8). [FETIALES]
From William Smith (ed.), Dictionary of Greek and Roman Antiquities. Text provided under a CC BY-SA license by Perseus Digital Library, http://www.perseus.tufts.edu, with funding from the National Endowment for the Humanities and Tufts University. Data accessed from https://github.com/PerseusDL/canonical-pdlrefwk/ on 17 October 2026.