caduceus

Definitions

1. The official wand carried by a herald in ancient Greece and Rome, specifically the one carried in mythology by Hermes, the messenger of the gods, usually represented with two snakes twined around it.
2. A symbol (☤) representing a staff with two snakes wrapped around it, used to indicate merchants and messengers. It is also sometimes incorrectly substituted for the rod of Asclepius as a symbol of medicine.

Equivalents

Examples

“Caduceus the rod of Mercury, / With which he wonts the Stygian realmes inuade […]”

“For quotations using this term, see⟳ Citations:caduceus.”

CEFR level