Caduceus as a symbol of medicine significance of both symbols. This has occasioned impassioned remarks by those frustrated with the continuing confusion. It has been observed that the caduceus is particularly inappropriate for use as a medical symbol due to its long associations with the Greek god Hermes, who was patron of commerce and traders as well as thieves, liars, and gamblers. On the other hand, it has also been remarked – not without considerable irony – that commercial aims in medicine, especially in the United States of America, make the caduceus "an appropriate symbol", at least for some physicians. Others are unapologetic about the association
Caduceus is a continuation of the older Indo-European dragon-slayer motif. Wilhelm Heinrich Roscher (1913) pointed out that the serpent as an attribute of both Hermes and Asclepius is a variant of the "pre-historic semi-chthonic serpent hero known at Delphi as Python", who in classical mythology is slain by Apollo. One Greek myth of origin of the caduceus is part of the story of Tiresias, who found two snakes copulating and killed the female with his staff. Tiresias was immediately turned into a woman, and so remained until he was able to repeat the act with the male snake seven years later.