Aratus (mythology)
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Aratus (Ancient Greek: Ἄρατος) was in Greek mythology the son of the god Asclepius and the mortal Sicyonian woman Aristodeme. He was half-brother to Aceso, Aegle, Hygieia, Iaso, Panacea, Machaon, Podalirius, and Telesphoros.[citation needed]
Literary evidence of Aratus's parentage largely comes via references from one single author, the geographer Pausanias.[1][2] However, there are other remnants, such as an inscription dating from the second or third century BCE and unearthed in the city of Epidaurus that reads: "[We] set up this dragon, the monstrous father of the hero Aratus, to be guardian of possessions."[3]
It is unclear to what extent Aratus as the son of Asclepius was an existing mythological tradition and to what extent it was a post-hoc mythologizing of Aratus of Sicyon after his death.[4]