Snakes, the symbol for Aesklepios, ornament a marble altar. In the ancient world, snakes symbolized healing and life-renewal. The caduceus was adopted as a symbol of the medical profession because of its similarity with the serpent entwined staff of Aesklepios. IIRC, there is more than one example in situ. In spiral like the DNA helix.
If you are into fringe stuff like I am (for fun mostly) you would read lots of speculation regarding the connections.
In spiral like the DNA helix.
Not really. The two strands in DNA lie head to tail. In the caduceus, they lie head to head, tail to tail. Also, the double spiral of the caduceus has strands that are 180 degrees apart.
The two strands of the DNA helix are not.
The best guess of the origin of the caduceus is the practice of using a stick to provide traction in extracting Guinea worms by winding them up onto the stick as they erupt.
