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A winged staff with two serpents wound around it, originally the attribute of Hermes (Mercury), the messenger god.
Also known as: Herald's staff
Sometimes confused with: The medical symbol
Historically a symbol of Hermes/Mercury associated with commerce, negotiation and heralds, the caduceus became widely — but historically inaccurately — adopted as a medical emblem in the 19th and 20th centuries, notably by the U.S. Army Medical Corps, causing lasting confusion with the single-snake Rod of Asclepius.
Originally an attribute of Hermes (Greek) / Mercury (Roman), the messenger god, associated with commerce, negotiation and heralds.
Ancient Greece and Rome · Contexts: History
Widely used as a symbol of medicine in the United States — for example as the U.S. Army Medical Corps insignia since 1902 — a usage many historians and medical bodies consider a historical mix-up rather than a mythologically meaningful medical symbol.
Some organisations retain the caduceus for institutional/historical continuity even though the mix-up is well documented; the Rod of Asclepius is the mythologically correct medical symbol.
United States · 19th century onward · Contexts: Medicine
Became a medical mark in the United States by a documented administrative decision rather than by drift: the Army Medical Corps adopted it in 1902, and American commercial and institutional use followed the Army. Outside the United States the two-serpent staff is far less common in medicine, which is why the misattribution reads as an American peculiarity.
Is correctly a herald's staff, and survives in that role: it marks commerce, negotiation and messengers, and appears on customs and trade insignia, on postal and courier emblems, and in the arms of chambers of commerce, where nothing medical is intended.
Contexts: History, Public information
Related forms that are not treated as separate canonical symbols — see our variant rules.
Winged form
The staff surmounted by a pair of wings, the classical attribute of Hermes and the form that most clearly distinguishes it from the Rod of Asclepius.
Wingless form
Two serpents on a plain staff with no wings, which is where the confusion with the single-serpent rod becomes hardest to see at small sizes.
A vertical staff topped with a pair of wings, with two snakes wound around it, crossing at intervals.
Both are built from animals, and both are used in history, medicine and public information contexts.
Both are built from animals, and both are used in history, medicine and public information contexts.