# Sign of Jupiter

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sign-of-jupiter/108150>\
**Category:** Factual Questions\
**Created:** [May 9, 2002, 7:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sign-of-jupiter/108150 "2002-05-09T19:57:21Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 5\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![Prof\_Frankie](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/82dd89/32.png) [@Prof\_Frankie](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Prof_Frankie)\
**Post date:** [May 9, 2002, 7:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sign-of-jupiter/108150/1 "2002-05-09T19:57:21Z")

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I am teaching a learning in retirement course on Medicinal and Poisonous plants. This includes some history of the pharmacy industry, herbalists, etc. Why did the Worshipful Society of Apothecaries, chartered in the early 1600s by King James I, adpot the sign of Jupiter as their insignia. Does Jupiter have some sort of connection to health? And did that symbol some how come down to us as the familiar Rx?

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**Author:** ![Colibri](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/colibri/32/1841_2.png) [@Colibri](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Colibri)\
**Post date:** [May 9, 2002, 8:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sign-of-jupiter/108150/2 "2002-05-09T20:38:39Z")

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**Jill’s** Staff Report on [What does the pharmacist’s symbol “Rx” mean?](http://www.straightdope.com/mailbag/mrx.html) has a detailed account.

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**Author:** ![Kamandi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/5daacb/32.png) [@Kamandi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kamandi)\
**Post date:** [May 9, 2002, 10:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sign-of-jupiter/108150/3 "2002-05-09T22:05:31Z")

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Damn, that’s a great question (and answer). Welcome to the Boards, **Prof Frankie**!

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**Author:** ![panamajack](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/47e85d/32.png) [@panamajack](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/panamajack)\
**Post date:** [May 10, 2002, 12:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sign-of-jupiter/108150/4 "2002-05-10T00:28:25Z")

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Her answer didn’t seem to mention the Society of Apothecaries, though. But where did you get the report that they used the sign of Jupiter?

I possibly didn’t look hard enough on their website, but I couldn’t find anything about the Jupiter sign (or the Rx symbol).  
The site does explain their coat of arms, granted as stated by James I in 1617 (the original Grant of Arms is shown in a photograph [here](http://www.apothecaries.org/society_f/index_f.html)) in the following way :

> [@](#):
>
> It features Apollo (the god of healing) killing the dragon of disease, supported by two unicorns (from King James’s royal arms), and a rhinoceros as the crest (the powdered horn was believed to be medicinal). The motto, from the first book of Ovid’s ‘Metamorphoses’, translates: “I am spoken of all over the world as one who brings help”

(For those wishing, a better view of the coat of arms is on their homepage ([http://www.apothecaries.org/](http://www.apothecaries.org/))

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**Author:** ![Prof\_Frankie](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/82dd89/32.png) [@Prof\_Frankie](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Prof_Frankie)\
**Post date:** [May 14, 2002, 1:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sign-of-jupiter/108150/5 "2002-05-14T01:11:07Z")

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Panama Jack  
Several references, including the text I have used on Practical Botany mention that the Worshipful Society of Apothecaries used the sign of Jupiter as their symbol and that it eventually came down to as as the familiar Rx.