It is uncertain as to who an Asclepiad was. Some theories hold that they were priest

Priest

A priest is a person authorized to perform the sacred rites of a religion, especially as a mediatory agent between humans and deities. They also have the authority or power to administer religious rites; in particular, rites of sacrifice to, and propitiation of, a deity or deities...

s of an Asclepion

Asclepieion

In ancient Greece and Rome, an asclepeion was a healing temple, sacred to the god Asclepius....

 in ancient Greece

Ancient Greece

Ancient Greece is a civilization belonging to a period of Greek history that lasted from the Archaic period of the 8th to 6th centuries BC to the end of antiquity. Immediately following this period was the beginning of the Early Middle Ages and the Byzantine era. Included in Ancient Greece is the...

. The Asclepiadae could also have been a guild in honour of Asclepius

Asclepius

Asclepius is the God of Medicine and Healing in ancient Greek religion. Asclepius represents the healing aspect of the medical arts; his daughters are Hygieia , Iaso , Aceso , Aglæa/Ægle , and Panacea...

, the Greek god of healing, separate from the healing temples and closely related to Hippocratic tradition. Plato gives Hippocrates this title in his Protagoras, referring to him as “Hippocrates of Cos, the Asclepiad”. It may also be a group of people who claimed to be descended from Asclepius. Asclepiades was the name of several physicians, some of whom probably assumed this appellation either as a sort of honorary title in allusion to the ancient family of the Asclepiadae, or in order to signify that they themselves belonged to it.