Why is Asclepius said to have been a god when he was killed?

Question

Asclepius was a son of Apollo and the mortal princess Coronis. Chiron, the centaur, nurtured his talent for the art of medicine, eventually surpassing himself and his father.

One day, the demigod found a way to bring back the dead. He only did it once, for he was killed by Zeus. A chain reaction of events later, Zeus brings back Asclepius as a full god.

The Wikipedia article on Pan says he and Asclepius are the only gods to have died:

According to the Greek historian Plutarch (in De defectu oraculorum, "The Obsolescence of Oracles"), Pan is the only Greek god (other than Asclepius) who actually dies.

Asclepius was a demigod when he died. Why do people include Asclepius as gods who died? Is it because he was later resurrected as one? If this is the case, shouldn't Heracles be included?

Answer 1

The wiki seems to have been updated:

According to the Greek historian Plutarch (in De defectu oraculorum, "The Obsolescence of Oracles"), Pan is the only Greek god who actually dies.

I checked the Plutarch source, and found no mention of Asclepius.

• My sense is that this was an error, in that Greek demi-gods all died, or at least their mortal halves (as in the case of Heracles) such that some became fully divine after death.

Asclepius' divinity comes at the hands of his slayer, Zeus, who, at the behest of his son Apollo, resurrected Asclepius and allowed him to dwell on Olympus.