Refutation of All Heresies 4.35.5

Authorship disputed: The work names no author. Book 1 was long printed among Origen's works as the Philosophumena; after books 4–10 were found in a manuscript from Mount Athos (published 1851), it was assigned to Hippolytus, the usual view today, though some scholars ascribe it to another Roman writer of the same circle. Books 2 and 3 are lost, and book 4 lacks its beginning.

Greek text · Duncker–Schneidewin, 102

Νερτερίη χθονίη τε καὶ οὐρανίη μολὲ Βομβώ, εἰνοδίη, τριοδῖτι, φαεσφόρε, νυκτεροφοῖτι· ἐχθρὴ μὲν φωτός, νυκτὸς δὲ φίλη καὶ ἑταίρη, χαίρουσα σκυλάκων ὑλακῇ τε καὶ αἵματι φοινῷ, ἀν νέκυας στείχουσα κατʼ ἠρία τεθνηώτων, αἵματος ἱμείρουσα, φόβον θνητοῖσι φέρουσα, Γοργὼ καὶ Μορμὼ καὶ Μήνη καὶ πολύμορφε, ἔλθοις εὐάντητος ἐφʼ ἡμετέρῃσι θυηλαῖς.

English · Claude translation

"Infernal, earthly, and heavenly, come, Bombo, goddess of the roads, of the crossroads, light-bearer, night-wanderer, enemy of light, friend and companion of night, rejoicing in the baying of dogs and in red blood, stalking among the corpses along the tombs of the dead, longing for blood, bringing fear to mortals, Gorgo and Mormo and Mene and many-formed, come graciously to our sacrifices."

About this passage

Source

Duncker–Schneidewin, 102 · Ludwig Duncker and F. G. Schneidewin, eds., S. Hippolyti episcopi et martyris Refutationis omnium haeresium librorum decem quae supersunt (Göttingen: Dieterich, 1859); section divisions from Paul Wendland, ed., Hippolytus Werke 3: Refutatio omnium haeresium, GCS 26 (Leipzig: Hinrichs, 1916) · Greek text: L. Duncker and F. G. Schneidewin, Refutationis omnium haeresium (Göttingen, 1859), digitized by the Perseus Digital Library; section divisions from P. Wendland (GCS 26, 1916), digitized by the First Thousand Years of Greek project (Open Greek and Latin); both CC BY-SA 4.0

Text

As printed in Duncker–Schneidewin. Manuscript variants and the editor's apparatus are not reproduced; no textual problem is noted in this passage.

Translation

Claude translation (claude-opus-5-5), 2026-09-27 · Translated by Claude from the Greek text of Duncker–Schneidewin; made independently of existing English translations.

Compare

Ante-Nicene Fathers, vol. 5 (1886) (an older public-domain English translation, whole volume at CCEL; checked against ours only after ours was made) · Its chapter numbers differ from the standard (Wendland) numbering used here.

Notes

Translation notes

The hymn to Hecate is otherwise known only in fragments; its source is uncertain.

Cite this passage

Hippolytus, Haer. 4.35.5 (trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/hippolytus-refutatio/4/35/5/).

The SBL abbreviation for this work has not been checked yet.

Plain text

Hippolytus, Haer. 4.35.5 (trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/hippolytus-refutatio/4/35/5/).