Sophia Scriptura

Refutation of All Heresies 4.51.13

Hippolytus of Rome · Refutation of All Heresies · ca. 222–235 · Rome · Read in context

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.

Summary: The cerebellum resembles a serpent's head, and seven pairs of nerves come from the brain.

Greek text · Duncker–Schneidewin, 128

Ἔστι δὲ τὸ σχῆμα τῆς παρεγκεφαλίδος ἐοικὸς κεφαλῇ δράκοντος, περὶ οὗ πολὺς ὁ λόγος τοῖς τῆς ψευδωνύμου γνώσεως γίνεται, καθὼς ἐπιδείξομεν. Ἕτεραι δὲ ἐκ τοῦ ἐγκεφάλου φύονται ἓξ συζυγίαι, αἳ περὶ τὴν κεφαλὴν διϊκνούμεναι συνέχουσι τὰ σώματα ἐν αὐτῇ περατούμεναι· ἡ δὲ ἑβδόμη ἐκ τῆς παρεγκεφαλίδος εἰς τὰ κάτω τοῦ λοιποῦ σώματος, καθὼς εἴπομεν.

English · Claude translation

The shape of the cerebellum is like the head of a dragon, about which there is much talk among those of the knowledge falsely so called, as we shall show. And six other pairs grow from the brain, which, passing around the head, hold the bodies together, ending in it; and the seventh goes from the cerebellum to the lower parts of the rest of the body, as we said.

About this passage

Source
Duncker–Schneidewin, 128 · 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.
Scripture
Topics
Heresy

Notes

Translation notes

  • "Knowledge falsely so called" echoes 1 Tim 6:20.

Cite this passage

Hippolytus, Haer. 4.51.13 (trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/hippolytus-refutatio/4/51/13/).

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Plain text
Hippolytus, Haer. 4.51.13 (trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/hippolytus-refutatio/4/51/13/).

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