Sophia Scriptura

Refutation of All Heresies 5.14.8

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 power over fruits (called Men) and the power of fire (called Hephaestus) are listed with their human images, many of them famed astrologers and magicians.

Textual problem in this passage: the printed text is uncertain or disputed here. See the notes.

Greek text · Duncker–Schneidewin, 186

Δύναμις δεξιὰ ἐξουσιάζει καρπῶν· τοῦτον ἡ ἀγνωσία ἐκάλεσε Μῆνα, οὗ κατʼ εἰκόνα ἐγένοντο Βουμέγας, Ὀστάνης, Ἑρμῆς τρισμέγιστος, Κουρίτης, Πετόσιρις, Ζωδάριον, Βηρωσός, Ἀστράμψουχος, Ζωρόαστρις. Δύναμις πυρὸς εὐώνυμος· τοῦτον ἡ ἀγνωσία ἐκάλεσεν Ἥφαιστον, οὗ κατʼ εἰκόνα ἐγένοντο Ἐριχθόνιος, Ἀχιλλεύς, Καπανεύς, Φλέγων, Μελέαγρος, τὰ δύηκεν, Κέλαδος, Ῥαφαήλ, Σουριήλ, Ὀμφάλη.

English · Claude translation

The right-hand power has authority over fruits; this one ignorance called Men, after whose image came Bumegas, Ostanes, Hermes Trismegistus, Kourites, Petosiris, Zodarion, Berossus, Astrampsuchos, Zoroaster. The left-hand power of fire: this one ignorance called Hephaestus, after whose image came Erichthonius, Achilles, Capaneus, Phaethon, Meleager, …, Celadus, Raphael, Suriel, Omphale.

About this passage

Source
Duncker–Schneidewin, 186 · 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; the problem in this passage is discussed in the notes.
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.
Topics
Heresy

Notes

Translation notes

  • The text is corrupt at τὰ δύηκεν (perhaps “Tydeus”); Φλέγων may stand for Phaethon or Phlegyas and is rendered doubtfully.

Cite this passage

Hippolytus, Haer. 5.14.8 (trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/hippolytus-refutatio/5/14/8/).

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Plain text
Hippolytus, Haer. 5.14.8 (trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/hippolytus-refutatio/5/14/8/).

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