Sophia Scriptura

Refutation of All Heresies 5.21.10

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 Sethians cite a Persian well whose single draught separates into three substances.

Greek text · Duncker–Schneidewin, 212–214

Φρέαρ ἐστὶν ἐν Πέρσαις ἐν Ἄμπῃ πόλει παρὰ τὸν Τίγριν ποταμόν· ᾠκοδόμηται δὲ παρὰ τὸ φρέαρ ἄνω δεξαμενή τις ἔχουσα τρεῖς ἀφετηρίας ἀπʼ αὐτῆς. Οὗ φρέατος ἀντλήσας κάδδῳ ἀνενέγκας τὸ ἀπὸ τοῦ φρέατος ἀντληθὲν ὅ τι ποτέ ἐστιν, ἔχεεν εἰς τὴν παρακειμένην δεξαμενήν· τὸ δὲ χυθὲν ἐλθὸν ἐπὶ τὰς ἀφετηρίας ἐν ἑνὶ σκεύει ἀναληφθὲν διακρίνεται.

English · Claude translation

There is a well in Persia, in the city of Ampe, beside the river Tigris; and beside the well, above it, a cistern has been built, with three outlets. Someone who draws from the well with a bucket and brings up whatever is drawn from the well pours it into the cistern beside it; and what is poured, coming to the outlets, though taken up in one vessel, is separated.

About this passage

Source
Duncker–Schneidewin, 212–214 · 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.
Extrabiblical texts
  • Herodotus, Hist. 6.119 (Herodotus, Histories) · allusion, high confidence
Topics
Heresy

Notes

Translation notes

  • The well is described by Herodotus 6.119 (at Ardericca).

Cite this passage

Hippolytus, Haer. 5.21.10 (trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/hippolytus-refutatio/5/21/10/).

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Plain text
Hippolytus, Haer. 5.21.10 (trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/hippolytus-refutatio/5/21/10/).

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