Sophia Scriptura

Refutation of All Heresies 6.8.3

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 parrots' cry spread through Libya, and the Libyans took Apsethus for a god.

Greek text · Duncker–Schneidewin, 234

Πετομένων δὲ τῶν ὀρνίθων ἐξῆλθεν ὁ φθόγγος εἰς πᾶσαν τὴν Λιβύην, καὶ τὰ ῥήματα αὐτῶν διῆλθε μέχρι τῆς Ἑλληνικῆς γῆς, καὶ οὕτως οἱ Λίβυες καταπλαγέντες ἐπὶ τῇ τῶν ὀρνίθων φωνῇ τό τε πραχθὲν ὑπὸ τοῦ Ἀψέθου πανούργευμα μὴ ἐννοήσαντες, θεὸν εἶχον τὸν Ἄψεθον.

English · Claude translation

As the birds flew, their voice went out into all Libya, and their words passed through as far as the land of the Greeks; and so the Libyans, amazed at the voice of the birds and not perceiving the trick played by Apsethus, held Apsethus to be a god.

About this passage

Source
Duncker–Schneidewin, 234 · 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
  • Ps 19:4 (18:5 LXX) · echo, medium confidence

Notes

Translation notes

  • The phrasing echoes Ps 19:4 (18:5 LXX).

Cite this passage

Hippolytus, Haer. 6.8.3 (trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/hippolytus-refutatio/6/8/3/).

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Plain text
Hippolytus, Haer. 6.8.3 (trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/hippolytus-refutatio/6/8/3/).

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