Miscellanies 1.21.132 · Sophia Scriptura

Summary: Clement lists many Greek soothsayers and Sibyls, all later than the Hebrew prophets.

Greek text · Stählin 2:82

Καὶ ταῦτα μὲν προήχθημεν εἰπεῖν, ὅτι μάλιστα ἐν τοῖς πάνυ παλαιοῖς τοὺς τοῦ Κύκλου ποιητὰς τιθέασιν. ἤδη δὲ καὶ παρʼ Ἕλλησι χρησμολόγοι συχνοὶ γεγονέναι φέρονται, ὡς οἱ Βάκιδες (ὃ μὲν Βοιώτιος, ὃ δὲ Ἀρκάς), πολλὰ πολλοῖς προαγορεύσαντες. τῇ δὲ τοῦ Ἀθηναίου Ἀμφιλύτου συμβουλῇ καὶ Πεισίστρατος ἐκράτυνε τὴν τυραννίδα τὸν καιρὸν τῆς ἐπιθέσεως δηλώσαντος. σιγάσθω γὰρ Κομήτης ὁ Κρής, Κινύρας ὁ Κύπριος, Ἄδμητος ὁ Θετταλός, Ἀρισταῖος ὁ Κυρηναῖος, Ἀμφιάραος ὁ Ἀθηναῖος, Τιμόξενος ὁ Κερκυραῖος, Δημαίνετος ὁ Φωκαεύς, Ἐπιγένης ὁ Θεσπιεύς, Νικίας ὁ Καρύστιος, Ἀρίστων ὁ Θετταλός, Διονύσιος ὁ Καρχηδόνιος, Κλεοφῶν ὁ Κορίνθιος, Ἱππώ τε ἡ Χείρωνος καὶ Βοιὼ καὶ Μαντὼ καὶ τῶν Σιβυλλῶν τὸ πλῆθος, ἡ Σαμία ἡ Κολοφωνία ἡ Κυμαία ἡ Ἐρυθραία ἡ Φυτὼ ἡ Ταραξάνδρα ἡ Μακέτις ἡ Θετταλὴ Θεσπρωτίς, Κάλχας τε αὖ καὶ Μόψος, οἳ κατὰ τὰ Τρωϊκὰ γεγόνασι, πρεσβύτερος δὲ ὁ Μόψος, ὡς ἂν συμπλεύσας τοῖς Ἀργοναύταις.

English · Claude translation

We have been led to say this because they put the poets of the Epic Cycle among the very ancient. Among the Greeks too there are said to have been many oracle-mongers, like the Bacides (one Boeotian, the other Arcadian), who foretold many things to many. By the advice of Amphilytus of Athens Pisistratus strengthened his tyranny, since he showed him the right moment to attack. Let me pass over in silence Cometes the Cretan, Cinyras the Cyprian, Admetus the Thessalian, Aristaeus of Cyrene, Amphiaraus the Athenian, Timoxenus of Corcyra, Demaenetus of Phocaea, Epigenes of Thespiae, Nicias of Carystus, Ariston the Thessalian, Dionysius the Carthaginian, Cleophon of Corinth, and Hippo, daughter of Chiron, and Boeo and Manto, and the multitude of Sibyls: the Samian, the Colophonian, the Cumaean, the Erythraean, Phyto, Taraxandra, the Macedonian, the Thessalian, the Thesprotian; and Calchas and Mopsus, who lived at the time of the Trojan War, Mopsus being older, since he sailed with the Argonauts.

About this passage

Source

Stählin 2:82 · Otto Stählin, ed., Clemens Alexandrinus, vol. 2, Stromata Buch I–VI, GCS 15 (Leipzig: Hinrichs, 1906); vol. 3, Stromata Buch VII und VIII, GCS 17 (Leipzig: Hinrichs, 1909) · Greek text: Otto Stählin, Clemens Alexandrinus 2–3 (GCS 15, 17, 1906–1909), digitized by the Perseus Digital Library, CC BY-SA 4.0

Text

As printed in Stählin, GCS 15, 17. 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 Stählin (1906–1909); made independently of existing English translations.

Compare

Ante-Nicene Fathers, vol. 2 (1885) (an older public-domain English translation, whole volume at CCEL; checked against ours only after ours was made) · Book 3 is left partly untranslated (in Latin) there.

Topics

Scripture and canon

Cite this passage

Clement of Alexandria, Strom. 1.21.132 (trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/clement-stromata/1/21/132/).

Plain text

Clement of Alexandria, Strom. 1.21.132 (trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/clement-stromata/1/21/132/).