Epimenides of Crete

Epimenides of Crete (; ) was a semi-mythical 7th- or 6th-century BC Greek seer and philosopher-poet, from Knossos or Phaistos.

Life While tending his father's sheep, Epimenides is said to have fallen asleep for fifty-seven years in a Cretan cave sacred to Zeus, after which he reportedly awoke with the gift of prophecy (Diogenes Laërtius i. 109–115). Diogenes Laërtius relates that when a pestilence raged in Athens, the Pythonic oracle told the Athenians to bring Epimenides from Crete to give advice. When he came, he set sheep on Mars Hill and where they lay down had altars erected "to the suitable god", explaining the existence of these anonymous altars. One of these was apparently mentioned by Saint Paul in his speech on that hill (Acts 17).

Works

Several prose and poetic works, now lost, were attributed to Epimenides, including a theogony, an epic poem on the Argonautic expedition, prose works on purifications and sacrifices, a cosmogony, oracles, a work on the laws of Crete, and a treatise on Minos and Rhadymanthus.

Cretica Epimenides' Cretica (Κρητικά) is apparently quoted twice in the New Testament. Prof. James Rendel Harris found a passage in a Nestorian Scriptural commentary in Syriac, quite possibly written by Theodore of Mopsuestia, on Acts 17:28 saying:

Rendel Harris argued that this was in fact based on the poem of Epimenides, and that therefore both the phrase "in Him we live and move and have our being" in Acts and the phrase "Cretans, always liars..." in Titus are based on Epimenides. He offered the following suggestion for the original Greek: J. Rendel Harris' hypothetical Greek text: Τύμβον ἐτεκτήναντο σέθεν, κύδιστε μέγιστε, Κρῆτες, ἀεὶ ψευδεῖς, κακὰ θηρία, γαστέρες ἀργαί. Ἀλλὰ σύ γ᾽ οὐ θνῄσκεις, ἕστηκας γὰρ ζοὸς αἰεί, Ἐν γὰρ σοὶ ζῶμεν καὶ κινύμεθ᾽ ἠδὲ καὶ ἐσμέν. Translation: They fashioned a tomb for you, holy and high one, Cretans, always liars, evil beasts, idle bellies. But you are not dead: you live and abide forever, For in you we live and move and have our being.

The "lie" of the Cretans is that Zeus was mortal; Epimenides considered Zeus immortal. "Cretans, always liars," with the same theological intent as Epimenides, also appears in the Hymn to Zeus of Callimachus. The fourth line is quoted (with a reference to one of "your own poets") in Acts of the Apostles, chapter 17, verse 28.

The second line is quoted, with a veiled attribution ("a prophet of their own"), in the Epistle to Titus, chapter 1, verse 12, to warn Titus about the Cretans. The "prophet" in Titus 1:12 is identified by Clement of Alexandria as "Epimenides" (Stromata, i. 14). In this passage, Clement mentions that "some say" Epimenides should be counted among the seven wisest philosophers.

Chrysostom (Homily 3 on Titus) gives an alternative fragment: For even a tomb, King, of you They made, who never died, but ever shall be.

Epimenides paradox The Epimenides paradox refers to a saying attributed to Epimenides: "Cretans are always liars" («Κρῆτες ἀεὶ ψεῦσται»). This statement creates a paradox of self-reference similar to the liar paradox. This quote is referenced in the New Testament Epistle to Titus, which indirectly alludes to Epimenides as a "prophet" of the Cretans.