Potamius

Potamius (Greek: Ποτάμιος, 343–360 AD), also known as Potamius of Lisbon, was the first recorded bishop of the city of Lisbon. He was possibly born in Lisbon, given that Iberian communities at the time usually chose their own citizens as bishops. He is the second earliest Christian prose writer of the Iberian Peninsula, with Hosius of Corduba being the first.

Context The historical evidence on Christian presence in the Iberian Peninsula is scarce and lacking in detail. De Lazaro was attributed to John Chrysostom, as well as to Zeno of Verona (De Isaiae was also attributed to Zeno). The two Epistulae were attributed to Jerome. Luc d'Achery, in 1657, was the first scholar to identify Potamius' catholic writings when he attributed the Epistula ad Athanasium to Potamius. Girolamo and Pietro Ballerini, in 1739, noticed the similarities between De Lazaro and De Isaiae with Epistula ad Athanasium, but attributed them to a second Potamius that was not the bishop of Lisbon. Circa 1769, Andrea Gallandi finally attributed the two works to Potamius of Lisbon. The Epistula de Substantia would only be identified in 1912, by André Wilmart.

The only surviving Arian writing of Potamius is a citation from Phoebadius of Agen's Contra Arianos.