View source for Epimenides

{{Short description|7th/6th-century BCE Greek seer, philosopher, and poet}}
{{More footnotes needed|date=February 2012}}
{{Use mdy dates|date=March 2025}}
[[Image:epimenides.jpg|thumb|200px|Epimenides of Knossos]]
'''Epimenides of [[Knossos]]''' (or '''Epimenides of [[Crete]]''') ({{IPAc-en|ɛ|p|ɪ|ˈ|m|ɛ|n|ɪ|d|iː|z}}; {{langx|grc|Ἐπιμενίδης}}) was a semi-[[Greek mythology|mythical]] 7th- or 6th-century BC [[Greeks|Greek]] [[prophet|seer]] and [[philosopher]]-[[poetry|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 [[Crete|Cretan]] cave sacred to [[Zeus]], after which he reportedly awoke with the gift of prophecy ([[Diogenes Laërtius]] i. 109–115). [[Plutarch]] writes that Epimenides purified [[Athens]] after the pollution brought by the [[Alcmeonidae]], and that the seer's expertise in [[sacrifice]]s and reform of funeral practices were of great help to [[Solon]] in his reform of the Athenian state. The only reward he would accept was a branch of the sacred olive, and a promise of perpetual friendship between Athens and [[Knossos]] (Plutarch, ''Life of Solon'', 12; [[Aristotle]], ''[[Constitution of the Athenians (Aristotle)|Ath. Pol]]''. 1).

[[Athenaeus]] also mentions him, in connection with the self-sacrifice of the [[Pederasty in ancient Greece|''erastes'' and ''eromenos'']] pair of [[Aristodemus and Cratinus]], who were believed to have given their lives in order to purify Athens. Even in antiquity there were those who held the story to be mere fiction (''The Deipnosophists,'' XIII. 78–79). Diogenes Laërtius preserves a number of spurious letters between Epimenides and [[Solon]] in his ''Lives of the Philosophers''. Epimenides was also said to have prophesied at [[Sparta]] on military matters.

He died in Crete at an advanced age; according to his countrymen, who afterwards honoured him as a god, he lived nearly three hundred years. According to another story, he was taken prisoner in a war between the Spartans and Knossians, and put to death by his captors, because he refused to prophesy favourably for them. [[Pausanias (geographer)|Pausanias]] reports that when Epimenides died, his skin was found to be covered with [[tattoo]]ed writing. This was considered odd, because the Greeks reserved tattooing for [[slave]]s. Some modern [[scholar]]s{{who|date=March 2025}} have seen this as evidence that Epimenides was heir to the [[Shamanism|shamanic]] [[religion]]s of [[Central Asia]], because tattooing is often associated with shamanic [[initiation]].{{citation needed|date=March 2025}} The skin of Epimenides was preserved at the courts of the [[ephores]] in [[Sparta]], conceivably as a good-luck charm.

According to Diogenes Laërtius, Epimenides met [[Pythagoras]] in Crete, and they went to the [[Mount Ida (Crete)#Idaean Cave|Cave of Ida]].<ref>{{cite web |last=Hicks |first=R.D. |url=https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.01.0258%3Abook%3D8%3Achapter%3D1 |title=PYTHAGORAS (c. 582-500 B.C.) |publisher=Diogenes Laertius |year=1972}}</ref>

==Works==
[[File:Epimenides-poet.jpg|175px|thumb|Epimenides from "[[Promptuarium Iconum Insigniorum|Promptuarii Iconum Insigniorum]]"]]
Several prose and poetic works, now lost, were attributed to Epimenides, including a [[theogony]], an epic poem on the [[Argonauts|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 quoted twice in the [[New Testament]]. Its only source is a 9th-century [[Syriac language|Syriac]] commentary by [[Isho'dad of Merv]] on the [[Acts of the Apostles]], discovered, edited and translated (into Greek) by Prof. [[J. Rendel Harris]] in a series of articles.<ref name="RendelHarris1906">{{cite journal |last1=Rendel Harris |first1=J. |title=The Cretans always liars |journal=The Expositor |series=Seventh Series |date=Oct 1906 |volume=2 |pages=305–17 |url=https://archive.org/details/expositor190602coxs/page/304/mode/2up/ |access-date=9 April 2020}}</ref><ref name="RendelHarris1907">{{cite journal |last1=Rendel Harris |first1=J. |title=A further note on the Cretans |journal=The Expositor |series=Seventh Series |date=April 1907 |volume=3 |pages=332–337 |url=https://archive.org/details/expositor190703coxs/page/336/mode/2up |access-date=9 April 2020}}</ref><ref>{{cite journal |last1=Rendel Harris |first1=J. |title= St. Paul and Epimenides|journal=The Expositor |series=Eighth Series |date=April 1912 |volume=4 |pages=348–353}}</ref>

In the poem, Minos addresses [[Zeus]] thus:

{| style="border: 0px; margin-left:100px;"
! scope="col" width="400px" |
! scope="col" width="400px" |
|- border="0"
|- Valign=top
|
: J. Rendel Harris' ''hypothetical'' Greek text:<ref name="RendelHarris1907" />
Τύμβον ἐτεκτήναντο σέθεν, κύδιστε μέγιστε,<br />
Κρῆτες, ἀεὶ ψευδεῖς, κακὰ θηρία, γαστέρες ἀργαί.<br />
Ἀλλὰ σὺ γ᾽ οὐ θνῇσκεις, ἕστηκας γὰρ ζοὸς αίεί,<br />
Ἐν γὰρ σοὶ ζῶμεν καὶ κινύμεθ᾽ ἠδὲ καὶ ἐσμέν.<br />
|
: Translation:
They fashioned a tomb for you, holy and high one,<br />
Cretans, always liars, evil beasts, idle bellies.<br />
But you are not dead: you live and abide forever,<br />
For in you we live and move and have our being.<br />
|}

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]], <cite>[[Acts 17#Verse 28|chapter 17, verse 28]]</cite>.

The second line is quoted, with a veiled attribution ("a prophet of their own"), in the [[Epistle to Titus]], <cite>[[s:Bible (King James)/Titus#1:12|chapter 1, verse 12]]</cite>, to warn Titus about the Cretans. The "prophet" in [[Titus 1#Verse 12|Titus 1:12]] is identified by [[Clement of Alexandria]] as "Epimenides" (''[[Stromata]]'', [http://www.newadvent.org/fathers/02101.htm i. 14]). In this passage, Clement mentions that "some say" Epimenides should be counted among the seven wisest philosophers.

[[Chrysostom]] ([http://www.newadvent.org/fathers/23083.htm 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: "All Cretans are liars."{{efn|{{langx|el|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.

==See also==
{{portal|Poetry}}
* [[Non-canonical books referenced in the Bible]]

== Footnotes ==
<references group="lower-alpha" />

==Notes==
{{Reflist}}

==References==
* {{EB1911|wstitle=Epimenides|volume=9|page=694}}

==Further reading==
* Demoulin, Hubert (1901). ''Épiménide de Crète.'' Bruxelles. New edition with updates: Paris: Les Belles Lettres, 2024.
* Dodds, Eric R., ''The Greeks and the Irrational'', University of California Press, 2004. {{ISBN|978-0-520-93127-5}}. pp.&nbsp;140&ndash;147.
*{{cite LotEP |chapter=Epimenides}}
* Parker, Robert, "Epimenides", in ''[[Brill's New Pauly]]: Encyclopaedia of the Ancient World. Antiquity, Volume 4'', Cyr &ndash; Epy, edited by Hubert Cancik and Helmuth Schneider, Brill, 2004. {{ISBN|9004122672}}.
* [https://www.academia.edu/3314281/_Epimemdes_activities_in_Sparta Zaykov, Andrey. ''Epimemdes' activities in Sparta'' (In Russian + English summary). In: Journal of Ancient History. Moscow, 2002. No 4. P. 110-130.]

==External links==
{{Commons category|Epimenides}}
*[http://demonax.info/doku.php?id=text:epimenides_of_crete_fragments Epimenides of Crete Fragments] at [http://demonax.info demonax.info]

{{Authority control}}

[[Category:6th-century BC Greek poets]]
[[Category:6th-century BC Greek philosophers]]
[[Category:Archaic Greek seers]]
[[Category:Ancient Greek shamans]]
[[Category:Classical oracles]]
[[Category:Immigrants to Archaic Athens]]
[[Category:Longevity myths]]
[[Category:Luck]]
[[Category:Seven Sages of Greece]]
[[Category:Year of birth unknown]]
[[Category:Year of death unknown]]
[[Category:Rip Van Winkle-type stories]]
[[Category:Ancient Knossians]]
[[Category:Ancient Phaistians]]
[[Category:Ancient Cretan poets]]
[[Category:7th-century BC Greek philosophers]]