The Library · §14 · Photius of Constantinople

Apollinarius of Hierapolis and his works against the Greeks

Click or tap any sentence to jump there. The side buttons skip a paragraph.

The work of Apollinarius against the Greeks, on religion, and on truth, has been read by me. The author is a man of Hierapolis, having become bishop of Hierapolis in Asia; he flourished under Marcus Antoninus Verus, emperor of the Romans. The man is notable, and employs a notable style. Other memoirs of his, worth mentioning, are said to exist, which we have not yet come upon.

Greek

Ἀνεγνώσθη ΑΠΟΛΙΝΑΡΙΟΥ πρὸς Ἕλληνας καὶ περὶ εὐσεβείας καὶ περὶ ἀληθείας. ἔστι δὲ Ἱεραπολίτης ὁ συγγραφεύς, τῆς ἐν Ἀσίᾳ Ἱεραπολέως γεγονὼς ἐπίσκοπος· ἤνθησε δὲ ἐπὶ Μάρκου Ἀντωνίνου Βήρου βασιλέως Ῥωμαίων. ἀξιόλογος δὲ ὁ ἀνὴρ καὶ φράσει ἀξιολόγῳ κεχρημένος. λέγεται δὲ αὐτοῦ καὶ ἕτερα συγγράμματα ἀξιομνημόνευτα εἶναι, οἷς οὔπω ἡμεῖς ἐνετύχομεν.

Report a mistake in this passage

About this text

Photius's notes on the first 17 books in his Library, from Theodore's defense of Dionysius to the Acts of the Councils of Ephesus and Chalcedon.

Photius of Constantinople (c. 810–c. 893) was a scholar and patriarch of Constantinople in the ninth century.

The Library is a record of Photius's private reading, containing summaries of 279 books that he had read and discussed. Photius engaged a secretary and set down all the summaries he could recollect, arranging them in the order in which his memory recalled them rather than by subject. In the ninth century it was still possible to read vast quantities of ancient literature, both pagan and Christian, that has since been lost, and Photius is often our best or only source of information about these lost books.

A reader will meet summaries of early Christian writings, including works by Eusebius, Gregory of Nyssa, Origen, Apollinarius, Theodore of Mopsuestia, and Sophronius, as well as summaries of works by Theodore the Presbyter, Hadrian the Monk, and Nonnosus, and of the acts of the councils of Nicaea, Ephesus, and Chalcedon. Photius was a keen critic of style and content, and his summaries often include his own judgments on the works he describes. Because many of the books he read have since disappeared, his notes are frequently the only surviving evidence for their contents.

Part only: Codices 1–17 of 279

EditionImmanuel Bekker, Photii Bibliotheca (Berlin, 1824)

We have not yet re-checked this work against its source. We made this study translation with AI help. No scholar has yet certified it as faithful and complete. Open Greek on any section to see the source text. It is not a critical edition.

Report a mistake