Agrippa Castor

fl. c. AD 135 (death unrecorded) · Apologist · First named refuter of Basilides · unknown (probably Alexandria)

The Apologists

Who Agrippa Castor was

The earliest anti-Gnostic writer whose name survives: under Hadrian he answered the twenty-four books of Basilides with a refutation that Eusebius and Jerome still read and rated 'most powerful.' Of the man himself nothing else is recorded — the church's first heresiologist is a name attached to a lost book that beat a surviving heresy.

Common questions

When was Agrippa Castor active?

Agrippa Castor is dated fl. c. AD 135 (death unrecorded) in the archive, which places Agrippa Castor in the Apologists (AD 130–180). The dating is traditional and approximate; the archive marks it as uncertain rather than fixing a year the sources do not give.

What did Agrippa Castor write?

Agrippa Castor has 1 catalogued writing in the archive: Refutation of Basilides. All are lost, known only from later citation.

Which early sources mention Agrippa Castor?

Agrippa Castor is named in 2 primary-source passages catalogued here, drawn from Eusebius of Caesarea and Jerome. Every passage is quoted from a named public-domain translation, earliest first.

Where was Agrippa Castor from?

The archive associates Agrippa Castor with unknown (probably Alexandria).

Writings (1)

Refutation of Basilides

The first named answer to Alexandrian Gnosticism

A most powerful refutation of Basilides, which reveals the man's clever imposture. (Eusebius, HE IV.7)

Lost — known only from later citation.

Primary-source mentions (2)

Every passage below is quoted from a named public-domain translation, earliest first.

Ecclesiastical History IV.7 (the refutation of Basilides)

c. AD 325

A most renowned writer among them was Agrippa Castor, who published against Basilides a most excellent refutation.

Eusebius of Caesarea · Ecclesiastical History IV.7 · source text

On Illustrious Men 21

c. AD 393

Agrippa, surnamed Castor, a man of great learning, wrote a strong refutation of the twenty-four volumes which Basilides the heretic had composed against the Gospel.