The Ante-Nicene Church · AD 180–313 · External witness
Sossianus Hierocles
fl. AD 303–311 (death unrecorded) · Governor · Instigator and pamphleteer of the persecution · Bithynia → Egypt
External witness
Who Sossianus Hierocles was
The career governor whom Lactantius calls 'author and counsellor' of the persecution — who prepared its way with a pamphlet, the 'Lover of Truth,' setting Apollonius of Tyana above Christ and the philosopher above the Galileans, then enforced the edicts as prefect of Egypt. Refuted by Lactantius in the lecture hall of Nicomedia and by Eusebius in a treatise of his own: the persecution's intellectual, answered by two.
Also listed in non-christian witnesses.
Common questions
When was Sossianus Hierocles active?
Sossianus Hierocles is dated fl. AD 303–311 (death unrecorded) in the archive, which places Sossianus Hierocles in the Ante-Nicene Church (AD 180–313).
What did Sossianus Hierocles write?
Sossianus Hierocles has 1 catalogued writing in the archive: Philalethes — The Lover of Truth.
Which early sources mention Sossianus Hierocles?
Sossianus Hierocles is named in 3 primary-source passages catalogued here, drawn from Eusebius of Caesarea and Lactantius. Every passage is quoted from a named public-domain translation, earliest first.
Where was Sossianus Hierocles from?
The archive associates Sossianus Hierocles with Bithynia, Egypt. The sources record more than one location, so the places are listed in the order the record moves through them.
Writings (1)
Philalethes — The Lover of Truth
The persecution pamphlet setting Apollonius of Tyana against Christ; lost as a book, reconstructed from Eusebius's reply[Recoverable from Against Hierocles, as Celsus from Origen]Read the interlinear source text →
Primary-source mentions (3)
Every passage below is quoted from a named public-domain translation, earliest first.
Against Hierocles (Eusebius's reply to 'the Lover of Truth')
c. AD 303Divine Institutes V.2–3
c. AD 315Another wrote the same subject more bitterly, who was then of the number of the judges, and who was especially the adviser of enacting the persecution — two books, not against the Christians, lest he seem to assail them as an enemy, but to the Christians, as if kindly counselling them.Lactantius · V.2 · source text
On the Deaths of the Persecutors 16 (author and counsellor of the persecution, then judge)
c. AD 315Hierocles, who from being vicegerent had become president of Bithynia, and who was author and adviser of the persecution.Lactantius · On the Deaths 16 · source text
Connected in the archive
People
Events in this lifetime
- AD 250 · The Decian persecution, AD 250
- AD 251 · The Novatianist schism, AD 251
- AD 257 · The Valerian persecution, AD 257
- AD 260 · Gallienus’ edict of toleration, AD 260
- AD 268 · Antioch deposes Paul of Samosata, AD 268
- AD 272 · Aurelian awards the Antioch church, AD 272
- AD 301 · Hripsime and her company, AD 301
- AD 303 · The Great Persecution begins, AD 303
- AD 303 · The search of the church at Cirta, AD 303
- AD 306 · The Council of Elvira, AD 306
- AD 311 · Galerius’ edict of Serdica, AD 311
Place
Places served
The 2 places the sources put Sossianus Hierocles, in the order the record moves through them. This is what the sources attest, not a reconstructed route.