Epimenides the Cretan is said to have been sent off to a country pasture by his father and father’s brothers to bring a sheep back to town. When night overtook him he wandered off the path and slept for fifty-seven years, as many others have said, including even Theopompos in his histories where he goes over wonders by location. And during that time the whole family of Epimenides died, and when he awoke from his slumber he looked for the sheep he had been sent for, and he walked into the pasture and didn’t find it. For he assumed he had awoken on the next day, as he expected when falling asleep. And with the field sold and taken over, and the equipment changed, he left for the town. And when he entered his house, from that point he understood everything, including even about the time that had passed since he disappeared. And the Cretans tell, as Theopompos says, that he lived one hundred and fifty[-seven] years and then died. And about this man also other things are told that are more than a little unexpected.
And Aristeas of Prokonnesos was observed in some fuller’s shop in Prokonnesos dying, and on the same hour and day in Sicily he was observed by many teaching school in Sicily. And so, since this was happening often with him, and over the course of many years he became notorious and appeared frequently in Sicily, the Sicilians dedicated a sanctuary to him and sacrificed to him as a hero.
About Hermotimos of Klazomenai they tell legends such as these. For they say his soul departed from his body and went abroad, for many years and to various places, and he began to foretell things in the future that came true, such as great rains and droughts, and even earthquakes and plagues and so on. [His soul traveled] while his body was laid out, and after some time his soul as if into a sheath went into and woke up his body. After he had done this many times, although his wife had orders from him when he was about to separate that no one was to touch his body, neither a citizen nor any other person, some people came into the house. And they out-persisted the woman, and found Hermotimos lying on the ground, defenseless and motionless. And they took a fire and burned him up, surmising that since when the soul came it would no longer have any place to enter into, he would be completely deprived of his life. And that’s exactly what happened. And in fact to this day the Klazomenaians honor Hermotimos, and they have dedicated a shrine to him, into which no woman enters for the aforementioned reason.
And Abaris from the Hyperboreans was both a theologian and while traveling around the regions wrote oracles, which are among those that still exist today. And he also foretold earthquakes and plagues and so on, and what happens in the heavens. And it is told that he came to Lakedaimon and proclaimed to the Lakonians to make preventative sacrifices to the gods, and since then there has not been a plague in Lakedaimon.
And about Pherekydes they have recorded this much. Once on the island of Syros he was thirsty and asked for a little water from someone he knew. While drinking it, he said there would be an earthquake on the island in three days. And when that happened, he gained a wide reputation. Then while traveling back to Samos to the Temple of Hera, he saw a ship heading into the harbor and said to those with him that it would not float into the interior of the harbor. And as he spoke, a dark storm cloud burst out and in the end the ship disappeared.
And born after those men, Pythagoras son of Mnesarchus at first worked through mathematics and arithmetic, and later also did not shrink from the marvel-making of Pherekydes. For also in Metapontion, when a ship was entering holding cargo, and people nearby were praying because of its cargo that this one would come in safely, he stood and said: ‘a corpse, now, will be shown to you to be piloting that ship.’ And again in Kaulonia, as Aristotle says, writing about [Pythagoras], and tells many other things. Also in Tyrrhenia, he says, [Pythagoras] killed a deadly biting snake by biting it himself. And he also foretold the upcoming conflict to the Pythagoreans, on account of which he also departed to Metapontion with nobody seeing. And from the Kosas river, while crossing it with others, he heard a great voice louder than human: ‘Be well, Pythagoras!’ And those with him became afraid. And he appeared once in both Kroton and Metapontion on the same day and hour. And once while sitting in the theater he stood up, as Aristotle says, and showed to those seated that his thigh was of gold. And also other incredible things are told about him. But since we do not wish to do the work of copyists, we will conclude our story about him.
Author: Apollonios the paradoxographer
Title of Work: Marvellous Inquiries
Location in Work: 1 to 6
Date of Work: c. 110 CE
Original Language: Greek (Attic)
Original Text:
Ἐπιμενίδης ὁ Κρὴς λέγεται ὑπὸ τοῦ πατρὸς καὶ τῶν ἀδελφῶν τοῦ πατρὸς ἀποσταλεὶς εἰς ἀγρὸν πρόβατον ἀγαγεῖν εἰς τὴν πόλιν· καταλαβούσης αὐτὸν νυκτὸς παραλλάξαι τῆς τρίβου καὶ κατακοιμηθῆναι ἔτη ἑπτὰ καὶ πεντήκοντα, καθάπερ ἄλλοι τε πολλοὶ εἰρήκασιν, ἔτι καὶ Θεόπομπος ἐν ταῖς ἱστορίαις ἐπιτρέχων τὰ κατὰ τόπους θαυμάσια. ἔπειτα συμβῆναι ἐν τῷ μεταξὺ χρόνῳ τοὺς μὲν οἰκείους τοῦ Ἐπιμενίδου ἀποθανεῖν, αὐτὸν δὲ ἐγερθέντα ἐκ τοῦ ὕπνου ζητεῖν ἐφ’ ὃ ἀπεστάλη πρόβατον, μὴ εὑρόντα δὲ πορεύεσθαι εἰς τὸν ἀγρόν – ὑπελάμβανεν δὲ ἐγηγέρθαι τῇ αὐτῇ ἡμέρᾳ, ᾗπερ ἔδοξεν κεκοιμῆσθαι – καὶ καταλαβόντα τὸν ἀγρὸν πεπραμένον καὶ τὴν σκευὴν ἠλλαγμένην ἀπαίρειν εἰς τὴν πόλιν. καὶ εἰσελθὼν εἰς τὴν οἰκίαν ἐκεῖθεν πάντα ἔγνω, ἐν οἷς καὶ τὰ περὶ τοῦ χρόνου, καθ’ ὃν ἀφανὴς ἐγένετο. λέγουσι δὲ οἱ Κρῆτες, ὥς φησιν ὁ Θεόπομπος, ἔτη βιώσαντα αὐτὸν ἑκατὸν πεντήκοντα ἀποθανεῖν. λέγεται δὲ περὶ τοῦ ἀνδρὸς τούτου καὶ ἄλλα οὐκ ὀλίγα παράδοξα.
Ἀριστέαν δὲ ἱστορεῖται τὸν Προκοννήσιον ἔν τινι γναφείῳ τῆς Προκοννήσου τελευτήσαντα ἐν τῇ αὐτῇ ἡμέρᾳ καὶ ὥρᾳ ἐν Σικελίᾳ ὑπὸ πολλῶν θεωρηθῆναι γράμματα διδάσκοντα. ὅθεν, πολλάκις αὐτῷ τοῦ τοιούτου συμβαίνοντος καὶ περιφανοῦς γιγνομένου διὰ πολλῶν ἐτῶν καὶ πυκνότερον ἐν τῇ Σικελίᾳ φανταζομένου, οἱ Σικελοὶ ἱερόν τε καθιδρύσαντο αὐτῷ καὶ ἔθυσαν ὡς ἥρωϊ.
Περὶ δὲ Ἑρμοτίμου τοῦ Κλὰζομενίου τοιαῦτά τινα μυθολογεῖται. φασὶ γὰρ αὐτοῦ τὴν ψυχὴν ἀπὸ τοῦ σώματος πλαζομένην ἀποδημεῖν ἐπὶ πολλὰ ἔτη καὶ κατὰ τόπους γιγνομένην προλέγειν τὰ μέλλοντα ἀποβήσεσϑαι, οἷον ὄμβρους μεγάλους καὶ ἀνομβρίας, ἔτι δὲ σεισμούς τε καὶ λοιμοὺς καὶ παραπλήσια, τοῦ σωματίου κειμένου, τὴν δὲ ψυχὴν καϑάπερ εἰς ἔλυτρον διὰ χρόνων τινῶν εἰσερχομένηγν διεγείρειν τὸ σῶμα. τοῦτο δὲ αὐτοῦ πολλάκις ποιοῦντος καὶ τῆς γυναικὸς ἐντολὰς ὑπ᾽ αὐτοῦ ἐχούσης, ὅτε μέλλοι χωρίξεσϑαὶ, μηδένα θίγειν τοῦ σωματίου μηδέ τινα τῶν πολιτῶν μηδ᾽ ἄλλον ἀνθρώπων, εἰσελθόντες τινὲς εἰς τὴν οἰκίαν καὶ ἐκλιπαρήσαντες τὸ γύναιον, ἐθεώρησαν χαμαὶ κείμενον γυμνὸν τὸν Ἑρμότιμον ἀκίνητον. οἱ δὲ πῦρ λαβόντες κατέκαυσαν αὐτόν, οἰόμενοι τῆς ψυχῆς παραγενομένης καὶ μηκέτι ἐχούσης ὅπου εἰσδύσεται παvτελῶς στερήσεσθαι τοῦ ζῆν, ὅπερ καὶ συνέπεσεν. τὸν μὲν οὖν Ἑρμότιμον Κλαζομένιοι τιμῶσι μέχρι τοῦ νῦν καὶ ἱερὸν αὐτοῦ καθίδρυται, εἰς ὃ γυνὴ οὐκ εἰσέρχεται διὰ τὴν προειρημένην αἰτίαν.
Ἄβαρις δὲ ἐξ Ὑπερβορέων ἦν μὲν καὶ αὐτὸς τῶν θεολόγων, ἔγραφε δὲ καὶ χρησμούς τὰς χώρας περιερχόμενος, οἵ εἰσιν μέχρι τοῦ νῦν ὑπάρχοντες· προέλεγεν δὲ καὶ οὗτος σεισμοὺς καὶ λοιμοὺς καὶ τὰ παραπλήσια καὶ τὰ γιγνόμενα κατ᾿ οὐρανόν. λέγεται δὲ τοῦτον εἰς Λακεδαίμονα παραγενόμενον εἰρηκέναι τοῖς Λάκωσι κωλυτήρια θῦσαι τοῖς θεοῖς, καὶ ἐκ τούτου ὕστερον ἐν Λακεδαίμονι λοιμὸς οὖκ ἐγένετο.
Τὰ δὲ περὶ Φερεκύδην τοσαῦτά τινα ἱστορεῖται. ἐν Σύῤῳ ποτὲ τῇ νήσῳ διψῶντα ὑδάτιον αἰτῆσαι παρά τινος τῶν γνωρίμων· τὸν δὲ πιόντα εἰπεῖν σεισμὸν ἐσόμενον ἐν τῇ νήσῳ μετὰ τρίτην ἡμέραν. τούτου δὲ συμβάντος μεγάλην δόξαν αὐτὸν ἀπενέγκασθαι. πάλιν δὲ εἰς Σάμον πορευόμενος εἰς τὸ τῆς Ἤρας ἱερὸν ἰδεῖν πλοῖον εἰς τὸν λιμένα καταγόμενον καὶ εἰπεῖν τοῖς συνεστῶσιν, ὡς οὐκ εἰσελούσεται ἐντὸς τοῦ λιμένος· ἔτι δὲ λέγοντος αὐτοῦ καταρραγῆναι γνόφον καὶ τέλος ἀφανισθῆναι τὴν ναῦν.
Τούτοις δὲ ἐπιγενόμενος Πυθαγόρας Μνησάρχου υἱός, τὸ μὲν πρῶτον διἐπονεῖτο περὶ τὰ μαθήματα καὶ τοὺς ἀριθμούς, ὕστερον δὲ ποτε καὶ τῆς Φερεχύδου τερατοποιίας οὖκ ἀπέστη. καὶ γὰρ ἐν Μεταπόντιῳ πλοίου εἰσερχομένου φορτίον ἔχοντος καὶ τῶν παρατυχόντων εὐχομένων σωστὸν ἐκεῖνο κατελθεῖν διὰ τῶν φόρτον, ἑστῶτα τοῦτον εἰπεῖν ‘νεκρὸν τοίνυν φανήσεται ὑμῖν σῶμα ἄγον τὸ πλοῖον τοῦτο’. πάλιν δ᾿ ἐν Καυλωνίᾳ, ὤς φησιν Ἀριστοτέλης γράφων περὶ αὐτοῦ πολλὰ μὲν καὶ ἄλλα λέγει, καὶ τὸν ἐν Τυρρηνίᾳ, φησὶν, δάκνοντα θανάσιμον ὄφιν αὐτὸς δάκνων ἀπέκτεινεν. καὶ τὴν γινομένην δὲ στάσιν τοῖς Πυθαγορείοις προειπεῖν. διὸ καὶ εἰς Μεταπόντιον ἀπῇρεν ὑπὸ μηδενὸς θεωρηθείς. καὶ ὑπὸ τοῦ Κόσα ποταμοῦ διαβαίνων σὺν ἄλλοις ἤκουσε φωνὴν μεγάλην ὑπὲρ ἀνθρωπον ‘Πυθαγόρα χαῖρε’. τοὺς δὲ παρόντας περιδεεῖς γενέσθαι. ἐφάνη δέ ποτε καὶ ἐν Κρότωνι καὶ ἐν Μεταποντίῳ τῇ αὐτῇ ἡμέρᾳ καὶ ὥρᾳ. ἐν θεάτρῳ δὲ καθήμενός ποτε ἐξανίστατο, ὥς φησιν Ἀριδτοτέλης, καὶ τὸν ἴδιον. μηρὸν παρέφηνε τοῖς καθημένοις ὡς χρυσοῦν. λέγεται δὲ περὶ αὐτοῦ καὶ ἄλλα τινὰ παράδοξα. ἡμεῖς δὲ μὴ βουλόμενοι μεταγραφέων ἔργον ποιεῖν αὐτοῦ τὸν λόγον καταπαύσομεν.
Reference Edition: Giannini, Paradoxographorum, 119-143
Edition Notes: ὑπὸ τοῦ Κόσα ποταμοῦ is a novel emendation based on a parallel passage in Aelian (Historical Miscellany, 4.17.23-25) and an analysis by Rachel Hardiman, where the ms. has ὑπὸ τοῦ κατὰ Σάμον ποταμοῦ and the reference edition has ὑπὸ τοῦ κατὰ Κόσαν ποταμοῦ.
Source of Date of Work: Hopfner, Fontes, pars 3, 279
Commentary:
This story about Aristeas is not drawn from the Arimaspeia, but represents a novel story about Aristeas somehow repeatedly transporting himself from Prokonnesos to Sicily, apparently set at least partly in Aristeas’ natural lifetime. The story is obviously largely based on Herodotos’ stories of Aristeas apparently dying in a fuller’s shop in Prokonnesos but being seen in Kyzikos and Aristeas flying with Apollo 240 years later to Metapontion in southern Italy. While there is some possibility that this story could reflect a genuine report of a popular tradition about Aristeas visiting Sicily and second sanctuary to Aristeas in Sicily, it seems more likely that this story derives from the two Herodotos stories via a text tradition of mutations and elaborations.
The extant portion of Apollonios’ text consists of 51 accounts of marvels or paradoxes, most of which are much shorter than the first six included here. The other five aside from Aristeas are included here because they provide important context to how fragments of knowledge of Aristeas and the Arimaspeia were passed down during the Roman era in a relatively popular genre of literature. Although the importance of Aristeas and the other five early Greeks was reduced in this text to fairly banal miracle stories, the grouping of them reflects an older and more sophisticated tradition in which stories about Aristeas, Epimenides and Hermotimos served as exempla of Pythagorean ideas. One particularly noteworthy aspect of the story about Hermotimos is that his out-of-body travel is somehow connected to divination and prediction of the future.
Epimenides was also mentioned together with Aristeas in stories by Pliny the elder and Maximus of Tyre (twice), who each also told the story of Epimenides’ long sleep, and by Iamblichos, Proklos of Lykia, Clement of Alexandria, Tatian and Claudianus Mamertus. A biography of Epimenides was written by Diogenes Laertios (1.10). For testimonies and fragments of writings attributed to him see BNJ Epimenides von Kreta (457) and DK Epimenides (3).
This text is the fullest account of the legend of Hermotimos’ extra-corporeal flights. He was also mentioned together with Aristeas in texts by Pliny the Elder and Origen (citing Celsus), who each also told of Hermotimos’ extra-corporeal flights, also mentioned by Plutarch in a story of a near-death vision of the transmigration of souls. A mention of Hermotimos together with Aristeas by Proklos of Lykia and a mention of Aithalides together with Aristeas by Tzetzes seem to both refer to another legend that Aithalides and Hermotimos were among the previous incarnations of Pythagoras (told by Diogenes of Laertios, 8.1.4-5). Hermotimos was also mentioned much earlier by Aristotle (Metaphysics, 984b) as a philosopher predating Anaxagoras, who lived in the 5th century BCE.
Abaris was a legendary figure associated with Hyperborea, Apollo and cult practices in Athens, who was also incorporated into Pythagorean legends. He was mentioned together with Aristeas by Iamblichos and Clement of Alexandria, who each also described Abaris making predictions, and by Celsus and Origen. In later texts, including those of Celsus, Origen and Iamblichos cited above, and another by Iamblichos, Abaris flew around the earth on an arrow given to him by Apollo (which in earlier stories Abaris carried). According to Iamblichos and Porphyry, Abaris became Pythagoras’ disciple.
Pherekydes of Syros was the author of an early prose theogony. One of the many legends that sprouted up about him was that he was the teacher of Pythagoras (Porphyry, Life of Pythagoras, 55). For testimonies and fragments see DK Pherekydes von Syros (7); also see Granger, Pherecydes.
Aristeas was also mentioned together with Pythagoras by Iamblichos, Clement of Alexandria and Tzetzes, who each also mentioned Pythagoras making predictions, and by Maximus of Tyre. Iamblichos even listed Aristeas among known Pythagoreans, although Aristeas’ life was usually set earlier than Pythagoras. Aside from Iamblichos’ book on Pythagoras and Pythagoreans, Diogenes Laertios (8.1) and Porphyry wrote biographies. For testimonies and fragments of texts attributed to him, see DK Pythagoras (14). See also Huffmann, Pythagoreanism and Guthrie, Pythagorean Sourcebook.
Concordance: EGEP Aristeas T6; EGF Aristeas T6; PEG Aristeas T4; Bolton, Aristeas T&F 14; BNJ Apollonios, Amazing Stories (1672)