Part II- Personalities, Mystery Schools

1-Aaron
Aaron was the first Jewish high priest and the traditional founder of the Hebrew priesthood. Aaron was the older brother of Moses and a descendant of the tribe of Levi. When Moses declined the mission of delivering the Children of Israel from Egyptian bondage, because he was "slow of speech," Aaron was appointed his minister and spokesman. He delivered the message of Yahweh to the Israelites and to the court of the pharaoh. With Moses, Aaron led the Israelites out of Egypt, and in the battle against the Amalekites. Aaron was chosen for the office of priest, which was to be hereditary in his family and was formally consecrated. At Mount Sinai, when Moses and Joshua ascended the mount to receive the stone tablets containing the Law, Aaron and Hur were left in charge of the Israelites. The people, dismayed at Moses' long absence on the mountain, cried out for a god to worship, and Aaron made them a golden calf that provoked the anger of Yahweh. He was pardoned through the intercession of Moses. For their doubts, Moses and Aaron were forbidden to enter the promised land; Aaron died on Mount Hor, and his office was given to his son Eleazar.

2- Abel
Abel, according to the Old Testament was the second son of Adam and Eve and the brother of Cain. Abel was a shepherd, and his older brother, Cain, cultivated the land. Both brothers made an offering to God: Abel offered the firstborn of his flock, and Cain gave the first fruits of his harvest. When Cain's offering was rejected, he became jealous and killed his brother, Abel.

3- Abercius (Avircius Marcellus)
Abercius (Avircius Marcellus) was the Bishop of Hieropolis in Phrygya around 190 AD. He opposed Montanism.

4- Abraham
Abraham or Abram was a biblical patriarch, progenitor of the Hebrews, who probably lived in the period between 2000 and 1500 BC. Abraham is regarded by Muslims, who call him Ibrahim, as an ancestor of the Arabs through Ishmael.
Originally called Abram, Abraham was the son of Terah, a descendant of Shem, and was born in the city of Ur of the Chaldees, where he married his half sister Sarai, or Sarah. They left Ur with his nephew Lot and Lot's family under a divine inspiration and went to Haran. Receiving a promise that God would make him a "great nation," Abram moved on to Canaan, where he lived as a nomad. Famine led him to Egypt, but he was driven out for misrepresenting Sarai as his sister. Again in Canaan, after quarrels between Abram and Lot, they separated, Lot remaining near Sodom and Abram continuing his nomadic life.
Ishmael, first son of Abraham, whose mother was Hagar, an Egyptian slave, was born when Abraham was 86 years old. Isaac, born to Abraham by Sarah in his 100th year, was the first of his legitimate descendants. God demanded that Abraham sacrifice Isaac as a test of faith, but because of Abraham compliance, God spared Isaac. After Sarah died, Abraham married Keturah and had six sons by her. He died at the biblical age of 175 and was buried beside Sarah in the Cave of Machpelah, in what is now Hebron, West Bank.

5- Acacius of Caesarea
Acacius of Caesarea was an exponent of Arianism who became bishop of Caesaria in Palestine in 340. The council of Sardica deposed him in 343. He was a leading figure of the Homaeans, proposing a Homaean Creed at Council of Seleucia in 359. He signed the Creed of Nicea at Antioch in 363 but returned to Arianism. He was deposed by the Synod of Lampsacus in 365 and died in 366. Not much of his work survived.

6- Acacius of Constantinople
Acacius of Constantinople became its Patriarch in 471. He advised Emperor Zeno in his effort to unite Eastern Church by a Chalcedonian formula (Heniticon) that was rejected by Rome and caused Acacian Schism.

7- Achaicus
Achaicus was the name of a member of the Church of Corinth. He was with Stephanas and Fortunatus when they visited St. Paul at Ephesus and "refreshed his spirit".

8- Adam and Eve
Adam and Eve, according to the Bible, were the first man and woman, progenitors of the human race. The biblical account of the creation of human beings occurs twice. In the first account, the Hebrew common noun adam is used as a generic term for all human beings, regardless of gender; Eve is not mentioned at all. In the second account, Adam is created from the dust of the earth, whereas Eve is created from Adam's rib and given to him by God to be his wife.

9- Adonai
Adonai was the God of the Israelites, his name having been revealed to Moses as four Hebrew Consonants (YHWH), the Tetragrammaton. After the exile in the 6TH CENTURY BC, and especially from the 3rd century BC on, Jews ceased to use the name Yahweh. As Judaism became a universal religion the more common noun Elohim, meaning "god," tended to replace Yahweh. At the same time, the divine name was increasingly regarded as too sacred to be uttered; it was thus replaced vocally in the synagogue ritual by the Hebrew word Adonai ("My Lord"), which was translated as Kyrios ("Lord") in the Septuagint, the Greek version of the Old Testament. The Masoretes, who from about the 6th to the 10th century worked to reproduce the original text of the Hebrew Bible, replaced the vowels of the name YHWH with the vowel signs of the Hebrew words Adonai or Elohim. Thus, the artificial name Jehovah (YeHoWaH) came into being. Other Greek transcriptions also indicated that YHWH should be pronounced Yahweh.

10- Adonis
The main Syrian God, the equivalent of Osiris in Egypt, Dionysus in Greece, Atis in Asia Minor, Marduk in Mesopotamia, Mithras in Persia and Baal in the region around Judea.

11- Aeschylus
Aeschylus was born in 525/524 BC and died in 456/455 BC in Gela, Sicily. He was the first of classical Athens' great tragic dramatists, who brought that emerging art to great heights of poetry and theatrical power.

12- Aesculapius (or Asclepius)
Aesculapius, in Greek Asklepios, was the "blameless physician", the son of Apollo and Coronis. He learned the healing art from Chiron and was killed by Zeus for restoring Hippolytus to life. His daughter Hygieia personified health.

13- Agabus
Agabus was a Christian prophet of Jerusalem mentioned in the New Testament and an Elder of the Christian Jerusalem Church; he predicted a famine in the entire civilised world that resulted in the sending of alms from Antioch to Jerusalem. The famine arrived during Claudius' reign. He also predicted St. Paul imprisonment.

14- Agricola, Gnaeus Julius
Agricola was born June 13, AD 40 at Forum Julii, Gallia Narbonensis and he died August 23, 93. He was a Roman general whose son-in-law, the historian Tacitus, wrote his biography. He was military tribune under Suetonius Paulinus, governor in Britain (59-61), quaestor in Asia (64), people's tribune (66), and praetor (68). In the civil war of 69 he took the side of Vespasian, who appointed him to a command in Britain. He was granted patrician status upon his return to Rome in 73 and served as governor of Aquitania (74-77). Appointed consul in 77, he was made governor of Britain. Agricola was in Britain from 77/78 to 84. After conquering portions of Wales, including the island of Mona (now Anglesey), he completed the conquest of northern England. By the end of the third campaign, he had advanced into Scotland, establishing a temporary frontier of posts between the firths of the Clota and Bodotria (Clyde and Forth) rivers. The Romans crossed the Forth in 83 and defeated the Caledonians in a battle at Mons Graupius. Agricola's permanent occupation of Scotland reached the fringe of the highlands, where he blocked the main passes with forts and placed a legionary fortress at Inchtuthil (near Dunkeld in Perthshire). Recalled to Rome after his victory, the general lived in retirement, refusing the pro-consulship of Asia.

15- Agrippa
Agrippa lived in the 2nd century AD. An ancient Greek philosophical sceptic, he described the five tropes, or grounds for the suspension of judgment:
- There is a clash of opinions, both in daily life and in the debates of philosophers;
- Nothing is self-evident, because that which is called a proof is merely a second proposition itself in need of demonstration, and so on ad infinitum;
- Both perception and judgment are relative in a double sense: each is relative to a subject, and each is affected by concomitant perceptions;
- Dogmatic philosophers seeking to avoid the infinite regression merely offer hypotheses that they cannot prove;
- Philosophers are caught in the double bind by trying to prove the sensible by the intelligible and the intelligible by the sensible.
Doubting both the evidence of the senses and the possibility of understanding, Agrippa concluded that human beings have no starting point for obtaining knowledge.

16- Agrippa of Nettesheim
Agrippa of Nettesheim was born on September 14, 1486 at Cologne and he died on February 18, 1535 at Grenoble, France. He was a court secretary to Charles V, physician to Louise of Savoy, and a military entrepreneur in Spain and Italy. He was known as an opponent of the Catholic Church, an acknowledged expert on occultism, and a philosopher. He also was a teacher at Dôle and Pavia universities, an orator and public advocate at Metz (until denounced for defending an accused witch); he was banished from Germany in 1535, and imprisoned in France for criticizing the Queen Mother. Agrippa's De occulta philosophia was a study of magic. In this book he described the world in terms of cabalistic analyses of Hebrew letters and Pythagorean numerology, and proposed magic as the best means to know God and nature. About 1530 Agrippa published an attack on occultism and all other sciences ("Of the Vanitie and uncertainties of arts and sciences"). Agrippa was jailed and branded as a heretic. After renouncing science, he found peace in biblical piety.

17- Ahriman
Avestan Angra Mainyu ("Destructive Spirit"), the evil spirit in the dualistic doctrine of Zoroastrianism. His nature is defined by the word Druj, "the Lie." The Lie expresses itself as greed, wrath, and envy. To help him defeat the light (the good creation of Ahura Mazda, the Wise Lord), Ahriman created demons but believers expect Ahriman to be defeated in the end of time by Ahura Mazda.

18- Ahura Mazda
Ahura Mazda is the supreme creator god in Zoroastrianism, the religion of Persia before the establishment of Islam in the 7th century. The term Ahura originally referred to 33 gods in ancient, pre-Zoroastrian religions in Persia and India. Zoroaster, the prophet founder of Zoroastrianism, preached against all the other gods except Ahura Mazda, who, he said, should be worshipped eternally. Ahura Mazda means "Lord Wisdom" in the ancient Avestan language of Persia. In Zoroaster's teachings, Ahura Mazda is described as a benevolent, wise creator while Angra Mainya is a demon that intended to destroy the earth and its inhabitants.
Ahura Mazda has no physical form, but Zoroastrians worship him through his attributes, or Amesha-Spentas (Holy Immortals). The Amesha-Spentas reflects the different aspects of the divine nature of Ahura Mazda. These aspects are Creative Spirit, Righteousness, Good Purpose, Devotion, Power, Health, and Long Life. Some are considered male, others female. Some scholars compare the Amesha-Spentas with the archangels of Christianity.
Ahura Mazda is symbolised by fire, which is considered the most holy substance by Zoroastrians since it represents divine emanation. Because fire symbolises Ahura Mazda's power, presence, and purity, it must never be extinguished in fire temples. A hereditary male priesthood who knew the required prayers and performed the ritual duties maintains these sacred fires.
Ahura Mazda was first officially worshipped as an all-powerful god by the Persian king Darius I (about 521/486 BC). Worship of Ahura Mazda continues today primarily in India in the vicinity of Mumbai (formerly Bombay) among Parsis, Zoroastrians who migrated from Iran to India in the 10th century. Zoroastrian communities also survive in Iran.

19- Akiba ben Joseph
Akiba ben Joseph was a well-known rabbi (50-135 AD) who played an important part in Jewish life after the destruction of the Jewish Temple in 70 AD. He is thought to be the real father of the Talmud.

20- Alexander
Alexander was a Gnostic mentioned by Clement of Alexandria. He was a follower of Prodicus, who led a Gnostic sect called "the Sons of the first God". Alexander wrote "On the pythagorian Symbols" that says that Pythagoras was a pupil of "Nazaratus the Assyrian".

21- Alexander of Lycopolis
Alexander of Lycopolis was a Platonist philosopher of the end of the 3d century AD and the beginning of the 4th. He taught that Manichaeism destroys the basis of perceptions as well as knowledge, both necessary to Christianity and Platonism. It is not certain if he was a Christian even if some traces say that he was the Bishop of Lycopolis.

22- Alexander III the Great of Macedonia
Alexander III (356-323 BC) was the son of Philip II and Olympias of Epirus. He had Aristotle as a tutor. He became king in 336 BC and two years later invaded the Persian Empire.

23- Aleyin
In Canaanite mythology, Mot kills his brother Aleyin, the Son of God. Aleyin resurrects and kills Mot.

24- Allah
Allah is the God of the Muslims.

25- Ambrose
Ambrose was born in AD 339 at Augusta Treverorum, Belgica, Gaul and he died in 397 at Milan. As bishop of Milan he was a biblical critic, and initiator of ideas became the base for medieval conceptions of church-state relations. His literary works were masterpieces of Latin eloquence, and his musical accomplishments are remembered in his hymns. Ambrose was the teacher who converted and baptized St. Augustine of Hippo, the great Christian theologian, and as a model bishop who viewed the church as rising above the ruins of the Roman Empire. Ambrose, the second son of the prefect (imperial viceroy) of Gaul, was born at Augusta Treverorum (Trier) but his father died soon afterward and Ambrose was taken to Rome. He became governor of Aemilia-Liguria in about 370 and became bishop of Milan in 374. Ambrose was chosen as a compromise candidate to avoid a disputed election; he changed from an anabaptised layman to a bishop in eight days. As bishop of Milan he was able to dominate the cultural and political life of his age.

26- Amesha Spenta
Amesha Spenta means the "beneficent immortal" or "Immortal Bounteous One". In Zoroastrianism it meant any of the six divine beings or archangels - three males, three females- created by Ahura Mazda, the Wise Lord, to govern creation. They fight against the evil spirit, Ahriman. They are shown around Ahura Mazda on golden thrones attended by angels. They are the everlasting bestowers of good. Each has a special month, festival, and flower and presides over an element in the world order. Asha Vahishta is the lawful order of the cosmos according to which all things happen. He presides over fire, sacred to the Zoroastrians as the inner nature of reality. To the devotee he holds out the path of justice and spiritual knowledge. Vohu Manah is the spirit of divine wisdom, illumination, and love. He guided Zoroaster's soul before the throne of heaven. He welcomes the souls of the blessed in paradise. Believers are enjoined to "bring down Vohu Manah in your lives on Earth". He presides over domestic animals. Khshathra Vairya, who presides over metal, is the power of Ahura Mazda's kingdom. The believer can realize this power in action guided by Excellent Order and Good Mind. Spenta Armaiti, the spirit of devotion and faith, guides and protects the believer. She presides over Earth. Haurvatat and Ameretat are often mentioned together as sisters. They preside over water and plants and may come to the believer as a reward for participation in the natures of the other amesha spentas.

27- Ammianus Marcellinus
Ammianus Marcellinus was born around 330 in Antioch, Syria and he died in 395 at Rome. He was the last major Roman historian whose work continued the history of the later Roman Empire to 378. Born of a noble Greek family, Ammianus served in the army of Constantius II in Gaul and Persia. He fought against the Persians under Julian the Apostate and took part in the retreat of his successor, Jovian. Leaving the army, he travelled to Egypt and Greece, eventually settling in Rome. There he wrote his Latin history of the Roman Empire from the accession of Nerva to the death of Valens, thus continuing the work of Tacitus. This history, Rerum gestarum libri ("The Chronicles of Events"), consisted of 31 books, of which only the last 18, covering the years 353-378, survive. It is a clear and comprehensive account of events by a writer of independent judgment. Ammianus gave vivid pictures of the empire's economic and social problems. He was a pagan who was religiously tolerant. His judgment in political affairs was limited only by his own straightforward attitude.

28- Ammonius Saccas (or Ammon)
Ammonius Saccas (or Saccus) was a 3d century AD Pagan philosopher of Alexandria, the teacher of Origen and Plotinus.
Neoplatonism began with Ammonius Saccas (first half of the 3rd century AD), who had been brought up as a Christian but had abandoned his religion for the study of Plato. He developed his own kind of Platonic philosophy blended with that of Aristotle. Because he wrote nothing, his philosophy is only known through the Enneads, a collection of Plotinus' writings arranged by Porphyry.
A friend, who understood what Plotinus wanted, took him to hear the self-taught philosopher Ammonius "Saccas." When he had heard Ammonius speak, Plotinus said, "This is the man I was looking for," and stayed with him for 11 years. Ammonius is the most mysterious figure in the history of ancient philosophy. He was a lapsed Christian (but this is not quite certain) who became a fairly commonplace sort of traditional Platonism. However a man who could attract such devotion from Plotinus and who may also have been the philosophical master of the great Christian theologian Origen (according to Porphyry), must have had something more to offer his pupils, but what it was is not known.

29- Amos
Amos, a herdsman, was the earliest Prophet whose sayings are in the Bible; he lived in the 8th century BC. Amos wrote a book included in the Old Testament noted for its pastoral imagery and poetic language. It is one of 12 books known as the Minor Prophets.
Amos held God to be the God of all people rather than the exclusive God of the Jews. God demanded and expected more from the Jews because of their covenant with him. They were not entitled, according to Amos, to God's special favour; rather, they bore responsibility for showing exemplary obedience to his law. Amos was especially concerned with the oppression of the poor by the rich and with immoral religious practices. He stressed the personal responsibility of each individual before God and prophesied that Israel would be destroyed if the people did not turn from their corrupt ways.

30- Amphilochius
Amphilochius (circa 542-395) studied under Libanius at Antioch and taught at Constantinople. He became bishop of Iconium, province of Lycaonia, in 374.

31- Anacletus, Saint
Anacletus (also called Cletus, or Anencletus) was the second pope (76-88 or 79-91) after St. Peter. According to St. Epiphanius and the priest Tyrannius Rufinus, he directed the Roman Church with St. Linus, successor to St. Peter, during Peter's lifetime. He died, probably a martyr, during the reign of Domitian.

32- Anahiti (Anahita)
Anahiti, also called Anahita, is an ancient Iranian goddess of royalty, war, and, mainly, fertility. Possibly of Mesopotamian origin, Artaxerxes II made her cult prominent; statues and temples were set up in her honour throughout the Persian Empire. Her cult persisted in Asia Minor for a long period. In the Avesta she is called Ardvi Sura Anahita ("Damp, Strong, Untainted"). In Greece Anahiti was identified with Athena and Artemis.

33- Anat

Anat, also spelled Anath, was a Canaanite fertility goddess and a Semitic goddess of love and war, the sister and helpmate of the god Baal. Probably one of the best known of the Canaanite deities, she was famous for her youthful vigor and ferocity in battle; she was a special favorite of the Egyptian king Ramses II. Anat was often associated with the god Resheph in ritual texts, but she was better known for her role in the myth of Baal's death and resurrection, in which she mourned and searched for him and finally helped to retrieve him from the netherworld. During the Hellenistic Age, the goddesses Anat and Astarte were blended into one deity, Atargatis.

34- Anat Jahu
See Asherah.

35- Anaxagoras
Anaxagoras was born about 503 BC at Clazomenae, Anatolia [now in Turkey] and he died about 428 at Lampsacus. He was a Pagan Greek philosopher of nature remembered for his cosmology and for his discovery of the true cause of eclipses. About 480 Anaxagoras moved to Athens. After 30 years in Athens, he was accused of impiety for saying that the Sun is an incandescent stone somewhat larger than the region of the Peloponnese. The attack was an indirect blow at Pericles who managed to save him but he had to leave Athens for Lampsacus where he died. Only a few fragments of Anaxagoras' writings have been preserved. The most original aspect of Anaxagoras' system was his doctrine of nous ("mind," or "reason"). The cosmos was formed by mind in two stages: first, by a revolving and mixing process that still continues; and, second, by the development of living things. In the first, all of "the dark" came together to form the night; "the fluid" came together to form the oceans, and so on with other elements. The same process of attraction of "like to like" occurred in the second stage, when flesh and other elements were brought together by mind in large amounts. The growth of living things, according to Anaxagoras, depends on the power of mind within the organisms that enables them to extract nourishment from surrounding substances.

36- Andrew (Saint)
Andrew was one of the twelve Apostles of Jesus, the brother of Simon Peter and a native of Bethsaida. He was first a follower of John the Baptist. He died a martyr at Patras, Achaia, in 60AD.

37- Angra Mainyu
Angra Mainyu, according to the Avesta, is the "enemy Spirit". In the Gathas, Zoroaster contrasts him with "Spenta Mainyu", the "Holy Spirit". They are the two opposite principles of Evil and Good that struggle forever for the mastery of the universe.

38- Anicetus (Saint)
Anicetus, possibly a Syrian, died in Rome; he was pope from about 155 to 166. He fought the heresies of Valentine and Marcion and all the Gnostics. St. Polycarp, bishop of Smyrna, visited him in Rome (c. 154/155) to talk about the controversy over the date of Easter. He allowed Polycarp to celebrate the Eucharist in his church on the Eastern date.

39- Anne and Joachim (Saints)
According to a tradition derived from certain apocryphal writings, Anne and Joachim were the parents of the Virgin Mary. Information concerning their lives and names is found in the 2nd-century AD Protevangelium of James ("First Gospel of James") and the 3rd-century AD Evangelium de nativitate Mariae ("Gospel of the Nativity of Mary"). According to these sources, Anne (Hebrew: Hannah) was born in Bethlehem, Judaea and she married Joachim. They lamented their childlessness. Both received the vision of an angel, who announced that Anne would conceive and bear a most wondrous child. The couple rejoiced at the birth of their daughter, whom Anne named Mary. When the child was three years old, Joachim and Anne brought Mary to the Temple at Jerusalem, where they left her to be brought up. According to later legends, Joachim died shortly after Mary's birth, and Anne, encouraged by the Holy Spirit, remarried. Anne's cult was fervent in the Eastern Church as early as the 4th century, and in the early 8th century Pope Constantine introduced her devotion to Rome. Joachim's cult was introduced to the West in the 15th century. Many churches, the first dating from the 6th century, were built in Anne's honour. Anne's cult became extremely popular in the Middle Ages. Martin Luther and others vehemently attacked the cult of Anne, which was then promoted by post-Reformation popes.

40- Anthony of Egypt (Saint)
Anthony was born around 251 at Koma, near al-Minya, Heptanomis, Egypt and he died January 17, 356 at Dayr Mari Antonios hermitage, near the Red Sea. He was a religious hermit and one of the earliest monks; he is considered to be the founder and father of organized Christian monasticism. A disciple of Paul of Thebes, Anthony began to practice an ascetic life at the age of 20 and after 15 years withdrew for absolute solitude to a mountain by the Nile called Pispir, where he lived from about 286 to 305. During the course of this retreat, he began his legendary combat against the devil, withstanding a series of temptations famous in Christian theology and iconography. In about 305 he emerged from his retreat to organize the monastic life of the hermits who wanted to follow his example. After the Edict of Milan (313), he moved to a mountain between the Nile and the Red Sea, where the monastery Dayr Mari Antonios still stands. He went twice to Alexandria, the last time (c. 350) to preach against Arianism. The monks who followed Anthony into the desert considered themselves part God's army, and, by fasting and performing other ascetic practices, they tried to reach the same state of spiritual purity and freedom from temptation as Anthony did. According to St. Athanasius, the bishop of Alexandria, the devil's assault on Anthony took the form of visions, seductive or horrible. Every vision conjured up by Satan was repelled by Anthony's fervid prayer and penitential acts. From these psychic struggles Anthony emerged as the sane and sensible father of Christian monasticism. His rule was compiled from writings and discourses attributed to him in the Life of St. Anthony (by Athanasius) and the Apophthegmata patrum and were still observed in the 20th century by a number of Coptic and Armenian monks.

41- Antiphon
Antiphon was a Pagan philosopher who wrote about 430 BC. He was a Sophist and a radical egalitarian who challenged the Athenian status quo. As an orator and statesman he is the earliest Athenian professional rhetorician. He was a writer of speeches for other men to deliver in their defense in court, a function that was particularly useful in Athens at that time. As a politician Antiphon was the prime mover in the anti-democratic revolution of the Four Hundred, an oligarchic council set up in 411 BC in an attempt to seize the Athenian government in the midst of war. He was reluctant to put himself forward in public debate because he realized that his reputation for cleverness made him unpopular with the people. But when the regime of the Four Hundred fell, he defended himself in a speech described as the greatest ever made by a man on trial for his life. Nevertheless, the defense was unsuccessful and Antiphon was executed for treason.

42- Apelles
Apelles was a disciple of Marcion who studied Gnosticism probably in Alexandria. He was a follower of the Greek philosophers. He founded a community in Rome and wrote two books that are lost: Syllogisms in which he shows the untruths of the Books of Moses and the Revelations of the Prophetess Philumene.

43- Aphraates
Aphrahat lived in the 4th century. He was a Syrian ascetic and the earliest-known Christian writer of the Syriac church in Persia. Aphraates became a convert to Christianity during the reign of the anti-Christian Persian king Shapur II (309-379), after which he led a monastic life, possibly at the Monastery of St. Matthew near Mosul, Iraq. Later he may have become a bishop when he assumed the name James. Termed "the Persian Sage," Aphraates between the years 336 and 345 composed Syriac biblical commentaries (23 of which have been preserved) for his monastic colleagues. They are inaccurately known as his "Homilies," and they survey the Christian faith predominantly in theological, ascetical, and disciplinary matters, at times marked by a sharp polemical nature. Nine treatises against the Jews, who were numerous in Mesopotamia and had established outstanding schools, are particularly acrimonious; they treat of Easter, circumcision, dietary laws, the supplanting of Israel by Gentiles as the new chosen people, and Jesus' divine sonship.

44- Aphrodite
The main Syrian Goddess, the equivalent of Isis in Egypt, Persephone in Greece, Cybele in Asia Minor, Ishtar in Mesopotamia, Magna Mater in Persia and Asherad in the region around Judea.

45- Apollinaris
Apollinaris Claudius was the bishop of Hierapolis in Phrygia from about 170 to 180 AD. He was a Christian leader who preached against the Quatordecimans and the Montanists.

46- Apollinaris (Apollinarius) the Younger
Apollinaris (Latin Apollinarius, 310/390 AD) was the bishop of Laodicea who developed the heretical position concerning the nature of Christ called Apollinarianism. Excommunicated from the church for his views, Apollinaris was readmitted but in 346 excommunicated a second time. Nevertheless the Nicene congregation at Laodicea chose him as bishop (c. 361). Skilled in logic and Hebrew and a teacher of rhetoric, Apollinaris also lectured at Antioch c. 374.

47- Apollo
In Greek religion Apollo (Phoebus), was a deity with many functions and meanings. He was the god of divine distance, who sent or threatened from afar; the god who made men aware of their own guilt and purified them of it; who presided over religious law and the constitutions of cities; who communicated to man through prophets and oracles his knowledge of the future and the will of his father, Zeus. Even the gods feared him, and only his father and his mother, Leto, could endure his presence. Distance, death, terror, and awe were summed up in his symbolic bow; a gentler side of his nature was shown in his lyre, which proclaimed the joy of communion with Olympus (the home of the gods) through music, poetry, and dance. He was also a god of crops and herds. His forename Phoebus means "bright" or "pure," and the view became current that he was connected with the sun. Among Apollo's other epithets was Nomios (Herdsman). He was also called Lyceius because he protected the herds from wolves; because herdsmen and shepherds were fond of music, scholars have argued that this was Apollo's original role. Though the most Hellenic of all gods, Apollo apparently was of foreign origin. Traditionally, Apollo and his twin, Artemis, were born on the isle of Delos. From there Apollo went to Pytho (Delphi), where he slew Python, the dragon that guarded the area. He established his oracle by taking on the guise of a dolphin. Thus Pytho was renamed Delphi after the dolphin (delphis). Apollo had many unfortunate love affairs: Daphne, in her efforts to escape him, was changed into a laurel, his sacred shrub; Coronis (mother of Asclepius) was shot by Apollo's twin, Artemis, since unfaithful; and Cassandra (daughter of King Priam of Troy) rejected his advances and was punished by being made to utter true prophecies that no one believed. In Italy Apollo was introduced at an early date and was primarily concerned, as in Greece, with healing and prophecy.

48- Apollonius of Tyana
Apollonius of Tyana was a 1st century AD Neo-Pythagorean who became a mythical hero during the time of the Roman Empire. Empress Julia Domna asked Philostratus to write a biography of Apollonius; her motive for doing was probably her desire to counteract the influence of Christianity on Roman civilization. The biography portrays a figure much like Christ in temperament and power and claims that Apollonius performed certain miracles. It is believed that most of the biography is based more on fiction than fact.

49- Apuleius, Lucius
Apuleius was born about 124 AD at Madauros, Numidia (near modern Mdaourouch, Algeria) and he died probably about 190. He was a Pagan Platonic philosopher, rhetorician, and author remembered for The Golden Ass, a prose narrative. The work, called Metamorphoses by its author, narrates the adventures of a young man changed by magic into an ass. The Golden Ass is particularly valuable for its description of the ancient religious mysteries, and Lucius' restoration from animal to human shape, with the aid of Isis, and his acceptance into her priesthood suggests that Apuleius himself had been initiated into that cult. Apuleius, who was educated at Carthage and Athens, travelled in the Mediterranean region and became interested in contemporary religious initiation rites, among them the ceremonies associated with worship of the Egyptian goddess Isis. Intellectually versatile and acquainted with works of both Latin and Greek writers, he taught rhetoric in Rome before returning to Africa to marry a rich widow, Aemilia Pudentilla. He wrote the Apologia ("Defence"), the major source for his biography. More influential than this collection of the author's declamations on various subjects are his philosophical treatises. He wrote three books on Plato (the third is lost): De Platone et eius dogmate ("On Plato and His Teaching") and De Deo Socratis ("On the God of Socrates"), which expounds the Platonic notion of demons, beneficent creatures intermediate between gods and mortals. Apuleius asserts that he wrote a number of poems and works on natural history, but these works are lost.

50- Aratus of Macedonia
Aratus lived from about 315 to 245 BC in Macedonia. He was a Greek poet of Soli in Cilicia best remembered for his poem on astronomy, Phaenomena. The Phaenomena, a didactic poem in hexameters, is his only completely extant work. Lines 1-757 versify a prose work on astronomy by Eudoxus of Cnidus (c. 390-c. 340), while lines 758-1154 treat of weather signs and show much likeness to Pseudo-Theophrastus' De signis tempestatum.

50bis - Aratus
Aratus was an old Pagan sage of Tarsus quoted by Paul.

51- Ariadne
Ariadne was the wife of Dionysus. At their wedding Dionysus turned water into wine.

52- Aristeas of Prokonnesos
Aristeas of Prokonnesos was a wonder-worker of around the 7th century BC. He was supposed to have the gift of constant ecstasy and bi-location.

53- Aristides
Aristides lived in the 2nd century. He was an Athenian philosopher and one of the earliest Christian Apologists. His Apology for the Christian Faith is one of the oldest extant Apologist documents. Known primarily through a reference by the 4th-century historian Eusebius of Caesarea. A primitive, general apology, Aristides' simple argument was the forerunner of the more personal and literary apologies in the late 2nd and early 3rd centuries, such as those produced by Athenagoras and Tertullian. In the perspective of a pagan philosopher, Aristides' Apology begins with a discussion of the harmony in creation and, in the manner of the Stoic philosophers, establishes a correlation with the Divine Being responsible for the creation and preservation of the universe. Aristides reasons that such a Being would need to be eternal, perfect, immortal, all-knowing, the Father of mankind, and sufficient to himself.

53bis - Aristo (Ariston) of Chios
Aristo (or Ariston) who lived in the 3rd century BC was a Greek philosopher who studied under Zeno, the founder of the Stoic school of philosophy. Aristo combined Stoic and Cynic ideas in shaping his own beliefs. Aristo believed that the only topic of genuine value in philosophy is the study of ethics and went even further in claiming that only general and theoretical issues are worth discussing in ethics and that there is only one true virtue in life that is an intelligent, healthy state of mind.

54- Aristo of Pella
Aristo of Pella (2d century AD) was the author of the lost work known as "Dialogue of Papiscus with Jason" on the Jewish-Christian debate. He probably belonged to the Jewish-Christian Church that moved across the Jordan before the fall of Jerusalem in 70AD.

55- Aristobulus of Paneas
Aristobulus of Paneas was a Jewish philosopher (around 3d-2d century BC). Like his successor, Philo, he tried to reconcile Jewish religion and Greek philosophy using allegory based on the belief that the Old Testament was the source of most Greek philosophy. Aristobulus lived at Alexandria in Egypt, under the Ptolemies. According to some Christian church fathers, he was a Peripatetic, but he also used Platonic and Pythagorean concepts. The Stoic technique of allegorising the Greek myth served as a model for Aristobulus' writings, and for him the Old Testament God became an allegorical figure. He wanted to prove that Greek culture was overshadowed and heavily influenced by Judaism.

56- Aristobulus I
Aristobulus I was also called Judas Aristobulus; he died 103 BC. He was the Hasmonean (Maccabean) Hellenised king of Judaea from 104 to 103 BC. The son of Hyrcanus I, he broke his late father's will and seized the throne from his mother and jailed or killed his brothers. According to the historian Josephus, Aristobulus conquered the Ituraeans of Lebanon and forcibly converted them to Judaism. He was the first of his house to adopt the title of king (basileus).

57- Aristobulus II
Aristobulus II who died in 49 BC was the last of the Hasmonean (Maccabean) kings of Judaea. He came to the throne on the death (67 BC) of his mother, Salome Alexandra, defeating his brother and rival, John Hyrcanus II. Hyrcanus sought help from the Nabataeans and the Romans under Pompey intervened and subjected Judaea to their rule (63 BC). After an unsuccessful attempt to regain power in 56, Aristobulus was sent to Rome as a prisoner and remained there until his death.

58- Aristophanes
Aristophanes was born about 450 BC and he died about 388. He was the greatest representative of ancient Greek comedy and the one whose works have been preserved in greatest quantity. He is the only extant representative of the Old Comedy. Aristophanes belonged to the end of this phase, and his last extant play is seen as the only extant specimen of the short-lived Middle Comedy. He was initiated in the Mysteries. He was accused of revealing too much of the Mystery doctrines in his plays.

59- Aristotle
Aristotle was born in 384 BC at Stagira, Chalcidice and died in 322 at Chalcis, Euboea. Aristotle was a Greek philosopher and scientist. He was the author of a philosophical and scientific system that through the centuries became the support for both medieval Christian and Islamic scholastic thought. Aristotle's intellectual range was vast, covering most of the sciences and many of the arts. He worked in physics, chemistry, biology, zoology, and botany; in psychology, political theory, and ethics; in logic and metaphysics; in history, literary theory, and rhetoric. His greatest achievements were in two unrelated areas. He invented the study of formal logic (Aristotelian syllogistic) and he pioneered the study of zoology, both observational and theoretical. As a philosopher Aristotle is equally outstanding. Although his syllogistic is now recognized to be only a small part of formal logic, his writings in ethical and political theory as well as in metaphysics and in the philosophy of science are read and argued over by modern philosophers.

60- Arius
Arius was a native of Libya, (about 256/336 AD). He studied at the theological school of Lucian of Antioch, where, later on, other supporters of the Arian heresy would also be trained. After he was ordained a priest in Alexandria, in 319, Arius became involved in a controversy with his bishop concerning the divinity of Christ. Arius challenged the doctrine that the three Persons of the Christian Trinity -the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit- were equal. Arius taught that God the Father ranks above the Son, who is Jesus Christ, and that both rank higher than the Holy Spirit. He founded an early Christian theological sect called Arianism. In about 318, Bishop Alexander of Alexandria condemned Arius's teachings as heresy and excommunicated him. But Arius continued to teach and attracted many followers. In 325 Arius finally was exiled to Illyria because of his beliefs. Emperor Theodosius I in 379 outlawed his doctrine throughout the Roman Empire, but it survived for two centuries longer among the barbarian tribes that had been converted to Christianity by Arian bishops.

61- Arnobius of Sicca (also known as the Elder)
Arnobius was a 4th century African early Christian who defended Christianity by demonstrating to the pagans their errors. Arnobius was born a pagan but had become a Christian by AD 300. He taught rhetoric at Sicca Veneria in Africa. Because of his former paganism, Arnobius was suspected, notably by the local bishop, and as a pledge of his conviction he composed the seven books Adversus nationes (c. 303; "Against the Pagans").

62- Arnaud- Amaury
The commanding papal legate who ordered Simon de Montford's soldiers to kill all the inhabitants of Béziers, France, Cathars and Christians alike during the Albigensian Crusades of the 12th century AD. He apparently said: "Kill them all, for God will know his own".

63- Artapanos
Artapanos was a 2d century BC Jewish writer who taught that famous Jews like Abraham, Joseph and Moses were the tutors of the Gentiles in astronomy, agriculture, technology philosophy and the worship of God.

64- Artemis
Artemis was the name of the Greek goddess of the wild, the hunt, fertility and childbearing.

65- Asclepius
Asclepius was a Greco-Roman god of medicine, son of Apollo (god of healing, truth, and prophecy) and the nymph Coronis. The Centaur Chiron taught him the art of healing. Zeus, afraid that Asclepius might render all men immortal, slew him with a thunderbolt. Asclepius was frequently represented with his usual attribute, a staff with a serpent coiled around it, the symbol of medicine.

66- Asher
Asher was the 8th son of Jacob by Leah's maid, Zilpah, and named by Leah "Happy". One of the twelve Hebrew tribes descended from him.

67- Asherah
At one time the Israelites had worshipped Asherad as the wife of the Jewish God, Jehovah. In the 5th century BC she was known as Anat Jahu.

68- Asterius the Sophist
Asterius the Sophist (died after 341AD) was the pupil of Lucian of Antioch who became a leader of the Arian movement. His work, "Syntagmation" survives only in quotations by his opponents Athanasius and Marcellus of Ancyra. He was an extreme Arian calling Christ a creature.

69- Athanasius, Saint
St. Athanasius (circa 293/373) was a Christian theologian, bishop, and Doctor of the Church, who championed the cause of orthodoxy in the 4th-century struggle against Arianism. Born in Alexandria, Egypt, Athanasius received a classical education before entering the famous theological school of his native city. He was ordained a deacon as a young man and served as secretary to the bishop of Alexandria. It was then that he began to take a prominent position in the great theological struggle that culminated in the Council of Nicaea in 325. At Nicaea, Athanasius opposed Arius, the Alexandrian priest who advanced the doctrine known as Arianism; his life is intimately connected with the progress of the Arian controversy, and he was by far the most formidable antagonist encountered by that heresy. Athanasius formulated the Homoousian doctrine, according to which the Son of God is of the same essence, or substance, as the Father. Athanasius became bishop of Alexandria around 328. During the Arian controversy, politics mingled with theology, and each side laboured to win the favour of the Roman emperor Constantine the Great. The Arian Party was both influential and very active at the imperial court. Athanasius was exiled five times; more than one-third of his episcopate was spent away from his see. His fifth and final exile lasted only four months and ended in 364. He spent the rest of his life in quiet labour at his post in Alexandria. The theological battle was practically over, and the victory rested with the cause of Nicene orthodoxy.

70- Athena
In Greek religion, Athena or Athene, was protecting the city, the goddess of war, handicraft, and practical reason; the Romans identified her with Minerva. She was urban and civilized, the opposite of Artemis, goddess of the outdoors. Athena was probably a pre-Hellenic goddess taken over by the Greeks. Athena became a goddess of war. She was thought to have had neither consort nor offspring. As a war goddess Athena could not be dominated by other goddesses, such as Aphrodite, and as a palace goddess she could not be violated. The qualities that led to victory were found on the aegis, or breastplate, that Athena wore when she went to war: fear, strife, defence, and assault. Athena became the goddess of good counsel, of prudent restraint and practical insight, as well as of war. She was widely worshiped, but in modern times she is associated primarily with Athens, to which she gave her name. As city goddess, Athena Polias ("Athena, Guardian of the City"), led the ancient city-state's transition from monarchy to democracy. She was associated with birds, particularly the owl, which became famous as the city's symbol, and with the snake. Her birth and her contest with Poseidon, the sea god, for the suzerainty of the city were represented on the pediments of the Parthenon. Athena became the goddess of crafts and skilled peacetime pursuits in general. She was particularly known as the patroness of spinning and weaving. She became allegorised to personify wisdom and righteousness, a natural development of her patronage of skill.

71- Athenagoras of Athens
Athenagoras is described as a literalist Christian philosopher of the second century. In fact he was not a literalist at all but he taught a philosophical Christianity based on the mythical figures of the Logos and Sophia. He was not interested in Jesus and never mentions him. The literalists adopted him because there was no Christian philosopher at that time.

72- Attis
Attis (or ATYS) is the mythical husband of the Great Mother of the Gods (Cybele, or Agdistis); he was worshipped in Phrygia, Asia Minor, and in the Roman Empire, where he was made a solar deity in the 2nd century AD. The worship of Attis and the Great Mother included the annual celebration of mysteries on the return of the spring season. According to the Phrygian tale, Attis was a beautiful youth born of Nana, the daughter of the river Sangarius, and the hermaphroditic Agdistis. Having become enamoured of Attis, Agdistis struck him as he was to be married, with the result that Attis castrated himself and died. Agdistis asked Zeus to grant that the body of the youth should never decay. Attis was a vegetation god, and in his self-mutilation, death, and resurrection he represents the fruits of the earth, which die in winter only to rise again in the spring.

73- Augustine (Saint) - also Augustine of Hippo
Augustine (354-430 AD) was born in Tagaste, a small Roman community in Africa. For eight years he was a follower of the Manichaean Gnostics before becoming a Neoplatonist in 386; four years later he was converted to Literalist Christianity. Augustine studied first in Tagaste, then in the nearby university town of Madauros, and finally at Carthage. After a brief period teaching in Tagaste, he returned to Carthage to teach rhetoric. At the age of 28, restless and ambitious, Augustine left Africa in 383 for Rome. He taught briefly there before becoming an imperial professor of rhetoric at Milan but there his career ran aground. After only two years, he resigned his teaching post and made his way back to Tagaste. There he was a cultured squire, looking after his family property, raising the son, Adeodatus, left him by a long-term lover, and continuing his literary pastimes. After the death of that young son he disposed of all his properties.
Augustine chose to associate himself with the "official" branch of Christianity. Augustine's literary and intellectual abilities set him apart from his African contemporaries. Made a "presbyter" (roughly, a priest) at Hippo in 391, Augustine became bishop there in 395 or 396 and spent the rest of his life in that office. He would travel to Carthage for several months of the year to pursue ecclesiastical business. He wrote book after book attacking Manichaeism, the Christian sect he had joined in his late teens and left 10 years later. From the 390s to the 410s, he was preoccupied to make his own brand of Christianity prevail over all others in Africa. In 411 the reigning emperor sent an official representative to Carthage to settle the quarrel. A public debate attended by hundreds of bishops on each side ended with a ruling in favour of the official church. His fame notwithstanding, Augustine died a failure. Augustine's legacy in his homeland was effectively terminated with his death but he survived in his books.

74- Auxentius
Auxentius (died in 373 or 374) was Bishop of Milan from 355 to his death. He was a Cappadocian by birth and Arian in theology. Ambrose succeeded him. He wrote the Arian work "Epistola de fide, vita e obitu Wulfilae" incorporated in "Dissertatio contra Ambrosium" composed in 383 by Maximus, the Gothic and Arian opponent of Ambrose.

75- Axionicus
Axionicus was a Valentinian Gnostic of the Oriental school. He maintained that Jesus was purely spiritual and that it was Sophia who descended on Mary as the Holy Spirit.

76- Baal
The main God in the area around Judea, the equivalent of Osiris in Egypt, Dionysus in Greece, Attis in Asia Minor, Marduk in Mesopotamia, Mithras in Persia and Adonis in Syria.

77- Barabbas
Barabbas, the "Son of Abbas", was a revolutionary Jew, probably a Zealot. According to the New Testament was the prisoner, described variously as a murderer, revolutionary, and notorious bandit, who was released in the place of Jesus Christ at the time of the crucifixion. It was customary for the Roman governor of Judea to placate the Jerusalem populace by freeing a prisoner of their choice at the time of Passover. Jesus and Barabbas were the only two candidates under consideration for release by Pontius Pilate, who served as prefect of Judea from AD 26 to 36. The religious leaders incited the people to ask the release of Barabbas and the execution of Jesus. Pilate succumbed to the pressure and condemned Jesus to death. We are told nothing of Barabbas' subsequent life.

78- Barbelo
Barbelo was a mythical Christian Gnostic Goddess.

79- Bardesanes
Bardesanes was born on July 11, 154 AD at Edessa, Syria (now Urfa, Turkey] and he died around 222 at Edessa. He was a Syrian Gnostic. Bardesanes was among the first Christians in Syria and he did some missionary work after his conversion in 179. In his main book, The Dialogue of Destiny, or The Book of the Laws of the Countries, recorded by a disciple, Philip, is the oldest known original composition in Syriac literature. Bardesanes attacked the fatalism of the Greek philosophers after Aristotle (4th century BC), particularly regarding the influence of the stars on human destiny. Mixing Christian influence with Gnostic teaching, he denied the creation of the world, of Satan, and of evil by the supreme God, attributing them to a hierarchy of deities. After converting the local ruler to Gnostic Christianity Syria was a Gnostic Christian State from 202 to 217 when the Roman Emperor Caracalla destroyed it.

80- Bar Jesus
Bar Jesus was the name of a magician, a Jewish false prophet, probably an astrologer.

81- Bar Kokhba
Bar Kokhba who died in AD 135 was the Jewish leader who led the bitter unsuccessful revolt (AD 132-135) against Roman in Palestine. While visiting the Eastern Empire in 131, the Roman emperor Hadrian imposed a policy of Hyalinisation to integrate the Jews into the empire. Circumcision was proscribed, a Roman colony (Aelia) was founded in Jerusalem, and a temple to Jupiter Capitolinus was built over the ruins of the Jewish Temple. The Jews rebelled in 132 with Simeon bar Kokba at their head. He was of Davidic descent and, as such, hailed as the Messiah by the great rabbi Akiva ben Yosef, who also gave him the title Bar Kokhba ("Son of the Star"), a messianic allusion. Bar Kokhba took the title nasi ("prince") and struck his own coins, with the legend "Year 1 of the liberty of Jerusalem." According to the Roman historian Dion Cassius, the Christian sect refused to join the revolt. Hadrian himself came from Rome to visit the battlefield in 134 and summoned the governor of Britain, Gaius Julius Severus, to his aid with 35,000 men of the Xth Legion. Jerusalem was retaken, and Severus constricted the rebels' area of operation, until in 135 Bar Kokhba was killed at Betar, his stronghold in southwest Jerusalem. The remnant of the Jewish army was soon crushed; Jewish war casualties are recorded as numbering 580,000, not including those who died of hunger and disease. Judaea was desolated, the remnant of the Jewish population annihilated or exiled, and Jerusalem barred to Jews thereafter.

82- Barnabas (Saint)
Barnabas's original name was Joseph The Levite, or Joses The Levite. He was born in the first century AD. Barnabas was a Hellenised Jew who joined the Jerusalem church soon after Christ's crucifixion, sold his property for the benefit of the community; he became an Apostolic Father and an early Christian missionary. He was one of the Cypriots who founded the church in Antioch, where he preached. Paul from Tarsus joined him as his assistant; they did some missionary work together before going to Jerusalem in 48. A conflict separated them, and Barnabas sailed to Cyprus. Nothing is known about the time or circumstances of his death. His alleged martyrdom and burial in Cyprus are described in the apocryphal "Journeys and Martyrdom of Barnabas", a 5th-century forgery. Barnabas was in Alexandria, Egypt, according to some other tradition where he wrote the "Letters of Barnabas" (an exegetical treatise on the use of the Old Testament); other tradition places him in Rome and where he would have written the "Letter (or Epistle) to the Hebrews". The apocryphal "Acts of Barnabas", a work of late date, recounts his missionary tours and his death by martyrdom in Cyprus. The extant "Epistle of Barnabas" (part of the Codex Sinaiticus in a monastery at Mount Sinai, is a didactic work, full of allegorical interpretations of the Old Testament and attacks on Judaism. It was not included in the New Testament because it contains too many Gnostic ideas.
Barnabas' reputed tomb was discovered in 488 near the Monastery of St. Barnabas, in the Cypriot city of Salamis, whose Christian community was founded by Paul and Barnabas.

83- Barsumas
Barsumas (circa 420-490) was a Nestorian Bishop of Nisibis and a follower of Ibas of Edessa. Condemned with his master at the Latrocinium, he was cleared with him at Constantinople.

84- Bartholomew (Saint)
Bartholomew was one of the 12 apostles of Christ although not well known. According to tradition he was a missionary in many countries and preached the gospel in India (properly Arabia). He is traditionally said to have been flayed alive in Albanopolis, Armenia, or in India.

85- Basil of Caesarea (Saint)
Basil of Caesarea (329-379) was initially a Gnostic of the Christian Eastern Church. He taught the oral tradition of "private secret teaching" to the initiates into the Inner Mysteries of Christianity. Basil, called the Great, played a leading role during the latest part of the Arian controversy. First a hermit, he became Bishop of Caesarea in 370. He disagreed with Eunomius, the leader of Arian extremists; with the Pneumatomachi who denied the divinity of the Holy Spirit; against the bishops of Rome and Alexandria because he supported Meletius against the bishops. Basil was one of the Cappadocians' Fathers with Gregory of Nyssa and Gregory of Nazianzum; together they continued to develop the Gnostic mystical philosophy of Origen.

86- Basilides of Alexandria
Basilides was a second century AD (circa 117-161) scholar and teacher at Alexandria; he founded a school of Gnosticism known as the Basilidians. He probably was a pupil of Menander in Antioch, and he was teaching in Alexandria at the time of the Roman emperors Hadrian and Antonius Pius. Clement of Alexandria wrote that Basilides claimed to have received a secret tradition -on which he based his gnosis, or esoteric knowledge- from Glaucias, an interpreter of the Apostle Peter or directly from the Apostle Matthias. He wrote psalms and odes, commentaries on the Gospels, as well as a "gospel" for his own sect; only fragments of these writings have been preserved.

87- Benedict of Nursia (Saint)
Benedict was born circa 480 in Nursia, Lombardy, and he died circa 547. He was educated in Rome before becoming a hermit at Subiaco and then the founder of twelve monasteries including the Benedictine monastery at Monte Cassino. He is considered the father of Western monasticism after he reformed monasticism and composed the rules that were to regulate the life of his monks, the Benedictines.

88- Bernard of Clairveaux (Saint)
Bernard of Clairvaux (1090-1153) was born near Dijon. In 1113 he became a monk in the Cistercian monastery of Cîteaux, and in 1115 he became abbot of a monastery at Clairvaux. Under his rule the monastery at Clairvaux became the most prominent of the Cistercian order. Reputed miracles and the eloquent preaching of Bernard attracted numerous pilgrims. Between 1130 and 1145, more than 90 monasteries were founded and Bernard's influence in the Roman Catholic Church was very high. He is reputed to have established the rule of the Order of Knights Templars, and in 1128 he obtained recognition of the order from the church. In 1146, at the command of the pope, Bernard began his preaching of the Second Crusade but its failure was a great blow to him. He was canonized in 1174 and named Doctor of the Church in 1830.
Bernard was an uncompromising opponent of heresies and of rationalistic theology. He wrote many sermons, letters, and hymns. Important among his works are De Diligendo Deo (The Love of God) and De Consideratione (Consideration to Eugene III).

89- Blake, William
Blake was born on Nov. 28, 1757 at London and he died on August 12, 1827 at London. English poet, painter, engraver, and visionary mystic whose series of lyrical and epic poems, beginning with Songs of Innocence (1789) and Songs of Experience (1794), is an original and independent work in the Western cultural tradition. He is one of the earliest and greatest figures of Romanticism. However he was ignored by the public of his day and was considered mad because of his single-mindedness and unworldly; he was poor all his life and death.

90- Böehme (or Böhme), Jakob
Böehme (1575-1624) was a theosophist and mystic, born in Altseidenberg, Germany. He was a shoemaker who had a mystical experience in 1600 that led him towards meditation on divine things. Aurora (1612) contains revelations upon God, humanity, nature, shows deep knowledge of the Scriptures, and of alchemy. It was condemned and persecuted by the ecclesiastical authorities but in 1623 he published The Great Mystery and On the Election of Grace.

91- Boethius
Boethius (circa 480-524) was a Roman Neoplatonist philosopher and statesman. In 510 was made a consul by Theodoric, King of the Ostrogoths. Later he was accused of treason, and, although innocent, was imprisoned in Pavia and executed. During his imprisonment he wrote De Consolatione Philosophiae (The Consolation of Philosophy, c. 523), a philosophic work that, although written by a non-Christian, contained many elements of Christian ethics. This book helped the spirit of Gnosticism to survive during the dark age of Literalism. Boethius also wrote treatises on logic, translations and commentaries on the works of Aristotle, and works on music, arithmetic, and theology.

92- Bruno, Giordano
Bruno was born in 1548 at Nola, near Naples and he died on February 17, 1600 in Rome. His original name was Filippo Bruno, byname IL Nolano. Bruno was an Italian philosopher, astronomer, mathematician, and occultist whose theories anticipated modern science. In his theories of the infinite universe and the multiplicity of worlds, he rejected the traditional geocentric (or Earth-centred) astronomy and went beyond the Copernican heliocentric (Sun-centred) theory, which still maintained a finite universe with a sphere of fixed stars. Bruno is best remembered for his death at the stake because he had unorthodox ideas at a time when both the Roman Catholic and the Reformed churches were preaching Aristotelian and scholastic concepts.

93- Buddha
Buddha was active in the 4th century BC. His original name was Gautama but he was also called Siddhartha; he is the founder of Buddhism, the religion and philosophical system with many followers in southern and eastern Asia. Buddha, meaning "Awakened One," or "Enlightened One," is a title, not a proper name. Gautama was the son of the rulers of the kingdom of the Sakyas, and was thus a member of the warrior caste. There are various legends about his birth and upbringing. He married at the age of 16 and lived in luxury and comfort. When he was 29 he realized the inevitability of old age, sickness, and death and he became aware of the suffering implicit in existence. He did "the great renunciation": to give up the princely life and become a wandering ascetic. He departed from the palace, leaving his wife and infant son behind, and went south to the Magadha kingdom in search of teachers to instruct him in the way of truth. With two of them he attained mystical states of elevated consciousness, but still unsatisfied, he continued his search for truth. He was joined by five ascetics at a grove near Uruvela, where he practiced austerities and self-mortifications for six years. When he fainted, he abandoned ascetic practices to seek his own path to enlightenment. Soon afterward, at the age of 35, Gautama became a supreme Buddha. He decided to teach others what he had discovered about the nature of reality and the means of transcending the human condition. The Buddha spent the rest of his life spreading his teachings, making converts to the religious truths and beliefs he propounded, and training large numbers of learned followers to continue the work after his death.

94- Caecilian
Caecilian (dead circa 345) was the Bishop of Carthage over whose election the Donatist controversy started. The assembly of bishops chose him but the Numidian and Mauretanian had not been invited and they elected their own anti-bishop.

95- Cain
According to the Old Testament Cain was the first-born son of Adam and Eve, who murdered his brother Abel. Cain, a farmer, became enraged when the Lord accepted the offering of his brother Abel, a shepherd, in preference to his own. He murdered Abel and was banished by the Lord from paradise. Some biblical critics believe the tribe of Cain was the Kenites. According to Irenaeus and other early Christian writers, a Gnostic sect called Cainites existed in the 2nd century AD.

96- Candidus
Candidus was a follower of Valentinus and in about 229-230 Origen went to Greece to argue with him. The Valentinian doctrine that salvation and damnation are predestined, independent of volition, was defended by Candidus on the ground that Satan is beyond repentance; Origen replied that if Satan fell by will, even he can repent. Demetrius, Bishop of Alexandria, was appalled by such a doctrinal view and instigated a synodical condemnation, which, however, was not accepted in Greece and Palestine.

97- Carpocrates
Carpocrates was a 2nd-century Platonist philosopher who founded a sect of Gnostic Christians. He was a religious dualist who believed that matter was evil, and the spirit good, and that salvation was gained through esoteric knowledge, or gnosis. He and his followers were radicals who condemned private property as the source of all injustice. The sect flourished in Alexandria.

98- Cassian, John (Saint)
Cassian was born in 360 AD in Scythia and he died in Marseille in 435. He was an ascetic monk, theologian, and founder and first abbot of the famous abbey of Saint-Victor at Marseille. His writings reflect the teaching of the hermits of Egypt, the Desert Fathers. Cassian's theology came from his concept of monasticism. He became a leading exponent of Semi-Pelagianism, a heresy that flourished in southern France during the 5th century. Probably of Roman birth, Cassian became a monk at Bethlehem and later visited and was trained by the hermits and monks of Egypt. About 399 he went to Constantinople, where the patriarch St. John Chrysostom ordained him deacon. A few years later, after John had been illegally deposed, Cassian went to Rome to plead John's cause with the Pope and while there was ordained priest (405). Nothing is then known of his life until 415, when he founded a nunnery at Marseille, and also the abbey of Saint-Victor, of which he remained abbot until his death. Cassian's most influential work is his Institutes of the Monastic Life (420-429); this, and his Collations of the Fathers (or Conferences of the Egyptian Monks), written as dialogues of the Desert Fathers, were influential in the further development of Western monasticism. His theological dissertation On the Incarnation of the Lord, written against the heretic Nestorius at the request of Pope Leo I, is an inferior work.

99- Celestius
Celestius (5th century) was one of the first and the most important of the disciples of the British theologian Pelagius. Like Pelagius, Celestius was practicing law in Rome when they met. Disliking the contemporary immorality, they turned from temporal to religious pursuits. When the Goths menaced Rome about 409, the two men went first to Sicily and then, about 410, to North Africa, where Celestius remained after Pelagius left for Palestine in 411. Celestius was accused of denying the existence of original sin and the remission of sins by baptism. Celestius was condemned at the Council of Carthage (412), presided over by Bishop St. Aurelius, who excommunicated him. He left for Ephesus. Celestius' propaganda and Pelagius' writings succeeded in making many converts, and a reaction against them grew led by St. Jerome and Bishop St. Augustine of Hippo. Celestius and Pelagius were condemned again at the Council of Diospolis in 415 and at two African councils in 416 and they were excommunicated in 417 by Pope St. Innocent I. Celestius visited Zosimus, the following Pope, whom he impressed and who, after receiving a profession of faith from Pelagius, accused the African bishops in 417 of having acted precipitately. Excess by the Pelagians in Rome caused the Western Roman emperor Flavius Honorius to condemn Pelagianism and exile Celestius from Italy. Celestius, who was ordered to appear before the pope, ignored the summons and fled from Rome. Zosimus excommunicated him and condemned Pelagianism. The Council of Ephesus (431) also condemned him.

100- Celsus
The second century AD Platonist thinker Celsus followed the religiously inclined form of Platonism that flourished from the 3rd century BC to the 3rd century AD. He was one among many "cultured despisers" of Christianity. He wrote "The True Doctrine", a critic of emerging Christianity.

101- Cephas
Cephas is the Greek translation of Peter. The Christian Literalists assumes that this means Simon Peter, the Apostles and Saint.

102- Cerdo
Cerdo was a Gnostic Christian who disagrees with the Catholic Church of Rome because he believed that the God of the Old Testament could be distinguished from the God of the New Testament, one the God of justice, the other pure goodness. Cerdo convinced Marcion of his ideas and in this way influenced the Marcionite Gnostic sect that flourished in the 2nd century AD. He lived in Rome from about 136 to 142 AD.

103- Ceres
Ceres, in Roman religion, was the goddess of the growth of food plants (corn-goddess), worshiped either alone or in association with the earth goddess Tellus. At an early date her cult was identified with that of Demeter, who was widely worshiped in Sicily and Magna Graecia. The temple, built on the Aventine Hill in 493 BC, became a centre of plebeian religious and political activities and also became known for the splendour of its works of art. Destroyed by fire in 31 BC, it was restored by Augustus.

104- Cerinthus
Cerinthus lived in the 2nd century AD; he was a Christian Gnostic trained in the Egyptian tradition. He had a number of followers in Asia Minor. Cerinthus' writings are known only through the writings of hostile witnesses such as Irenaeus and Hippolytus of Rome. He preached that the world was created by a subordinate deity, called a demiurge, or by angels, one of whom gave the Ten Commandments to Moses. Cerinthus taught that Jesus was the natural son of Mary and Joseph and that the spirit of God, called Christ, descended upon Jesus at his baptism and enabled him to work miracles and to proclaim the unknown Father but left Jesus before the Passion and the resurrection. In the 2nd century the orthodox writer Gaius asserted that all the biblical writings attributed to John the Evangelist were really by Cerinthus.

105- Christ
Christ is found in the Greek version of the Old Testament, the Septuagint, translating varied forms of the mashìakh, "an anointed one," from which the English "Messiah" is derived. The Hebrew conception of anointing was derived from the ancient magical idea that the application of oil endowed the person or object with certain superior, and even supernatural qualities. The term Christ was applied not only to the priests as intermediaries between God and humanity but also to the kings as representatives of God. Later it was applied to the prophets and was referred to even in connection with the patriarchs.
In the New Testament, when used as a proper name, and frequently when otherwise used, it is a designation of Jesus of Nazareth, as the expected Messiah of the Jews.

106- Cicero
Cicero was born in 106 BC at Arpinum (now Arpino), Italy and he died on December 7, 43 BC at Formiae [now Formia]. He was a Roman statesman, lawyer, scholar, and writer who was pro-republican in the final civil wars that destroyed the republic of Rome. His writings include books on rhetoric, orations, philosophical and political treatises, and letters. He is remembered in modern times as the greatest Roman orator. Cicero was the son of a wealthy family of Arpinium that sent him to schools in Rome and in Greece. He completed the De oratore (55) and De republica (52) and began the De legibus (52). In 51 he was persuaded to leave Rome to govern the province of Cilicia, in south Asia Minor, for a year and he did it with integrity. A second period of intensive literary production included the Brutus, Paradoxa, Orator in 46; De finibus in 45; and Tusculanae disputationes, De natura deorum, and De officiis, finished after Caesar's murder, in 44. His 14 Philippic orations, the first delivered on Sept. 2, 44, the last on April 21, 43, mark his vigorous re-entry into politics. He was captured and killed near Caieta on December 7, 43 BC for his political opinions.
There are four collections of the letters: to Atticus (Ad Atticum) in 16 books; to his friends (Ad familiares) in 16 books; to Brutus; and, in 3 books, to his brother (Ad Quintum fratrem). The letters constitute a primary historical source. His best-known poems were the epics De consulatu suo (On His Consulship) and De temporibus suis (On His Life and Times), which were criticized in antiquity for their self-praise. Cicero made his reputation as an orator in politics and in the law courts, where he preferred appearing for the defence. In religion he was an agnostic most of his life, but he had religious experiences during an early visit to Eleusis where he is believed to have been initiated in the local Mystery. He usually writes as a theist, but the only religious exaltation in his writings is to be found in the "Somnium Scipionis" ("Scipio's Dream") at the end of De republica. Cicero did not write seriously on philosophy before about 54 when he seems to have begun De republica, following it with De legibus (begun in 52). These writings were an attempt to interpret Roman history in terms of Greek political theory. The bulk of his philosophical writings belong to the period between February 45 and November 44. His output and range of subjects were astonishing: the lost De consolatione, prompted by his daughter's death; Hortensius, an exhortation to the study of philosophy; the difficult Academica (Academic Philosophy), which defends suspension of judgement; De finibus, or The Supreme Good (Is it pleasure, virtue, or something more complex?); and De officiis (Moral Obligation). Except in the last book of De offics, Cicero lays no claim to originality in these works.

107- Clement of Alexandria (Saint)
Clement (150-215 AD) was born in Athens; he was Pantaenus of Alexandria's pupil in 180 and head of the catechetical school in 190. He attempted to mediate between the heretical Gnostics and the literalist Christians by appropriating the term Gnostic from the heretical. Gnosis became, in Clement's theology, a knowledge and aspect of faith; he viewed it as a personal service that "loves and teaches the ignorant and instructs the whole creation to honour God the Almighty". Thus, Clement's Christian Gnostic -as opposed to the heretical Gnostic- witnessed to non-believers, to heretics, and to fellow believers, the educated and uneducated alike, by teaching new insights and by setting a example in moral living. Like the pistic Christians, Clement held that faith was the basis of salvation; but, unlike them, he claimed that faith was also the basis of gnosis, a spiritual and mystical knowledge. By distinguishing between two levels of believers -i.e., the pistic Christian, who responds through discipline and lives on the level of the law, and the Christian Gnostic, who responds through discipline and love and lives on the level of the gospel- Clement set the stage for monasticism that began in Egypt about a half century after his death. Though much of Clement's attention was focussed upon the reorientation of men's personal lives in accordance with the Christian gospel, his interest in the social field also involved him in the political and economic forces that affected man's status and dignity. If a conflict should arise between God and Caesar (i.e., the state), the Christian was to appeal to the "higher law" of the Logos.

108- Clement of Rome (Saint)
It is assumed that Clement was born in Rome where he died in the first century AD. He was the first Apostolic Father and pope from 88 to 97 (or from 92 to 101, according to Bishop Eusebius of Caesarea), probably the third successor of St. Peter. Tertullian wrote that Peter consecrated him. Bishop St. Irenaeus of Lyon lists him as a contemporary of the Apostles and witness of their preaching. His martyrdom is legendary (he was tied to an anchor and cast into the sea). The authorship of the Letter to the Church of Corinth (I Clement) has been traditionally ascribed to him. It was written to settle a controversy among the Corinthians against their church leaders. By this Clement considered himself empowered to intervene in another community's affairs. His Letter achieved almost canonical status and was regarded as Scripture by many 3rd- and 4th-century Christians. He is credited with transmitting to the church the Ordinances of the Holy Apostles, the so-called "Apostolic Constitutions". By tradition this document is said have been written by the Apostles; it is the largest collection of early Christian ecclesiastical law. The constitutions are now believed to have been written in Syria c. 380.

109- Coelestius
Coelestius (5th century) was a disciple of Pelagius. While a lawyer in Rome he joined Pelagius in a life of ascetism and piety. They were horrified by the depraved society of their time and they tried to restore morals appealing to every men personal responsibility.

110- Colluthus
Colluthus (4th century AD) was a priest of Alexandria who created a schism when he took on the right and power of ordination although he was only in presbyter's orders. However he was not an Arian. The Council of Alexandria called by Hosius of Cordova deposed him.

111- Constantine the Great
Constantine the Great (about AD 274-337) was the first Roman emperor (306-37) to be converted to Christianity. He was the founder of Constantinople (present-day Istanbul), which remained the capital of the Eastern Roman (Byzantine) Empire until 1453.
Constantine in his early life was a solar henotheist, believing that the Roman sun god, Sol, was the visible manifestation of an invisible "Highest God", who was the principle behind the universe. In 312, before a battle against Maxentius, his rival in Italy, Constantine is reported to have dreamed that Christ appeared to him and told him to inscribe the first two letters of his name (XP in Greek) on the shields of his troops. The next day he saw a cross superimposed on the sun and the words "in this sign you will be the victor". Constantine then defeated Maxentius at the Battle of the Milvian Bridge, near Rome. Thus, Constantine, who had been a pagan solar worshiper, now looked upon the Christian deity as a bringer of victory. Persecution of the Christians was ended, and he issued the Edict of Milan (313), which mandated toleration of Christians in the Roman Empire. As guardian of Constantine's favoured religion, the church was then given legal rights and large financial donations.
Constantine presided the first ecumenical council of the church at Nicaea in 325. He began the building of Constantinople in 326 on the site of ancient Greek Byzantium. The city was completed in 330, given Roman institutions, and beautified by ancient Greek works of art. Constantine built churches in the Holy Land, where his Christian mother supposedly found the True Cross on which Jesus was crucified. The emperor was baptized shortly before his death, on May 22, 337.

112- Cornelius
Cornelius was a Roman Centurion who was baptised, a step towards admitting Gentiles into Christianity.

113- Crowley
Crowley, Aleister (1875-1947) was first named Edward Alexander Crowley. He was a British writer and 'magician'; he became interested in the occult while an undergraduate at Cambridge, and later founded the order known as the Silver Star. He travelled widely, settling for some years in Sicily with a group of disciples at the Abbey of Thelema, near Cefalù. Rumours of drugs, orgies, and magical ceremonies led to his expulsion from Italy.

114- Cybele
Cybele was the Phrygian Mother goddess whose high priest was given the name of Attis, and at least in later times, she was attended by a band of fanatical devotees called galli, whose wild orgiastic dancing led them to self-castration in their ecstasy. The cult myth of these rites told how Cybele loved a beautiful youth named Attis. According to the earliest version, a boar killed Attis but later versions refer to wild revelry and castration. Attis was to marry a daughter of Midas (or Gallus, the king of Pessinus); the wedding guests are driven mad by Cybele, and first Midas, then Attis, castrates himself, the latter as he lies beneath a pine tree; in one version Attis is turned into a pine tree. The Roman "Phrygian rites" included the ceremonious felling of a pine tree to represent the dead youth and its transport in procession to the temple. Still later, the sacrifice of a bull and the belief in the resurrection of Attis were added to the cult. In Asia Minor, the cult of Cybele is marked by carved rock facades with niches or by rock-hewn thrones, on which a statue rests. Cybele was a goddess of the mountains, out of which she was believed to manifest herself to her devotees.

115- Cyprian (Saint)
Cyprian was born around AD 200 in Carthage where he died in 258. He was an early Christian theologian and bishop of Carthage who led the Christians of North Africa during a period of persecution from Rome. Upon his execution he became the first bishop-martyr of Africa. Cyprian was born in a wealthy pagan family and was educated in law. He practiced as a lawyer in Carthage before he was converted to Christianity about 246. Within two years he was elected bishop of Carthage and a few months later, early in 250, was confronted by the Decian persecution. He went into hiding and, as a result, thousands of Christians rejected their faith or obtained "libelli" (certificates), by which they declared that they had sacrificed to the pagan gods. When the persecution began to diminish, the confessors -those who had stood firm for their faith- reconciled the lapsed, claiming that they had the right of granting pardon, even more than did priests and bishops. Cyprian returned to Carthage (early 251) and at a council of bishops in May, 251 regained his authority. Three important principles of church discipline were thus established:
- The right and power to remit deadly sins, even that of apostasy, lay in the hands of the church.
- The final authority in disciplinary matters rested with the bishops in council as repositories of the Holy Spirit.
- Unworthy members among the laity must be accepted in the New Israel of Christianity just as in the Old Israel of Judaism.
In 252 a renewed threat of persecution by the emperor Gallus encouraged a speedier reintegration of the lapsed, because many now wanted to prove themselves as martyrs. In the same year, the steadfastness of the Christian clergy in face of a plague won for the church further popular support, and Cyprian defeated internal enemies who had set up a rival bishop in Carthage.

116- Cyril of Alexandria (Saint)
Cyril was born around 375 and died on June 27, 444; he was a Christian theologian and bishop active in the doctrinal struggles of the 5th century. He is chiefly known for his campaign against Nestorius, bishop of Constantinople, whose views on Christ's nature were to be declared heretical. He succeeded his uncle Theophilus as bishop of the see of Alexandria in 412. He closed the churches of the Novatians, a schismatic sect that denied the power of the church to absolve those who had lapsed into idolatry during persecution. He also was involved in the expulsion of Jews from Alexandria following their attacks upon Christians. Riots ensued, and Cyril, who if not directly responsible at least had done nothing to prevent them, was forced to acknowledge the authority of the civil government. Cyril remained a chief citizen of Egypt, and in his struggle with Nestorius he was in some ways a political as well as a religious leader. The religious argument involved the relation of the divine and human within Jesus Christ. Cyril emphasized the unity of the two in one Person, while Nestorius so emphasized their distinctness that he seemed to be splitting Christ into two Persons acting in concert. Their dispute was referred to a general council at Ephesus in 431. Cyril convened the council and condemned Nestorius. He had not waited, however, for the arrival of certain bishops from the East, particularly from the see of Antioch. When they did reach Ephesus, they reconvened the council and condemned Cyril. Papal recognition of Cyril's council was eventually obtained and Nestorius was banished as a heretic. Even so, the dispute continued, and peace in the church was only restored in 433, when Cyril accepted a compromise with Antioch, that emphasized the distinctness of the two natures within the one Person of Christ.

117- Cyril of Jerusalem, Saint
Cyril was born about 315 in Jerusalem and he died about 386 also in Jerusalem. He was the bishop of Jerusalem and doctor of the church who promoted the development of the "holy city" as a pilgrimage centre for all Christendom. A senior presbyter when he succeeded Maximus as bishop (c. 350), Cyril was exiled about 357 and at twice again later from his see by the Arians. Many years later at the Council of Constantinople (381) there was evidence that he might have been suspected by the strictly orthodox for his associations with the Homoiousians, who had reinstated him as bishop at the Council of Seleucia (359). He retained his bishopric during the reign of Emperor Julian the Apostate (361-363). Cyril's primary surviving work is a collection of 23 catechetical lectures (Catecheses) delivered to candidates for Baptism. The first 18, based on the Jerusalem baptismal creed, were given during Lent, and the concluding 5 instructed the newly baptized during the week after Easter.

118- Damascius
Damascius was born in AD 480 and he died circa 550. He was a Greek Neoplatonist philosopher and the last Platonic scholars at the Greek Academy at Athens, which was founded by Plato about 387 BC. A pupil and close friend of the Greek philosopher Isidore of Alexandria, Damascius became head of the Academy about 520 and was still in office when the Christian emperor Justinian closed it, along with other pagan schools, in 529. Damascius, with six other members of the Academy, went to Persia to serve the court of King Khosrow I. The treaty of 533 between Justinian and Khosrow allowed them to return to Athens, where their philosophy was more accepted. The chief surviving work of Damascius, Aporiai kai lyseis peri ton proton archon (Problems and Solutions About the First Principles), elaborates the comprehensive system of the Neoplatonist thinker Proclus. Despite his Athenian Neoplatonism's hair-splitting logic and theosophical fantasy, Damascius' work opens the way to genuine mysticism by his insistence that human speculation can never attain to the ineffable first principle. Though a pagan, Damascius led the way to Christian mystics.

119- Darius I
Darius I The Great (about 558-486 BC) was king of Persia (521-486 BC); he was a member of a royal Persian family, the Achaemenids. In 522 BC, on the death of King Cambyses II, a group of Magian priests tried to give the throne to one of them, Gaumata who pretended to be Smerdis (died about 523 BC), the murdered brother of Cambyses II. In 521, Darius defeated Gaumata and was chosen king of Persia.
He first suppressed rebellions then he reformed the internal organization of Persia and made its borders secure. He reorganized the vast empire into 20 satrapies, built highways, organized a postal system, reformed the currency, encouraged commerce, and won the goodwill of large portions of the population. Because he respected their religions, he was liked by the Jews, whom he permitted to complete the rebuilding of the Temple at Jerusalem in 516; by the Egyptians, whose high priest he consulted; and by the Greeks of Asia Minor, whose oracles supported him during the revolt of the Greek cities.
Darius conquered territories along the Indus River in the east and in the Caucasus Mountains in the northeast, but his expedition in 516 against the tribes of the Danube River failed. In 499 a revolt broke out among the Ionian Greek cities of Asia Minor. The revolt was suppressed by 493, and Darius prepared to punish the mainland Greeks for their intervention but his army was finally defeated at Marathon. Another expedition was being prepared when Darius died. He left a detailed account of his reign.

120- David (King)
David was king of Judah and Israel from 1000 until his death in 961 BC; he was the founder of the Judean dynasty.
David was the youngest son of Jesse, a shepherd of Bethlehem, and a sheperd himself in his youth. He became known for his musical skill and for his courage, exemplified by his victorious encounter with the Philistine giant Goliath. As his reputation grew, he was summoned to the royal court. After achieving distinction in the wars against the Philistines, he married Michal, Saul's daughter, and won the friendship of Jonathan, Saul's son. Due to his great popularity, the king banished him from the court.
David returned to his native country after Saul, Jonathan, and two others of Saul's four sons died in battle with the Philistines. Becoming king of Judah at Hebron, he reigned for seven years, until about 993 BC, when he was anointed king of Israel. David defeated in rapid succession the Philistines, Moabites, Aramaeans, Edomites, and Ammonites. One of his principal conquests was the Jebusite stronghold of Zion, which he made his capital, Jerusalem, often called the City of David. There he constructed his palace and installed, under a tabernacle, the Ark of the Covenant, making Jerusalem the religious and political centre of the domains united in his person. David selected Solomon as heir to the throne. David displayed unfailing religious devotion and represented the courage and aspirations of his people, whose prophets regard him as the promised Messiah. In both the Old Testament and New Testament, the Messiah is referred to as the Son of David.

121- Dee, John
John Dee was born on July 13, 1527 in London, England and he died in December 1608 at Mortlake, Surrey. Dee was an English alchemist, astrologer, and mathematician. He lectured and studied on the European continent between 1547 and 1550 before returning to England in 1551 where was granted a pension by the government. Dee became astrologer to the queen, Mary Tudor before imprisoned for being a magician but was released in 1555. Dee practiced astrology and horoscopy in the court of Elizabeth I; he advised the pilots and navigators who were exploring the New World. He chose the best day for Elizabeth's coronation, and he gave her lessons in the mystical interpretation of his writings. In 1570 he participated in the writing of the first English translation of Euclid's work. He is also the author of the preface. Later Dee travelled to Poland and Bohemia (1583-89), giving exhibitions of magic at the courts of various princes. He became warden of Manchester College in 1595.

122- Delilah
According to the Old Testament Delilah was the mistress of Samson, a judge of Israel. After learning that Samson's hair was the source of his strength, Delilah accepted a Philistine bribe and betrayed Samson by cutting his hair while he slept. It is not clear whether she was a Hebrew or a Philistine.

123- Demeter
In the Greek religion, Demeter was the daughter of Cronus and Rhea, sister and consort of Zeus, and goddess of agriculture. Her name may mean either "grain mother" or "mother earth". She is not included among the Olympian gods, but the roots of her legend are ancient. The legend is centred on the story of her daughter Persephone, who was taken by Hades, the god of the underworld. Demeter went in search of Persephone and, during her journey, revealed her secret rites to the people of Eleusis. Her distress at her daughter's disappearance was said to have diverted her attention from the harvest and caused a famine. In addition to Zeus, Demeter had a consort, Iasion (a Cretan), to whom she bore Plutus. Demeter appeared most commonly as a grain goddess. The influence of Demeter extended to vegetation and to all the fruits of the earth, except the bean. She was sometimes identified with the Great Mother of the Gods (Rhea, or Cybele). Another important aspect of Demeter was that of a divinity of the underworld; she was worshiped as such at Sparta, and especially at the festival of Chthonia at Hermione in Argolis. Demeter also appeared as a goddess of health, birth, and marriage and as a divinity of the underworld. Among the agrarian festivals held in honour of Demeter were the following:
- Haloa, apparently derived from halos ("threshing floor"), begun at Athens and finished at Eleusis, where there was a threshing floor of Triptolemus, her first priest and inventor of agriculture; it was held in the month Poseideon (December).
- Chloia, the festival of the grain beginning to sprout, held at Eleusis in the early spring (Anthesterion) in honour of Demeter Chloë ("the Green"), the goddess of growing vegetation.
- Proerosia, at which prayers were offered for an abundant harvest, before the land was ploughed for sowing. The festival took place, probably sometime in September, at Eleusis.
- Thalysia, a thanksgiving festival held in autumn after the harvest in the island of Cos.
- The Thesmophoria, a women's festival meant to improve the fruitfulness of the seed grain.
- The Skirophoria held in midsummer, a companion festival.
Her attributes were connected chiefly with her character as goddess of agriculture and vegetation (ears of grain, the mystic basket filled with flowers, grain, and fruit of all kinds). The pig was her favourite animal, and as a chthonian (underworld) deity she was accompanied by a snake. The Romans identified Demeter with Ceres.

124- Demetrius of Phaleron
Demetrius was born about 350 BC at Phaleron, near Athens [Greece] and he died about 280 in Egypt. He was also known as Demetrius Phalereus. He was an Athenian orator, statesman, and philosopher who was appointed governor of Athens by the Macedonian general Cassander (317 BC). He favoured the upper classes and rationalised the ideas of earlier political theorists as Aristotle. When the old democracy was restored in 307, Demetrius escaped to Thebes and later to Egypt.

125- Diagoras
Diagoras was a 5th century B.C. Greek Sophist, poet, a writer of hymns and dithyrambs. He took refuge in Corinth when condemned to death by the Athenians for impiety and for his satirical attacks on superstitious religions. He was also called the Atheist.

126- Diodochus of Photice
Diodochus of Photice was a 4th century Gnostic of the Christian Eastern Church. He taught the oral tradition of "private secret teaching" to the initiates into the Inner Mysteries of Christianity.

127- Diodorus Cronus
Diodorus Cronus was born in the 4th century BC. He was a philosopher of the Megarian School, known for his innovations in logic. Through Apollonius he is linked with Eubulides of Miletus, a 4th-century Greek thinker; together the three men formed the branch of the Megarian School that was especially strong in formal logic. None of Diodorus' writings exist today.

128- Diodorus of Tarsus
Diodorus of Tarsus (died about 390 AD) was he was the head of an Antiochene monastery and bishop of Tarsus from 378. He was banished by the Arian emperor Valens in 372 but was at the Council of Constantinople in 381. He was the teacher of John Chrysostom and Theodore of Mopsuestia.

129- Diodorus Siculus
Diodorus Siculus was a Greek historian of the 1st century BC, at Agyrium, Sicily. He is the author of a universal history, Bibliotheca historica. Diodorus lived in the time of Julius Caesar and Augustus; he travelled in Egypt during 60-57 BC and spent several years in Rome. His history consisted of 40 books and was divided into three parts. The first treats of the mythic history of the non-Hellenic and Hellenic tribes to the destruction of Troy; the second ends with Alexander's death; and the third continues the history as far as the beginning of Caesar's Gallic War. The Bibliotheca, invaluable where no other continuous historical source has survived, supplies to some extent the loss of the works of earlier authors, from which it was compiled.

130- Diogenes
Diogenes was born at Sinope, Paphlygoniad in 420 BC and he died in 320 BC, probably at Corinth, Greece. He was a Greek philosopher, a follower of Antisthene, Socrates'disciple, one of the founders of the Cynics School, a sect that stressed stoic self-sufficiency and the rejection of luxury. It was by personal example rather than any coherent system of thought that Diogenes taught the Cynic philosophy. After being sold into slavery, he declared that his trade was that of governing men and was appointed tutor to his master's sons. Tradition shows him looking for an honest man conducted in broad daylight with a lighted lantern. Almost certainly forced into exile from Sinope with his father. He sought to expose the falsity of most conventional standards and beliefs and to call men back to a simple, natural life. For Diogenes the simple life meant not only disregard of luxury but also disregard of laws and customs of organized, and therefore "conventional," communities. The family was viewed as an unnatural institution to be replaced by a natural state in which men and women would be promiscuous and children would be the common concern of all. Though Diogenes himself lived in poverty, slept in public buildings, and begged his food, he did not insist that all men should live in the same way. Among Diogenes' lost writings are dialogues, plays, and the Republic, which described an anarchist utopia in which men lived "natural" lives.

131- Dionysius Exigus
Dionysius Exigus lived in the 6th century AD. He is the inventor of the Christian calendar. Tradition refers to him as an abbot. He arrived in Rome about the time of the death (496) of Pope St. Gelasius I, who had summoned him to organize the pontifical archives. Thereafter, Dionysius flourished as a scholar at Rome. He wrongly dated the birth of Christ. Highly reputed as a theologian and as an accomplished mathematician and astronomer, Dionysius was well versed in the Holy Scriptures and in canon law.

132- Dionysius the Areopagite (pseudo Dionysus)
Dionysus the Aeropagite was Paul's co-worker. When Justinian closed the ancient school of philosophy in Athens, four mystical treaties by this Dionysus appeared. Assuming that they are not forgeries, they escaped the ban of heresy and they became accepted as second only to Augustine's works to become the reference for all later Christian mystics.

133- Dionysus
Dionysus or Bacchus was the god of fruitfulness and vegetation and he was also known as a god of wine and ecstasy; his cult represented a reversion to pre-Hellenic Minoan nature religion. According to the most popular tradition, Dionysus was the son of Zeus and Semele. Hera, Zeus' wife, out of jealousy persuaded Semele to prove her lover's divinity by requesting him to appear in his real person. Zeus complied, but his power was too great for the mortal Semele, who was blasted with thunderbolts. Zeus saved his son by sewing him up in his thigh, keeping him there until he reached maturity, so that he was twice born. Dionysus was brought up by the bacchantes at Hermes' request. As Dionysus apparently represented the sap, juice, or lifeblood element in nature, lavish festal orgia (rites) in his honour were widely instituted. These Dionysia (Bacchanalia,) quickly won converts among the women. The men, however, met it with hostility. The women abandoned their families and took to the hills, wearing fawn skins and crowns of ivy and shouting "Euoi!" the ritual cry and they danced by torchlight to the rhythm of the flute and the tympanon (kettledrum). The worship of Dionysus flourished long in Asia Minor, particularly in Phrygia and Lydia. Dionysus was believed to have descended to the underworld to bring back his mother Semele and was also associated with Persephone in southern Italy. Dionysus possessed the gift of prophecy. He had an oracle in Thrace and was later patron of a healing shrine at Amphicleia in Phocis. He often took on a bestial shape and was associated with various animals. His personal attributes were an ivy wreath, the thyrsus, and the kantharos, a large two-handled goblet.

133bis - Diotina
Diotina was a pagan priestess who, according to tradition, taught philosophy to Socrates but there is no real evidence to confirm it.

134- Dominic, Saint
St. Dominic (about 1170/1221) was a Spanish religious leader who founded the Order of Friars Preachers, also called the Dominican Order. He was born in Calaruega in the Old Castile region of Spain. He studied at the University of Palencia and became a canon at the cathedral of Osma, near El Burgo. Later, he opposed the heretical teachings of the Albigenses. In 1216, Pope Honorius III gave him permission to establish a new religious order for the purpose of preaching against heresy. By the time of Dominic's death, the order had spread throughout Europe.

135- Dositheus
Dositheus was a Samaritan heretic, a Gnostic Sage and teacher who lived about 100 AD. He was probably linked to the Essenes as he came from their region.

136- Dyonisius of Tarsus
Dyonisius (2d century AD) was the Bishop of Corinth (about 170) and author of seven "Catholic Epistles" to churches in Greece, Bithynia, Crete, Pontus and Rome as well as to Chrysophora. They do not exist anymore but various quotations by Eusebius show that he was anti-Marcionite, opposed to excessive ascetism and an advocate of Roman Church episcopal authority.

137- Eckhart
Johannes Eckhart, Meister (circa 1260-1328) was a German mystic and Christian theologian. Born in Hochheim of a family of knights, Eckhart joined the Dominicans at the age of 15. He received a master's degree in theology from the University of Paris in 1302 and then served as prior at Erfurt and as Dominican vicar-general for Bohemia. He was a professor of theology in Paris in 1311, and between 1314 and 1322 he taught and preached in Strasbourg and was also a preacher in Cologne.
Eckhart's theology was similar to that of another Dominican, St. Thomas Aquinas, but it also incorporated much Neoplatonic thought. His teachings on the union of the soul with God led to accusations of pantheism. Eckhart had to defend himself against accusations of heresy before Pope John XXII in 1327. Eckhart recanted on some 26 articles, but a papal bull issued in 1329 that condemned Eckhart's teaching named 28.
Modern scholars consider Eckhart's mysticism generally orthodox, although surviving sermons and tracts are usually thought to have been edited by Eckhart's friends and foes. Talks of Instruction (1300?), The Book of Divine Consolation (1308?), and a score of sermons are considered among the most authentic works.

138- Elijah
Elijah or Elias lived in 9th century BC and he was the most popular Hebrew prophet. His lifetime was a period of social and religious change. Elijah led the battle against the idolatrous worship of the Phoenician god Baal. He was involved in a contest of "miracles" with the prophets of Baal and won by demonstrating the supremacy of God over Baal. The anticipation of Elijah's return to earth, after his death, as the precursor of the Messiah is based on the account of his removal from earth in a whirlwind and finds support also in the words of Malachi, the last prophet. Jesus Christ declared John the Baptist to be the spiritual fulfilment of this anticipation.

139- Elizabeth (Saint)
Elizabeth is the mother of John the Baptist in the New Testament, and the wife of Zacharias, a priest. When the childless Elizabeth was already old, the angel Gabriel appeared to her husband and prophesied a son. Six months later the angel appeared to Mary to announce the conception of Jesus. During the pregnancy of both women, they met, and Elizabeth greeted Mary by saying "Blessed are you among women" and called her "mother of my Lord". She was made a saint.

140- Elkesai
Elkesai was a Syrian Judeo- Christian Gnostic prophet who appeared about 100 AD.

141- Elohim
Elohim is the general term used occasionally in the Old Testament for any divine being, but more frequently in reference to the God of the Israelites. It means greatness and majesty and is one of the two most commonly used names for God. The other is Yahweh. Biblical scholars have regarded the frequent use of the term in the Pentateuch as the key-identifying feature of the second oldest pentateuchal source, known therefore as "E." Accordingly, the author of "E" is sometimes referred to as the Elohist.

142- Empedocles
Empedocles was born around 490 BC at Acragas, Sicily and he died about 430 in the Peloponnese, Greece. He was a Greek philosopher (disciple of Pythagoras), statesman, poet, religious teacher, miracle worker, and physiologist. According to legend, Empedocles was a self-styled "immortal" god who brought about his own death" by throwing himself into the volcanic crater of Mount Etna to convince followers of his divinity. Aristotle hailed him as the inventor of rhetoric, and Galen regarded him as the founder of Italian medicine. Lucretius admired his hexametric poetry. All that remains of his writings are 400 lines from his poem Peri physeos ("On Nature") and less than 100 verses from his poem Katharmoi ("Purifications"). Empedocles assumed that all matter was composed of four essential ingredients, fire, air, water, and earth, and that nothing either comes into being or is destroyed but that things are merely transformed. Like Heraclitus, he believed that two forces, Love and Strife, interact to bring together and to separate the four substances. Strife makes each of these elements separate from the others; Love makes them mix together. He was a believer in the transmigration of souls and he believed that those who have sinned must wander for 30,000 seasons through many mortal bodies and be tossed from one of the four elements to another. Escape from such punishment requires purification, particularly abstention from the flesh of animals, whose souls may once have inhabited human bodies.

143- Epictetus
Epictetus was born in AD 55, probably at Hierapolis, Phrygia and he died about 135 at Nicopolis, Epirus [Greece]. He was a Greek philosopher associated with the Stoics School; he is remembered for the religious tone of his teachings that pleased numerous early Christian thinkers. As a boy he was a slave in Nero's service, but he followed lectures by the Stoic Musonius Rufus before becoming a freedman. In AD 90 he was expelled from Rome with other philosophers by the emperor Domitian. The rest of his life Epictetus spent at Nicopolis. Epictetus wrote nothing but his teachings were transmitted by Arian, his pupil, in two works: Discourses, of which four books still exist today; and the Encheiridion, or Manual, a condensed aphoristic version of the main doctrines. He was above all interested in ethics and true education, he believed, consists in recognizing that his will, or purpose, belongs to an individual. God, acting as a good king and father, has given each being a will that cannot be compelled by outside factors. Man must believe there is a God whose thought directs the universe. As a political theorist, Epictetus saw man as a member of a great system that includes God and men. Each human being is primarily a citizen of his own, but he is also a member of the great city of gods and men. All men are the sons of God by virtue of their rationality and are similar in nature with the divinity.

144- Epicurus
Epicurus (341-270 BC) was a Greek philosopher, born on the island of Sámos of an Athenian family, and educated by his father and by various philosophers. At the age of 18 he went to Athens to do military service. After a brief stay he went to Colophon (322), where he began teaching. Epicurus founded a philosophical school in Mitilíni on the island of Lesbos about 311, and two or three years later he became head of a school in Lampsacus (now Lâpseki, Turkey). Returning to Athens in 306, he settled there permanently and taught his doctrines to devoted followers. Because instruction took place in the garden of Epicurus' home, his followers from all over Greece and Asia Minor -men and women- were known as "philosophers of the garden."
Epicurus was a prolific author. He left 300 manuscripts, including 37 treatises on physics and numerous works on love, justice, the gods, and other subjects. Of his writings, only three letters and a number of short fragments survive, preserved in Diogenes Laërtius' biography. The principal additional sources of information about the doctrines of Epicurus are the works of the Roman writers Cicero, Seneca, Plutarch, and Lucretius.

145- Epiphanes
Epiphanes was the son of the Gnostic Master Carpocrates; he died when 17 years old. He wrote an important Gnostic treaty called "On Justice" in which he condemns property and social authority and where he says that all human beings, free or slave, have divine rights.

146- Epiphanius (Epiphanus) of Constantia (Saint)
Epiphanius was born in 315 AD, near Eleutheropolis, Palestine and he died in May 403, at sea. He is recorded in the history of the early Christian church for his struggle against heretical beliefs especially against the teachings of Origen, a major theologian in the Eastern Church whom he considered more a Greek philosopher than a Christian. Epiphanius studied and practiced monasticism in Egypt and then returned to Palestine; he founded a monastery near Eleutheropolis and became its superior. In 367 he was made bishop of Constantia (Salamis) in Cyprus. He spent the rest of his life in that post, spreading monasticism and campaigning against heretics. He wrote the Panarion (374-377), an account of 80 heresies and their refutations, which ends with a statement of orthodox doctrine. His Ancoratus (374) is a collection of the Church teachings. His works are valuable as a source for the history of theological ideas.

147- Eratosthenes
Eratosthenes was born about 276 BC at Cyrene, Libya and he died about 194 at Alexandria, Egypt. He was a Greek scientific writer, astronomer, and poet, the first man known to have calculated the Earth's circumference. He also measured the degree of obliquity of the tilt of the Earth's axis with great accuracy and compiled a star catalogue. His mathematical work is known principally from the writings of Pappus of Alexandria. After study in Alexandria and Athens, Eratosthenes settled in Alexandria about 255 BC and became director of the great library. He worked out a calendar that included leap years. His writings include a poem inspired by astronomy, as well as works on the theatre and on ethics.

148- Eros
Eros, in Greek mythology, was the god of love and the equivalent of the Roman Cupid. In early mythology he was represented as one of the primeval forces of nature, the son of Chaos, and the embodiment of the harmony and creative power in the universe. Later mythology made him the constant attendant of his mother, Aphrodite, goddess of love.

149- Eshmun
Eshmun was a God of Sidon (Phoenicia), assimilated by the Greek with Asklepios. He was a fertility god who became important in Carthage.

150- Esther
Esther was the beautiful Jewish wife of the Persian king Ahasuerus (Xerxes I). Together with her cousin Mordecai they persuaded the king to cancel an order for the killing of all the Jews in the empire. The massacre had been plotted by the king's chief minister, Haman, and the date decided by casting lots (purim). Haman was hanged on the gallows he built for Mordecai and, on the day planned for their annihilation, the Jews destroyed their enemies. Esther is the name of an Old Testament book.

151- Eumolpus
Eumolpus is described as being a mythical ancestor of the priestly clan of the Eumolpids at Eleusis, Greece, and the site of the Eleusinian Mysteries, the best known of the Greek mystery cults. His name means "good" or "strong singer" that is a priest who could chant his litanies clearly and well. Three identities for Eumolpus have been assumed:
Being a "sweet singer," he was connected with Thrace, the country of Orpheus. He was the son of the god Poseidon and Chione (Snow Girl), daughter of the north wind, Boreas; after various adventures he became king in Thrace but was killed while helping the Eleusinians in their war against Erectheus of Athens.
As one of the originators of the Eleusinian Mysteries, he was an Eleusinian, a son of Earth (Ge), father of Keryx, and the mythical ancestor of the Kerykes (Heralds).
Because Orpheus and his followers were closely connected with mysteries of all sorts, Eumolpus was believed to be the son, father, or pupil of Musaeus, a mythical singer closely allied with Orpheus.

152- Eunapius
Eunapius was born in 345 AD at Sardis, Lydia and he died in 420. He was a Greek rhetorician and historiographer whose "Lives of the Philosophers and Sophists" is important as a source of information on contemporary Neoplatonist. Eunapius was educated under the rhetorician Praeresius and was initiated into the Eleusinian mysteries. Eunapius was an ardent opponent of Christianity. He also wrote a supplement to the Chronological History of Publius Herennius Dexippus, continuing the history from AD 270 to 404. Of this work only fragments remain.

153- Euripides
Euripides was born in 484 BC at Athens [Greece] and he died in 406 in Macedonia, He was the last of classical Athens' three great tragic dramatists and tragedians, following Aeschylus and Sophocles. There is indirect evidence that he came of a rich family. Euripides competed in the dramatic festival in 455, and he won his first victory in 441. Euripides left Athens for good in 408, invited by Archelaus, king of Macedonia where he died in 406. He was interested in ideas and owned a large library. He is said to have associated with Protagoras, Anaxagoras, and other Sophists and philosopher-scientists. His acquaintance with new ideas brought him restlessness rather than conviction. It is known that he had a wife called Melito and had three sons. One of these was a poet and produced the Bacchants after his father's death. He may also have completed his father's unfinished play Iphigenia at Aulis. The ancients knew of 92 plays composed by Euripides with nineteen existing today.

154- Eurydice
In an ancient Greek legend Eurydice was the wife of Orpheus. Her husband's attempt to retrieve her from Hades forms the basis of one of the most popular Greek legends.

155- Eusebius, Saint
Eusebius was born in Greece and he died in 309/310 in Sicily. He was pope from April 18 to Aug. 17, 309/310. According to Pope Damasus I, a violent dispute took place in Rome about readmitting apostates after the persecution of Christians under the Roman emperor Diocletian. In opposition to Eusebius some wanted offenders readmitted to the church without penance. The Roman emperor Maxentius exiled both Eusebius and his opponents. Eusebius was sent to Sicily, where he died almost immediately. His body was taken to Rome and interred in the catacomb of Calixtus. Eusebius is venerated as a martyr.

156- Eusebius of Caesarea (also Eusebius Pamphilus)
Eusebius of Caesarea (also Pamphilus or Pamphili) was active during the 4th century as a bishop, exegete, polemicist, and historian with his account of the first centuries of Christianity in his Ecclesiastical History. Eusebius was baptized and ordained at Caesarea, where the learned presbyter Pamphilus taught him. The Roman authorities at Caesarea may have imprisoned Eusebius. In the Ecclesiastical History Eusebius constantly quotes or paraphrases his sources, and he thus preserved portions of earlier works that are no longer extant. He had already compiled his Chronicle, which was an outline of world history, and he carried this annalistic method over into his Ecclesiastical History. Eusebius, however, was not a great historian. Eusebius became bishop of Caesarea (in Palestine) about 313. When about 318 the theological views of Arius, a priest of Alexandria, became the subject of controversy because he taught the subordination of the Son to the Father, Eusebius was soon involved. Expelled from Alexandria for heresy, Arius found sympathy at Caesarea. Eusebius wrote to Alexander, claiming that Arius had been misrepresented. At a strongly anti-Arian synod at Antioch, about January 325, Eusebius and two of his allies, Theodotus of Laodicea and Narcissus of Neronias in Cilicia, were provisionally excommunicated for Arian views. When the Council of Nicaea, called by the Roman emperor Constantine I, met later in the year, Eusebius had to explain himself and was exonerated with the explicit approval of the emperor. Eusebius remained in the emperor's favour as his historian and biographer and, after Constantine's death in 337, he wrote his Life of Constantine.

157- Eusebius of Dorylaeum
Eusebius of Dorylaeum lived in 5th century. He was bishop of Dorylaeum and an opponent of the Nestorians (who believed that the divine and human persons remained separate in Christ). While a layman, Eusebius challenged publicly (429) the teaching of Patriarch Nestorius of Constantinople. His action led to Nestorius' condemnation by the Council of Ephesus (431). In 448 Eusebius charged his friend Eutyches, an archimandrite at Constantinople, with heresy for holding a doctrine later known as monophysitism (which asserted that Jesus Christ had but one nature, not two). The charge by Eusebius led to Eutyches' deposition by a synod summoned by Bishop Flavian of Constantinople. Eutyches was then excommunicated by Pope Leo I the Great but was reinstated by the council that met in Ephesus in 449; Eusebius was deposed for his role in the matter. He appealed to Leo and in 451 he was rehabilitated by the Council of Chalcedon, for which he assisted in drafting the classic definitions of the person and natures of Christ and which caused Eutyches' banishment.

158- Eusebius of Emesa
Eusebius of Emesa was born in circa 300 AD in Edessa, Macedonia [now in Greece] and he died in circa 359 at Antioch, now Antakya, Turkey. He was a disciple of Eusebius of Caesarea, bishop of Emesa, and a chief doctrinal writer on Semi-Arianism (a modified Arianism that held that Christ was "like" God the Father but not of one substance). The Arian Synode of Antioch elected him successor of Athanasius but he refused. A friend of the Roman emperor Constantius II, whom he often accompanied on expeditions against the Persians, Eusebius was appointed (in circa 339) to the see of Emesa. Because of his unorthodoxy, he was expelled from the city by its inhabitants but was reinstated after taking refuge with Bishop George of Laodicea, a central figure of the 4th-century Arian controversies.

159- Eusebius of Laodicea
Eusebius of Laodicea was born in Alexandria, Egypt and he died in circa 269 at Laodicea, Syria. He was a deacon of Alexandria who became bishop of Laodicea, after risking his life helping Christian martyrs during the persecutions of the Roman emperors Decius (250) and Valerian (257). He was a former pupil of Origen. When Alexandria was besieged in 262 by troops of Valerian's successor and son, Gallienus, Eusebius and his friend Anatolius (his later successor) negotiated the release of persecuted Christians and non-combatants. In 264 Bishop Dionysius of Alexandria sent Eusebius to a synod at Antioch, whose bishop, Paul, was being tried for heresy. On his return journey, Eusebius was persuaded to become bishop of Laodicea.

160- Eusebius of Myndus
Eusebius of Myndus lived in the 4th century AD. He was a Neoplatonist philosopher, a pupil of Aedesius of Pergamum; unlike the other members of the Pergamene school he distinguished himself by his sobriety and rationality and by his contempt for the religious magic, or theurgy. The future emperor Julian "the Apostate" abandoned his philosophical teachings for the sensations provided by the wonder-worker Maximus of Ephesus.

161- Eusebius of Nicomedia
Eusebius of Nicomedia was probably born in Syria and he died in circa 342. He was an important 4th-century Eastern Church bishop and a proponent of Arianism (the doctrine that Jesus Christ is not of the same substance as God) who eventually became the leader of an Arian group called the Eusebians. Eusebius was, successively, bishop of Berytus and, about 318, bishop of Nicomedia. He supported Arius' cause and when Arius was condemned in a synod at Alexandria in 323, Eusebius sheltered him and sponsored a synod (also in 323) at Bithynia, which cancelled Arius' excommunication. Eusebius refused to recognize Christ as being "of the same substance" (homoousion) with the Father. At the first ecumenical Council of Nicaea, in 325, he led the opposition against the Homoousians but the council finally accepted their clause. He refused to sign the anathema condemning the Arians. After the council he renewed his alliance with Arius, and the Roman emperor Constantine I the Great exiled him to Gaul until 328. His fight against the Homoousians led Constantine to depose and exile Bishop St. Athanasius the Great of Alexandria at a synod in Tyre in 335 and to reinstate Arius at a synod in Jerusalem in 335. Eusebius was also close to Constantine's son and successor, the pro-Arian Constantius II, and was made bishop of Constantinople in 339. He presided over a synod in Antioch in 341 where a creed omitting the homoousion clause was adopted and he probably died soon afterward.

162- Eusebius of Samosata, Saint
Eusebius of Samosata died in circa 379 at Dolikha, probably in Asia Minor. He was a Christian martyr and famous opponent of Arianism. In 361 he became bishop of the ancient Syrian city of Samosata. In 360 Eusebius had been entrusted with the official record of the election of Bishop St. Meletius of Antioch who was supported by the Arian bishops, who believed that he was sympathetic to their cause. When Meletius expounded his orthodoxy, the bishops persuaded the Roman emperor Constantius II, a staunch Arian, to extort the record from Eusebius and destroy it. In 361 Constantius threatened Eusebius with the loss of his right hand because he refused to surrender the record, but the threat was withdrawn when Eusebius offered both hands. During the persecution of orthodox Christians under the Eastern Roman emperor Valens (also an Arian), Eusebius travelled incognito through Syria and Palestine, restoring orthodox bishops and priests who had been deposed by the Arians. In 374 Valens banished him to Thrace, but after the Emperor's death in 378, Eusebius was restored to his see of Samosata. While in Dolikha to consecrate a bishop, he was killed by an Arian woman.

163- Eusebius of Vercelli, Saint
Eusebius of Vercelli was born in the 4th century in Sardinia and he died in 370/71 at Vercelli, Italy. He was a supporter of St. Athanasius the Great of Alexandria, Egypt, and restorer of the Nicene Creed (the orthodox doctrine adopted by the first Council of Nicaea in 325 which declared the members of the Trinity to be equal). Eusebius became the first bishop of Vercelli in 345. Living in community with his priests, he was the first Western bishop to unite monastic life with the ministry. At the Council of Milan (355), he refused to sign the condemnation of Athanasius and, as a result, he was exiled to the East. Pardoned by the Roman emperor Julian the Apostate, he attended the Synod of Alexandria (362), whose decrees on the Nicene Creed he promulgated, helping to restore orthodoxy and unity throughout the empire. Returning to Italy, he worked with St. Hilary, bishop of Poitiers, France, in opposing Arianism. Three letters written during his exile are extant. The first seven books of De Trinitate, long attributed to Athanasius or Bishop Vigilius of Thapsus, are presently accepted as Eusebius' work.

164- Eustathius
Eustasthius was born about 300 and he died in 377 (or 380). He was bishop of Sebaste (now Sabastiyah, West Bank) and metropolitan of Roman Armenia. He was noted for his extreme or heterodox theological positions. He studied under the heretic Arius at Alexandria and this explains his later rejection of the orthodox theory of the Holy Spirit. Earlier, he was controversial for his asceticism, according to which marriage and the discharge of family responsibilities were unacceptable. He was condemned by the Council of Gangra (343) but he was still made bishop of Sebaste in 357. Later he visited Rome and he signed the Nicene Creed. After 371 Eustathius upheld Semi-Arianism and quarrelled with his former monastic protégé St. Basil whom he helped writing his rule. Later he participated in the Mascedonian heresy.

165- Eustathius of Antioch, Saint
Eustathius of Antioch was born at Side, Pamphylia and he died circa 337 possibly in Thrace. Also called Eustathius The Great, he opposed the followers of the condemned doctrine of Arius at the Council of Nicaea. Eustathius was first bishop of Beroea (circa 320) and became bishop of Antioch shortly before the Council of Nicaea (325). The pro-Arian Bishop Eusebius of Caesarea led to Eustathius' deposition by a synod at Antioch (327/330) and banishment to Thrace by the Roman emperor Constantine the Great. The resistance of his followers in Antioch created a Eustathian faction that survived until about 485 that developed into the Meletian Schism, a split in the Eastern Church over the doctrine of the Trinity.

166- Evagrius of Pontus
Evagrius of Pontus was a 4th century Gnostic of the Christian Eastern Church. He taught the oral tradition of "private secret teaching" to the initiates into the Inner Mysteries of Christianity.

167- Eve
According to Genesis 1:1-2:4, God on the sixth day of Creation created Adam and Eve "in his own image," blessed the couple, told them to be "fruitful and multiply," and gave them dominion over all other living things. According to another part of Genesis (2:5-7, 2:15-4:1, 4:25), God, or Yahweh, created Adam and gave him the primeval Garden of Eden to tend but ordered him not to eat of the fruit of the "tree of knowledge of good and evil." God created other animals, put Adam to sleep, took from him a rib, and created a new companion, Eve. The two were persons of innocence until Eve yielded to the temptations of the evil serpent and Adam joined her in eating the forbidden fruit. Immediately, God recognized their transgression and proclaimed their punishments -for the woman, pain in childbirth and subordination to man, and, for the man, relegation to an accursed ground with which he must toil and sweat for his subsistence. Their first children were Cain and Abel.

168- Ezekiel
Ezekiel was a priest and prophet of the 6th century BC and a contemporary of Jeremiah. The prophet was one of the captives deported to Babylonia in 597 BC, 11 years before the fall of Jerusalem. His role as prophet and spiritual leader dates from about 592 BC; his knowledge of the rites of Temple worship indicates that he was a priest before the exile. Ezekiel's role from 597 to 586 BC was that of a prophet of doom; after the fall of Jerusalem to Nebuchadnezzar II of Babylon, his role became that of comforter and inspirer. With the restoration of Israel, Ezekiel became lawmaker, codifier, and designer of the form and structure of Hebrew worship.

169- Ezra
Ezra was a priest and scribe and a leading figure in the revival of Judaism in Palestine after the Babylonian Captivity. That period in the history of Israel extended from the fall of Jerusalem (586 BC) to the reconstruction in Palestine of a new Jewish state after 538 BC. He is described as the second founder (after Moses) of the Jewish nation. He was responsible for the extensive codification of the laws, including those governing Temple worship and the scriptural canon. He also contributed greatly to the eventual replacement of priests by rabbis.

171-Faustus de Melevis
Faustus of Melevis was a 4th century Manicheist. He taught in Rome, then in Carthage where he met Augustine who disliked him and his beliefs.

172- Faustus of Riez, Saint
Faustus of Riez was born circa 400 in Roman Britain and he died circa 490. He was bishop of Riez, France, and an exponent and defender of Semi-Pelagianism. In the early 5th century Faustus went to southern Gaul, where he joined the newly founded monastic community on the Îles de Lérins, of which he became the third abbot about 433. After his election as bishop of Riez (about 458) he played a leading role in the ecclesiastical life of 5th-century Gaul. Faustus' De gratia gave the final form to Semi-Pelagianism. He taught that God cannot interfere with man's freedom either before or after his conversion to Christianity, and that all faith is rooted in grace because human freedom itself is a form of grace. His doctrine was rejected by the second Council of Orange (France) in 529.

173- Firmicus Maternus
Firmicus Maternus (died about 360 AD) was a Roman astrologer of the fourth century AD who wrote the Matheseos libri ("Books on Astrology") (circa 335). It was written in Latin whereas most astrological texts of the Roman Empire were written in Greek. Julius Firmicus Maternus, was a Pagan converted late in life to Christianity. He wrote a diatribe against paganism in which he asked the state to employ force to repress it and its immoralities.

174- Firmilian of Caesarea
Firmilian of Caesarea who died about 269 was one of the best-liked bishops (circa 230) of the East. Only his letter to Cyprian concerning baptism remains. In it he says that those baptised by heretics should be baptised again. A great admirer of Origen he presided the First Synod of Antioch (264) that condemned Paul of Samosata.

175- Flora
Flora was a Roman Christian woman. She received a letter from the Valentinian Gnostic Ptolemy that is included in Epiphanius' writings.

176- Francis of Assisi (Saint)
Francis was born in 1181/82 at Assisi, Duchy of Spoleto and he died on October 3, 1226 also at Assisi. He was canonised on July 15, 1228. His fraternal charity, consecration to poverty, and dynamic leadership drew thousands of followers and made him one of the most venerated religious figures. Francis was the son of Pietro di Bernardone, a cloth merchant, and the lady Pica. Francis learned to read and write Latin at the school near the church of S. Giorgio and later he learned some French language and literature, especially of the troubadours. His youth was characterised by a love of life and a spirit of worldliness. In 1202 he took part in a war between Assisi and Perugia, was held prisoner for almost a year, and on his release fell seriously ill. After his recovery, he attempted to join the papal forces under Count Gentile against Frederick II in Apulia in late 1205. At Spoleto he had a vision or dream that made him return to Assisi and await a call to a new kind of knighthood. There he began to give himself to solitude and prayer so that he might know the will of God for him. Several other episodes make up what is called his conversion:
- A vision of Christ while he prayed in a grotto near Assisi.
- An experience of poverty during a pilgrimage to Rome, where, in rags, he lived with the beggars.
- An incident in which he gave alms to a leper and kissed his hand.
One day at the ruined chapel of S. Damiano outside the gate of Assisi, he heard the crucifix above the altar command him: "Go, Francis, and repair my house which, as you see, is well-nigh in ruins." At home he old all the cloth in his father's shop as well as the horse. He then gave the money to the priest at San Damiano. Angered, his father brought him before the civil authorities. When Francis refused to answer the summons, his father called him before the Bishop where he said: "Until now I have called you my father on earth. But now I can truly say: Our Father who art in heaven." The astonished bishop gave him a cloak, and Francis went off to the woods of Mount Subasio above the city.
Francis had renounced material goods and family ties for a life of poverty. He repaired the church of San Damiano, restored a chapel dedicated to St. Peter the Apostle and then restored the now-famous little chapel of St. Mary of the Angels, the Porziuncola, on the plain below Assisi. He became a bishop and founded the order of the Franciscans.

177- Gaius of Rome
Gaius of Rome (3d century AD) was a presbyter during the time of Bishop Zephyrinus and an opponent to the Montanists.

178- Gelasius I, Saint
Gelasius I was probably born in Africa; he died on November 19, 496, in Rome. He was pope from 492 to 496, succeeding St. Felix III in March 492. Gelasius combated the Eastern Acacian Schism of Patriarch Acacius. This resulted from Rome's refusal to accept the Henotikon -a peace formula designed by the Eastern Roman emperor Zeno to reconcile the dissident Monophysites (heretical doctrine that the human and divine in Christ constitute one nature). Gelasius maintained papal authority, making him one of the great architects of Roman primacy in ecclesiastical affairs. He wrote more than 100 treatises and letters; one of the most celebrated was addressed to Zeno's successor, Anastasius I. Gelasius' doctrine that both sacred and civil power are of divine origin and independent, each in its own sphere, was very progressive; the following history of the papacy probably would have been different if his ideas had prevailed. Among his acts, in 494 he changed the Lupercalia, a Roman pagan festival, into the feast of the Purification.

179- Gelasius of Caesarea
Gelasius of Caesarea who died about 395 AD became Bishop of Caesarea around 367. He was a nephew of Cyril of Jerusalem. Expelled from his see due to his agreement with the Nicene theology during Valens' reign; he was restored when Theodosius became emperor in 379.

180- George of Cappadocia
George of Cappadocia was born in Lydda, Palestine (Now Lod, Israel) and he died December 24, 361 at Alexandria, Egypt. He was a learned Arian prelate, one of Julian the Apostate's Christian tutors. He was imposed on the see of Alexandria during the third exile of Athanasius the Great whom the Roman emperor Constantius II had exiled for attacking Arianism. As an extreme Arian, George was disliked by the orthodox and the Semi-Arians. A violent and avaricious man, he insulted, persecuted, and plundered orthodox and pagan alike. He was killed by a mob when Julian became emperor in 361.

181- George of Laodicea
George of Laodicea was born in Alexandria, Egypt and he died circa 361 at Laodicea, Syria. He was bishop of Laodicea and one a promoter of the homoiousian (moderate Arian) theological position of the early Christian church. George was ordained in Alexandria by Bishop Alexander; he was excommunicated for immorality and advocacy of Arianism. He failed to reconcile Arius with Alexander. Appointed bishop of Laodicea (circa 335), he attended numerous synods in the following decades. As an advocate of the homoiousian theology, he opposed the orthodox bishop Athanasius the Great of Alexandria. He protected Bishop Eusebius of Emesa during his exile for being a semi-Arian and wrote a biography of him, of which fragments are extant. A defence of the homoiousian doctrine, which he composed in conjunction with Bishop Basil of Ancyra (now Ankara, Turkey) and others, was preserved by Bishop St. Epiphanius of Constantia (now Salamis, Cyprus).

182- George, Saint
George lived in the 3rd century and, according to the tradition, he died at Lydda, Palestine (now Lod, Israel). He was an early Christian martyr who during the Middle Ages became an ideal of martial valour and selflessness. He is the patron saint of England. Nothing of George's life or deeds can be established; legends describe him as a warrior-saint. Jacob de Voragine's Legenda aurea (1265-66; Golden Legend) tells the story of his rescuing a Libyan king's daughter from a dragon and then slaying the monster in return for a promise by the king's subjects to be baptized. George's slaying of the dragon may be a Christian version of the legend of Perseus, who was said to have rescued Andromeda from a sea monster near Lydda. George was known in England by at least the 8th century and returning crusaders popularised his cult. He was probably recognized as England's patron saint by King Edward III (reigned 1327-77) who made him the patron of the newly founded Order of the Garter. He was also adopted as protector of several other medieval powers, including Portugal, Genoa, and Venice.

183- Goethe
Johann Wolfgang von Goethe was born on August 28, 1749 at Frankfurt am Main, Germany and he died on March 22, 1832 at Weimar, Saxe-Weimar. Goethe was a German poet, novelist, playwright, and natural philosopher, a great figure of the German Romantic period and literature, and a giant of world literature. His wrote 14 volumes on science. He wrote on a variety of theme and style; in fiction he ranged from fairy tales through poetic concentration in his shorter novels and Novellen (novellas) to the "open," symbolic form of Wilhelm Meister; in the theatre, from historical, political, or psychological plays in prose through blank-verse drama to his Faust. Its final couplet, "Das Ewig-Weibliche/Zieht uns hinan" ("Eternal Womanhood/Leads us on high"), epitomizes his own feeling about the central polarity of human existence: woman was to him at once man's energizer and his civiliser, source of creative life and focus of the highest endeavours of both mind and spirit.

184- Gregory of Nazianzus, Saint
Gregory of Nazianzus was born circa 330 at Arianzus in Cappadocia, Asia Minor [now in Turkey] and he died circa 389 at Arianzus. He was a 4th-century Church Father whose defence of the doctrine of the Trinity (God as Father, Son, and Holy Spirit) made him one of the greatest champions of orthodoxy against Arianism. Gregory grew up in a Christian and clerical family; he received a classical as well as religious education, studying first at Caesarea, briefly at Alexandria, and finally at Athens (c. AD 351-356). He was a close friend of Basil, his fellow student. After returning to Cappadocia, Gregory joined the monastic community that Basil had founded at Annesi in Pontus. To preserve the thought of Origen, many of whose speculative views were under attack, the two friends collaborated in editing the Philocalia, an anthology of theological and devotional selections from the works of Origen. In 362 Gregory accepted ordination to the priesthood to assist his father. For the next 10 years he worked at Nazianzus supporting Basil -who was first presbyter and, from 370 to 379, bishop of Caesarea- in his struggles with personal rivals, with Arians, and with the Arian emperor Valens. Gregory, under pressure from Basil, accepted consecration (372) to the episcopate of Sasima but he never took possession of the bishopric. He briefly administered the church of Nazianzus again after his father's death. The death of Valens in 378 ended the imperial patronage of Arianism, and after Basil died on the following January 1, Gregory became the spokesman in Asia Minor of the Nicene party. Among the sermons he preached there, the Five Theological Orations are a striking presentation of trinitarian doctrine. When the new emperor, Theodosius, came east in 380, the Arian bishop of Constantinople, Demophilus, was expelled, and Gregory was able to take over the Great Church. Bishop Timothy of Alexandria challenged him on technical grounds. The council supported his policy, condemning old and new heresies, denying all validity to the consecration of Maximus, and forbidding bishops to interfere outside their own areas of authority. It endorsed the trinitarian doctrine of three equal Persons (Father, Son, and Holy Spirit) as taught by Gregory. His writings of the period include a long autobiographical poem (commonly referred to as Carmen de se ipso, "Song Concerning One-self ") and many short poems, mostly on religious subjects. Gregory was one of the Cappadocians'Fathers with Basil and Gregory of Nyssa; together they continued to develop the Gnostic mystical philosophy of Origen.

185- Gregory of Nyssa
Gregory of Nyssa was born circa 335 at Caesarea, Asia Minor and he died circa 394. He was a philosophical theologian and mystic, and a leader of the orthodox party in the 4th-century Christian controversies over the doctrine of the Trinity. He wrote many theological, mystical, and monastic works in which he balanced Platonic and Christian traditions. Gregory was educated in his native province but was more deeply influenced by his philosophical training than by the other two Cappadocian Fathers of the Church, his brother Basil of Caesarea and their friend Gregory of Nazianzus. He was first a teacher of rhetoric and may have been married but this is not certain. In the 360s he turned to religious studies and Christian devotion, perhaps even to the monastic life, under Basil's inspiration and guidance. As part of Basil's struggle with Bishop Anthimus of Tyana, Gregory was consecrated as bishop of Nyssa a town that Basil wished to retain in his ecclesiastical jurisdiction. In 375 Gregory was accused of mal-administration and he was deposed in 376 by a synod of bishops and banished. But on Valens' death in 378 his congregation welcomed him back. In 379 he attended a council at Antioch and was sent on a special mission to the churches of Arabia. In 381 he took part in the General (second ecumenical) Council at Constantinople. Gregory declined election to the important bishopric of Sebaste. Under Nectarius, the successor of Gregory of Nazianzus at Constantinople, Gregory of Nyssa was the leading orthodox theologian of the church in Asia Minor in the struggle against the Arians. Gregory completed Basil's Hexaëmeron ("Six Days"), sermons on the days of the Creation, with The Creation of Man, and he produced a classic outline of orthodox theology in his Great Catechesis (or Address on Religious Instruction). His brief treatise On Not Three Gods relates the Cappadocian Fathers' theology of three Persons in the Godhead (i.e., the Trinity) to Plato's teachings of the One and the Many. As a Christian Platonist, Gregory followed the great Alexandrian theologian Origen; he shared Origen's conviction that man's material nature is a result of the fall and also Origen's hope for ultimate universal salvation. Platonic and Christian inspiration combine in Gregory's ascetic and mystical writings. His Life of Macrina blends biography with instruction in the monastic life. On Virginity and other treatises on the ascetic life are crowned by the mystical Life of Moses. A notable emphasis of Gregory's teaching is the principle that the spiritual life is not one of static perfection but of constant progress. Gregory's attacks on usury and on the postponement of Baptism, deal with ethical problems of the church in his time. His more intimate discourses on the Lord's Prayer and the Beatitudes combine ethical and devotional interests, as does his commentary on the Song of Solomon. Gregory was one of the Cappadocians'Fathers with Basil and Gregory of Nazianzum; together they continued to develop the Gnostic mystical philosophy of Origen.

186- Gregory Thaumaturgus
See Thaumaturgus Gregory

187- Habakkuk
Habakkuk was the 8th of the minor twelve prophets. He flourished about 612-597 BC but very little is known about his life, and these dates are fixed by the reference he made in his book to the coming of the Chaldeans, an event that took place around 597 BC.

188- Hadrian
Hadrian (76-138) AD) was a Roman Emperor (117-138) who did not persecute the Christians. In 132 he began to rebuild Jerusalem as a Greek city but Simon bar Kosiba started a revolt that lasted three and one half years and ended by the Roman victory. His reign was devoted to unifying the empire.

189- Haggai
Haggai was one of the twelve Minor Prophets. Little is known of the life and person of this prophet except that he lived in the 6th century BC, helped mobilize the Jewish community for the rebuilding of the Temple of Jerusalem (516 BC) after the Babylonian Exile, and prophesied the glorious future of the messianic age. Haggai is the author of the tenth part of the twelve short prophetic books of the Old Testament known as the Minor Prophets because of their brevity.

190- Hammurabi
Hammurabi flourished in the 18th century BC. He became king of Babylonia, and the greatest ruler in the first Babylonian dynasty. He extended his empire northward from the Persian Gulf through the Tigris and Euphrates river valleys and westward to the coast of the Mediterranean Sea. After consolidating his gains under a central government at Babylon, he devoted his energies to protecting his frontiers and fostering the internal prosperity of the empire. Throughout his long reign he personally supervised navigation, irrigation, agriculture, tax collection, and the erection of many temples and other buildings. Although he was a successful military leader and administrator, Hammurabi is primarily remembered for his codification of the laws governing Babylonian life.

191- Hegesippus (Saint)
Hegesippus (2nd century AD) was a Greek Christian Orthodox historian who opposed the heresy of Gnosticism. His single known work, five books of memoirs, constitutes a prime source on the organizational structure and theological ferment of the primitive Christian church. Probably of Jewish descent, Hegesippus c. 180 composed his memoirs, containing a mélange of historical, doctrinal, polemical, and catechetical interpolations. In his memoirs he noted the succession of Roman bishops down to Pope Eleutherius (174-189), accenting, however, their doctrine rather than the chronology of succession. The preservation of segments of his memoirs by the 4th-century historian Eusebius of Caesarea provides the most direct existing witness to the primitive church of Jerusalem and the fate of Palestinian Christianity as a result of the anti-Jewish pogrom conducted after AD 70 by the Roman emperors Vespasian and Domitian.

192- Helena (Saint)
Helena was the Roman emperor Constantius I Chlorus's wife who divorced her for political reasons. When her son Constantine I the Great became emperor at York (306), he made her empress dowager. She later became a Christian. Helena made a pilgrimage to the Holy Land. She had churches built on the sites of the nativity and of the Ascension. Before 337 a legend said that Christ's cross had been found during the building of Constantine's church on Golgotha in Jerusalem, and Helena was credited with the discovery.

193- Heliodorus of Emesa
Heliodorus was a 3rd century AD Greek priest and writer from Emesa in Syria, author of the Aethiopica, the longest and most readable of the existing ancient Greek novels. The Aethiopica tells the story of an Ethiopian princess and a Thessalian prince who undergo a series of perils (battles, voyages, piracy, abductions, robbery, and torture) before their eventual happy marriage. The Aethiopica is pervaded throughout with the author's deep religious faith, which centres in the book on the sun god Helios, who is identified with Apollo.

194- Helvidius
Helvidius was a Roman churchman of the 4th century AD and a disciple of Auxentius, the Arian Bishop of Milan. He denied the perpetual virginity of Mary. He believed that Jesus was conceived by the Holy Spirit, Mary being a virgin. However, afterwards, she lived a normal married life with Joseph, giving birth to other sons. Jerome disagreed with him in "Adversus Helvidium" and "De perpetua virginitate Beatae Mariae".

195- Heraclas
According to Porphyry, Origen attended lectures given by Ammonius Saccas, the founder of Neoplatonism. There he met Heraclas, who was to become his junior colleague, then his rival, and who was to end as bishop of Alexandria refusing to hold communion with him. Origen invited Heraclas to assist him with the elementary teaching at the Catechetical school, leaving himself free for advanced teaching and study.

196- Heracleon
Heracleon was a second century AD leader of the Italian (Roman) school of Gnosticism. Diverging from his contemporaries Valentinus (of whom he was initially a disciple) and Ptolemy, Heracleon sought a conservative expression of Gnosticism divested of radical oriental theories. In the first known exegetical commentary on the Gospel According to St. John, he expounded with allegorical emphasis his central doctrine of the three levels of being:
The superior or "pneumatic" category (Greek: "spirit") comprising the "plenitude" of the Father.
Christ as the incarnate form of a fallen spirit or demiurge representing the "psychic" level that is intermediate between
The base level of the material world formed by the demigod of evil.
Heracleon wrote on the Gnostic tradition of using their philosophical theory in their sacramental rites of initiation and in their use of early Christian literature.

197- Heracles
Herakles (the Roman Hercules) is a Greco-Roman legendary hero but he was probably a real man. Traditionally Heracles was the son of Zeus and Alcmene, granddaughter of Perseus. Zeus swore that the next son born of the Perseid house should become ruler of Greece, but by a trick of Zeus's jealous wife, Hera, another child, the sickly Eurystheus, was born first and became king; when Heracles grew up, he had to serve him and also suffer the vengeful persecution of Hera. His first exploit was the strangling of two serpents that she had sent to kill him in his cradle. Later, Heracles waged a victorious war against the kingdom of Orchomenus in Boeotia and married Megara, one of the royal princesses. But he killed her and their children in a fit of madness sent by Hera and was obliged to become the servant of Eurystheus. Eurystheus imposed upon Heracles the famous twelve Labours: (1) the slaying of the Nemean lion; (2) the slaying of the nine-headed Hydra of Lerna; (3) the capture of the elusive hind (or stag) of Arcadia; (4) the capture of the wild boar of Mount Erymanthus; (5) the cleansing, in a single day, of the cattle stables of King Augeas; (6) the shooting of the monstrous man-eating birds of the Stymphalian marshes; (7) the capture of the mad bull that terrorized the island of Crete; (8) the capture of the man-eating mares of King Diomedes; (9) the taking of the girdle of Hippolyte, queen of the Amazons; (10) the seizing of the cattle of the three-bodied giant Geryon, who ruled the island Erytheia; (11) the bringing back of the golden apples kept at the world's end by the Hesperides; and (12) the fetching up from the lower world of the triple-headed dog Cerberus, guardian of its gates. Later on Heracles successfully fought the river god Achelous for the hand of Deianeira. The Centaur Nessus tried to violate her, and Heracles shot him with one poisoned arrows. The Centaur, dying, told Deianeira to preserve the blood from his wound, for anyone wearing a garment rubbed with it would love her forever. Years later Heracles fell in love with Iole, daughter of Eurytus, king of Oechalia. Deianeira sent Heracles a garment smeared with the blood of Nessus. The blood proved to be a powerful poison, and Heracles died. His body was placed on a pyre on Mt. Oeta, his mortal part consumed and his divine part ascending to heaven. There he was reconciled to Hera and married Hebe.

198- Heraclides
Heraclides (Ponticus Heracleides) was a Greek philosopher of the 4th century AD. He was born in Heraclea, Pontus. According to the tradition he was the first to explain that the apparent rotation of the heavens is brought about by rotation of the earth on its axis rather than by the passage of stars around the earth.

199- Heraclitus
Heraclitus (or Heracleitus) was born in about 540 BC at Ephesus, in Anatolia and died around 480. He was a Greek mystic philosopher remembered for his cosmology, in which fire forms the basic material principle of an orderly universe. He wrote about the Word of God (Logos). Little is known about his life, and the one book he apparently wrote is lost. His views survive in the short fragments quoted and attributed to him by later authors. Though he was primarily concerned with explanations of the world around him, Heraclitus also stressed the need for men to live together in social harmony. A significant manifestation of the logos, Heraclitus claimed, is the underlying connection between opposites. For example, health and disease define each other. Good and evil, hot and cold, and other opposites are similarly related. His understanding of the relation of opposites to each other enabled him to overcome the chaotic and divergent nature of the world, and he asserted that the world exists as a coherent system in which a change in one direction is ultimately balanced by a corresponding change in another. "Viewing fire as the essential material uniting all things, Heraclitus wrote that the world order is an "ever-living fire kindling in measures and being extinguished in measures." The resulting dynamic equilibrium maintains an orderly balance in the world. Heraclitus was unpopular in his time and was frequently scorned by later biographers.

200- Hercules
Hercules, the Roman name for the Greek hero Heracles, is a hero in Greek mythology noted for his strength and courage and for his legendary exploits. He was the son of the god Zeus and Alcmene, wife of the Theban general Amphitryon. Hera, the jealous wife of Zeus, wanted to kill Hercules, and shortly after his' birth she sent two great serpents to destroy him. Hercules, although still a baby, strangled the snakes. As a young man Hercules killed a lion with his bare hands. The hero next conquered a tribe that had been exacting tribute from Thebes. As a reward, he was given the hand of the Theban princess Megara, by whom he had three children. Hera, still hating Hercules, sent a fit of madness upon him during which he killed his wife and children. In horror and remorse at his deed Hercules would have slain himself, but the oracle at Delphi told him that he should purge himself by becoming the servant of his cousin Eurystheus, king of Mycenae. Eurystheus, urged on by Hera, devised as a penance the 12 difficult tasks, the "Labours of Hercules."
Hercules later married Deianira, whom he won from Antaeus, son of the sea god Poseidon. When the centaur Nessus attacked Deianira, Hercules wounded him with an arrow that he had poisoned in the blood of the Hydra. The dying centaur told Deianira to take some of his blood, which he said was a love charm but instead was a poison. Believing that Hercules was in love with the princess Iole, Deianira sent him a tunic dipped in the blood. When he put it on, the pain was so great that he killed himself. After death he was brought by the gods to Olympus and married to Hebe, goddess of youth. The Greeks worshipped Hercules as both a god and a mortal hero.

201- Hermas
Hermas is known only through the autobiographical details given in his main work, the Shepherd. A Christian slave who was given his freedom, he became a wealthy merchant, lost his property, and did penance for past sins. The Muratorian Canon, the oldest (c. 180) extant list of New Testament writings, asserts that he was a brother of Pope Pius I (d. 155). The Shepherd records five visions experienced by Hermas, and it is named for the angel of repentance who appeared in the fifth vision dressed as a shepherd. The work also contains 12 mandates (moral commandments) and 10 similitudes (parables). The basic theme is that post-baptismal sin can be forgiven at least once and that a day of repentance is coming, after which sins cannot be forgiven. The work is dealing with morals rather than theology and is representative of the Roman Jewish Christianity of the 2nd century. Irenaeus, Clement of Alexandria, Origen, and Tertullian regarded it as scripture; but the Muratorian Canon denied that it was inspired, and St. Jerome stated that it was known very little in the Western Church. Much more popular in the Eastern Church, the work is contained in the 4th-century Codex Sinaiticus of the Greek Bible.

202- Hermes or Hermes Trimegistos
Hermes was a Greek god, son of Zeus and Maia often identified with the Roman Mercury. The earliest centre of his cult was probably Arcadia and Mount Cyllene was reputed to be his birthplace. There he was worshipped as the god of fertility. Hermes was also associated with the protection of cattle, sheep and vegetation. In the Odyssey, however, he appears mainly as the messenger of the gods and the conductor of the dead to Hades. Hermes was also a dream god, and the Greeks offered to him the last libation before sleep. As a messenger, he may also have become the god of roads and doorways, and he was the protector of travellers. Treasure casually found was his gift, and any stroke of good luck was attributed to him. In many respects he was Apollo's counterpart. He was also god of eloquence and presided over some kinds of popular divination. The sacred number of Hermes was four, and the fourth day of the month was his birthday. In archaic art he was portrayed as a full-grown and bearded man, clothed in a long tunic and often wearing a cap and winged boots. Sometimes he was represented in his pastoral character, bearing a sheep on his shoulders; at other times he appeared as the messenger of the gods with the kerykeion, or herald's staff, which was his most frequent attribute. From the latter part of the 5th century BC he was portrayed as a nude and beardless youth, a young athlete. Hermes Trismegistus ('the thrice-great Hermes') is the Greek name for the Egyptian god Thoth. In Islam, Hermes Trismegistus is a thrice-incarnated figure, traces of which also exist in Egyptian legends. Hermes-Thoth was but one of the gods and prophets to whom men turned for a divinely revealed wisdom. Initially the works ascribed to Hermes Trismegistos were primarily on astrology but later treatises on medicine, alchemy and magic were added.

203- Herod Antipas
Herod Antipas (21 BC-AD 39) was the son of Herod the Great and the tetrarch of Galilee and Perea (4 BC-AD 39). Little is known of his reign but he appears to have governed well. Antipas possessed the cunning of his father but lacked his diplomacy and talent for war. He divorced his first wife, the daughter of Aretas IV, king of the Nabataeans, and married Herodias, former wife of his half brother Herod. John the Baptist, whose execution Antipas ordered at the request of Herodias through her daughter, Salome, censured him for his marriage. Later, to please his wife, Antipas went to Rome and demanded of Emperor Caligula that he be given the title of king. Instead, Caligula deposed and banished him to Lugdunum (Lyon) in Gaul. It was to him that Pontius Pilate, procurator of Judea, sent Jesus Christ.

204- Herod Archelaus
Archelaus was the son of Herod the Great from whom he inherited Judea, Samaria and Idumaea.

205- Herod Philip
Herod Philip was the son of Herod the Great from whom he inherited the princedom of Batanaea, Trachonitis, Ituraea and Auranitis.

206- Herod the Great
Herod the Great (73-4 BC) was the Roman-backed king of Judea (37-4 BC), portrayed as a tyrant in Christian and Jewish tradition. He was a practicing Jew but he was hated by them as a foreigner and a friend of the Romans. According to Matthew 2:16 he tried to kill the infant Jesus by massacring all the male babies in Bethlehem.
Herod was born in southern Palestine, of Arab origin. The Roman Senate recognized Herod as king in 39 BC. He then married Mariamne, a Jewish princess of the Hasmonaean line, whom he later put to death.
The first years of Herod's reign were troubled by hostility between two Jewish sects, the Sadducees and Pharisees, and by the enmity of surviving members of the Hasmonaean. Herod ultimately prevailed against his adversaries and Octavius confirmed him as king in 31 BC. Herod's political enemies were then suppressed.
During the years from 25 to 13 BC Herod launched many architectural projects, including the construction at Jerusalem, Jericho, and Caesarea of theatres, amphitheatres, and hippodromes. To protect the Judean frontier against the Arabs, he built or restored many fortresses, used later by the Jews in their insurrection against Rome. He began the rebuilding of the Temple at Jerusalem. When he died at Jericho in March or April of the year 4 BC, Herod's kingdom was divided among three of his sons-Herod Antipas, Archelaus, and Herod Philip.

207- Herodias
Herodias was the second wife of Herod Antipas, who was tetrarch of Galilee from 4 BC to AD 39. She was responsible for the execution of John the Baptist. Her marriage to Herod Antipas (himself divorced), after her divorce from his half-brother, was censured by John. Herodias wanted John killed but Herod refused, fearing the man. On Herod's birthday celebration, Salome (Herodias' daughter by her first husband) performed a dance that pleased Herod; he offered to grant her anything she wanted. Prompted by her mother, Salome asked for John's head on a platter, a wish Herod had to fulfil. Herodias also urged her husband to discredit her brother Herod Agrippa I, who had recently received the tetrarchy of Batanaea and Trachonitis. Their efforts antagonized the emperor Caligula and they were banished in AD 39, the year when she died.

208- Herodotus
The Greek Herodotus was born about 484 BC in Halicarnassus, Asia Minor (now Bodrum, Turkey) and he died about 430. Halicarnassus was under Persian rule when Herodotus was born. He wrote the History of the Greco-Persian Wars. He is thought to have resided in Athens and to have met Sophocles and then to have left for Thurii, a new colony in southern Italy sponsored by Athens. There is good reason to believe that he was in Athens, or at least in central Greece, during the early years of the Peloponnesian War, from 431, and that his work was published and known there before 425. Herodotus travelled through a large part of the Persian Empire: he went to Egypt, Libya, Syria, Babylonia, Susa in Elam, Lydia, Phrygia, up the Hellespont to Byzantium, Thrace, Macedonia, and he travelled northward to beyond the Danube and to Scythia eastward along the northern shores of the Black Sea as far as the Don River. These travels would have taken many years.

209- Hesiod
Hesiod lived around 700 BC; he is one of the earliest Greek poets, often called the "father of Greek didactic poetry." Two of his complete epics have survived, the Theogony, relating the myths of the gods, and the Works and Days, describing peasant life. Not a great deal is known about the details of Hesiod's life. He was a native of Boeotia, a district of central Greece to which his father had migrated from Cyme in Asia Minor. He himself attributes his poetic gifts to the Muses, who appeared to him while he was tending his sheep; giving him a poet's staff and endowing him with a poet's voice, they bade him "sing of the race of the blessed gods immortal." His epics won renown during his lifetime.

210- Hesse, Hermann
Hesse was born on July 2, 1877 at Calw, Germany and he died on Aug. 9, 1962 at Montagnola, Switzerland. He was a German novelist, poet, and winner of the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1946. His main theme deals with man's breaking out of the established modes of civilization to find his essential spirit. Hesse posthumously became a cult figure to young people in the English-speaking world. Hesse entered the Maulbronn seminary but he was unable to adapt. He was then apprenticed in a Calw tower-clock factory and later in a Tübingen bookstore. Hesse remained in the bookselling business until 1904, when he became a free-lance writer and brought out his first novel, Peter Camenzind, about a failed and dissipated writer. The inward and outward search of the artist is further explored in Gertrud (1910) and Rosshalde (1914). During World War I, Hesse lived in Switzerland, wrote denunciations of militarism and nationalism. He became a permanent resident of Switzerland in 1919 and a citizen in 1923, settling in Montagnola. Demian (1919) is an examination of the achievement of self-awareness by a troubled adolescent. The duality of man's nature preoccupied Hesse throughout the rest of his career. Der Steppenwolf (1927; Steppenwolf) describes the conflict between bourgeois acceptance and spiritual self-realization in a middle-aged man. In Narziss und Goldmund (1930; Narcissus and Goldmund), an intellectual ascetic who is content with established religious faith is contrasted with an artistic sensualist pursuing his own form of salvation. In his last and longest novel, Das Glasperlenspiel (1943; English titles The Glass Bead Game, or Magister Ludi), Hesse again explores the dualism of the contemplative and the active life.

211- Hilary of Poitiers, Saint
Hilary of Poitiers was born circa 315 at Poitiers, Gaul and he died there about 367. He was a champion of orthodoxy against Arianism and was the first Latin writer to introduce Greek doctrine to Western Christendom. A convert from Neoplatonism, Hilary was elected bishop of Poitiers (circa 353). He was exiled (356-360) to Phrygia by the Roman emperor Constantius II for not condemning the leading opponent of Arianism, St. Athanasius the Great, at the Council of Béziers (356). While in Phrygia, he wrote De trinitate, the first work in Latin to deal with the issues of the Trinitarian controversies. In De synodis ("Concerning the Synods") he explained the history of the Arian controversy and asked the faithful in the East to rally against those who believed the Son was unlike the Father. His appeals to Constantius were unsuccessful, and he was expelled from the East. Returning to Poitiers, he spent his last years combating Arianism in Gaul and writing his commentary on the Psalms and Tractatus mysteriorum on typology. His defence of orthodoxy earned him the title of the Athanasius of the West.

212- Hippolytus of Rome, Saint
St Hippolytus (about 170-235) was considered the most important 3rd-century Literalist theologian of the Roman church and a heresy-hunter. Born probably in the Greek-speaking East, Hippolytus appears to have come to Rome during the reign of Saint Victor I in the last decade of the second century. He soon became the leading intellectual of the Roman church; when the eminent theologian Origen visited Rome, he attended one of Hippolytus's sermons. Hippolytus took an active part in combating Modal Monarchianism, which denied the reality of distinctions between the persons of the Trinity. A fierce controversialist, he denounced both Pope Zephyrinus and his adviser, who would become Pope Callistus I, for laxity in enforcing church discipline, and he accused them of modalist tendencies in their Christology. Zephyrinus and Callistus in turn denounced Hippolytus for the ditheism latent in the theology he had adopted from Saint Justin Martyr. In 217 after the election of Callistus as successor to Zephyrinus, Hippolytus challenged the papal election and declared himself the first antipope. He treated Callistus as a misguided factional leader and attempted to realize his own vision of the church as an ideal community of saints. After the death of Callistus, Hippolytus perpetuated the schism with attacks on Pope Urban I and Pope Pontian. Around 235, during the reign of Emperor Maximinus, both Hippolytus and Pontian were arrested and sent to the mines of Sardinia, where they died. Because Hippolytus wrote in Greek, the bulk of his works was lost and his history became confused in the Latin West. Both Eusebius of Caesarea and Saint Jerome made reference to him as a prolific author and a bishop, but they were unable to identify his Episcopal see. The most famous of the works attributed to Hippolytus is the Refutation of All Heresies.

213- Hiram
Hiram, King of Tyre, was the son and successor of Abibaal. He reigned during the 10th century BC and was on friendly terms with King David to whom he sent material and workmen to help him built his palace. He was also friendly with David's successor, Solomon, to whom he also sent material and men to help in the building of the Jerusalem Temple in exchange of corn and oil. A stonemason also called Hiram is a main actor in the Freemason rituals

214- Homer
Homer lived between the 9th and 7th century BC possibly in Ionia (now in Turkey). He is assumed to be the author of the Iliad and the Odyssey. Little is known of him except that the Greeks attached his name to these two poems in antiquity. If he effectively wrote these two poems then Homer was one of the greatest literary artists of the whole world. He is also one of the most influential authors for the two epics provided the basis of Greek education and culture throughout the classical age and down to the time of the Roman Empire and the spread of Christianity. The Homeric epics had a profound impact on the Renaissance culture of Italy. Since then the proliferation of translations has helped to make them the most important poems of the classical European tradition. It was probably through their impact on classical Greek culture itself that the Iliad and the Odyssey most subtly affected Western standards and ideas.

215- Horus
In ancient Egyptian religion Horus (also Hor or Har) was a god in the form of a falcon whose eyes were the sun and the moon. At Nekhen it was thought that the reigning king was a manifestation of Horus and, after Egypt had been united by the kings from Nekhen, this became a generally accepted dogma. The first of the Egyptian king's five names was the Horus name -i.e., the name that identified him with Horus. From the 1st dynasty (c. 2525-2775 BC), Horus and the god Seth were perpetual antagonists who were reconciled in the harmony of Upper and Lower Egypt. In the myth of Osiris, who became prominent about 2350 BC, Horus was the son of Osiris. He was also the opponent of Seth, who murdered Osiris and contested Horus' heritage, the royal throne of Egypt. Horus finally defeated Seth, thus avenging his father and assuming the rule. In the fight his left eye (the moon) was damaged and was healed by the god Thoth. Horus appeared as a local god in many places and under different names and epithets: for instance, as Harmakhi, "Horus in the Horizon"); Harpocrates, "Horus the Child"); Harsiesis, "Horus, Son of Isis"); Harakhte, "Horus of the Horizon," (closely associated with the sun god Re); and as Haroeris (Harwer, "Horus the Elder"). The Greeks later identified Horus with Apollo, and Edfu was called Apollinopolis ("Apollo's Town") in the Greco-Roman period. In the Ptolemaic period, the vanquishing of Seth became a symbol of Egypt triumphing over its occupiers.

216- Hosea
Hosea was a 8th century BC minor prophet and the only one of the writing prophets to have lived and prophesied in Israel, or the northern kingdom. Hosea was also the first Hebrew prophet to find in human marriage a means of expressing the spiritual relationship between God and Israel. Hosea gave his name to a book of the Old Testament.

217- Hosius of Cordoba
Hosius of Cordoba was born circa 256, probably in Cordoba, Spain, and he died in 357/358 in the same town. Hosius (or Ossius) was the Spanish bishop of Cordoba who was one of the chief defenders of orthodoxy in the West against the Donatists. Consecrated bishop of Cordoba (c. 295), Hosius attended the Council of Elvira (Granada, circa 300) and from 312 to 326 acted as ecclesiastical adviser at the court of Constantine, who in 324 sent him as imperial emissary to the East to settle the Arian dispute. Hosius convoked a synod of Egyptian bishops at Alexandria and another of Syrian bishops at Antioch. At both Arius and his followers were condemned. Hosius asked Constantine to summon the first ecumenical Council of Nicaea (325), where Hosius secured the inclusion in the Nicene Creed of the key word homoousios. In 342/343, he presided the Council of Sardica (Sofia), which the Eastern bishops boycotted because the Westerners insisted on the presence of Bishop St. Athanasius the Great, an opponent of Arianism. From 353 to 356 Hosius resisted the efforts of the Arian emperor Constantius II to have Athanasius condemned by the Western bishops and in a letter reproved Constantius for intruding into ecclesiastical matters. Summoned to Sirmium in 356 and detained at court for a year Hosius signed the Arian formula of Sirmium (357) but retracted his signature before he died.

218- Hyginus (Saint)
Hyginus was probably born in Greece and he died in Rome about 140 AD; he was pope from about 136 to about 140. He is credited with organizing the hierarchy of the clergy (Hormisdas is also assumed to have done it). His pontificate saw the beginning in Rome of the cults base on belief in esoteric knowledge of spiritual truth, later known as the Gnostic heresies.

219- Hypatia
Hypatia was born around 370 AD at Alexandria, Egypt and she died in March 415 at Alexandria. She was an Egyptian Neoplatonist philosopher who was the first notable woman in mathematics. The daughter of Theon, also a mathematician and philosopher, Hypatia became the recognized head of the Neoplatonist school of philosophy at Alexandria. She attracted a large number of pupils, among them Synesius of Cyrene, afterward bishop of Ptolemais (c. 410). Hypatia symbolized learning and science, which at that time in Western history were largely identified by the early Christians with paganism. She was a focal point in the tension and riots between Christians and non-Christians in Alexandria. After the accession of Cyril to the patriarchate of Alexandria in 412, Hypatia was barbarously murdered by the Nitrian monks and a fanatical mob of Cyril's Christian followers, supposedly because of her intimacy with Orestes, the city's pagan prefect. The departure soon afterward of many scholars marked the beginning of the decline of Alexandria as a major centre of ancient learning. According to the Suda lexicon, Hypatia wrote commentaries on the Arithmetica of Diophantus of Alexandria, on the Conics of Apollonius of Perga, and on the astronomical canon of Ptolemy. These works are lost, but it is known that she devoted herself particularly to astronomy and mathematics.

220- Iamblichus (Iamblicos)
Iamblichus was born around Ad 250 in Chalcis, Coele, Syria [now in Lebanon] and he died around 330. He was a philosopher of Neoplatonism (student of Porphyry) and the founder of its Syrian branch. He wrote, in Greek, the treatise known under the Latin name De Mysteriis (On the Egyptian Mysteries). His other works include: On the Pythagorean Life; The Exhortation to Philosophy, or Protrepticus; On the General Science of Mathematics; On the Arithmetic of Nicomachus; and Theological Principles of Arithmetic. Iamblichus has been credited with the transformation of the Neoplatonism advocated by Plotinus earlier in the 3rd century into the pagan religious philosophy, best known from the works of Proclus. Attempting to develop a theology encompassing all of the rites, myths, and divinities of syncretistic paganism, he was the first Neoplatonist to displace Plotinus' purely spiritual and intellectual mysticism in favour of theurgy, the magical conjuration of the gods. Beyond the One of Plotinus, identical with the Good, Iamblichus asserted that a higher One exists outside the range of human knowledge and qualifications. To the three existing ethical virtues of Neoplatonism -political, purifying, and exemplary- he added the contemplative virtue and placed above all four the priestly, or unifying, virtues by which men obtain ecstatic union with the One. For this Iamblichus was known for the next two centuries as "the divine," or "inspired."

221- Ignatius of Antioch (Saint)
Ignatius, surnamed Theophoros, died about 110 AD in Rome. He became the bishop of Antioch, Syria; he is known for seven letters that he wrote during a trip to Rome, as a prisoner condemned to be executed for his beliefs. He counteracted the teachings of two groups, the Judaisers, who did not accept the authority of the New Testament, and the Docetists, who held that Christ's sufferings and death were only apparent. St. Ignatius was an influential church leader and theologian known only from his own writings. There is no record of his life prior to his arrest, but his letters reveal his personality and his impact on the Christianity of his time. Ignatius represented the Christian religion in transition from its Jewish origins to its assimilation in the Greco-Roman world. He proposed a hierarchical structure for the church with strong Episcopal authority; he also described the real humanity of Christ.

222- Indra
Indra was the main Vedic god of India. A warlike, typically Aryan god, he conquered innumerable human and demon enemies, vanquished the sun, and killed the dragon Vrtra, who had prevented the monsoon from breaking. His weapons are lightning and the thunderbolt, and he is strengthened for these feats by drinks of the elixir soma, the offering of the sacrifice. In later Hinduism, Indra plays little part except in his role as god of rain, regent of the heavens, and guardian of the east. The Puranas record some rivalry between Indra and Krishna, who persuaded the cow-herders of Vraja (Braja, in modern Uttar Pradesh) to stop their worship of Indra. Enraged, he sent down torrents of rain, but Krishna lifted Mount Govardhana on his fingertip and gave the people shelter under it for seven days until Indra relented and paid him homage. Indra is father to Arjuna, hero of the Mahabharata war. Indra is sometimes referred to as "the thousand-eyed," because of the thousand marks on his body resembling eyes, a result of a curse by a sage whose wife Indra seduced.

223- Irenaeus, Saint
St Ireaneaus (Greek, "Peacemaker") (about 130/202) was born in Asia Minor, where, as a child, he heard the preaching of Saint Polycarp, the disciple of Saint John. He was a Literalist Christian and opponent of Gnosticism. Irenaeus was a Christian prelate and a Father of the Church. In 177 Irenaeus was appointed bishop of Lyon, in which office he made many converts among the Gauls. Irenaeus was an active opponent of Gnosticism. About 180 he wrote a work against the Gnostics, known as Against the Heresies; in addition to its importance as polemic, the work was the main source of information about Gnosticism until the discovery of the Nag Hammadi library in 1945. In his book, Irenaeus asserted the authority of the Old Testament and of several writings that later became part of the New Testament. Saint Gregory of Tours, the 6th-century chronicler, who wrote of the sufferings of Irenaeus under Emperor Lucius Septimius Severus about 202, first mentioned him as being a martyr.
Irenaeus argued for the authority of mainstream tradition in the church. . His teaching has influenced modern theologians. He upheld the authority of bishops to decide what is true in matters of faith as a counter to Gnostic claims to know the truth. Irenaeus also developed an important doctrine called the "recapitulation of Christ," which states that the progress of human redemption is summarised in, and sanctified by, the humanity of Jesus.

224- Isaac
Isaac (Hebrew, "laughter"), an Old Testament patriarch, was the son of Abraham, half brother of Ishmael, and father of Jacob and Esau. The birth of Isaac was promised to Abraham and his wife Sarah, after a long and childless marriage, as a sign that the blessings originally bestowed by God upon Abraham would be continued in Isaac, heir of the Covenant.
The dominant story in the narrative is that of the projected sacrifice of Isaac. God tested Abraham's faith by asking him to sacrifice his beloved son. At the last moment, after God was convinced of the perfect obedience of both father and son, he accepted a ram as a substitute for the youth. This story is thought to express the Hebrew rejection of human sacrifice.
The New Testament alludes to Isaac as a precursor of Christ and of the church, and the obedience to his father to the extent of self-sacrifice is associated with that of Christ.

225- Isaiah
Isaiah was born the son of Amoz about 760 BC. He prophesied during the reign of Ahaz, king of Judah. According to tradition, Isaiah was martyred in either 701 or 690 BC. His style and the nobility of his message made him one of the most revered biblical writers and major prophets. A book of the same name is attributed to Isaiah.

226- Ishmael
Ishmael (Hebrew, "may God hear"), according to the Old Testament, was the elder son of Abraham and the ancestor of many Arabian tribes. His story is linked with that of Isaac. Ishmael's mother was Hagar, an Egyptian maid to Abraham's wife, Sarah, who was barren. In answer to her prayers, Sarah conceived a son, Isaac, and then demanded that Hagar and Ishmael be driven away. Hagar and her son fled to the south. Ishmael settled in the wilderness, married an Egyptian woman, and became the progenitor of 12 tribes of desert nomads. Muslims regard themselves as the descendents of Ishmael but maintain that Hagar was the true wife of Abraham, and Ishmael his favoured son. They further contend that Ishmael, not Isaac, was offered for sacrifice by Abraham and transfer the scene of the intended sacrifice, from Moriah, in Palestine, to Mount Arafat, near Mecca.

227- Ishtar
Ishtar was the main Mesopotanian Goddess, the equivalent of Isis in Egypt, Persephone in Greece, Cybele in Asia Minor, Aphrodite in Syria, Magna Mater in Persia and Asherad in the region around Judea.
Among the Babylonians, Ishtar was distinctly the mother goddess and was portrayed either naked and with prominent breasts or as a mother with a child at her breast

228- Isis
Isis is one of the most important goddesses of ancient Egypt. Her name is associated with a word for "throne." Little is known of Isis' early cult. In the Pyramid Texts (c. 2350-c. 2100 BC), she is the mourner for her murdered husband, the god Osiris. In her role as the wife of Osiris, she discovered and reunited the pieces of her dead husband's body, was the chief mourner at his funeral, and through her magical power brought him back to life in the underworld. Isis hid her son, Horus, from Seth, the murderer of Osiris, until Horus was fully grown and could avenge his father. She and Horus were regarded by the Egyptians as the perfect mother and son. She was invoked on behalf of the sick, and, with the goddesses Nephthys, Neith, and Selket, she protected the dead. As mourner, she was a principal deity in all rites connected with the dead; as magician, she cured the sick and brought the dead to life; and, as mother, she was herself a life-giver. Several temples were dedicated to her in Alexandria, where she became the "patroness of seafarers." From Alexandria her cult was brought to all the shores of the Mediterranean, including Greece and Rome.

229- Jacob
Jacob, in the Old Testament, was a Hebrew patriarch, the son of Isaac and Rebekah, and the grandson of Abraham. After depriving his brother Esau of their father's blessing and of his birthright by trickery, Jacob fled to his uncle Laban's house where he married Laban's daughters, Leah and Rachel. His wives and their maids, Zilpah and Bilhah, bore him 12 sons, who became the patriarchs of the 12 tribes of Israel. Leah bore Issachar, Judah, Levi, Reuben, Simeon, and Zebulun; Rachel bore Joseph and Benjamin; Zilpah bore Gad and Asher; and Bilhah bore Dan and Naphtali.
Outstanding event in Jacob's life were the bestowal of the name Israel upon him. As a result Jacob, or Israel, personifies the nation of Israel.

230- Jacob of Nisibis
Jacob of Nisibis who died in 338 was the Bishop of Nisibis and the teacher of Ephraem Syrus. An ascetic, he participated at the Nicaea Council as an opponent to the Arians.

231- James
James, the son of Zebedee a Galilean fisherman and the elder brother of John, was one of the twelve Apostles. James and John's mother was Salome, the Virgin Mary's sister, and this made them Jesus' cousins. Herod Agrippa murdered him.

232- James (Saint)
James who died in AD 62 at Jerusalem was Lord Jesus' Brother and a Christian apostle, according to St. Paul, although not one of the original Twelve Apostles. He was leader of the Jerusalem Christians, and with Saints Peter and John the Evangelist, one of "the pillars of the church. He is mentioned in the Gospels as one of Jesus' four brothers. Hypotheses have been forwarded that James and Jesus were brothers, stepbrothers, or cousins. James evidently was not a follower of Jesus during his public ministry. Paul attributes James's later conversion to the appearance of Christ resurrected. Three years after Paul's conversion, James was an important leader in the Jerusalem church. He was more important after King Herod Agrippa I of Judaea in about AD 44 beheaded the Apostle St. James, son of Zebedee, and after Peter fled from Jerusalem. He was the chief spokesman for the Jerusalem church at the Council of Jerusalem regarding Paul's mission to the Gentiles and final visit to Jerusalem. Later tradition says that James was called "the Just" and was noted for his fulfilment of Jewish law. Though opposing those Jewish Christians who required that Gentile Christians submit to Jewish Law, including circumcision, he believed Jewish Christians should continue loyalty to Jewish practice and piety. His popularity is evident in the Jews' anger when priestly authorities had James put to death, by stoning or by being thrown from a Temple tower. The early church designates him the first bishop of Jerusalem, though the title is not used in the New Testament.

233- Jehovah
The evidence of the Greek Church fathers shows the forms Jabe and Jâo to be traditional, as well as the shortened Hebrew forms of the words Jah (see Psalms 68:4, for example) and Jahu (in proper names). It indicates that the name was originally spoken Jaweh or Yahwe (often spelled Yahweh in modern usage. Jehovah is a form of Yahweh, the sacred Hebrew name for God. God first revealed the name Yahweh to the Israelite leader Moses (Exodus 3:14). Jews thought the name Yahweh was too holy to pronounce. By the 200's B.C., they were using the word Adonai (Lord) as a respectful substitute when reading from the scriptures. When Adonai preceded Yahweh, they said Elohim. When writing the word, Jewish scribes mixed the vowels of Adonai and Elohim with the consonants of YHWH, the traditional spelling of Yahweh. This mixing resulted in the Latin spelling, Jehovah, which carried over into English.

234- Jehu
Jehu (Hebrew, "He is Yahweh"), in the Old Testament, was a king of Israel. Initially Jehu was a soldier of Ahab, king of Israel; he rose to the rank of general. Exhorted by Elisha the prophet, Jehu slew Jehoram, king of Israel, Ahaziah, king of Judah, and Jezebel, Ahab's notorious wife. He was anointed king of Israel by the prophet Elijah and controlled the kingdom of Judah.
A prophet, the son of Hanani, was also called Jehu.

235- Jeremiah
Jeremiah was probably born after 650 BC at Anathoth, Judah and he died circa 570 BC in Egypt. Jeremias was a Hebrew prophet, reformer, and author of an Old Testament book that bears his name. He was closely involved in the political and religious events of a crucial era in the history of the region; his spiritual leadership helped his fellow countrymen survive disasters that included the capture of Jerusalem by the Babylonians in 586 BC and the exile of many Judaeans to Babylonia.

236- Jerome (Saint)
Jerome was born around 347 AD at Stridon, Dalmatia and he died in 419 or 420 in Bethlehem, Palestine. He was a biblical translator and monastic leader, traditionally regarded as the most learned of the Latin Fathers. His numerous biblical, ascetical, monastic, and theological works profoundly influenced the early Middle Ages. He is known particularly for his Latin translation of the Bible, the Vulgate.
Jerome had well-to-do Christian parents. His education, begun at home and continued in Rome where he studied grammar, rhetoric, and philosophy. He liked Latin literature, frequented the catacombs and near the end of his Roman education, was baptized (around 366), probably by Pope Liberius. He spent the next 20 years travelling. At Treveris (now Trier), he was attracted to monasticism. In Aquileia (Italy) he was linked, until 373, with an ascetic elite grouped around Bishop Valerianus. This included Rufinus, a writer and scholar, who translated the 3rd-century Alexandrian theologian Origen. On reaching Antioch in 374 he rested as guest of the priest Evagrius of Antioch and there may have composed his earliest known work, De septies percussa ("Concerning Seven Beatings"). In 375 Jerome began a two-year search for inner peace as a hermit in the desert of Chalcis. Recognizing his importance Paulinus decided to ordain him. Jerome accepted (378) on two conditions: his monastic aspirations would not be prejudiced, and priestly functions would not be forced on him. He visited the Nazarenes (Jewish Christians) of Beroea to examine their copy of a Hebrew gospel thought to be the original Gospel of Matthew. He translated 14 of Origen's homilies (sermons) on Old Testament books into Latin. He also translated the church historian Eusebius' Chronicon (Chronicles). But the most decisive influence on Jerome's later life was his return to Rome (382-385) as secretary to Pope Damasus. He wrote a defence of the perpetual virginity of Mary (383), and attacked the view of those who espoused the equality of virginity and marriage.

237- Jesus Christ
Jesus was born around 6 BC in Judaea and died in AD 30 in Jerusalem. He was also known as JESUS OF GALILEE, or JESUS OF NAZARETH. He is considered to be the founder of Christianity, which today claims a third of the world's population. His deeds and message are recorded in the New Testament. The history of the life (for which there are no real historical records), work, and death of Jesus of Nazareth reveals nothing of the universal Church that he is credited with founding. His life, in a remote area of the Roman Empire, was of short duration, and knowledge of it remained unknown to his contemporaries. None of the sources of his life and work can be traced to Jesus himself; he did not leave a single known written word. Also, there are no contemporary accounts written of his life and death. What can be established about the historical Jesus depends on Christian traditions, especially on the material used in the composition of the Gospels of Mark, Matthew, and Luke, which reflect the outlook of the later church and its faith in Jesus.

238- Joel
Joel was one of the twelve minor prophets but nothing is known about him and his life. One of 12 short prophetic books of the Old Testament bears also the name Joel.

239- John the Evangelist (Apostle and Saint)
John lived in the first century AD; he is also known as Saint John the Evangelist, or Saint John the Divine. In Christian tradition, he is the author of three letters, the Fourth Gospel, and the Revelation to John in the New Testament. He played a leading role in the early church at Jerusalem. John was the son of Zebedee, a Galilean fisherman, and Salome; John and his older brother, James, were among the first disciples called by Jesus. James and John were called by Jesus "Boanerges," or "sons of thunder," perhaps because of some character trait. John and his brother, together with Simon Peter, formed an inner nucleus of intimate disciples. Whether the "disciple whom Jesus loved" (who is never named) mentioned in the fourth Gospel is to be identified with John (also not named) is not clear. John's subsequent history is obscure and passes into the uncertain mists of legend. That John died in Ephesus is stated by Polycrates and by Irenaeus, bishop of Lyon c. AD 180, who says John wrote his Gospel and letters at Ephesus and Revelation at Patmos. Tertullian, the 2nd-century North African theologian, reports that John was plunged into boiling oil from which he miraculously escaped unscathed. In the original form of the apocryphal Acts of John (second half of the 2nd century) the Apostle dies; but in later traditions he is assumed to have ascended to heaven like Enoch and Elijah.

240- John the Baptist (Saint)
John the Baptist lived between 8 and 4 BC until about AD 27 and, according to all four Gospels, he was the precursor of Jesus Christ. John was born in Judea, the son of the priest Zacharias and Elisabeth, cousin of Mary, the mother of Jesus. John was prepared for his mission by years of self-discipline in the desert. At about the age of 30 he went into the country around the Jordan River preaching penance to prepare for the imminent coming of the Messiah. He baptized penitents with water as a symbol of the baptism of the Holy Spirit that was to come. With the baptism of Jesus, his office as precursor was accomplished, and his ministry came to an end. John angered Herod Antipas, the Judean ruler, by denouncing him for marrying Herodias, the wife of his half brother Herod, and was imprisoned. At the request of Salome, daughter of Herodias and Herod, John was beheaded.

241- John the Presbyter
John the Presbyter is an unknown personality of early Christianity. It is generally accepted that the three epistles gathered under the name of John were written to guide and strengthen the post-apostolic church as it faced both attacks from heresies and an increasing need for community solidarity. The writings known as I, II, and III John are all called Johannine because they are loosely related to the Gospel According to John in style and terminology; in addition they share much common terminology, style, and general situation. They are believed to be from the beginning of the 2nd century. The early church attributed I, II, and III John to John the Apostle, the son of Zebedee. I John has the form of an anonymous "homily" for admonition against heresy and instruction in faith and love while II and III John are brief letters from an author described only as "the elder". It is believed that I John, on one side, and II and III John, on the other, are not from the same author. II and III John could have been written by "John the presbyter", the "elder", a man of authority but we do not really know who he was while I John was written by someone else. However it is commonly accepted that the three Johannine letters came from a "Johannine" inner circle.

242- Jonah
Jonah is one minor Hebrew prophet of the 8th century BC. He is the assumed author of an Old Testament book of the same name. Some scholars believe that the Book of Jonah is the work of an unknown, postexilic (after 538 BC) author and not the work of the historical prophet Jonah. Others believe that it dates from between Jonah's age and the destruction of Nineveh, that is, between the mid-8th century BC and 612 BC.

243- Joseph, Saint
Joseph, according to the New Testament, was the husband of the Virgin Mary. Most of what is known about him is contained in the first two chapters of the books of Matthew and Luke. Other passages mention him as the father of Jesus Christ, and a few refer to him as a carpenter or an artisan. He was a descendant of the royal line of David, and his family was from David's town of Bethlehem. He was made a saint.

244- Joseph of Arimathea
Joseph of Arimathea, according to all four Gospels of the New Testament, was a rich Jew of Arimathea, probably a member of the Sanhedrin, the ancient Jewish court in Jerusalem. After the crucifixion of Jesus Christ, he requested the body from the Roman procurator Pontius Pilate and placed it in his own tomb.

245- Josephus, Flavius
Josephus (38-107 AD) was a Jewish historian who defected to the Romans in 67 during the Galilee campaign. Josephus' Bellum Judaicum (History of the Jewish War) was written in seven books between AD 75 and 79, toward the end of Vespasian's reign. The original Aramaic has been lost, but the extant Greek version was prepared under Josephus' personal direction. After sketching Jewish history from the mid-2nd century BC, Josephus presents a detailed account of the great revolt of AD 66-70. The work has much narrative brilliance, particularly the description of the siege of Jerusalem. In this work, Josephus is hostile to the Jewish patriots and indifferent to their fate. The Jewish War not only is the principal source for the Jewish revolt but also is especially valuable for its description of Roman military tactics and strategy. In Rome, Josephus had been granted citizenship and a pension. He was a favourite at the courts of the emperors Vespasian, Titus, and Domitian, and he enjoyed the income from a tax-free estate in Judaea. He was loathed by the Jews as a turncoat and traitor. Yet despite all of this, Josephus had not abandoned his Judaism. His greatest work, Antiquitates Judaicae (The Antiquities of the Jews), completed in 20 books in AD 93, traces the history of the Jews from creation to just before the outbreak of the revolt of AD 66-70. The Antiquities contains two famous references to Jesus Christ: the one in Book XX calls him the "so-called Christ." The implication in the passage in Book XVIII of Christ's divinity could not have come from Josephus and undoubtedly represents the invention of a later Christian copyist. Josephus died probably in the reign of Domitian, sometime after AD 93.

246- Joshua
Joshua, also spelled Josue, and in Hebrew Yehoshua ("Yahweh Is Deliverance"), was the leader of the Israelite tribes after the death of Moses. His story is told in the Old Testament Book of Joshua named after him. Joshua was a charismatic warrior who led Israel in the conquest of Canaan after the Exodus from Egypt. Joshua led the Israelites in an invasion across the Jordan River. He took the important city of Jericho and captured other towns in the north and south until most of Palestine was brought under Israelite control. He divided the conquered lands among the 12 tribes of Israel, admonishing them to be loyal to the God of the covenant.

246bis- Judas Barsabbas
Judas Barsabbas was a Christian prophet of Jerusalem mentioned in the New Testament and an Elder of the Christian Jerusalem Church.

247- Judas Iscariot
In the New Testament Judas Iscariot (died about AD 28) was the apostle who betrayed Jesus Christ to the Sanhedrin. A native of Kerioth, possibly a town in Judea, he served as steward to Jesus and his other disciples. In the Gospel of John, Judas is described as covetous and dishonest. According to the Gospels of Matthew and Mark, greed made him betray Jesus to the chief priest for 30 pieces of silver. The Books of Matthew, Mark, and Luke represent Jesus as conscious of the treachery. When Judas saw the consequences of his guilt, he was filled with despair and killed himself.

248- Jude
Jude was a servant of Jesus Christ, and James' brother as well as the assumed author of a New Testament Book of the same name.
Early tradition attributes the book Jude to several persons mentioned in the New Testament: among them Judas, a "brother" of Jesus Christ and Judas "the son of James," one of the 12 apostles also called Thaddaeus. Modern biblical scholars, state that they do not know, or suggest as the author an unknown person who called himself, or was named, Jude. Suggested dates of composition range from about AD 70 to the beginning of the 2nd century. The Epistle of Jude is addressed to Christians in general. It exhorts them to "contend for the faith" (v. 3) against certain "scoffers, following their own ungodly passions" (v. 18). These "worldly people, devoid of the Spirit" (v. 19), will be judged by God and given over to "darkness" forever (v. 13).

249- Julian of Eclanum
Julian of Eclanum was born in 380 at Eclanum, Italy, and he died circa 455 in Sicily. He was the bishop of Eclanum and is considered the most intellectual leader of the Pelagians. Julian was married circa 402, but upon the death of his wife he was ordained and circa 417 succeeded his father, Memorius, as bishop by appointment of Pope St. Innocent I. An early supporter of Pelagius, he and several other bishops refused to sign the document issued by Pope St. Zosimus excommunicating Pelagius and his disciple Celestius. Julian demanded that a general council of the church consider the problem. His appeal was rejected, and he was deposed and banished from Italy in 421. He was condemned at the Council of Ephesus in 431, and all his attempts to regain his see failed. He eventually settled in Sicily as a teacher. Julian systematized Pelagian theology and wrote several works (most of which are now lost). His writings are known primarily through long quotations from St. Augustine, who refuted them.

250- Julian (Emperor) the Apostate
JULIAN THE APOSTATE (b.331/332 AD; d.363), Roman emperor (ad 361-363), scholar, and military leader was proclaimed emperor by his troops. A persistent enemy of Christianity, he publicly announced his conversion to paganism (361), thus acquiring the epithet "the Apostate." Julian was a younger son of Julius Constantius, the half brother of Constantine I (the Great), and his second wife, Basilina. Julian's freedom as a student had a powerful influence on him and ensured that for the first time in a century the future emperor would be a man of culture. He studied at Pergamum, at Ephesus, and later at Athens. He was attracted by Neoplatonism and adopted the cult of the Unconquered Sun. That his literary talent was considerable is demonstrated in his surviving works, most of which illustrate his deep love of Hellenic culture. Julian had been baptized and raised as a Christian but he was more interested in his philosophic speculations. Julian was not alone in preferring Hellenism to Christianity. Society, and particularly the educated society in which Julian was at home, was in fact still largely if not predominantly pagan.

251- Julius I, Saint
Julius I was born in Rome and he died on April 12, 352. He was pope from 337 to 352. He was elected four months after St. Mark's death on Feb. 6, 337. Julius was a defender of orthodoxy against Arianism, a heresy that held Christ to have been human, not divine. In 339 he gave refuge at Rome to Bishop St. Athanasius the Great of Alexandria, who had been deposed and expelled from his see by the Arians. At the Council of Rome in 340, Julius reaffirmed Athanasius' position. Julius tried to unite the Western bishops against Arianism by convoking in 342/343 the Council of Sardica (now Sofia, Bulgaria). The council confirmed the pope's supreme authority, enhancing his power in ecclesiastical affairs. Julius restored Athanasius and refuted all Arian charges; his decision was confirmed by the Roman emperor Constantius II (an Arian) at Antioch.

252- Julius Africanus
Julius Africanus (circa 160-240) was a Christian writer probably born at Jerusalem but he migrated to Emmaus (Nicopolis) and then to Alexandria and Rome. He wrote a world history in five books and an encyclopaedia of 24 books. Only fragments reached us.

253- Jung
Carl Gustav Jung was born on July 26, 1875 at Kesswil, Switzerland and he died on June 6, 1961 at Küsnacht. He was a Swiss psychologist and psychiatrist who founded analytic psychology. Jung proposed and developed the concepts of the extroverted and introverted personality, archetypes, and the collective unconscious. His work influenced psychiatry and the study of religion, literature, and related fields. Jung was the son of a philologist and pastor. In his lonely childhood he was concerned with his father's failing belief in religion, and he tried to communicate to him his own experience of God, but they did not succeeded in understanding each other. Jung seemed destined to become a minister but he discovered philosophy and read widely, and this led him to forsake the strong family tradition and to study medicine and become a psychiatrist. He was a student at the universities of Basel (1895-1900) and Zürich (M.D., 1902). He joined the staff of the Burghölzli Asylum of the University of Zürich in 1900. At Burghölzli, Jung began to apply association tests initiated by earlier researchers. He studied patients' peculiar and illogical responses to stimulus words, and found that they were caused by emotionally charged clusters of associations withheld from consciousness because of their disagreeable, immoral, and frequently sexual content. He used the now famous term complex to describe such conditions.

254- Jupiter
Jupiter was also called Jove and in Latin Iuppiter, Iovis, or Diespiter He was the chief ancient Roman and Italian god. Like Zeus, the Greek god with whom he is etymologically identical, Jupiter was a sky god. One of his most ancient epithets is Lucetius. As Jupiter Elicius he was propitiated with a peculiar ritual to send rain in time of drought; as Jupiter Fulgur he had an altar in the Campus Martius, and all places struck by lightning were made his property and were guarded from the profane by a circular wall. Throughout Italy he was worshiped on the summits of hills. At Rome itself on the Capitoline Hill was his oldest temple; here there was a tradition of his sacred tree, the oak, common to the worship both of Zeus and of Jupiter. Jupiter was not only the great protecting deity of the race but also one whose worship embodied a distinct moral conception. He is especially concerned with oaths, treaties, and leagues, and it was in the presence of his priest that the most ancient and sacred form of marriage took place. Throughout the Roman Republic this remained the central Roman cult; and, although Augustus' new foundations (Apollo Palatinus and Mars Ultor) were in some sense its rivals, that emperor was far too shrewd to attempt to oust Iuppiter Optimus Maximus from his paramount position; he became the protecting deity of the reigning emperor as representing the state, as he had been the protecting deity of the free republic. His worship spread over the whole empire.

255- Justin Martyr, Saint
Justin (about 100-165) was a philosopher, theologian, and one of the earliest apologists of the Christian church, who sought to reconcile Christian doctrine and pagan culture. He was born in Flavia Neapolis, Samaria (now Nabulus, West Bank), a Roman city built on the site of the ancient Shechem, in Samaria. His parents were pagans. As a young man Justin devoted himself to the study of Greek philosophy, notably the writings of Plato and the Stoic philosophers. Justin first encountered Christianity in Ephesus. After his conversion to the religion, he went to Rome (around 140), where he established a school. He was beheaded in Rome as a martyr during the reign of Emperor Marcus Aurelius. The books that are ascribed to Justin with certainty are the two Apologies for the Christians, which comprise an erudite defence of Christians against charges of atheism and sedition in the Roman state, and the Dialogue with Trypho the Jew, which professes to be the record of an actual discussion at Ephesus. The Apologies were intended primarily for the educated public of the provinces. Their central theme is the divine plan of salvation, fulfilled in Christ the Logos. Justin defended Christians against charges of atheism, sexual immorality, and disobedience to civil authority. In Justin's view, Christianity was the final revelation toward which Greco-Roman philosophy had gradually been moving. His writings also provide descriptions and explanations of Christian life and worship.

256- Krishna
Krishna is one of the most widely revered and most popular of all Indian divinities, worshipped as the eighth incarnation of the Hindu god Vishnu and also as a supreme god in his own right. The basic sources of Krishna's mythology are the epic Mahabharata and its 5th century AD appendix, the Harivamsa, and the Puranas. They relate how Krishna was born into the Yadava clan, the son of Vasudeva and Devaki, sister of Kamsa, the wicked king of Mathura (in modern Uttar Pradesh). Kamsa, hearing a prophecy that he should be destroyed by Devaki's child, tried to slay her children; but Krishna was smuggled across the Yamuna River to Gokula (or Vraja, modern Gokul), where he was raised by the leader of the cowherds, Nanda, and his wife Yasoda. The child Krishna performed many miracles and slew demons. As a youth, the cowherd Krishna became renowned as a lover; the gopis (wives and daughters of the cowherds) left their homes to dance with him in the forests. At length Krishna and his brother Balarama returned to Mathura to slay the wicked Kamsa. Afterward, finding the kingdom unsafe, he led the Yadavas to the western coast of Kathiawar and established his court at Dvaraka (modern Dwarka, Gujarat). He married the princess Rukmini and took other wives as well. As the god sat in the forest, a huntsman, mistaking him for a deer, shot him in his one vulnerable spot, the heel, killing him. The cowherd Krishna is obviously the god of a pastoral community that turned away from the Indra-dominated Vedic religion. The Krishna who emerged from the blending of these ideologies was ultimately identified with the supreme god Visnu-Narayana. Krishna's youthful affairs with the gopis are interpreted as symbolic of the loving interplay between God and the human soul. The rich variety of legends associated with Krishna's life led to an abundance of representation in painting and sculpture. The divine lover, the most common representation, is shown playing the flute, surrounded by adoring gopis.

257- Lactantius
Lactantius was born in AD 240 in North Africa and he died around 320, in Augusta Treverorum, Belgica [now Trier, Germany]. His full name was LUCIUS CAECILIUS FIRMIANUS LACTANTIUS (CAECILIUS also spelled CAELIUS). He was a Christian apologist and one of the most reprinted of the Latin Church Fathers. His Divinae institutiones ("Divine Precepts") is a philosophical refutation of early-4th-century anti-Christian writings and the first systematic Latin account of the Christian attitude toward life. Lactantius was a teacher of rhetoric at Nicomedia (later Izmit, Turkey). When the Roman emperor Diocletian began persecuting Christians Lactantius resigned his post about 305 and returned to the West. In about 317 he tutored the emperor Constantine's son Crispus, at Trier. Only Lactantius' writings dealing with Christianity have survived. His principal work, the Divinae institutiones, depended more on the testimony of classical authors than on that of sacred Scripture. It repudiated what he termed the deluding superstitions of pagan cults, proposing in their place the Christian religion as a theism, or rationalized belief in a single Supreme Being who is the source creating all else. In a companion work, "On the Death of Persecutors," Lactantius held that the Christian God could intervene to right human injustice.

258- Lazarus
Lazarus is the name of two persons mentioned in the New Testament.
Mary and Martha of Bethany had a brother named Lazarus who was an intimate friend of Jesus Christ. John 11 and 12 contain the narration of Jesus' raising him from the dead after four days in the tomb. According to a tradition in the Orthodox Church, he later became bishop of Cyprus.
Lazarus is also the name Jesus gave to the sick beggar of the parable in Luke 16. The description of Lazarus as "full of sores" was taken to indicate that he was a leper.

259- Leah
Leah (also spelled LIA), according to the Old Testament, was the first wife of Jacob and the traditional ancestor of five of the 12 tribes of Israel. Leah was the mother of six of Jacob's sons: Reuben, Simeon, Levi, Issachar, Zebulun, and Judah; Judah was the ancestor of King David and, according to the New Testament, of Jesus. Jacob fell in love with Laban's younger daughter, Rachel, whom he married. Jacob did not love Leah, but God consoled her with children before allowing Rachel to become pregnant. Leah lived on after Rachel and, according to tradition, she was buried in Hebron on the west bank of the Jordan River.

260- Levi
Levi, the 3d son of Jacob, is the ancestor of one of the main tribe of Israel, priestly in character.

261- Libanius
Libanius was born in AD 314 at Antioch, Syria and he died in 393. He was a Greek Sophist and rhetorician whose orations and letters are a major source of information on the political, social, and economic life of Antioch and of the eastern part of the Roman Empire in the 4th century. After being a teacher in Constantinople and Nicomedia, Libanius went to Antioch (354), where his school soon became famous. He tried to maintain the Greek tradition in the face of the rise of Rome, and he attempted to live and write as though Christianity did not exist.

262- Livy of Patavium
Livy of Patavium was born in 59/64 BC at Patavium, Venetia, Italy and he died in AD 17 also in Patavium. Together with Sallust and Tacitus he was one of the three great Roman historians. His history of Rome became a classic in his own lifetime and exercised a profound influence on the style and philosophy of historical writing down to the 18th century.

263- Lucian
Lucian was born in AD 120 at Samosata, Syria (now Samsat, Turkey) and he died around 180 in Athens [Greece]. He was a Greek rhetorician, pamphleteer, and satirist, author of Dialogues of the Gods and Dialogues of the Dead. Nothing much is known of his life except that as a boy Lucian was apprenticed to his uncle, a sculptor, but he soon left for western Asia Minor (Tarsus), where he acquired a Greek literary education. He became familiar with the works of Homer, Plato, and the comic poets. He was raised speaking Aramaic but he soon learned the Greek language and culture and he began a career as a public speaker giving model speeches and public lectures and probably also pleading in court. After touring Greece he went to Italy and then to Gaul (modern France). He finally settled in Athens in the late '50s of the 2nd century where he was able to extend his knowledge of Greek literature and thought and started writing critical and satirical essays on the intellectual life of his time, either in the form of Platonic dialogues or, in imitation of Menippus, in a mixture of prose and verse. After some years he returned to Athens and took up public speaking again. The date and circumstances of his death are unknown. He is credited with writing about 80 books.

264- Lucian of Antioch, Saint
Lucian of Antioch was born circa 240 at Samosata Syria (now Samsat, Turkey) and he died Jan. 7, 312 at Nicomedia, Bithynia, Asia Minor (now Izmit, Turkey). He was a Christian theologian and martyr who created a theological tradition at Antioch. In his principal work, Lucian analysed the Greek text of both the Old and New Testaments, creating a tradition of manuscripts known as the Lucianic Byzantine, or Syrian, text. Later critics, including Alexander of Alexandria, during the Council of Nicaea in 325, associated Lucian's school with the condemned theological revisions of Arius and his attack on the absolute divinity of Christ. Lucian, in 269, had also been implicated with Monarchianism of the Antiochene bishop Paul of Samosata. Church authorities accepted Lucian's conciliatory statement of belief in 289. Lucian's influence oriented Christian theology toward a historical realist approach in its debate with classical non-Christian thought. Lucian's martyrdom by torture and starvation was for refusing to eat meat.

265- Lucian of Samosata
Lucian of Samosata (circa 115-200), he knew Christianity and thought it to be better than the doctrine of the charlatan Alexander of Abonoteichops.

266- Lucifer
Lucifer is a name commonly used for the devil. It was originally a Latin word meaning light bearer. It appears in Isaiah 14:12: "How you have fallen from the heavens, O shining one, son of morning!" Isaiah applied the name shining one or Lucifer to a king of Babylon. But it came to be thought of as an evil archangel who was hurled from heaven for his wickedness and revolt against God.

267- Lucius I, (Saint)
All that is known of Lucius is that he died on March 5, 254 AD and that he was pope from June 253 to March 254, succeeding St. Cornelius. He was exiled to Civitavecchia, Italy, by the Roman emperor Gallus but later was allowed to return to Rome by Gallus' successor, Valerian. Lucius continued the liberal policy Cornelius had established toward apostates who renounced Christianity because of the persecution of the Roman emperor Decius. Lucius opposed and condemned the Novatian Schism, a rigorist movement against penitent apostates, inspired by the antipope Novatian. Lucius' martyrdom in the Valerian persecution is unproven.

268- Luke (Saint)
According to the Christian tradition Luke lived in the first century AD. He is the author of the third Gospel and the Acts of the Apostles and a companion of the Apostle Paul that he accompanied in his missionary work. Information about his life is scanty. Tradition based on Gospel references has regarded him as a physician and a Gentile. Luke's principal occupation was the advancement of the Christian mission. If Luke was the author of the third Gospel and the Acts of the Apostles. He excludes himself from those who were eyewitnesses of Christ's ministry. His participation in the Pauline mission is indicated by the use of the first person in the "we" sections of Acts. They reveal that Luke preached the Christian message and performed miraculous healings. The "we" sections place the author with Paul during his initial mission into Greece. It is there that Luke later rejoins Paul and accompanies him on his final journey to Jerusalem (c. AD 58). After Paul's arrest in that city and during his extended detention in nearby Caesarea, Luke spent considerable time in Palestine working with the apostle as the occasion allowed. Two years later he appeared with Paul on his prison voyage from Caesarea to Rome and again at the time of the apostle's martyrdom in the imperial city (c. AD 66). The literary style of his writings and the range of his vocabulary mark him as an educated man. The distinction drawn between Luke and other colleagues "of the circumcision" has led some to conclude that he was a Gentile but his knowledge of the Old Testament suggests that he was a Jewish Christian. Moved by the Holy Spirit, Luke composed this entire Gospel in the districts around Achaia. Later notions that Luke was one of the 70 disciples appointed by the Lord appear to be legendary.

269- Lydus John
Johanes (John) Lydus was an astrologer during the last years of paganism in the 5th and 6th centuries AD. He lived in Byzantium (Eastern Roman Empire) where there were a few others: Hephaestion, Julian of Laodicea, "Proclus," and Rhetorius. Their works are unoriginal compilations but they are also the major sources for an understanding of earlier Hellenistic astrology. By the end of the 6th century, however, the general decline of the Byzantine Empire's intellectual life and the strong opposition of the church combined to obliterate astrology, though some practice survived in Byzantium as it did in Western Europe.

270- Macarius Magnes
Macarius Magnes was active in the 5th century. He was an Eastern Orthodox bishop and polemicist, author of an apology for the Christian faith. Little is known of him except that he is probably identified with the bishop of Magnesia who, at the Synod of the Oak in 403, contended with an episcopal friend of John Chrysostom. His importance derives from his theological defence of Christianity by the obscurely titled Apokritikos e monogenes pros Hellenas, 5 books (c. 400; "Response of the Only-Begotten to the Greeks"), commonly called the Apocriticus. Its doctrine is basically derived from the Cappadocian school, one of the foremost cultural centres of the early Greek Church. The critic questions biblical texts, particularly concerning Christ's Incarnation and Resurrection. About half of the Apocriticus texts have survived.

271- Macarius of Jerusalem
Macarius of Jerusalem (died in circa 334) was a defender of orthodoxy against Arianism. Arius condemned him in about 318 in a letter to Eusebius of Nicomedia. Macarius became Bishop of Jerusalem in about 313 AD and he attended the Council of Nicaea.

272- Macarius the Egyptian
Macarius the Egyptian was born AD 300 in Upper Egypt and he died in AD 390 in Scete Desert, Egypt. He was also called Macarius The Great, a monk and ascetic who advanced the ideal of monasticism in Egypt and influenced its development throughout Christendom. About the age of 30 Macarius retired to the desert of Scete, where for 60 years he lived as a hermit. He was ordained priest circa 340 after gaining a reputation for extraordinary powers of prophecy and healing. In his priestly function of presiding at the monks' worship, Macarius also acquired fame for his eloquent spiritual conferences and instructions. About 374 Bishop Lucius of Alexandria banished Macarius to an island in the Nile for his opposition to Arianism. He returned from exile and remained in the desert until his death. The only literary work ascribed to Macarius is a letter, To the Friends of God, addressed to younger monks. The essence of his spiritual theology is the doctrine of the mystical development of the soul that has been formed in the image of God. By physical and intellectual labour, bodily discipline, and meditation, the spirit can serve God and find tranquillity through an inner experience of the divine presence in the form of a vision of light.

273- Macedonius
Macedonius lived in the 4th century AD. He was a Greek bishop of Constantinople (Istanbul) and a leading moderate Arian theologian in the 4th-century Trinitarian controversy. His teaching concerning the Son oscillated between attributing to him an "identity of essence" (Greek: homoousios) and "perfect similarity" with the divinity of the Father, or Godhead. After Macedonius' death about 362, a heretical Christian sect that rejected the divinity of the Holy Spirit arose; because of the similarity of their teaching to Macedonius' doctrine of the Son, they were called Macedonians. About 339 Macedonius usurped the episcopal throne of Constantinople from the orthodox incumbent with the support of the Arian faction. Except for the conservative, or orthodox, ascendancy (346-351), he held office until 360. Although he maintained an ambiguous theological stance, he repressed the orthodox Nicene element in Constantinople. Owing to his semi-Arian orientation or to political differences, he lost favour with the Roman emperor Constantius II (reigned 337-361) and, at a local church council in 360, was deposed and exiled.

274- Macrobius
Macrobius was a 400 AD Latin grammarian and philosopher but little is known about his life. His most important work is the Saturnalia give an imaginary account of discussions in private houses on the day before the Saturnalia and on three days of that festival. Macrobius also wrote a commentary on Cicero's "Somnium Scipionis" ("The Dream of Scipio"). This is a Neoplatonic work in two books. Only fragments remain of a third work entitled De differentiis et societatibus Graeci Latinique verbi ("On the Differences and Similarities Between Greek and Latin Words").

275- Magna Mater
Magna Mater was the main Persian Goddess, the equivalent of Isis in Egypt, Persephone in Greece, Cybele in Asia Minor, Ishtar in Mesopotamia, and Aphrodite in Syria and Asherad in the region around Judea.

276- Magnus, Albertus (Saint)
Albertus Magnus was born around 1200 at Lauingen an der Donau, Swabia, Germany and he died on Nov. 15, 1280 at Cologne; he became a saint on December 16, 1931. Magnus was a Dominican bishop and philosopher best known as a proponent of Aristotelianism. He established the study of nature as a legitimate science within the Christian tradition. He was the most prolific writer of his century and was the only scholar of his age to be called "the Great" even before his death. Albertus was the eldest son of a wealthy German lord. After his early schooling, he went to the University of Padua, where he studied the liberal arts. He joined the Dominican order at Padua in 1223. He continued his studies at Padua and Bologna and in Germany and then taught theology at several convents throughout Germany. Sometime before 1245 he was sent to the Dominican convent of Saint-Jacques at the University of Paris, where he came into contact with the works of Aristotle; he also lectured on the Bible and on Peter Lombard's Sentences, the theological textbook of the medieval universities. In 1245 he was graduated master in the theological faculty and obtained the Dominican chair "for foreigners." He wrote commentaries on the Bible, on the Sentences, and on all the known works of Aristotle, both genuine and spurious. His speculations were open to Neoplatonic thought. Albertus distinguished the way to knowledge by revelation and faith from the way of philosophy and of science. For Albertus these two ways are not opposed; there is no "double truth", one truth for faith and a contradictory truth for reason. Although there are mysteries accessible only to faith, other points of Christian doctrine are recognizable both by faith and by reason. In 1248, Albertus went to Cologne to organize the first Dominican studium generale ("general house of studies") in Germany; he presided over it until 1254. During this period his chief disciple was Thomas Aquinas, who returned to Paris in 1252. He became the bishop of Regensburg in January 1260 but he resigned in 1261 and returned to his order and to teaching at Cologne. From 1263 to 1264 he was legate of Pope Urban IV, preaching the crusade throughout Germany and Bohemia. Later, he lectured at Würzburg and at Strasbourg and in 1270 he settled definitively at Cologne. In 1274 he attended the second Council of Lyon, France, and in 1277 he travelled to Paris to uphold the good name and writings of Thomas Aquinas, who had died a few years before, and to defend certain Aristotelian doctrines that both held to be true.

277- Magus, Simon
Simon Magus or Simon The Magician (known also as The Sorcerer) was active during the 1st century AD as a practitioner of magical arts. He is known as the arch-heretic and as the father of all heresies, according to the Church Fathers. He probably came from Gitta, a village in biblical Samaria. Simon, according to the New Testament account in Acts of the Apostles 8:9-24, after becoming a Christian, offered to purchase from the Apostles Peter and John the supernatural power of transmitting the Holy Spirit, thus giving rise to the term simony as the buying or selling of sacred things or ecclesiastical office. Later references in certain early Christian writings identify him as the founder of post-Christian Gnosticism. He was revered by the people of northern Palestine as possessing vast preternatural powers. The biblical account concludes with Simon's repentance and apparent reconciliation with Christianity after his condemnation by St. Peter.

278- Malachi
Malachi was the author of the last book of the Twelve Minor Prophets.

279- Mani
Mani was born on April 14, 216 into an aristocratic Persian family in southern Babylonia and he died about 274 at Gundeshapur. His father, a pious man, brought him up in an austere Baptist sect, possibly the Mandaeans. At the ages of 12 and 24, Mani experienced visions in which an angel designated him the prophet of a new and ultimate revelation. On his first mission, Mani went to India, where Buddhism influenced him. With the protection of the new Persian emperor, Shapur I (reigned 241-72), Mani preached throughout the empire and sent missionaries to the Roman Empire. The rapid expansion of Manichaeism provoked the hostility of the leaders of orthodox Zoroastrianism, and when Bahram I (reigned 274-77) succeeded to the throne, they persuaded him to have Mani arrested as a heretic, after which he either died in prison or was executed. Mani proclaimed himself the last prophet in a succession that included Zoroaster, Buddha, and Jesus, whose partial revelations were, he taught, contained in his own doctrines.

The Iranian Mani, also called MANES, OR MANICHAEUS, was the founder of the Manichaean religion that taught a dualistic doctrine that viewed the world as a fusion of spirit and matter, the contrary principles of good and evil. His life is known from his writings and the traditions of his church.

280- Marcellina
Marcellina was a Valentinian teacher, a follower of Epiphanes, and the founder of the Gnostic sect whose members were called Marcellites or Marcellians. When she came to Rome she brought with her painted icons covered with gold and representing Jesus, Pythagoras, Plato and Aristotle.

281- Marcion
Marcion, (circa 100-160) was born in Sinope, Pontus (now Sinop, Turkey); he probably was the son of the bishop of that city. He went to Rome about 140. Several years later, differing with the established Christian church on doctrine, he was excommunicated as a heretic and founded his own sect whose name derives from his own name. After his arrival in Rome he fell under the influence of Cerdo, a Gnostic Christian, whose stormy relations with the Church of Rome were the consequence of his belief that the God of the Old Testament could be distinguished from the God of the New Testament. For accepting, developing, and propagating such ideas, Marcion was expelled from the church in 144 as a heretic, but the movement he headed became both widespread and powerful.

282- Marcus
Marcus was a Christian Gnostic sage and teacher from Asia Minor or Egypt. His teaching reached Rhone Valley by the end of the second century AD. He received his wisdom by revelation of the Pythagorean Tetraktys, which appeared to him as a woman. He encouraged women to become Priestess and to officiate the Eucharist.

283- Marcus Aurelius
Caesar Marcus Aurelius Antoninus Augustus, his original name until AD 161, was born on April 26, 121 AD at Rome and he died on March 17, 180 at Vindobona [Vienna]. He was Roman emperor from 161 to 180 AD. He is best known as a Stoic philosopher and author of "Meditations". Marcus was related to several of the most prominent families of the Roman establishment and he was destined for social distinction. Hadrian adopted Titus Aurelius Antoninus (the husband of Marcus' aunt) to succeed him as the emperor Antoninus Pius, arranging that Antoninus should adopt as his sons two young men, one the son of Commodus and the other Marcus, whose name was then changed to Marcus Aelius Aurelius Verus. Marcus thus was marked out as a future joint emperor at the age of just under 17, though as it turned out he was not to succeed until his 40th year. The long years of Marcus' apprenticeship under Antoninus are illuminated by the correspondence between him and his teacher Fronto, a dreary pedant whose blood ran rhetoric. It was to the credit of Marcus that he grew impatient with the unending regime of advanced exercises in Greek and Latin declamation and eagerly embraced the Diatribai ("Discourses") of a religious former slave, Epictetus, an important philosopher of the Stoic school. From that time Marcus found his chief intellectual interest as well as his spiritual nourishment in philosophy. Meanwhile he learned the business of government and assumed public roles. Marcus was consul in 140, 145, and 161. In 145 he married his cousin, the Emperor's daughter Annia Galeria Faustina, and in 147 the imperium and tribunicia potestas, the main formal powers of emperorship, were conferred upon him and he became junior co-emperor, sharing the intimate counsels and crucial decisions of Antoninus. On March 7, 161, at a time when the brothers were jointly consuls, their father died.

284- Marduk
Marduk was the main Mesopotamian God, the equivalent of Osiris in Egypt, Dionysus in Greece, Attis in Asia Minor, Adonis in Syria, Mithras in Persia and Ball in the region around Judea.

285- Mark the Evangelist (Saint)
Mark, who lived during the first century AD, was probably born in Jerusalem and his dying place is said, by tradition, to be Alexandria in Egypt He is assumed to be the author of the second Synoptic Gospel. Nothing much is known about his life except that he was one of St. Paul's fellow workers (Philemon 24) and St. Barnabas' cousin (Colossians 4:10). He is referred as John in Acts 12:25, 13:5; 13, and 15:37 but elsewhere in the New Testament he is called Mark. According to Acts, he accompanied Barnabas and Paul to Antioch (12:25), now Antakya, Turkey, where he became their assistant (13:5). When they arrived at Perga (near modern Ihsaniye, Turkey), Mark left them and returned to Jerusalem (13:13). Barnabas and Paul as a result separated, for Paul declined Barnabas' insistence on taking Mark back (15:37-39). Later Mark went to Cyprus with Barnabas. In 2 Timothy 4:11, Paul requests St. Timothy to bring Mark, "for he is very useful in serving me," but this is believed to be an incorrect conclusion. Mark and St. Peter were close as suggested by the greetings from "my son Mark" in 1 Peter 5:13; moreover the Apostolic Father Papias of Hierapolis says that Mark's Gospel was based on Peter's teaching about Jesus. Later tradition assumes that Mark was one of the 72 disciples appointed by Jesus (Luke 10:1) and identifies him with the young man fleeing naked at Jesus' arrest (Mark 14:51-52). The Egyptian church claims Mark as its founder, and, from the 4th century AD, the see of Alexandria has been called cathedra Marci ("the chair of Mark"). Other places attributing their origin to Mark are the Italian cities of Aquileia and Venice.

286- Marsanes
Marsanes was a Christian Gnostic sage. He believed that the world was far from a worthless illusion and taught that Gnosis participates in the process of redeeming the "kenoma" by transforming it into the perfect image of the "pleromic" archetypes.

287- Martha
Martha was the sister of Lazarus of Bethany; she had also a sister called Mary. They lived at Bethany, near Jerusalem. After Lazarus died, Jesus raised him from the dead after he had been entombed for four days. This miraculous raising of Lazarus from the dead inspired many Jews to believe in Jesus as the Christ.

288- Mary, Virgin and Saint
The Virgin Mary is the mother of Jesus Christ and as such is venerated by Christians since apostolic times. Matthew describes Mary as Joseph's wife, who was "with child of the Holy Spirit" before they "came together" as husband and wife. She was present at the visit of the Magi, fled with Joseph to Egypt, and returned to Nazareth. Mark refers to Jesus as the son of Mary and Luke's Gospel includes the angel Gabriel's telling Mary of the birth of Jesus; her visit to Elizabeth, mother of John the Baptist; and Mary's perplexity at finding Jesus in the Temple questioning the teachers when he was 12 years old. The Gospel of John contains no infancy narrative, nor does it mention Mary's name; she is referred to as "the mother of Jesus". John said that she was present at the first of Jesus' miracles at the wedding feast of Cana and at his death. She was made a Saint.

289- Mary Magdalene
Mary Magdalene, in the New Testament, was a woman from Magdala, a town near Tiberias (now in Israel). Jesus healed her of evil spirits and he appeared to her after his resurrection. Mary Magdalene was identified by Pope Gregory I with a sinful woman described as having anointed the Lord's feet and with Mary the sister of Martha, who also anointed Jesus, although the Gospels support neither tradition. The Eastern Church maintains the distinction between the three.

290- Matthew the Evangelist (Saint)
Matthew lived during the first century AD in Palestine; he was also called LEVI. Mark was one of the Twelve Apostles and the traditional author of the first Synoptic Gospel. According to Matthew 9:9 and Mark 2:14, Matthew was sitting by the customs house in Capernaum when Jesus called him to become a disciple. If Matthew was really Levi, Matthew (probably meaning "Yahweh's Gift") would be the Christian name of Levi (called by Mark "Levi the son of Alphaeus"). Levi was a tax collector for Herod Antipas, tetrarch of Galilee. The tax collectors were distrusted and treated with contempt everywhere as a result the Pharisees criticized Jesus for eating with tax collectors and sinners; Jesus answered, "I came not to call the righteous, but sinners" (Mark 2:15-17). According to Luke 5:29, that dinner was given by Levi in his house after Jesus asked him to become a disciple. The New Testament offers few and uncertain information about him. The Apostolic Father Papias of Hierapolis, as quoted by Bishop Eusebius of Caesarea, said: "So then Matthew composed the Oracles in the Hebrew language, and each one interpreted them as he could." The Gospel According to Matthew was written for a Jewish-Christian church in a Jewish environment, but that this Matthew is the synoptic author is seriously doubted. Tradition notes his ministry in Judaea and then in the East (Ethiopia and Persia). Legend has him dying a natural death or as a martyr. Matthew's relics were discovered in Salerno (Italy) in 1080.

291- Matthias, Saint
According to the biblical Acts of the Apostles, Matthias the Disciple was chosen to replace Judas Iscariot after Judas betrayed Jesus. Acts reveals that Matthias accompanied Jesus and the Apostles from the time of the Lord's Baptism to his Ascension. To replace Judas, the Apostles chose between Matthias and St. Joseph Barsabbas. After his election, Matthias received the Holy Spirit with the other Apostles. It is generally believed that Matthias ministered in Judaea and then carried out missions to foreign places. Greek tradition states that he Christianised Cappadocia, now in central Turkey, later journeying about the Caspian Sea, where he was martyred by crucifixion.

292- Maximus of Tyre
Maximus of Tyre was an actor in the revival of the Greek spirit under Hadrian and other emperors in the 2nd century AD. Maximus and other Greek prose writers were regarded as constituting the Second Sophistic movement that took as its models Athenian writers of the 5th and 4th centuries BC. This group included, beside Maximus, Polemon of Athens, Herodes Atticus, Aelius Aristides, and the group of Philostrati. Other writers, like Lucian, Aelian, and Alciphron, were influenced by the movement even if not properly members of it; and the writers of prose romances, such as Longus and Heliodorus, and the historians Dio Cassius and Herodian are also associated with the general trend. By the 3rd century AD the movement disappeared and converged in the general stream of Greek literature.

293- Melito of Sardis
Melito of Sardis was a second century Greek bishop of Sardis in Lydia (now in Turkey). His theological treatise on Easter, "The Lord's Passion," confirms his reputation as a great early Christian writer. In it, eternity and time, Christ's divine and human nature, and the Jews and the Christian church are contrasted. Eusebius of Caesarea says that Melito was the bishop who asked the Roman emperor Marcus Aurelius to make Christianity the state religion of the Roman Empire. Eusebius gives the titles of 20 of Melito's books, which were in Greek, but only fragments survive.

294- Melville, Herman
Melville, Herman (1819-91) was an US novelist, short-story writer, and poet. As a young man he was a sailor and he used his adventures in Typee (1846), Omoo (1847), Mardi (1849), Redburn (1849), and White-Jacket (1850). Moby-Dick (1851), his account of a whaling voyage, failed commercially, as did Pierre (1852), the historical romance Israel Potter (1855), the story collection The Piazza Tales (1856), and The Confidence-Man (1857), a sardonic comedy set aboard a Mississippi steamer. Moby-Dick, one of the greatest 19th-century novels in any language is written in a rich, rhythmical prose, it has a solid basis as a documentary narrative. The story of Captain Ahab's pursuit of the white whale is a literary myth, with commentaries on many topics, from metaphysical enigmas to man's exploitation of nature. During the American Civil War he turned to poetry, and published three collections and the long poem Clarel (1876), without attracting much attention. He died in obscurity. The novel Billy Budd, Sailor was found in his papers and published in 1924.

295- Menander
Menander was a first century AD Christian Gnostic from Samaria. He was one of the first heretics according to Tertullian.

296- Methodius of Olympus
Methodius of Olympus who died circa 311 AD was Bishop of Lycia and an opponent of Origen.

297- Metrodorus
Metrodorus was a Pagan philosopher.

298- Micah
Micah was a minor Jewish prophet of the 8th century BC whose name was given to an Old Testament Book, part of which may have been written later.

299- Minucius, Felix, of Africa
Minucius Felix was a Latin Apologist writer of the second century AD. He is described as a literalist Christian although he was not. He taught a philosophical Christianity based on the mythical figures of the Logos and Sophia. He was not interested in Jesus and never mentions him.

300- Mithra
Mithra is also spelled MITHRAS, Sanskrit MITRA, in ancient Indo-Iranian mythology, the god of light, whose cult spread from India in the east to as far west as Spain, Great Britain, and Germany. (See Mithraism.) The first written mention of the Vedic Mitra dates to 1400 BC. His worship spread to Persia and, after the defeat of the Persians by Alexander the Great, throughout the Hellenic world. In the 3rd and 4th centuries AD, the cult of Mithra, carried and supported by the soldiers of the Roman Empire, was the chief rival to the newly developing religion of Christianity. The Roman emperors Commodus and Julian were initiates of Mithraism, and in 307 Diocletian consecrated a temple on the Danube River to Mithra, "Protector of the Empire." According to myth, Mithra was born, bearing a torch and armed with a knife, beside a sacred stream and under a sacred tree, a child of the earth itself. He soon rode, and later killed, the life-giving cosmic bull, whose blood fertilizes all vegetation. Mithra's slaying of the bull was a popular subject of Hellenic art and became the prototype for a bull-slaying ritual of fertility in the Mithraic cult. As god of light, Mithra was associated with the Greek sun god, Helios, and the Roman Sol Invictus. He is often paired with Anahita, goddess of the fertilizing waters.

301- Monoimos
Monoimos, the "Arab" was an early Christian sage and master. He apparently did not belong to any Gnostic sect.

302- Montanus
Montanus founded a heretical movement of Christianity known as Montanism in the second century AD. It lasted in Asia Minor and North Africa from the 2nd to the 9th centuries. At first Montanus expected an imminent transformation of the world but later the sect evolved into heretical sectarianism claiming a new revelation. Little is known about Montanus except that he was a priest of the Pagan cult of Cybele, the mother goddess of fertility, who became a Christian Gnostic. The 4th-century church historian Eusebius of Caesarea said that around 172-173 Montanus entered into an ecstatic state and began prophesying in the region of Phrygia where he became the leader of a group of illuminati ("the enlightened"), that included the prophetesses Priscilla (or Prisca) and Maximilla. The members showed the frenzied nature of their religious experience by seizures and utterances of strange languages that the disciples believed to be oracles of the Holy Spirit. Convinced that the end of the world was at hand, Montanus laid down a rigorous morality to purify Christians and detach them from their material desires.

303- Moses
Moses was a Hebrew prophet and lawgiver, and the founder of Israel, or the Jewish people. According to the Old Testament, he was born in Goshen, ancient Egypt, when the Hebrews lived in Egypt oppressed by the Pharaoh. As the Pharaoh had ordered that all Hebrew male infants be put to death, Moses's mother placed him in a basket made of papyrus and set it floating on the Nile River. The daughter of the Pharaoh rescued him and brought up the infant as if he was her own child. When an adult, Moses killed an Egyptian who had murdered a Hebrew; he then fled from Egypt. Moses was a shepherd until he was 80 years of age. At this time Yahweh, or Jehovah, appeared to him and told him to go back to Egypt to deliver his people and lead them out of Egypt to the land of Canaan where they were to settle permanently.
When the Hebrews reached Sinai, Moses climbed the mountain to speak with Yahweh. He spent 40 days and nights with Yahweh, from whom he received two tablets of stone inscribed with the Ten Commandments. After 40 years of wandering in the desert under Moses's leadership and the endurance of many hardships, the Hebrews at last came to Canaan. Moses was permitted by Yahweh to see Canaan, the Promised Land, from the top of Mount Pisgah, and then he died after turning the leadership of the people to Joshua. Many authorities believe that the exodus took place in the 13th century BC.
Moses is assumed to be the author of the first five books of the Old Testament -the Pentateuch- and also of other parts of the Old Testament, including possibly the Book of Job. Most scholars agree that these books are the work of many authors.
Moses is also well known to Christians; he is mentioned frequently in the New Testament. At Christ's transfiguration, he represents the law. He is also mentioned in the Gospel of John, to show the role of Christ as the fulfilment of the Scriptures.

304- Musaeus
Musaeus, a mythical singer closely allied with Orpheus, was believed to be the son, father, or teacher of Eumolpus. He is also described as one of the mythical founders of the Greek Mysteries.

305- Musonius Rufus
Musonius Rufus lived in the first century AD. He was a stoic moralist and an exile under Emperor Nero. Justin and Origen admired him.

306- Narses the Leper
Narses (or Narsai) the Leper (circa 399-502) was a Nestorian theologian. In 437 he directed the theological school in Edessa and he founded the main Nestorian school of theology in Nisibis in 457. He was exiled after an argument with Barssumas but he soon was allowed to come back to his school Nisibis.

307- Nahum
Nahum was a minor prophet of the 7th century BC whose name was given to an Old Testament book.

308- Nathan
Nathan was a prophet and confidential adviser of David. David wanted to build the Temple and Nathan at first agreed, only to change his mind after receiving a revelation not to allow it to be built.
I Kings tells the story of David and the struggle for the succession of his throne between Adonijah, David's eldest living son, and Solomon, the son of David and Bathsheba. Adonijah was supported by the "old guard" -the general Joab and the priest Abiathar- and Solomon by the priest Zadok, the prophet Nathan, and the captain of David's bodyguard, Benaiah. With David close to death, Adonijah prepared to seize control of the kingdom but Nathan requested Bathsheba to go to David and persuade David to proclaim Solomon the next monarch. Following the advice of Nathan, David then appointed Solomon the heir to his throne. Zadok the priest and Nathan the prophet anointed the son of Bathsheba king in Gihon. After David died Adonijah asked Solomon to give him Abishag, a young Shunammite woman who had been given to David in his old age, as his wife. Solomon answered by ordering Adonijah's execution as well as that of the old general Joab.

309- Nebo (or Nabu)
NEBO (or Nabu) was a major god in the Assyro-Babylonian pantheon. He was patron of the art of writing and a god of vegetation. Nabu's symbols were the clay tablet and the stylus, the instruments held to be proper to him who inscribed the fates assigned to men by the gods. According to another tradition Nebo was a Babylonian deity of literature and science. The planet Mercury was sacred to Nebo.

310- Nehemiah
Nehemiah, also spelled Nehemias, lived in the 5th century BC. He was a Jewish leader who supervised the rebuilding of Jerusalem in the mid-5th century BC after his release from captivity by the Persian king Artaxerxes I. He also instituted extensive moral and liturgical reforms in rededicating the Jews to Yahweh. The Temple at Jerusalem had been rebuilt, but the Jewish community there was dispirited and defenceless against its non-Jewish neighbours. Nehemiah went to Palestine in about 444 BC to rebuild its ruined structures. He convinced the people there to the necessity of repopulating the city and rebuilding its walls. Nehemiah encountered hostility from the (non-Jewish) local officials, but in the space of 52 days the Jews rebuild Jerusalem's walls. Nehemiah then served as governor of the small district of Judea for 12 years, during which he undertook various religious and economic reforms before returning to Persia. On a second visit to Jerusalem he strengthened his fellow Jews' observance of the Sabbath and ended the custom of Jewish men marrying foreign-born wives. This latter act helped to keep the Judaeans separate from their non-Jewish neighbours. Ezra continued Nehemiah's work in Palestine. Nehemiah's story is told in the Book of Nehemiah, part of which seems to be based upon the memoirs of Nehemiah but the book itself was compiled by a later, anonymous writer who apparently also compiled the books of Ezra and the Chronicles.

311- Nemesius of Emesa
Nemesius integrated elements from various sources of Hellenistic philosophical and medical literature. The result is a Christian synthesis that cannot be characterized as representing any specific philosophical school. The opening chapter criticizes the concepts of man advanced by the Greeks from Plato to the 3rd-century Christian sectarians; it then emphasizes the place of man in the plan of creation as delineated in the Mosaic literature of the Old Testament and in the letters of St. Paul. Because man bridges the spiritual and material worlds, Nemesius maintains, he requires a unique intelligent principle of life, or soul, proportionate to his dignity and responsibility. He submits that the soul must be an incorporeal, intellectual entity, subsistent in itself, immortal, and yet designed to be one with the body. Nemesius implies that it pre-exists the body but not in the manner of the Platonic myth. In subsequent chapters Nemesius examines the function of the brain, the operation of the senses, imagination, memory, reasoning, and speech; this treatment provided medieval philosophers with a wealth of data from Greek Stoic and other classical empirical philosophers. After considering the emotional and irrational functions of the soul, Nemesius concludes with a study of human will. Repudiating Stoic fatalism and astrology and advocating the Christian belief in divine providence, he explains free will as a concomitant of reason: if man is rational, he must operate with a freedom of choice; otherwise his intelligent, deliberative powers are meaningless.

312- Nephthys
Nephthys was Isis' sister in Egyptian mythology and the wife of the evil god Set who, like Hades, represents the material world. Isis and Nephthys represent the higher and lower aspects of the Goddess.

313- Nestorius
Nestorius who was born in Germanica about the end of the 4th century AD, died in circa 451 AD, was the founder of the Nestorian controversy, a major Christian heresy. He studied at Antioch probably under Theodore of Mopsuestia before entering the monastery of Euprepios near Antioch. Theodosius II appointed him Patriarch of Constantinople in 428. He is the author of the "Bazaar of Heracleides", an apology. Nestorius believed that Mary was not the bearer of God but only the bearer of his human nature. The Synod of Rome of 430 condemned his doctrine. A General Council meeting in Ephebus in 431 deposed Nestorius and he was sent in exile to Egypt in 435. He lived there until his death. A few small Nestorian churches still exist.

314- Newton, Isaac
Newton was born on December 25, 1642, at Woolsthorpe, Lincolnshire, England and he died on March 20, 1727 at London. Newton was an English physicist and mathematician and a leading figure of the scientific revolution of the 17th century. In optics, he discovered the composition of white light, an important step in the science of light that was the foundation for modern physical optics. In mechanics, his three laws of motion are the basic principles of modern physics and led to the law of universal gravitation. In mathematics, he was the original discoverer of the infinitesimal calculus. Newton's Philosophiae Naturalis Principia Mathematica (Mathematical Principles of Natural Philosophy), 1687, was one of the most important single works in the history of modern science. Newton was also interested in religion and theology. In the early 1690s he had written a manuscript to prove that Trinitarian passages in the Bible were latter-day corruptions of the original text but he refused to have it published in fear that his anti-Trinitarian views would become known. Later on he worked on the interpretation of the prophecies of Daniel and St. John. Newton was also a leader of English science. In 1703 he was elected President of the Royal Society. Four years earlier, the French Académie des Sciences (Academy of Sciences) had named him one of eight foreign associates. It is generally agreed that Newton was the first to develop Calculus but also that Leibniz later arrived at the calculus independently.

315- Noetus
Noetus (died about the end of 2d century AD) was a presbyter in Smyrna but he was expelled later on. His doctrine was brought to Rome by his disciples Cleomenes and Epigonus. He believed that the father suffered in the Son and that God is Substantially one, but minimally three. Zephyrinus and Callistus, two bishops of Rome were Noetus' followers.

316- Nonnus of Panopolis
Nonnus of Panapolis was born about 400 AD in Panopolis, Egypt. He was a great Greek epic poet of the Roman period. His chief work is the Dionysiaca, a hexameter poem in 48 books; its main subject is the expedition of the god Dionysus to India. Nonnus' fertile inventiveness and felicitous descriptive fantasy made him the often-imitated leader of the last Greek epic school. His style appealed to the taste of the time. Later in life he was converted to Christianity and composed a hexameter paraphrase of St. John's Gospel (Metabole), which shows all his earlier stylistic faults without his compensatory descriptive ability.

317- Obadiah
Obadiah is the name of one of the twelve Minor Prophets. Obadiah's name was given to one of the books of the Old Testament that is said to be a record of "the vision of Obadiah." Nothing is known of the prophet except for his name, which means "servant of Yahweh."

318- Olympiodorus
The Elder Olympiodorus was a philosopher who had Proclus as a student at Alexandria.
The Younger Olympiodorus was a 6th century AD Neoplatonist philosopher who maintained the Platonic tradition in Alexandria after the Byzantine emperor Justinian had suppressed the Greek Academy at Athens and other pagan schools in AD 529. Olympiodorus' extant works include lucid and valuable commentaries on Plato's Phaedo, Gorgias, Philebus, and Alcibiades; a biography of Plato; an introduction to Aristotle's philosophy; and commentaries on Aristotle's Categories and Meteora.

319- Optatus
Optatus (4th century) was the Bishop of Milevis. In 370 he wrote "Against the Schism of the Donatists" (revised in 385). This book is an important source for the history of the Donatists.

320- Origen
Origen was born around 185 AD probably at Alexandria, Egypt and he died around 254 at Tyre, Phoenicia (now Sur, Lebanon). He studied Pagan philosophy with Plotinus under Ammonius Saccus and became a pupil of Clement. He was the most important theologian and biblical scholar of the early Greek Church. His greatest work is the Hexapla, which is a synopsis of six versions of the Old Testament. It is not clear if his parents were Christian or Pagan. He was a pupil of Clement of Alexandria, whom he succeeded as head of the Catechetical school under the authority of the bishop Demetrius. Origen's life, as described by Eusebius, a Christian writer, bears the embellishments of legends of saints and needs to be treated with this in mind. According to Porphyry, a Neoplatonist philosopher, Origen attended lectures given by Ammonius Saccas, the founder of Neoplatonism. He met Heraclas, who was to become his junior colleague, then his rival, and who was to end as bishop of Alexandria. At Alexandria he wrote Miscellanies (Stromateis), On the Resurrection (Peri anastaseos), and On First Principles (De principiis). He also began his immense commentary on St. John, written to refute the commentary of the Gnostic follower of Valentinus, Heracleon. His studies were interrupted by visits to Rome (where he met the theologian Hippolytus), Arabia, Antioch, and Palestine. He was ordained presbyter at Caesarea. Later Origen lived at Caesarea, where he opened a school that attracted many pupils. One of his most notable students was Gregory Thaumaturgus, later bishop of Neocaesarea. During the persecution under the emperor Decius (250), Origen was imprisoned and tortured but survived to die several years later. He is generally described as being a Literalist Christian although he was closer to Gnosticism. In the 5th century, the Roman Catholic Church condemned him as a heretic.

321- Orosius, Paulus
Orosius was probably born in Braga, Spain and he was especially active around 414-417. He was an early Christian orthodox, theologian, and author of the first world history by a Christian. As a priest Orosius went in about 414 to Hippo, where he met St. Augustine who, in 415, sent him to Palestine to oppose Pelagianism. At a synod Orosius accused Pelagius of heresy. Early in 416 he returned to Augustine, who asked him to compose a historical apology of Christianity, Historiarum adversus paganos libri VII (Seven Books of Histories Against the Pagans). This book chronicles the history of the world from its creation through the founding and history of Rome up until AD 417.

322- Orpheus
Orpheus was an ancient Greek legendary hero endowed with superhuman musical skills. Traditionally, Orpheus was the son of a Muse (probably Calliope) and Oeagrus, a king of Thrace (or Apollo). Orpheus' singing and playing were so beautiful that animals and even trees and rocks moved about him in dance. Orpheus joined the expedition of the Argonauts, saving them from the music of the Sirens by playing his own, more powerful music. On his return, he married Eurydice, who was soon killed by a snake. Overcome with grief, Orpheus ventured himself to the land of the dead to attempt to bring Eurydice back to life. His music and grief so moved Hades, king of the underworld that Orpheus was allowed to take Eurydice with him back to the world of life and light. Hades set one condition: upon leaving the land of death, both Orpheus and Eurydice were forbidden to look back. The couple climbed up toward the opening into the land of the living, and Orpheus, seeing the Sun again, turned back to share his delight with Eurydice. In that moment, she disappeared. The women of Thrace later killed Orpheus. His head, still singing, with his lyre, floated to Lesbos, where an oracle of Orpheus was established. The dismembered limbs of Orpheus were gathered up and buried by the Muses and they had placed his lyre in the heavens as a constellation.

323- Osiris
Osiris was one of the most important gods of ancient Egypt. Initially he was a local god of fertility in Busiris, in Lower Egypt. By about 2400 BC, however, Osiris clearly played a double role: he was both a god of fertility and the embodiment of the dead and resurrected king. This dual role was in turn combined with the Egyptian concept of divine kingship: the king at death became Osiris, god of the underworld; and the dead king's son, the living king, was identified with Horus, a god of the sky. Osiris and Horus were thus father and son. The goddess Isis was the mother of the king and was thus the mother of Horus and consort of Osiris. According to the form of the myth reported by the Greek author Plutarch, Osiris was slain or drowned by Seth, who tore the corpse into 14 pieces and flung them over Egypt. Eventually, Isis and her sister Nephthys found and buried all the pieces, except the phallus, thereby giving new life to Osiris, who remained in the underworld as ruler and judge. Horus later defeated Seth and became the new king of Egypt. Osiris was not only ruler of the dead but also the power that granted all life from the underworld, from sprouting vegetation to the annual flood of the Nile River. From about 2000 BC onward it was believed that every man, not just the deceased kings, became associated with Osiris at death. This identification with Osiris, however, did not imply resurrection, for even Osiris did not rise from the dead. Instead, it signified the renewal of life both in the next world and through one's descendants on Earth. Osiris festivals symbolically re-enacting the god's fate were celebrated annually in various towns throughout Egypt. At Memphis the holy bull, Apis, was linked with Osiris, becoming Osiris-Apis, which eventually became the name of the Hellenistic god Sarapis. Greco-Roman authors connected Osiris with the god Dionysus. Osiris was also identified with Soker, an ancient Memphite god of the dead.

324- Ovid
Ovid (43 BC-AD 17?) was a Roman poet whose narrative skill and linguistic virtuosity made him very popular. Ovid's frivolous and often licentious verse ran against the program of social and moral renewal promoted by Emperor Augustus in the wake of Rome's disastrous civil wars (49-31 BC).
Ovid was born Publius Ovidius Naso into a middle class family in Sulmo, near Rome. Educated in law, he became a good rhetorician, but he is better known as a poet. Ovid studied in Athens and he travelled in Asia and Sicily. In AD 8, Ovid was banished to Tomi, in the Roman province of Dacia (Romania). According to Ovid, one reason for his banishment was his writing. A second reason may have been his knowledge of a scandal involving the emperor's daughter, Julia. Ovid remained a Roman and always hoped to return to Rome but he died at Tomi.
The poetry of Ovid falls into three divisions:
- In his youth, Ovid' main works are: "Amores", erotic poems centred on Corinna; "Medea", a tragedy highly praised by ancient critics; "Heroides, or Epistulae Heroidum", 21 fictional love letters, mostly from mythological heroines to their lovers.
- In his middle period Ovid's main writings are: "Metamorphoses", 15 books about the transformations recorded in mythology and legend from the creation of the world to the time of Roman emperor Julius Caesar; "Fasti", a poetic calendar describing the various Roman festivals and the legends connected with each.
- The main works composed during the period of Ovid's exile are: "Tristia", five books of elegies that describe his unhappy existence at Tomi and appeal to the mercy of Augustus and the "Epistulae ex Ponto", poetic letters.
Ovid was one of the most influential of Roman poets during the Middle Ages (5th century to 15th century) and the Renaissance (14th century to 17th century).

325- Pachomius (Saint)
Pachomius was born about 290 AD probably in Upper Egypt and he died in 346. He was the founder of Christian cenobitic monasticism. Of Egyptian origin, Pachomius encountered Coptic, or Egyptian, Christianity among his cohorts in the Roman emperor Constantine's North African army. When he left the military about 314, he withdrew alone into the wilderness but soon after, he joined the hermit Palemon and a colony of solitaries (anchorites). He drew up a daily program providing periods of work and prayer around a cooperative economic and disciplinary regime. This rule was the first instance in Christian monastic history of the use of a cenobitic, or uniform communal existence. Pachomius instituted a monarchic monastic structure where the religious superior's centralized authority over the community was seen as the symbolic image of God. By the time he died, Pachomius had founded 11 monasteries, numbering more than 7,000 monks and nuns. The Rule of Pachomius only existed in the 5th-century Latin translation of St. Jerome.

326- Palladius
Palladius was born circa 363 at Galatia, Anatolia and he died before 431 at Aspuna. He was a Galatian monk, bishop, and chronicler whose Lausiac History, an account of early Egyptian and Middle Eastern Christian monasticism, provides a valuable source on the origins of Christian asceticism. Palladius practised ascetism, first at the Mount of Olives, the scene of Christ's Passion, then in Egypt in the Nitrian desert, now Wadi an-Natrun. Returning to Palestine about 399 because of poor health, he was named bishop of Helenopolis, near modern Istanbul. Soon after 400, Palladius defended his theological teacher St. John Chrysostom, patriarch of Constantinople, against charges of heresy. Enemies both at the rival theological school of Alexandria and at Constantinople's imperial court accused him of doctrinal errors. For his support of Chrysostom at Byzantium and at Rome, the Eastern Roman emperor Arcadius exiled Palladius for six years, during which he wrote his Dialogue on the Life of St. John Chrysostom. In 413, after his banishment was lifted, Palladius became bishop of Aspuna in Galatia, and during 419-420 he composed his chronicles on "The Lives of the Friends of God," referring to the earliest Christian ascetics in the various wilderness areas of Egypt and Asia Minor.

327- Pamphilus
Pamphilus (circa 240-309) was a pupil of Pierus of Alexandria, a presbyter at Caesarea in Palestine, and the founder of a church library around a collection of Origen's works. He wrote five books of an "Apology for Origen" now lost. He was arrested in 307 and executed in 309.

328- Pantaenus
Pantaenus (died around 190) was the first known teacher at the catechetical school in Alexandria and the teacher of Clement of Alexandria. He was born in Sicily. After his conversion from Stoicism he became a missionary teacher going as far as India. He is believed to be the author of the "Epistle to Diognetus".

329- Papias of Hierapolis
Papias was a second century (he died about 130 AD) bishop of Hierapolis, Phrygia (now in Turkey). Only fragment of his book "Explanation of the Sayings of the Lord," reached us but they are important apostolic source accounts of the history of primitive Christianity and of the origins of the Gospels. According to Irenaeus, Papias had known the Apostle John. The church historian Eusebius of Caesarea recorded that Papias derived his material not only from John the Evangelist but also from John the Presbyter. Eusabius added that through the latest's influence, Papias had taught the early patristic theologians the apocalyptic teaching that Christ would reappear to transform the world into a 1,000-year era of universal peace. In consequence Eusebius edited Papias' work and preserved a small part of it. Eastern and Western Christian theologians used Papias' interpretation of the Gospels until the early 4th century.

330- Paracelsus
Paracelsus was born on November 11 or December 17, 1493 at Einsiedeln, Switzerland and he died on September 24, 1541 at Salzburg, Archbishopric of Salzburg (now in Austria). His full name was PHILIPPUS AUREOLUS THEOPHRASTUS BOMBASTUS VON HOHENHEIM, but he was better known as Paracelsus. He was a German-Swiss physician and alchemist who established the role of chemistry in medicine. He published Der grossen Wundartzney ("Great Surgery Book") in 1536. Paracelsus was the only son of a poor German doctor and chemist. His mother died when he was a small boy and his father moved to Villach in southern Austria. The boy attended the Bergschule where his father taught chemical theory and practice. There the pupils trained to become mining operators. Miners told Paracelsus that metals "grow" in the earth, he watched their transformations in the smelting vats, and probably wondered if he could transmute lead into gold, as the alchemists sought. Paracelsus gained insight into metallurgy and chemistry that led to his later discoveries in chemotherapy. In 1507, at the age of 14, he joined the wandering youths who travelled across Europe in the late Middle Ages, seeking famous teachers at one university after another. During the next five years Paracelsus attended the universities of Basel, Tübingen, Vienna, Wittenberg, Leipzig, Heidelberg, and Cologne but was disappointed with them all.

331- Parmenides
Parmenides was born around 515 BC. He was an Italian Pythagorean philosopher of Elea in southern Italy who went to Athens where he taught Socrates and others. His teaching has been reconstructed from the surviving fragments of his principal work, a three-part verse composition titled On Nature. Parmenides held that the multiplicity of existing things, their changing forms and motion, are but an appearance of a single eternal reality ("Being"), thus giving rise to the principle that "all is one." From this concept of Being, he went on to say that all claims of change or of non-Being are illogical.

332- Patrick, Saint
Patrick (389/461) lived in Britain and Ireland. He is the patron saint and national apostle of Ireland, credited with bringing Christianity to this country, and probably responsible in part for the Christianisation of the Picts and Anglo-Saxons. He wrote two short works, the Confessio, a spiritual autobiography, and his Epistola, a denunciation of British mistreatment of Irish Christians.

333- Paul of Constantinople
Paul of Constantinople (died after 350) was born in Thessalonica. He came to Constantinople in about 330 and became Bishop of that town around 335. A friend of Athanasius, he voted against him at a trial in Constantinople but later rescinded. Exiled to Pontus by Costantines he came back after his death. When Constancius took the city in 338, Paul was exiled again and replaced by Eusebius of Nicomedia.

334- Paul of Samosata
Paul of Samosata was a third century heretical bishop of Antioch in Syria and proponent of a kind of dynamic monarchian doctrine on the nature of Jesus Christ. He was a worldly cleric of humble origin who became bishop of Antioch in 260. Paul held that it was a man who was born of Mary, through whom God spoke his Word (Logos). Jesus was a man who became divine, rather than God become man. A similar speculative Christology was found among the primitive Ebionites of Judaea and in Theodotus and Artemon of Rome. Paul influenced the biblical scholar Lucian of Antioch and his school. The 7th-century Paulicians of Armenia may have claimed to continue his traditions, hence their name. Between 263 and 268 at least three church councils were held at Antioch to debate Paul's orthodoxy. The third condemned his doctrine and deposed him.

335- Paul of Tarsus (Saint)
Paul was born around AD 10 in Tarsus in Cilicia [now in Turkey] and he died around 67 in Rome. His name was Saul of Tarsus, clearly a Jew who, after first being an enemy of Christianity, was converted only a few years after the death of Jesus, to become the leading Apostle of the new Church. He played a decisive part in extending it beyond the limits of Judaism to become a worldwide religion. His letters are the earliest existing Christian writings. They show his theological skill and his pastoral understanding. Paul the Apostle created the Christian Church, as we know it today. He was not the first to preach to the Gentiles but his stand against the Judaising party was decisive. It was due to Paul more than anyone else that Christianity grew from being a small sect within Judaism to become a world religion. Paul's surviving letters became a standard of reference for Christian teaching. The theories of atonement, the reconciliation of mankind to God through the sacrificial death of Christ, rely heavily on Paul. Augustine built on Paul's idea of predestination, divine grace is necessary for salvation, to clarify God's predestined plan of universal salvation and the concept that this does not necessarily conflict with the exercise of free will. The reformers of the 16th century relied on Paul too. Martin Luther used the doctrine of justification by faith and made the distinction between faith and works the basis of his attack on the late medieval church. John Calvin drew from Paul his concept of the church as the company of the elect adding that predestination to salvation belongs only to the elect. Paul's teaching, through the later work of Augustine, dominated the Reformation. Attempts to derive Paul's ideas from Greek or Gnostic influences did not lead anywhere. Paul stands as a Christian Jew, whose conversion convinced him that Christ was the universal Lord under God.
He is generally described as a Christian Literalist but the Gnostics claims that he was the "Great Apostle" of Gnosticism.

336- Paul of Thebes, Saint
Paul of Thebes, also called Paul The Hermit, was born circa 230 near Thebes, Egypt, and he died circa 341 in the Theban desert. He was an ascetic who is traditionally regarded as the first Christian hermit although this honour, today, is generally given to St. Anthony of Egypt. According to St. Jerome, his biographer, Paul fled to the Theban desert during the persecution of Christians (249-251) under the Roman emperor Decius. Thereafter, he lived a life of prayer and penitence in a cave, dying at the reputed age of 113.

337- Pausanias
Pausanias wrote between 143 and 176 AD. He was born in Lydia [now in Turkey] and he died in 176. He was a Greek traveller and geographer whose Periegesis Hellados (Description of Greece) is an invaluable guide to ancient ruins. Pausanias also travelled in Asia Minor, Syria, Palestine, Egypt, Macedonia, Epirus (now in Greece and Albania), and parts of Italy. His main writing is divided into 10 books. His account of each important city begins with a sketch of its history. He gives a few glimpses into the daily life, ceremonial rites, and superstitious customs of the inhabitants and frequently introduces legend and folklore. He also describes the Mystery rites used in the temples he visited. The remains of buildings in all parts of Greece have proved the accuracy of his descriptions.

338- Pelagius
Pelagius was born about 354 probably in Britain and he died after 418, possibly in Palestine. He was a monk and theologian who founded a heterodox theological system known as Pelagianism based on the primacy of human effort in spiritual salvation. Pelagius, though not a priest, became a highly regarded spiritual director for both clergy and laymen in Rome about 380. The asceticism of his adherents acted as a reproach to the spiritual laxity of many Roman Christians. He blamed Rome's moral laxity on the doctrine of divine grace. Pelagius attacked this teaching that, in his view, imperilled the entire moral law; he had many followers at Rome. His closest collaborator was a lawyer named Celestius. After the fall of Rome to the Visigoth Alaric in 410, Pelagius and Celestius went to Africa. There they encountered the hostile criticism of Augustine, who published several denunciatory letters concerning their doctrine. Pelagius left for Palestine around 412. He was accused of heresy at the synod of Jerusalem in 415 but he succeeded in clearing himself, avoiding censure. Following further attacks from Augustine and Jerome, Pelagius wrote De libero arbitrio ("On Free Will") in 416, which resulted in the condemnation of his teaching by two African councils. In 417 Pope Innocent excommunicated Pelagius and Celestius. Innocent's successor, Zosimus, at first pronounced him innocent on the basis of Pelagius' Libellus fidei ("Brief Statement of Faith"). After renewed investigation at the council of Carthage in 418, Zosimus confirmed the council's condemnation of Pelagius.

339- Persephone
Persephone, in Greek mythology, was the daughter of Zeus, the father of the gods, and of Demeter, goddess of the earth and of agriculture. Hades, god of the underworld, fell in love with Persephone and wished to marry her. Although Zeus gave his consent, Demeter was unwilling. Hades, therefore, seized the maiden as she was gathering flowers and carried her off to his realm. Zeus sent Hermes, the messenger of the gods, to bring Persephone back to her mother. Before Hades would let her go, he asked her to eat a pomegranate seed, the food of the dead. She was thus compelled to return to the underworld for one-third of the year. As both the goddess of the dead and the goddess of the fertility of the earth, Persephone was a personification of the revival of nature in spring.

340- Peter (Simon Peter), Saint
Peter was the most prominent of the 12 disciples of Jesus Christ, a leader and missionary in the early church, and traditionally the first bishop of Rome. From the Gospels we know that the name he received at birth was Simon. The Greek word petros ("rock") and its Aramaic equivalent, cephas, were not in use as personal names. "Peter" is thus a metaphorical or symbolic designation.
Peter is known through the letters of Paul, written between AD 50 and 60; the four canonical Gospels and Acts of the Apostles, written from about AD 65 to the end of the 1st century; two canonical letters bearing Peter's name as author and probably written in the 2nd century by someone else. He was called by Jesus to be a disciple, and he became prominent among the Twelve. After Jesus' arrest, Peter denied being associated with him. Peter played an important role in the early Christian church at Jerusalem, having received a special call to preach the gospel to his fellow Jews. In time, Peter taught Christianity to the Gentiles, together with the apostle Paul. The Jewish Christians required converts to Christianity to be circumcised and to abide by Jewish dietary restrictions but Peter declared that the Christian message of salvation did not require that Gentiles adhere to specific legal and ritual precepts of Judaism.
Peter was viewed as the rock on which the church was founded, because Jesus so designated him. Peter travelled about in his missionary activity, accompanied by his wife, and finally died the death of a martyr in Rome in about 64 AD. He was made a Saint.
When the bishop of Rome came to be regarded as the most prominent bishop in Christendom, the image of Peter as a pastor was combined with the tradition of his martyr's death in Rome to serve as the basis of the doctrine of apostolic succession, according to which each Roman bishop was regarded as the successor to Peter, to whom Jesus had entrusted the keys to the kingdom of God.

341- Peter of Alexandria
Peter of Alexandria who died as a martyr under Maximinus in 311 was Bishop of Alexandria from 300.

342- Philip the Apostle, Saint
Philip was born in Bethsaida in Galilee; he died during the 1st century AD. He was one of the Twelve Apostles. According to John, he answered Jesus' call ("Follow me"). At that time Philip belonged to a group led by St. John the Baptist. He participated in the miracle of the loaves and fishes. Philip asked Jesus to reveal the Father, receiving the answer, "Have I been with you so long, and yet you do not know me, Philip? He who has seen me has seen the Father." Nothing more is known about him from the New Testament. In later legends he was often confused with St. Philip the Evangelist (Philip the Deacon), one of the seven deacons of the early church. His apostolate was supposedly in the territory of Scythia. He died of natural causes but, according to another tradition, of crucifixion. The Acts of Philip are apocryphal and probably date from the 3rd/4th century.

343- Philip the Arabian
Philip the Arabian who died in 249 was Roman Emperor from 244. He was a Christian according to Eusebius.

344- Philip the Evangelist
Philip the Evangelist who was born in the 1st century was also called Philip The Deacon. In the early Christian church he was one of the seven deacons appointed to tend the Christians of Jerusalem enabling the Apostles to conduct their missions. His energetic preaching earned him the title of Philip the Evangelist and led him to minister in Samaria, in Palestine, where he converted, among others, the famous magician Simon Magus. Philip's missionary journey ended at Caesarea, where he raised his four daughters, reputed to be prophets, and where, about AD 58, he entertained the Apostle St. Paul. According to Greek tradition, he became bishop of Tralles (modern Aydin, Turkey).

345- Philo Judaeus or Philo of Alexandria
Philo was born in 15 BC (or 25) and he died in AD 45 (or 50) both at Alexandria; he was also called Philo of Alexandria. Philo was a Greek-speaking Jewish philosopher, a representative of Hellenistic Judaism. His writings provide the clearest view of this development of Judaism in the Diaspora. His writings deal extensively with the concept of "Logos" and he is often seen as the initiator of the Christian Gnostic doctrine. He is the bridge between the Greek philosophical tradition and the latter Christian Gnosticism.
Little is known of the life of Philo. Josephus, the historian of the Jews who also lived in the 1st century, says that Philo's family was noble. The community of Alexandria had been almost exclusively Greek-speaking for nearly three centuries and indeed regarded the Septuagint as divinely inspired. Philo was a part of the Greek culture of his time: he knew the techniques of the Greek rhetorical schools; and he praises the gymnasium. Like the cultured Greeks of his day, Philo often attended the theatre. Philo only attended Jewish schools that met on the Sabbath for lectures on ethics. He regarded himself as an observant Jew. Philo says nothing of his own religious practices but he went at least once on a festival pilgrimage to Jerusalem. Philo's work is very important to those who research the relationship of Palestine and the Diaspora in the realm of law (halakah) and ritual observance. He experienced some identity crisis as indicated by a passage in his "On the Special Laws" in which he describes his longing to escape from worldly cares to the contemplative life and his joy at having done so with the Egyptian Jewish ascetic sect of the Therapeutae described in his treatise "On the Contemplative Life". Philo did not always like his life in Alexandria: He praised the Essenes for living outside the cities, for living an agricultural life, and for disdaining wealth.

346- Philostorgius
Philostorgius was born in AD 368 at Borissus, Cappadocia [near modern Kayseri, Turkey] and he died circa 433 probably at Constantinople. He was a Byzantine historian, partisan of Arianism, a Christian heresy asserting the inferiority of Christ to God the Father. His Church History, preserved in part, was an extensive collection of Arian source texts and furnished valuable data on the history, personalities, and intellectual milieu of theological controversy in the early church. Philostorgius was the son of a staunch Arian, he studied in Constantinople, and became a follower of Eunomius of Cyzicus, a leading exponent of extreme Arianism. This branch of the heresy stressed an absolute monotheism: only the Father is perfect God; the Son, Christ, is created. Between 425 and 433, Philostorgius wrote his Church History in 12 books, after visiting Arian communities throughout the Eastern Empire. The work, covering the period 300 to 425, was intended to continue the monumental Ecclesiastical History by the 4th-century chronicler Eusebius of Caesarea. Philostorgius did not attack the orthodox leaders Gregory Nazianzene and Basil of Caesarea. The History appealed to the cultured Greek and it also depicts the Arian response to the pagan accusation that Christianity influenced the political misfortunes of the Greco-Roman empire and civilization. He believed that the collapse of classical culture into barbarism verified Christian apocalyptic teaching, or the predictions of the end of the world and the Second Coming of Christ.

347- Philostratus, Flavius
Philostratus, Flavius, the Athenian, was born in 170 AD and he died around 245. He was a Greek writer who studied at Athens and some time after 202 entered the circle of the philosophical Syrian empress of Rome, Julia Domna. On her death he settled in Tyre. He wrote the Gymnasticus (a treatise dealing with athletic contests); a life of the Pythagorean philosopher Apollonius of Tyana; Bioi sophiston (Lives of the Sophists), treating both the classical Sophists of the 5th century BC and later philosophers and rhetoricians; a discourse on nature and law; and the epistles ("Love Letters").

348- Pico della Mirandola
Pico della Mirandola, Giovanni Conte di Concordia, was born on February 24, 1463 at Mirandola, duchy of Ferrara, Italy and he died on November 17, 1494 at Florence. He was an Italian scholar and Platonist philosopher whose De hominis dignitate oratio ("Oration on the Dignity of Man"), a characteristic Renaissance work composed in 1486 by taking the best elements from other philosophies and combining them in his own work. His father, Giovanni Francesco Pico, prince of the small territory of Mirandola, gave him a humanistic education at home. Pico then studied canon law at Bologna and Aristotelian philosophy at Padua and visited Paris and Florence, where he learned Hebrew, Aramaic, and Arabic. At Florence he met Marsilio Ficino, a Renaissance Platonist philosopher. Introduced to the Hebrew Kabbala, Pico became the first Christian scholar to use Kabbalistic doctrine in support of Christian theology. In 1486, he wrote 900 theses he had drawn from diverse Greek, Hebrew, Arabic, and Latin writers and he invited scholars from all of Europe to Rome for a public disputation. A papal commission found that 13 of the theses were heretical, and Pope Innocent VIII cancelled the assembly. Pico fled to France but was arrested there. After a brief imprisonment he settled in Florence, where he became associated with the Platonic Academy, under the protection of the Florentine prince Lorenzo de' Medici. Pope Alexander VI absolved him from the charge of heresy in 1492. Pico's other works include an exposition of Genesis under the title Heptaplus (Greek hepta, "seven"), indicating his seven points of argument, and a synoptic treatment of Plato and Aristotle, of which the completed work De ente et uno (Of Being and Unity) is a portion. Pico's works were first collected in Commentationes Joannis Pici Mirandulae (1495-96).

349- Pilate, Pontius
Pilate, Pontius, lived in the 1st century AD. He became the Roman military governor, or procurator, of the imperial province of Judea from 26 to 36. The Jewish historian Flavius Josephus described him as a hard administrator who did not understand the religious convictions and national pride of the Jews. Pilate is known mainly for his connection with the trial and execution of Jesus Christ. His culpability in the case has been the subject of debate ever since.
The governor of Judea had complete judicial authority over all non-Roman citizens, but the Sanhedrin, the Jewish supreme council and tribunal decided many cases. According to the Gospels, after the Sanhedrin found Jesus guilty of blasphemy, it sent him to the Roman court because it lacked authority to impose the death sentence. Pilate refused to approve the judgment without investigation. The Jewish priests then made other charges against Jesus, and the governor had a private interview with him. The fear of an uprising in Jerusalem forced Pilate to accede to the demand of the populace, and Jesus was executed. Pilate was recalled to Rome in 36.

350- Pindar
Pindar was born in 518/522 BC at Cynoscephalae, Boeotia, Greece and he died after 446, probably around 438 at Argos. He was the greatest lyric poet of ancient Greece, the master of choral odes celebrating victories achieved in the Pythian, Olympic, Isthmian, and Nemean games. Pindar was of noble birth, possibly from a Spartan family, the Aegeids. His uncle Scopelinus, a skilled flute player, helped with Pindar's musical training. Such a background gave Pindar entry into aristocratic circles in other Greek cities, where his manifest gifts as a poet might be valued more highly than in Boeotia. Pindar was sent to Athens to complete his training and education. He studied the choral lyric poets of the past, Alcman and Stesichorus in particular, and the work of his elder contemporaries, Simonides of Ceos and Lasus of Hermione. He also learned the poetry of Homer and Hesiod, and he received training in the techniques of choral composition in the city where dithyramb (a choral lyric) was cultivated and where tragedy was beginning to evolve from the dramatic ritual dance performed at religious festivals of the god Dionysus.

351- Pionius
Pionius who died about 250 was a martyr during the ecian persecution. He is thought to be the author of "Life of Polycarp" that still exists in part.

352- Plato
Ancient Greek philosopher born in 428/427 BC in Athens or Aegina, Greece and he died in 348/347 in Athens. He was Socrates' disciple and the founder of the philosophical school in Athens (the Academy). He was the second of the great trio of ancient Greek philosophers -Socrates, Plato, and Aristotle- who between them laid the philosophical foundations of Western culture. Building on Socrates' teaching, Plato developed an important system of philosophy. His thought has ethical, logical, epistemological, and metaphysical aspects. However he was also a mystic who relied also on conjectures and myth. On the whole, however, Plato was a rationalist, devoted to the proposition that reason must be followed wherever it leads. Of Plato's character and personality little is known, and little can be inferred from his writings. But it is worth recording that Aristotle, his most able pupil, described Plato as a man "whom it is blasphemy in the base even to praise," meaning that Plato was so noble a character that bad men should not even speak about him.

353- Pliny the Elder
Pliny the Elder was born in AD 23 at Novum Comum, Transpadane Gaul (now Italy) and he died on August 24, 79 at Stabiae, near Mt. Vesuvius. He was a Roman savant and author of the celebrated Natural History, an encyclopaedic work that was an authority on scientific matters up to the Middle Ages. Pliny came from a rich family and he studied in Rome. At the age of 23, he began a military career serving in Germany and rising to the rank of cavalry commander. Back in Rome, he possibly studied law. He became procurator in Spain near the end of Nero's reign, having lived before in semiretirement, studying and writing. He returned to Rome in AD 69 to serve under Vespasian, and assumed various official positions. Pliny's last assignment was that of commander of the fleet in the Bay of Naples charged to suppress piracy. He tried to reassure the terrified citizens after an eruption of Mount Vesuvius, but he was overcome by the fumes from the volcanic activity and died on August 24, 79.

354- Pliny the Younger
Pliny the Younger was born in AD 61, or 62 at Comum (Italy) and he died in about 113 at Bithynia, Asia Minor (now in Turkey). Pliny was a Roman author and administrator who left a collection of private letters illustrating public and private life in the Roman Empire. He was born in a rich family and his uncle, Pliny the Elder, adopted him. He began to practice law at 18 and his good reputation in the civil-law courts gave him the opportunity to move to the more important political court. His most notable success (100) was securing condemnation for corruption of a governor in Africa and a group of officials from Spain. Meanwhile he had attained the highest administrative posts of praetor (93) and consul (100). Pliny headed the military treasury and the senatorial treasury (94-100). After administering the drainage board of the city of Rome (104-106), he was sent (c. 110) by Emperor Trajan to investigate corruption in the municipal administration of Bithynia, where he died two years later. Between 100 and 109 he published nine books of selected, private letters. The 10th book contains addresses to Emperor Trajan on official problems and the emperor's replies. The composition of these litterae curiosius scriptae ("letters written with special care") was a fashion among the wealthy, and Pliny developed it into a miniature art form. There are letters of advice to young men, notes of greeting and inquiry, and descriptions of scenes of natural beauty or of natural curiosities. His letters to Tacitus tell what is known about the date and circumstances of the composition of the Historiae, to which Pliny contributed his account of the eruption of Vesuvius. The biographer Suetonius was among his protégés.

355- Plotinus
Plotinus (AD 205-70) was a Roman philosopher, who founded Neoplatonism. Plotinus was probably born in Egypt where he studied ten years with the philosopher Ammonius Saccas at Alexandria. He went to Rome in about 244, where he established a school and where he spoke on Pythagorean and Platonic wisdom, and on asceticism. At the age of 60 Plotinus planned to establish a communistic commonwealth on the model of The Republic by Plato, but the project failed because of the opposition of the Emperor Gallienus's counsellors. Plotinus continued to teach and write until his death. His works comprise 54 treatises in Greek, called the Enneads, 6 groups of 9 books each, an arrangement probably made by his student Porphyry (AD 232-c. 304), who edited his writings. Plotinus's system was based chiefly on Plato's theory of Ideas, but whereas Plato assumed archetypal Ideas to be the link between the supreme deity and the world of matter, Plotinus accepted a doctrine of emanation. This doctrine supposes the constant transmission of powers from the Absolute Being, or the One, to the creation through several agencies, the first of which is nous, or pure intelligence, whence flows the soul of the world; from this, in turn, flow the souls of humans and animals, and finally matter. Human beings thus belong to two worlds, that of the senses and that of pure intelligence. Inasmuch as matter is the cause of all evil, the object of life should be to escape the material world of the senses, and hence people should abandon all earthly interests for those of intellectual meditation; by purification and by the exercise of thought people can gradually lift themselves to an intuition of the nous, and ultimately to a complete and ecstatic union with the One-that is, God.

356- Plutarch
Plutarch was born in 46 AD at Chaeronea, Boeotia [Greece] and he died after 119. He was a biographer and author whose works strongly influenced the evolution of the essay, the biography, and historical writing in Europe from the 16th to the 19th century. Among his approximately 227 works, the most important are:
The "Bioi paralleloi" (Parallel Lives), in which he recounts the noble deeds and characters of Greek and Roman soldiers, legislators, orators, and statesmen.
The Moralia, or Ethica, a series of more than 60 essays on ethical, religious, physical, political, and literary topics.

357- Polycarp (Saint)
Polycarp lived in the 2nd century; he was the Greek bishop of Smyrna and the leading 2nd-century Christian figure in Roman Asia. By his major writing, The Letter to the Philippians, and by his widespread moral authority, Polycarp combated various heretical sects, including certain Gnostic groups. Polycarp's Letter to the Philippians refutes the Gnostics' argument that God's incarnation in Christ as well as his death and Resurrection were imaginary phenomena of purely moral or mythological significance. At that time the Gnostic heretics had adopted Paul as a primary authority. Polycarp reclaimed Paul as a treasured figure of the Orthodox Church. Polycarp's Letter to the Philippians is important for its early testimony to the existence of other New Testament texts. Toward the end of his life Polycarp visited Bishop Anicetus of Rome to discuss with him the date of the celebration of the Easter festival, a controversy that threatened to provoke a schism between Rome and Asia Minor. The two men could not reach agreement and Rome and Asia Minor would follow different practices. On his return to Smyrna, Polycarp was arrested by the Roman proconsul and burned to death when he refused to renounce Christianity.

358- Polycrates
Polycrates (2d century AD) was Bishop of Ephesus in about 190. He also was the leader of the Asia Minor Church in its struggle to retain its rites against the Roman Church insistence upon uniform Easter observance. Victor excommunicated him.

359- Pontius Pilate
See Pilate Pontius.

360- Porphyry
Porphyry was born about 234 AD in Tyre [modern Sur, Lebanon] or Batanaea [in modern Syria] and he died in 305 probably in Rome. He was a Pagan Neoplatonist Greek philosopher, an editor and a biographer of the philosopher Plotinus and he wrote commentaries on Aristotle's Categories. He studied rhetoric under Cassius Longinus and philosophy (263-268?) in Athens. He met Plotinus in Rome in 263. In 301 he produced his most important work, Enneads, a collection of the works of Plotinus to which was prefixed a biography. Porphyry's voluminous writings extended to philosophy, religion, philology, and science. Surviving fragments of his "Against the Christians", which was condemned in 448 to be burned, showed him as a critic of the new religion. He was also lecturer on Plotinus and tutor to the Syrian philosopher Iamblichus and he wrote a life of the mathematician Pythagoras.

360bis - Pothinus
Irenaeus succeeded the martyred Pothinus as bishop of Lugdunum after the persecutions in Gaul in 177.

361- Praxeas
Praxeas (2d-3d century AD) was an Asiatic Christian who came to Rome in 190 and then went to Africa. He opposed Montanism and taught modalistic monarchianism or Patripassianism.

362- Pricillian
Priscillian who died in 385 was the Bishop of Avila, Spain from about 380 and the founder of a Gnostic sect (Priscillianism).

363- Proclu
Proclu who died in 446 was the Patriarch of Constantinople from 434. He was known for trying to:
- Promote the acceptance of the definitions of the Council of Ephesus (431).
- Strengthen the union of the Orientaals and Cyril of Alexandria.
- Reconcile the Johanites.
- Settle the quarrel about Theodore of Mopsuestia.

364- Proclus
Proclus was born in 410 in Constantinople [now Istanbul] and he died in 485 in Athens; he was the last major Greek philosopher. He was influential in helping Neoplatonic ideas to spread throughout the Byzantine, Islamic, and Roman worlds. Proclus studied philosophy under Olympiodorus the Elder at Alexandria and, at Athens, under the Greek philosophers Plutarch and Syrianus, whom he followed as one of the last heads of the Academy founded by Plato c. 387 BC and closed by Justinian in 529 AD. Remaining there until his death, he helped refine and systematize the Neoplatonic views of the 3rd-century Greek philosopher Iamblichus. Like Iamblichus, Proclus opposed Christianity and passionately defended paganism. As a Neoplatonic Idealist, he emphasized that thoughts comprise reality, while concrete "things" are mere appearances. Ultimate reality, the "One," is both God and the Good and unifies his ethical and theological systems. His attitudes significantly influenced subsequent Christian theology, in both East and West. The most important Arabic philosophical work to transmit Proclus' ideas was the Liber de causis ("Book of Causes"), which passed as a work of Aristotle in medieval times despite its dependence upon Proclus' own Institutio theologica (Elements of Theology). The Elements is a concise exposition of Neoplatonic metaphysics in 211 propositions. His Elements of Physics distilled the essence of Aristotle's views, and his In Platonis theologiam (Platonic Theology) explained Plato's metaphysics. Proclus was also the author of numerous non-philosophical writings, including astronomical, mathematical, and grammatical works.

365- Prometheus
In Greek religion Prometheus was one of the Titans, the supreme trickster, and a god of fire. He became a master craftsman, and as a result he was associated with fire and the creation of man. The Greek poet Hesiod related two principal legends concerning Prometheus.
- Zeus, the chief god, who had been tricked by Prometheus into accepting the bones and fat of sacrifice instead of the meat, hid fire from man. Prometheus stole it and returned it to Earth once again. As the price of fire, and as punishment for mankind in general, Zeus created the woman Pandora and sent her down to Epimetheus (Hindsight), who, though warned by Prometheus, married her. Pandora took the great lid off the jar she carried, and evils, hard work, and disease flew out to wander among mankind.
- As vengeance on Prometheus, Zeus had him chained and sent an eagle to eat his immortal liver, which constantly replenished itself. Aeschylus made him not only the bringer of fire and civilization to men but also their preserver, giving man all the arts and sciences as well as the means of survival.

366- Prosper of Aquitaine, Saint
Prosper of Aquitaine was born circa 390 at Lemovices, Aquitania and he died circa 463, probably at Rome. He was an early Christian polemicist known for his defence of Augustine of Hippo and his doctrine on grace, predestination, and free will, which became a norm for the teachings of the Roman Catholic Church. Prosper's chief opponents were the Semi-Pelagians, who believed in the power of man's innate will to seek God, but at the same time accepted Augustine's concept of the universality of original sin as a corruptive force that cannot be overcome without God's grace. Before 428, Prosper moved to Marseille, where he lived as a monk. Reacting to the rise of Semi-Pelagianism, he wrote an appeal for help to Augustine, who replied with De praedestinatione sanctorum ("Concerning the Predestination of the Saints") and De dono perseverantiae ("Concerning the Gift of Perseverance"). In his writings he opposed Abbot John Cassian of Saint-Victor, as well as Vincent of Lérins. He wrote a reply to the general attack on Augustine, Ad objectiones Gallorum calumniantium ("To the Objections of the Gallic Calumniators"). After Augustine's death (430) in Hippo, Prosper went to Rome in 431 to enlist the aid of Pope Celestine I, who wrote a letter praising Augustine. Prosper then returned to France, but by 435 he was in Rome as secretary to Pope Leo I the Great. Before his death he composed a collection of Augustinian propositions called Liber sententiarum Sancti Augustini ("The Book of the Sentences of St. Augustine"), which was used in the decrees of the second Council of Orange in 529 refuting Semi-Pelagianism.

367- Protagoras
Protagoras was born around 485 BC at Abdera, Greece and he died around 410 BC. He is known as a thinker and teacher, the first and most famous of the Greek Sophists. Protagoras spent most of his life at Athens, where he influenced thought on moral and political questions. Protagoras taught as a Sophist for more than 40 years, claiming to teach men "virtue" in the conduct of their daily lives. He is best known for his dictum "Man is the measure of all things". He acquired great wealth and reputation from his teaching. Though he adopted conventional moral ideas, Protagoras expressed his agnostic attitude toward belief in the gods in Concerning the Gods. He was accused of impiety, his books were publicly burned, and he was exiled from Athens about 415 BC for the rest of his life.

368- Prudentius
Prudentius, Aurelius Clemens (circa 348-410) was a Latin poet, hymnographer and a lawyer in Spain. His poems include:
Apotheosis, on incarnation
Hamartigenia, against Marcion
Contra Symmachum, against paganism
Cathermerinon, hymns for daily use
Peri Stephanon, hymn on Spanish and Italian martyrs

369- Psyche
Psyche, in Roman mythology, was the beautiful princess loved by Cupid, the god of love. Jealous of Psyche's beauty, Venus, goddess of love, ordered her son, Cupid, to make Psyche fall in love with the ugliest man in the world. Cupid instead fell in love with her and carried her off to a palace where he visited her only by night, unseen and unrecognised. Cupid had forbidden her to look at his face, one night Psyche looked upon him while he slept. As she had disobeyed him, Cupid abandoned her, and Psyche was left to wander throughout the world in search of him. After many trials she was reunited with Cupid and was made immortal by Jupiter, king of the gods.

370- Ptolemy
Ptolemy was active from AD 127 to AD 145 in Alexandria. He was an astronomer, geographer, and mathematician who considered the Earth the centre of the universe. As a result the geocentric system became dogmatically asserted in Western Christendom until the 15th century, when it was supplanted by the heliocentric (Sun-centred) system of Nicolaus Copernicus, a Polish astronomer. In addition he was a Gnostic teacher, disciple of Valentinus and founder, with Heracleon, of the Italic school of Valentinus. Virtually nothing is known about his life. His main writing, the Almagest, is divided into 13 books, each of which deals with certain astronomical concepts pertaining to stars and to objects in the solar system. In essence, it is a synthesis of the results obtained by Greek astronomy. On the motions of the Sun, Moon, and planets, Ptolemy extended the observations and conclusions of Hipparchus. Ptolemy accepted the following order for celestial objects in the solar system: Earth (centre), Moon, Mercury, Venus, Sun, Mars, Jupiter, and Saturn. In the Ptolemaic system Sun, Moon, and planets moved around the circumference of their own epicycles.

371- Pyrrhon of Elis
Pyrrhon was born around 360 BC and he died about 272. Pyrrhon, also spelled Pyrrho, was a Greek philosopher from whom Pyrrhonism takes its name; he is considered to be the father of Scepticism. Pyrrhon was a pupil of Anaxarchus of Abdera and in about 330 established himself as a teacher at Elis. Believing that equal arguments can be offered on both sides of any proposition, he dismissed the search for truth as a vain endeavour. While travelling, Pyrrhon saw in the fakirs of India an example of happiness flowing from indifference to circumstances. He concluded that man must suspend judgment on the reliability of sense perceptions and live according to reality as it appears. Pyrrhon's teaching was preserved in the poems of Timon of Phlius, who studied with him.

372- Pythagoras
Pythagoras was born around 580 BC in Samos, Ionia, Greece and he died around 500 in Metapontum, Lucania. He was a Greek philosopher, mathematician, and founder of the Pythagorean brotherhood (a religious organisation that formulated principles that influenced the thought of Plato and Aristotle and contributed to the development of mathematics and Western rational philosophy). Pythagoras was a Hierophant of the Mysteries of Demeter and Dionysus and a poet. Pythagoras went to southern Italy about 532 BC to escape Samos' tyrannical rule where he founded an ethico-political academy at Croton (now Crotona). None of his writings has survived. Pythagoras is generally credited with the theory of the functional significance of numbers in the objective world and in music. Other discoveries often attributed to him (for instance the Pythagorean theorem for right triangles) were probably developed only later by his disciples. The intellectual tradition originating with Pythagoras probably belongs to mystical wisdom and not to scientific scholarship.

373- Pythia
A big dragon or snake, Python, used to guard a cave and a chasm on the slopes of Mount Parnassus, site of the oracle of Delphi. Though killed by the god Apollo, Python remained closely linked with the famous shrine. The oracular priestess in charge of it became known by a form of the mythological serpent's name, Pythia.

374- Rufinus, Tyrannius
Rufinus was born around 345 AD at Concordia, near Aquileia, Italy and he died in 410 or 411 in Sicily, possibly at Messina. He was a Roman priest, writer, theologian, and translator of Greek theological works into Latin at a time when knowledge of Greek was declining in the West. After study at Rome, where he met Jerome, Rufinus entered a monastery at Aquileia. Jerome often visited the monastery, and the two became close friends. About 373 Rufinus began to study the writings of Origen, one of the Greek doctors of the church. In the early 390s Rufinus and Jerome became involved in a controversy over Origen's teachings, by this time suspected by orthodox theologians of injecting heretical elements into theology. In 393 both men were charged with Origenist leanings, but Rufinus refused to make formal abjuration, while Jerome did so. Rufinus was then subjected to abuse from Jerome. Rufinus' orthodoxy was questioned, and he was obliged to write an Apologia to Pope Anastasius. For the remainder of his life Rufinus devoted himself to literary pursuits, translating numerous biblical commentaries and homilies. His own writings include a commentary on the Apostles' Creed that included catechetical instruction and was the earliest continuous Latin text of the creed.

375- Ruth
Ruth was a Moabite woman who married the son of a Judaean couple living in Moab. After the death of her husband, Ruth moved to Judah with her mother-in-law, Naomi, instead of remaining with her own people. Ruth then became the wife of Boaz, a wealthy kinsman of her former husband, and bore Obed, who, according to the final verses of the book that was named after her, was the grandfather of David.

376- Sabellius
Sabellius was a Christian writer who did not hesitate to study and use the Pagan traditions. One of these traditions says that although the Pagans have many gods and goddesses, they are in fact only the particular faces of the Oneness, through whom initiates could relate to the Mystery. On this base, Sabellius compares the Holy Trinity -Father, Son, and Holy Spirit- to "personas". A "personas" was a mask worn by an actor in the ceremonial pageants of the Pagan Mysteries. Our word "personality" derives from "persona". In the same way that our personality or "persona" both masks and represents our ineffable essential nature, so the various images with which we picture the Divine are God's "personas", which mask and represent the Mystery.

377- Sallust (full name Gaius Sallustius Crispus)
Sallust was born around 86 BC at Amiternum, Samnium (now San Vittorino, near L'Aquila), Italy and he died in 35/34 BC. He was a Roman historian and he was known for his narrative writings dealing with political personalities, corruption, and party rivalry. Sallust's family probably belonged to the local aristocracy; he served in the Roman Senate although he was not born into the ruling class. Nothing is known of his early career. In 52 he was a tribune of the plebs; in this way he represented the lower classes but it was also one of the most powerful magistracies. In 50 Sallust was expelled from the Senate for alleged immorality and in 49 he sought refuge with Julius Caesar, and, when the civil war between Caesar and Pompey broke out in that year, he was placed in command of one of Caesar's legions. Two years later, designated praetor, he was sent to quell a mutiny among Caesar's troops, without success. In 46 he took part in Caesar's African campaign, and when Africa Nova was formed from Numidian territory (modern Algeria), Sallust became its first governor. He remained in office until 45 or early 44. Back in Rome, Sallust was accused of extortion and of plundering his province, but he was never brought to trial. Sallust's political career ended soon after his return to Rome. Sallust began to write before the Triumvirate was formed late in 43. His first monograph of 43/42 BC, Bellum Catilinae (Catiline's War), deals with corruption in Roman politics. Sallust describes the course of the conspiracy and the measures taken by the Senate and Cicero, who was then consul. In Sallust's second monograph, Bellum Jugurthinum of 41-40 BC (The Jugurthine War), he explored in greater detail the origins of party struggles that arose in Rome when war broke out against Jugurtha, the king of Numidia, who rebelled against Rome at the close of the 2nd century BC. The Histories describes the history of Rome from 78 to 67 B.C. Two "Letters to Caesar" and an "Invective Against Cicero," Sallustian in style, have often been credited, although probably incorrectly, to Sallust.

378- Sallustius
Sallustius was active around 360 AD. He was a Neoplatonic philosopher and an advisor to Emperor Julian in his attempt to revive Paganism.

379- Salome
According to the Jewish historian Josephus, Salome was the daughter of Herodias and stepdaughter of Herod Antipas, tetrarch of Galilee. In Biblical literature she is said to be responsible for the execution of John the Baptist. According to the Gospels of Mark and Matthew, Herod Antipas had imprisoned John the Baptist for condemning his marriage to Herodias, the divorced wife of his half brother Herod Philip. When Salome danced before Herod and his guests at a festival, he promised to give her whatever she asked. Herodias, her mother, infuriated by John's condemnation of her marriage, told her daughter to demand the head of John the Baptist on a platter, and Herod was forced by his oath to have John beheaded. Salome took the platter with John's head and gave it to her mother.

380- Salvian
Salvian (circa 400-480), also called "teacher of bishops", was a presbyter and writer. He was born in the Rhineland and wrote many books including the 8 volumes "On the Government of God" that attack the complacency of the church and the empire.

381- Samson
The Old Testament describes Samson as an Israelite hero, a Nazirite and a legendary warrior who did incredible exploits. Before his birth his parents learned through a theophany that he was to be dedicated to the life of a Nazirite, one set aside for God by a vow to abstain from strong drink, from shaving or cutting the hair, and from contact with a dead body. Samson possessed extraordinary physical strength but he lost it due to the violation of his Nazirite vow. He has been credited with remarkable exploits: the slaying of a lion, moving the gates of Gaza, his decimating the Philistines, defeating enemy assault on him at Gaza where he had gone to visit a harlot. He first broke his religious promises by feasting with a woman from the neighbouring town of Timnah, a Philistine, one of Israel's mortal enemies. He fell victim to his enemies due to his love of Delilah, to whom he revealed the secret of his strength: his long Nazirite hair. As he slept, Delilah cut his hair and betrayed him. He was captured, blinded, and enslaved by the Philistines, but in the end he was granted his revenge; through the return of his old strength, he demolished the great Philistine temple of the god Dagon, at Gaza, destroying his captors and himself.

382- Samuel
Samuel (11th century BC) was a religious hero in the history of Israel: seer, priest, judge, prophet, and military leader. His greatest role was in the establishment of the monarchy in Israel. Information about Samuel is contained in The First Book of Samuel (in the Roman Catholic canon, The First Book of Kings). The two books of Samuel do not indicate that he is their author or the hero. Samuel, the son of Elkanah (of Ephraim) and Hannah, was born in answer to the prayer of his previously childless mother. She dedicated him to the service of the chief sanctuary of Shiloh, under the priest Eli. As a boy Samuel received a divine oracle in which the fall of the house of Eli was predicted. When he became an adult, Samuel inspired Israel to a great victory over the Philistines at Ebenezer. The elders of Israel's idea to install a king was rejected by Samuel as infidelity to Yahweh. By the revelation of Yahweh, however, he anointed Saul king of all Israel. His leadership of Israel in a campaign against the Ammonites vindicated Saul as king; after this, Samuel retired from the leadership of Israel. He reappeared to announce the oracle of Yahweh rejecting Saul as king, once for arrogating to himself the right of sacrifice and a second time for failing to carry out the law of the ban against the Amalekites. Samuel secretly anointed David as king. He then faded into the background.

383- Sappho
Sappho was active from about 610 to 580 BC in Lesbos, Asia Minor. Sappho -also spelled PSAPPHO- was a lyric poet admired for the beauty of her writing. Her vocabulary, like her dialect, is for the most part vernacular, not literary. Sappho is said to have been married to Cercolas, a wealthy man from the island Andros. The tradition that she was banished and went to Sicily for a time is probably true; most of her life, however, was spent at Mytilene on the island of Lesbos. Her themes are invariably personal, concerned with her friendships and enmities with other women, although her brother Charaxus was the subject of several poems. Sappho attracted a number of admirers, some from distant places. The principal themes of her poetry are the loves and jealousies and hates that flourished in her circle of wealthy friends. Sappho expresses her feelings for other women in words that go from gentle affection to passionate love. Ancient writers alleged that Sappho was a lesbian. Her poetry shows that she had emotions stronger than friendship toward other women, but nothing connects her with homosexual practices. In the 3rd and 2nd centuries BC, what remained of her work was collected and republished in Alexandria in nine books of lyrical verse and one of elegiac. Only one poem, 28 lines long, was complete. The next longest was 16 lines. Since 1898 these fragments have been greatly increased by papyrus finds, though no complete poem has been recovered and nothing equal in quality to the two longer pieces preserved in quotations.

384- Saturninus (or Saturnilus) of Antioch
Saturninus of Antioch was a Christian Gnostic, a follower of Simon Magus.
Lived at the time of Basilides.

385- Saul
Saul was the first king of Israel (c. 1021-1000 BC). The bible says that Saul was chosen king by the judge Samuel and by the public. Saul's chief contribution was to defend Israel against its many enemies, especially the Philistines. Saul was the son of Kish, a member of the tribe of Benjamin, and he was made king by the league of 12 Israelite tribes to strengthen Hebrew resistance to the Philistine threat. For two centuries, Israel was a loose confederation of tribes, dependent for their unity upon their religious faith and covenants that were renewed periodically. By Saul's day the tribes were no match for the superior iron weapons and chariots of the Philistines. Saul liberated the town of Jabesh-Gilead from oppression by the Ammonites, which brought him to the attention of all Israel and he was chosen as king. Samuel had some misgivings about the kingship however he anointed Saul as a concession to popular pressure. He warned of the loss of personal and tribal freedom that would follow and interpreted the action as a rejection of God.

386- Seneca the Younger
Seneca was born in 4 BC at Corduba, Spain and he died in 65 AD at Rome. Seneca the Younger was a Roman philosopher (follower of Pythagoras in his youth), statesman, orator, and tragedian. He was Rome's leading intellectual figure in the mid-1st century AD and was virtual ruler with his friends of the Roman world between 54 and 62 during the first phase of the emperor Nero's reign. He was the second son of a wealthy family. The father, Lucius Annaeus Seneca (Seneca the Elder), had been famous in Rome as a teacher of rhetoric. He went to Rome where he was trained as an orator and educated in philosophy in the school of the Sextii, which blended Stoicism with an ascetic neo-Pythagoreanism. Being in poor health he went to Egypt, where his aunt was the wife of the prefect, Gaius Galerius. Returning to Rome about the year 31, he began a career in politics and law but in 41 the emperor Claudius banished Seneca to Corsica on a charge of adultery with the princess Julia Livilla, the Emperor's niece. There he studied natural science and philosophy and wrote the three treatises entitled Consolationes. Agrippina, the Emperor's wife, had him recalled to Rome in 49. He became praetor in AD 50, married Pompeia Paulina, a wealthy woman, built up a powerful group of friends, including the new prefect of the guard, Sextus Afranius Burrus, and became tutor to the future emperor Nero. The murder of Claudius in 54 pushed Seneca and Burrus to the top. Seneca and Burrus introduced fiscal and judicial reforms and fostered a more humane attitude toward slaves. In 59 they had to condone the murder of Agrippina. When Burrus died in 62 Seneca knew that he could not go on, he retired, and in his remaining years he wrote some of his best philosophical works. In 65, Seneca's enemies denounced him as having been a party to the conspiracy of Piso. Ordered to commit suicide, he met death with fortitude and composure.

387- Serapion
Serapion (died 211) was bishop of Antioch; he opposed Montanism and wrote against conversion to Judaism.

388- Serapion of Thmuis (Saint)
Serapion of Thmuis (died after 360 AD) was a 4th century Christian prelate. First a monk, he became Bishop of Thmuis around 339. He was a friend and protege of Athanasius.

389- Serapis
Serapis (also Sarapis), in Greek and Egyptian mythology, was a deity associated with Osiris, Hermes, and Hades. Introduced in the 3rd century BC as a state god for both Greeks and Egyptians. The Egyptians believed that Serapis was a human manifestation of Apis, a sacred dead bull that symbolized Osiris while in Greek mythology, Serapis was represented as a god of fertility and medicine, and the ruler of the dead in Tartarus. The worship of Serapis spread throughout the ancient world and the Roman Empire. The cult waned with the ascendancy of Isis, the Egyptian goddess of motherhood and fertility.

390- Set
In Egyptian mythology Set (Seth, Sutekh) was the god of the forces of chaos and of the hostile desert lands. He is depicted as a donkey or monstrous typhon-headed man, and is also represented in the form of hippopotami, serpents, the desert oryx, pigs, crocodiles, and some types of birds. Set was violent from birth, tearing himself from his mother Nut. He was brother to Osiris, Isis, and Neith, the latter being also his consort. Set, jealous of Osiris' kingship of Egypt, killed him and cut the corpse into pieces. He then contended for the kingship with Horus, son of Osiris, and lost. For these deeds Set became the traditional enemy of ma'at (cosmic order) and is depicted in animal guise on temple walls being killed by the pharaoh in order to uphold everlasting order over chaos.

391- Severian of Gabala
Severian of Gabala died after 408. He was bishop of Gabala (now Latakia, Syria), a theologian, and orator. He was also the principal opponent of the 4th-century Greek Orthodox church father and patriarch of Constantinople, John Chrysostom. An accomplished speaker and writer, Severian left Gabala about 401 for the Byzantine imperial capital of Constantinople, where he established a reputation for his oratory. He became a protégé of Chrysostom and was entrusted with administrative responsibility in the Greek Orthodox church during Chrysostom's visitations to Asian Christian communities. He was accused by Serapion, archdeacon of Constantinople, of undermining Chrysostom's authority and later was induced by Chrysostom to return to his Syrian diocese. Recalled to Constantinople about 403 and received by Chrysostom, Severian delivered a formal address on peace in the ceremony of reconciliation. Severian served as prosecutor and judge of the patriarch at the Synod of the Oak, July 403. This provincial council convicted Chrysostom on apparently fabricated charges; he was exiled to the wild frontier of Asia Minor. The popular reaction in favour of Chrysostom forced Severian and his followers to flee Constantinople. The next year Severian arranged a second trial that succeeded in exiling the patriarch permanently (June 404) on counts of illegally resuming his patriarchal jurisdiction and of burning down his own church. Following Chrysostom's death in 407 Severian left Constantinople for Syria.

392- Severus of Antioch
Severus of Antioch was born circa 465 at Sozopolis, Pisidia, Asia Minor [near modern Konya, Turkey] and he died 538 at Xois, Egypt. He was a Greek monk-theologian, patriarch of Antioch, and a leader of the monophysites. Severus led this sect during the reigns of the Byzantine emperors Anastasius I (491-518) and Justinian I (527-565). His later ecclesiastical condemnation and exile hastened the sect's eventual decline. He studied theology in Alexandria and lived as a monk in Palestine before he was ordained priest by a monophysite bishop. As proponent of monophysitism -which viewed Christ as comprising a single, divine nature that subsumed his humanity by a personal union- Severus was called to Constantinople in 509 to answer heresy charges. There he became a confidant of the Byzantine emperor Anastasius, who nominated him to be patriarch of Antioch in 512. As a result, the monophysites came into control of Antioch. The emperor Justin I (518-527), enforced Christian orthodoxy throughout the empire and Severus was forced to flee to Egypt, under the protection of Timothy IV, the monophysite patriarch of Alexandria. Severus became the leader of the monophysite movement in Egypt (the Coptic church) and Syria (the Jacobites). At the beginning of Justinian I's reign, Severus regained his patriarchal office, but in 535 he again had to flee to Egypt, where he went into final retirement. Theologically, Severus was a moderate monophysite who rejected the orthodox formula of the Council of Chalcedon (451) but also rejected extreme monophysite assertions that Christ was exclusively divine.

393- Sextus
Sextus Empiricus was a 3rd century Greek philosopher and historian who produced the only existing account of Greek Scepticism in his Outlines of Pyrrhonism and Against the Dogmatists. As a major exponent of Pyrrhonistic "suspension of judgment," Sextus elaborated the 10 tropes of Aenesidemus and attacked syllogistic proofs in every area of speculative knowledge. Little is known of his life except that he was a medical doctor and headed a Sceptical school during the decline of Greek Scepticism. The republication of his Hypotyposes in 1562 had a big impact on European philosophical thought as most the philosophy of the 17th and 18th centuries can be interpreted in terms of the ancient Sceptical arguments that are parts of Sextus' work.

394- Mary Shelley
Mary Shelley, née Godwin, was born on August 30, 1797 at London, England and she died on February 1, 1851 at London. She was an English Romantic novelist best known as the author of Frankenstein. She was the only daughter of William Godwin and Mary Wollstonecraft Godwin. She met the young poet Percy Bysshe Shelley in the spring of 1814 and eloped with him to France in July of that year. The couple was married in 1816, after Shelley's first wife had committed suicide. Mary Shelley apparently came as near as any woman could to meeting Percy Shelley's requirements for his life's partner: "one who can feel poetry and understand philosophy." After her husband's death in 1822, she returned to England and devoted herself to publicizing Shelley's writings. She published her late husband's Posthumous Poems (1824), and she also edited his Poetical Works (1839) and his prose works. Her Journal is a rich source of Shelley biography, and her letters are an indispensable adjunct. Mary Shelley's best-known novel is Frankenstein, or The Modern Prometheus (1818), in which she narrates the dreadful consequences that arise after a scientist has artificially created a human being. Mary Shelley also wrote Valperga (1823), The Fortunes of Perkin Warbeck (1830), Lodore (1835), and Falkner (1837), and The Last Man (1826), an account of the future destruction of the human race by a plague. Her travel book History of a Six Weeks' Tour (1817) recounts the continental tour she and Shelley took in 1814 following their elopement and then recounts their summer near Geneva in 1816.

395- Shenoute
Shenoute (circa 360-450) was the abbot of the White Monastery in Upper Egypt for many years, a follower of the Rules of Pachomius. He attacked paganism and offered guidance to monks and laity.

396- Sibyl
Sibyl, also called SIBYLLA, was a prophetess in Greek legend and literature. She was described as a woman of old age giving predictions in ecstatic frenzy. She was a figure of the mythical past, and her prophecies were given in writing. In the 5th and early 4th centuries BC, she was assumed to be a single person living in Asia Minor. From the late 4th century Sibyl became the title of many women present in all the important oracle centres; they had individual names. A collection of sibylline prophecies, the Sibylline Books, was offered for sale to Tarquinius Superbus, the last of the seven kings of Rome, by the Cumaean sibyl. He refused to pay her price, so the sibyl burned six of the books before selling him the remaining three at the price requested for the nine. The books were then kept in the temple of Jupiter on the Capitoline Hill, to be consulted in emergencies. A Judean or Babylonian sibyl was credited with writing the Judeo-Christian Sibylline Oracles. Some Christians considered the sibyl as a prophetic book equal to the Old Testament.

396bis- Silas (Saint)
Silas was a Christian prophet of Jerusalem mentioned in the New Testament and an Elder of the Christian Jerusalem Church.

397- Silvanus
In the Roman religion, Silvanus was the god of the countryside, similar in character to Faunus, the god of animals, with whom he is often identified. He is often represented as a countryman. Initially he was the spirit of the woodland surrounding the settlements but as the forest was conquered, he became the god of woodland pastures, of boundaries, and of villas, parks, and gardens. He did not have a cult or temple, but only a simple worship ritual at a sacred grove or tree. In Latin literature he was identified with the Greek god Silenus, a minor woodland deity, or Pan, a god of forests, pastures, and shepherds.

398- Silvanus-Constantine
Constantine-Silvanus died around 684. He was also known as CONSTANTINE OF MANANALI (near Samasota, Syria), his probable birthplace, and he was the probable founder of the Middle Eastern sect of Paulicians, a group of Christian dualists. He took the additional name of Silvanus to honour a companion of St. Paul; later Paulician leaders followed this practise. As a teacher, he founded a Paulician community at Kibossa, near Colonia, Armenia, and directed it until his death. He died by stoning after his arrest by soldiers sent by the emperor Constantine IV (reigned 668-685) to suppress heresy. The leader of this force, Symeon-Titus, became a convert to Paulicianism and he also became a martyr (690). He taught that the New Testament should be the only written source of religious guidance. Constantine-Silvanus left no known writings.

399- Simeon ben Yohai
Simeon ben Yohai lived in the 2nd century AD. He was one of a select group of Palestinian rabbinic teachers, one of the most eminent disciples of the martyred Rabbi Akiba ben Joseph and, traditionally, author of the Zohar, the most important work of Jewish mysticism. Little is known of Simeon's life, and what is recorded of it in the Talmud is mixed with legend. Simeon opposed the Romans and was forced to conceal himself. According the legends, he and his son Eleazar hid in a cave for 13 years, subsisting on dates and the fruit of a carob tree. Later Simeon established an academy where his pupils included Judah ha-Nasi, the redactor of the Mishna, in which many of Simeon's aphorisms are recorded. The Sanhedrin sent Simeon to Rome as an emissary, where he succeeded in having a number of restrictions upon Jewish observances removed. Simeon advocated total devotion to the study of the Torah. It was probably because of his reputation as a miracle worker and ascetic that the Zohar came to be attributed to him whereas modern scholars ascribe the Zohar to Moses de León, a 13th-century mystic.

400- Simeon Stylites, Saint
Simeon Stylites - was called Simeon the Elder- was born circa 390 at Sisan, Cilicia [near modern Aleppo, Syria] and he died in 459 at Telanissus, Syria. He was a Syrian monk who was the first known stylite, or pillar hermit (from Greek stylos, "pillar"). A shepherd, Simeon entered a monastic community, but, because of his excessive austerities, he was expelled and became a hermit. His reputed miracle-working created popular veneration; about 420, to escape the importunities of the people, he began his pillar life northwest of Aleppo. His first column was 6 feet high, later increased to about 50 feet. He remained atop the column until his death, exposed to the elements, standing or sitting day and night in his restricted area, protected from falling by a railing, and provided with a ladder to communicate with those below or to receive gifts of food from disciples. Eventually his pillar became a pilgrimage site. Visitors sought spiritual counsel, relief from sickness, intervention for the oppressed, and enlightenment in prayer and doctrine. Simeon apparently converted many people, and he influenced the Eastern Roman emperor Leo I to support the orthodox Chalcedonian party during the 5th-century controversy over the nature of Christ.

401- Simon de Cyrene
According to the Gospels, Jesus Christ's Crucifixion began with his scourging, then the Roman soldiers then mocked him as the "King of the Jews" by clothing him in a purple robe and a crown of thorns and led him slowly to Mount Calvary, or Golgotha. Simon of Cyrene was allowed to aid him in carrying the cross. According to some Gnostic myths Simon died on the cross instead of Jesus.

402- Simon Magus
See Magus, Simon.

403- Socrates
Socrates was born around 470 BC and he died in 399 both in Athens, Greece. He was the first of the three great ancient Greek philosophers -Socrates, Plato, and Aristotle- who laid the philosophical foundations of Western culture. Plato described him as a barefoot sage who was teaching Phytagorean philosophy in Athens. Socrates "brought down philosophy from the nature speculation of the Ionian and Italian cosmologists to analyses of the character and conduct of human life. He lived during the Peloponnesian War, with its erosion of moral values and Socrates talked about the ethical dimensions of life. He was condemned to death by poisoning in 399 BC for heresy.

404- Socrates Scholasticus
Socrates Scholasticus (circa 380-450) was a Greek Church historian. He is the author of a seven books "Ecclesiastical History".

405- Sol
In Roman religion, Sol was the name of two distinct sun gods at Rome. The original Sol, or Sol Indiges, had a shrine on the Quirinal, an annual sacrifice on August 9, and another shrine, together with Luna, the moon goddess, in the Circus Maximus. The Roman equated him with the Greek sun god Helios. The worship of Sol changed with the importation of various sun cults from Syria. The Roman emperor Elagabalus (reigned AD 218-222) built a temple to him as Sol Invictus on the Palatine and attempted to make his worship the principal religion at Rome. The emperor Aurelian (reigned 270-275) later re-established the worship and erected a magnificent temple to Sol in the Campus Agrippae. The worship of Sol and its cult lasted until Christianity replaced it.

406- Solomon
Solomon lived in the 10th century BC; he was the son and successor of David and traditionally regarded as the greatest king of Israel. He maintained his dominions with military strength and established Israelite colonies outside his kingdom's borders. The crowning achievement of his vast building program was the famous temple at his capital, Jerusalem. Nearly all that is factually known of Solomon comes from the Bible. Solomon's father, David, was a self-made king, who founded the Judaean dynasty and carved out an empire from the border of Egypt to the Euphrates River. Solomon inherited a considerable empire, along with a Phoenician ally. Solomon's mother was Bathsheba, formerly the wife of David's Hittite general, Uriah. She proved to be adept at court intrigue. When David was old, one of his wives, Haggith, tried to have her son, Adonijah, appointed as David's successor. Adonijah enlisted the aid of powerful allies: David's senior general, Joab, Abiathar the priest, and several other court figures. It was only through the efforts of Bathsheba, together with the prophet Nathan, that Solomon, who was younger than several of his brothers, was anointed king while David was still alive.

407- Sopatros
Sopatros, a well-known pagan initiate, attended the foundation of Constantinople, which was predominantly a Christian city; its dedication was celebrated by Christian services.

408- Sophia
See "Sophia" in "Part I - Concepts". Sophia, the Gnostic Goddess of Wisdom, is also known by the following names: Psyche, Zoe (meaning "Life"), Achamoth (wisdom in Hebrew), Barbelo, …

409- Soter (Saint)
Soter was born at Fondi, Latium [Italy] and he died in 175 AD in Rome; he was pope from about 166 to about 175 succeeding St. Anicetus. Soter sent a letter and alms to the church of Corinth, whose bishop, St. Dionysius, replied in a letter that acknowledged Soter's affection and theological advice. Soter continued Pope Anicetus' attack against Montanism, a heresy based on prophecy and rigid moral norms.

410- Suetonius
Suetonius was born in 69 AD, probably in Rome [Italy] and he died after 122. He was a Roman biographer and antiquarian whose writings include De viris illustribus ("Concerning Illustrious Men"), a collection of short biographies of celebrated Roman literary figures, and De vita Caesarum (Lives of the Caesars). Suetonius' family was of the knightly class, or equites. He was a friend and protégé of Pliny the Younger, he seems to have studied and then abandoned the law as a career. After Pliny's death Suetonius found another patron, Septicius Clarus. Upon the accession of Emperor Hadrian (117), he entered the imperial service, holding the posts of controller of the Roman libraries, keeper of the archives, and adviser to the emperor on cultural matters. Probably around 121 he was promoted to secretary of the imperial correspondence, but in or after 122 he was dismissed and he devoted himself to literary pursuits.

411- Sulpicius Severus
Sulpicius Severus was born around 363 AD in Aquitania, Gaul and he died around 420. He was an early Christian ascetic, a chief authority for contemporary Gallo-Roman history, and a good writer. Trained as a lawyer, Sulpicius was baptized in about 390 with Paulinus (later bishop of Nola). After the early death of his wife, he devoted himself to a life as a literary recluse in Aquitania. Although the 5th-century biographer Gennadius refers to Sulpicius as a priest of suspect orthodoxy who was not in good relations with the Gaulish bishops, St. Augustine of Hippo and St. Jerome make friendly references to him. Sulpicius' most famous work is the Vita S. Martini. In 400 he wrote Chronica, 2 vol., (c. 402-404), sacred histories from the Creation to his own time but omitting the Gospels that includes the tragic history of the Priscillianists, followers of an unorthodox Trinitarian doctrine teaching that the Son differs from the Father only in name.

412- Symeon of Mesopotamia
Symeon of Mesopotamia (4th century) was the main theologian of the Messalian ascetics His austere sect started in Mesopotamia and spread to Syrian and Asia Minor. He advocated the rejection of all worldly pursuits including work.

413- Symmachus
Quintus Aurelius Symmachus was born in 345 AD and he died in 402. He was a Roman statesman, a brilliant orator, a writer, and an opponent to Christianity. Symmachus was the born in a family of great distinction and wealth. He had a brilliant career including the pro-consulship of Africa in 373, the city prefecture at Rome in 384, and the consulship for 391. When the emperor Gratian (367-383), influenced by the Christian bishop of Milan, St. Ambrose, ordered the statue of Victory to be removed from the Senate house at Rome in 382, Symmachus, a pagan, went to Milan to plead in vain, with the Emperor to cancel this anti-pagan measure. After Gratian's murder in 383, Symmachus asked Valentinian II (375-392) to revoke Gratian's anti-pagan orders but again without success. Valentinian's court was pro-Christian and Symmachus lost much of his influence; when Magnus Maximus drove Valentinian from Italy in 387, Symmachus, the leader of the Senate, offered the new emperor the Senate's congratulations. When Theodosius I reconquered Italy for Valentinian in 388, Symmachus was forgiven and appointed consul for 391. Under the pagan rule of Eugenius and Arbogast in 392-394 he regained some of his influence and survived under Honorius until 402. Symmachus' extant works are the 10 books of his Letters.

414- Synesius of Cyrene
Synesius (circa 370-413) was a Christian prelate, a neo-platonist philosopher who studied philosophy under Hypatia, and a great figure among the fathers of the church. He was a country gentleman of the province of Cyrene in western Egypt. If baptised he was only a nominal churchman. He was a friend of the Pagan and Christian leaders in Alexandria, the patriarch Theophilus and the philosopher Hypatia. He represented his people at the court of Constantinople and in 410 the people of Ptolemais elected him to the episcopate (bishop) to be a civic as well as a religious leader. He accepted with some reservation, mainly that he would remain a neoplatonist and he would remain married. As a bishop he came closer to Christianity. Several of his letters to Hypatia still exist.

415- Tacitus
Tacitus was born in 56 AD and he died around 120. He was a Roman orator and a public official as well as probably the greatest historian and one of the greatest prose stylists who wrote in Latin. Among his works are the Germania, describing the Germanic tribes, the Historiae (Histories), concerning the Roman Empire from Ad 69 to 96, and the later Annals, dealing with the empire in the period from AD 14 to 68. He grew up in comfortable circumstances and enjoyed a good education. Tacitus studied rhetoric and his training was a systematic preparation for administrative office and the practice of law before working as a "virgintivirate" (one of 20 appointments to minor magistracies) and a military tribunate. In 77 Tacitus married the daughter of Gnaeus Julius Agricola who had risen in the imperial service to the consulship. Moving through the regular stages, he gained the quaestorship (a responsible provincial post), probably in 81; then in 88 he attained a praetorship (a post with legal jurisdiction) and became a member of the priestly college that kept the Sibylline Books of prophecy and supervised foreign-cult practice.

416- Tammuz
Tammuz was a Babylonian god whose cult is one of the oldest in the world, and still survives in Kurdiatan. It spread to Palestine after 700 BC. He is the god of vegetation who died during the hot summer months to come back to life in the spring. He was the young lover of Ishtar who descended in the underworld to bring back Tammuz to life.

417- Tatian
Tatian was born in AD 120 in Syria and he died in April 173. Tatian became a pupil of Justin Martyr and converted to Christianity. He rejected the classical literary and moral values of the Greeks as corrupt and repudiated their intellectualism, preferring instead the "barbaric" Christian culture. After Justin's martyrdom Tatian broke with the Roman church, returned to Syria about 172, and became associated with the religious community of the Encratites, a heretical sect integrating a severe asceticism with elements of Stoic philosophy. During this period Tatian produced the two works that still survive. The Diatessaron (Greek: "From Four," or "Out of Four") is a version of the four Gospels arranged in a single continuous narrative that, in its Syriac form, served the biblical-theological vocabulary of the Syrian church for centuries. Its Greek and Latin versions influenced the Gospel text. The discourse to the Greek was a virulent polemic against Hellenistic learning, presented a Christian cosmology and demonology in which Tatian negatively compared Greek polytheistic theology with the Christian concept of a unique deity whose sublimity transcended the foibles of Greek idols. Tatian's other writings, listed by the 4th-century historian Eusebius of Caesarea, have been lost.

418- Tertullian
Tertullian (about 160-220) was the first important Christian writer in Latin. Tertullian was born Quintus Septimius Florens Tertullianus in Carthage, the son of a Roman centurion. He trained for a career in law and practised his profession in Rome. Sometime between 190 and 195, while still in Rome, he became a convert to the Christian faith, and he visited Greece and possibly Asia Minor. In 197 he returned to Carthage, where he married and became a presbyter of the church. About 207 he aligned himself with Montanism, a Gnostic sect that encouraged prophesying and espoused a rigorous form of asceticism. A zealous champion of Christianity, Tertullian wrote many theological treatises, of which 31 have survived. In his various works he defends Christianity, refutes heresy, or argues some practical point of morality or church discipline. His views on ethics and discipline became progressively harsher in his later works. After espousing Montanist doctrines, he was a severe critic of orthodox Christians, whom he accused of moral laxity. Many of his works are accepted as orthodox by the Roman Catholic Church and are included in the recognised body of patristic literature. Tertullian profoundly influenced the later church fathers. Tertullian's writings demonstrate a profound knowledge of Greek and Latin literature, both pagan and Christian. He was the first writer in Latin to formulate Christian theological concepts, such as the nature of the Trinity. Having no models to follow, he developed a terminology derived from many sources, chiefly Greek and the legal vocabulary of Rome.
His main writings are:
Apologeticus (197?) is a defence of Christians against pagan charges of immorality, economic worthlessness, and political subversion.
His most important work refuting heresy is "De Praescriptione Hereticorum" (On the Claims of Heretics), in which he argued that the church alone has the authority to declare what is and what is not orthodox Christianity.
In other writings he strongly disapproved of second marriages, exhorted Christians not to attend public shows, and favoured simplicity of dress and strict fasts. Like all Montanists, Tertullian held that Christians should welcome persecution, not flee from it.
Christian historians value above all De Baptismo (On Baptism) and De Oratione (On Prayer), for the light they throw on contemporary religious practices.

419- Thaddaeus, Saint
Thaddaeus, or Judas, the son of James was one of the twelve Apostles.

420- Thales
Thales (circa 625-546 BC) was a Greek philosopher born in Miletus, Asia Minor. He was the founder of Greek philosophy, and was considered one of the Seven Wise Men of Greece. He was an astronomer who predicted the eclipse of the sun that occurred on May 28, 585 BC. He is also said to have introduced geometry in Greece. According to Thales, the original principle of all things is water, from which everything proceeds and into which everything is again resolved.

421- Thaumaturgus Gregory
Thaumaturgus Gregory was born about 213 AD in Neocaesarea, Pontus Polemoniacus [now Niksar, Turkey] and he died about 270 in Neocaesarea. He was a Greek Christian and a defender of orthodoxy in the 3rd-century Trinitarian (nature of God) controversy. Gregory was introduced to Christianity while studying under Origen, the leading Christian intellectual of his time, at Caesarea (near modern Haifa, Israel). On his return to Neocaesarea, Gregory was made a bishop and committed his life to Christianising that largely pagan region. The Roman emperor Decius' persecution (250-251) compelled Gregory and his community to withdraw into the mountains. Later he proposed liturgical celebrations honouring the Decian martyrs. His work was of a more practical, pastoral nature than of a speculative theologian. His Canonical Epistle (c. 256) contains valuable data on Eastern Church discipline in the 3rd-century, resolving moral questions incident to the Gothic invasion of Pontus. With his brother, a fellow bishop, Gregory assisted at the first Synod of Antioch (c. 264), which rejected the heresy of Paul of Samosata. His Exposition of Faith was a theological apology for Trinitarian belief. The Exposition incorporated his doctrinal instructions to Christian initiates, expressed his arguments against heretical groups, and was the forerunner of the Nicene Creed that was to appear in the early 4th century. A letter "To Theopompus, on the Passible and Impassible in God," deals with the Hellenistic theory of God's incapacity for feeling and suffering, and Panegyric to Origen, a florid eulogy, constitute the remainder of Gregory's significant writings.

422- Thecla
According to Syrian oral tradition Thecla was a woman born in Iconium who, at the age of 18, accompanied Paul in his journeys baptising and preaching.

422bis- Teodore
Theodore, Head of Pachomian Monastery at Tabinnisi near Nag Hammadi, 4th century AD.

423- Theodore of Mopsuestia
Theodore (about 350-428) was a Christian theologian, born in Antioch. He was made Bishop of Mopsuestia in Cilicia in 392. He wrote commentaries on almost all the books of Scripture; the fifth ecumenical council condemned his views on the Incarnation in 553. As the teacher of Nestorius, he was probably one of the founders of Nestorianism, a Gnostic heresy.

424- Theodotus of Ancyra
Theodotus of Ancyra died circa 446. He was a theologian, bishop of Ancyra, and an advocate of orthodoxy in the discussion of the nature and Person of Christ at the Council of Ephesus in 431. Theodotus was an opponent of Nestorius, bishop of Constantinople, and whom Theodotus had earlier supported. With Cyril of Alexandria, Nestorius' chief opponent, Theodotus affirmed the two-fold nature united in Christ's Person. Nestorius was condemned, and Theodotus was a member of the delegation sent by the council to explain its decrees to the Nestorian-leaning emperor Theodosius II. The Nestorian party denounced Theodotus in 432 at its own Synod of Tarsus. Theodotus' writings include an explanation of the Nicene Creed in which he asserted that the first Council of Nicaea had already condemned Nestorius' views in 325. Two sermons on Christmas and one on the "Feast of the Lights" (in honour of the Virgin Mary) are significant witnesses to the existence of these ritual celebrations in the early 5th century.

425- Theodotus the Gnostic
In the second century AD, Theodotus founded Eastern Gnosticism, a system of religious dualism with a doctrine of salvation by gnosis, or esoteric knowledge. He taught Gnosticism in Asia Minor about 160-170, basing his teaching on the concepts elaborated by Valentinus. Theodotus' teachings survive in Excerpta ex Theodoto ("Extracts from Theodotus"), actually a scrapbook that the 2nd-3rd-century Christian philosophical theologian Clement of Alexandria appended to his Stromata ("Miscellanies"). Essentially, the Gnosticism of Theodotus affirmed that the world is the product of a process of emanations, or radiations, from an ultimate principle of unconditioned being or eternal ideas. Intermediate beings in this hierarchy of perfection include God the creator of matter and Christ the redeemer, who united himself to the man Jesus at his baptism to bring men gnosis. Salvation, he concluded, is reserved for Gnostic believers infused with pneuma ("spirit"). Theodotus described the role of the inferior spiritual beings, or angels, and their relation to Christ. He mentions a Eucharist of bread and water and anointing as a means for release from the domination of the evil power.

426- Theodotus of Byzantium or Theodotus the Tanner
Theodorus of Byzantium (also Theodotus the Tanner) lived in the 2nd century AD; he was an Adoptionist Monarchian. He was a wealthy and cultured tanner of Byzantium who went to Rome circa 189 during the reign of Pope Victor I. He soon developed a following with his Dynamic Monarchianism for teaching that Jesus became the Christ at his baptism. Some theodotians denied Christ divinity while others said that he became divine at his resurrection. Condemned and excommunicated by Pope Victor in 190, Theodotus nevertheless continued to acquire disciples, forming the Theodotians, a sect that lasted into the 3rd century under another Theodotus, the Money-changer.

427- Theognotus
Theognotus (died about 282 AD) is said to have been the head of the school at Alexandria (248-282) as successor to Dionysius. He is the author of "Outlines" based on the doctrines of Origen.

428- Theophilus of Alexandria, Saint
Theophilus of Alexandria lived during the 5th century. He was a theologian and patriarch of Alexandria, an opponent of non-Christian religions, a severe critic of heterodox influence among Christian writers and monks, and a major figure in the ecclesiastical politics of the Greek Orthodox Church of his day. A gifted student at Alexandria, Theophilus, now a priest, was chosen patriarch in 385. He destroyed the non-Christian religious shrines of North Africa including the renowned temples to the gods Mithra, Dionysius, and Sarapis cancelling all these pagan shrines; he also destroyed the Sarapeum with its irreplaceable collection of classical literature. He used the stone from the temples to construct new Christian churches. At first an adherent of the 3rd-century Christian Platonist Origen, Theophilus was challenged in 399 by some Egyptian monks on his approval of Origen's concept of an absolutely immaterial God. Agreeing with certain of the monks' notions, he changed opinion two years later and denounced Origen's writings. In his consequent persecution of Origenist monks, he personally commanded troops sent to destroy their desert monasteries. In Constantinople to explain his actions, Theophilus denounced the orthodoxy of John Chrysostom, the leading theologian, by implicating him in controverted points of Origenism. Chrysostom was condemned and exiled at the Synod of the Oak in 403. Although Theophilus is charged with ruthlessness by some of his contemporaries, others describe him as a sincere promoter of monasticism. He is honoured as a saint in the Egyptian Coptic and Syrian Churches.

429- Theophilus of Antioch
Theophilus of Antioch (2d century) was Bishop of Antioch during the reign of Commodus (180-192). Theophilus is described as a literalist Christian philosopher. In fact he was not a literalist at all but he taught a philosophical Christianity based on the mythical figures of the Logos and Sophia. He was not interested in Jesus and never mentions him. The literalists adopted him because there were no Christian philosophers at that time. His theology is based mainly on the Old Testament although he recognises the importance of some New Testament writings.
In the first of three books he defended the Christians against accusation of godlessness and attacked Pagan deities; the second criticises Greek authors and justify the Old Testament and its accuracy; the third attacks again the Greek authors and praises the laws of the Old Testament. His books give evidence of the influence of Jewish writers on Christian thought at Antioch in his time.

430- Theudas
Theudas was a Gnostic teacher. He taught Valentinus philosophy at Alexandria as well as the secret knowledge of Christianity that, he said, he had previously personally received directly from Saint Paul of whom, according to the legend, Theudas was a pupil. He was baptized a Christian.
Theudas, according to St. Luke, was also the name of the leader of an unsuccessful revolt of 400 men against the Romans in about 46-48 AD. He was decapitated and all his men killed.
In addition, Josephus mentions a prophet by this name.

431- Thomas, Saint
Thomas was one of the twelve apostles of Jesus Christ. According to John Thomas was devoted to Jesus: When Jesus sets out for Judea, where Jews have threatened to stone him, Thomas suggests, "Let us also go, that we may die with him." At the Last Supper, during which Jesus says, "And you know the way where I am going." Thomas asks, "… how can we know the way?" Jesus responds, "I am the way, and the truth, and the life." Thomas is absent when Jesus first appears to the apostles after the Resurrection and he doubts their account of the event. When Jesus appears again and invites Thomas to touch his wounds, the apostle exclaims, "My Lord and my God!" Thomas was the first to explicitly recognize Christ's divinity. From this he is known as "doubting Thomas".

432- Thoth
In Egyptian religion was the god of the moon, of reckoning, of learning, of writing, the inventor of writing, the creator of languages, the scribe, interpreter, the adviser of the gods, and the representative of the sun god, Re. The cult of Thoth was centred in the town of Hermopolis in Upper Egypt. In the myth of Osiris, Thoth protected Isis during her pregnancy and healed the eye of her son Horus, which had been wounded by Osiris' adversary Seth. He weighed the hearts of the deceased at their judgment and reported the result to the presiding god, Osiris, and his fellow judges. Thoth's sacred animals were the ibis and the baboon. Thoth was usually represented in human form with an ibis's head. The Greeks identified Thoth with their god Hermes and termed him "Thoth, the thrice great" (after Hermes Trismegistos).

433- Timothy
Timothy was a Literalist Christian writer who did not like the Christian Gnostics. Timothy was born in Lystra, Lycaonia [now Lusna, Turkey] and he died in AD 97 at Ephesus [now in Turkey]. He was a disciple of St. Paul the Apostle, whom he accompanied on his missions. On his second visit to Lystra in 50, Paul discovered Timothy, taking him as a colleague. Timothy worked with Paul and Silas and helped found churches in Corinth, Thessalonica, and Philippi. He accompanied Paul to Ephesus and Asia Minor. In the Pastoral Epistles he is solely in charge of the Christians at Ephesus, possibly the site of his release from prison. Tradition made him first bishop of Ephesus, where he was allegedly martyred under the Roman emperor Nerva. One legend asserts that he was clubbed to death by a mob for protesting against the orgiastic worship of the goddess Artemis.

434- Titus, Saint
Titus lived in 1st century AD and he died in Crete. He was a disciple and secretary of St. Paul the Apostle. According to tradition he was the first bishop of Crete. Known from New Testament, in Acts of the Apostles, and the Pauline Letters, Titus was a Gentile convert whom Paul, in contrast to his expediency in Timothy's case, refused to allow to be circumcised at Jerusalem as requested by the Jewish-Christians. He also appears in connection with the Corinthian Church. Titus was specially entrusted with organizing the alms collection for poor Christians of Judaea and he acted as a commissioner of Paul at Corinth, where he replaced Timothy. In 1966 his head was returned from Venice, where it had been venerated at St. Mark's since the 9th century, to the Church of St. Titus in Iráklion (Herakleion) in Crete.

435- Titus of Bostra
Titus of Bostra (4th century AD) was Bishop of Bostra but Emperor Julian the Apostate expelled him in 362 to create division among the Christians of that city but it did not work. In 363 he participated to a Synod in Antioch again as Bishop of Bostra. This Synod ratified the Nicene Creed. He wrote a treaty against the Manichaeans.

436- Tyconius
Tyconius (died about 400 AD) was a Donatist theologian who met difficulties after 370 because of his writings. He was excommunicated by a Donatist synod at Carthage in 378 as a proponent of Catholic views on church and sacraments. He refused to join the Catholic Church.

437- Ulfilas
Ulfilas -in Gothic Wulfila- was born circa 311 and he died circa 382 in Constantinople [now Istanbul, Turkey]. He was a Christian bishop and missionary, who evangelised the Goths, reputedly created the Gothic alphabet, and wrote the earliest translation of the Bible into a Germanic language. Ulfilas is believed to have descended from 3rd-century Cappadocians captured by the Goths. At the age of 30 he was supposedly sent on an embassy to the Roman emperor and was consecrated (341) bishop of the Gothic Christians by Eusebius of Nicomedia, bishop of Constantinople, an Arian (a follower of the heretical doctrine that the Son was neither equal with God the Father nor eternal). Because of persecution by the Gothic ruler, Ulfilas, after working for seven years among the Goths north of the Danube, led his congregation to Moesia (now part of Bulgaria) with the consent of the Arian Roman emperor Constantius II. By the time of his consecration, Ulfilas had accepted the homoean formula (the Trinitarian doctrine affirming that the Son was "like" the Father) promulgated by the Council of Constantinople in 360, which he attended. He then taught the similarity of the Son to the Father and the complete subordination of the Holy Spirit, an Arian form of Christianity that he carried to the Visigoths. When in 379 a champion of Nicene orthodoxy, Theodosius I the Great, became Roman emperor, Ulfilas apparently led a party of compromise and conciliation with the homoean position. After the Council of Aquileia (381), Theodosius summoned Ulfilas to Constantinople for discussions, during which he died. Before 381 he translated parts of the Bible from Greek to Gothic. He reportedly wrote many sermons and interpretations in Gothic, Greek, and Latin, and some extant Arian writings have been ascribed to him. The national Gothic church that Ulfilas helped to create was Arian from the start. The Goths' adherence to Arianism caused a breach between them and the Roman Empire that made Arianism part of the national self-consciousness of the Visigoths and of other Germanic peoples, including Ostrogoths, Vandals, and Burgundians.

438- Valentinus
Valentinus (100-180 AD) was a religious philosopher, a Gnostic poet, and the founder of one of the most important sects of Gnosticism.
Valentinus was born in Egypt and educated in Alexandria. He settled in Rome during the reign (136-40) of Pope Hyginus, founded a school, and taught there for more than 20 years, gaining a reputation for eloquence and forceful intelligence and attracting a large following. According to the theologian Tertullian, Valentinus broke with the Christian church and left Rome after being passed over for the office of bishop. He continued to develop his doctrines, possibly in Cyprus. His followers elaborated his teachings and evolved into two schools, one centred in Italy, the other in Alexandria. The primary sources for Valentinus's doctrines are fragmentary quotations contained in the works of his orthodox Christian opponents and a Coptic text, the Gospel of Truth, found at Nag Hammadi in Egypt and believed to be a translation of an original work by Valentinus. His system reflects the influence of Platonism and of Eastern dualistic religion as well as of Christianity. He postulated a spiritual realm (pleroma) consisting of a succession of aeons (Greek, "emanations") that evolved out of an original divine being. The aeon Sophia (Greek, "wisdom") produced a demiurge (identified with the God of the Old Testament) who created the essentially evil material universe in which human souls, originally of the spiritual realm, are imprisoned. The aeon Christ united himself with the man Jesus to bring redeeming knowledge (gnosis) of the divine realm to humanity. Only the most spiritual human beings, the Gnostics themselves, are fully able to receive this revelation and thereby return after death to the spiritual realm. Other Christians can only attain the realm of the demiurge, and pagans, engrossed in material existence, are doomed to eternal damnation.

439- Virgil
Virgil was born on October 15, 70 BC at Andes, near Mantua (Italy) and he died on September 21, 19 BC at Brundisium. In Latin his full name was PUBLIUS VERGILIUS MARO. He was an important Roman poet, best known for his national epic, the Aeneid unfinished at his death. The Aeneid tells the story of Rome's legendary founder and proclaims the Roman mission to civilize the world under divine guidance. Virgil was born in a peasant family and his love of the Italian countryside and of the people who cultivated it colours all his poetry. He was educated at Cremona, at Milan, and finally at Rome, learning poetry, and trained in rhetoric and philosophy. His first teacher was the Epicurean Siro, and the Epicurean philosophy is reflected in his early poetry but gave way to Stoicism.

440- Voltaire
Voltaire was born on November 21, 1694 at Paris, France and he died May 30, 1778 also at Paris. He was one of the greatest of all French writers and he continues to be held in worldwide repute as a courageous crusader against tyranny, bigotry, and cruelty. His writing shows critical capacity, wit, and satire. His whole work supports the ideal of progress. His long life covered the last years of classicism and the eve of the revolutionary era, and during this age of transition his works and activities influenced the direction taken by European civilization. Like other thinkers of his day -writers and scientists- he believed in the efficacy of reason. Voltaire was a "Philosophe", as the 18th century termed it. He professed an aggressive Deism, which scandalized the devout. He became interested in England, the country that tolerated freedom of thought. He became acquainted with Viscount Bolingbroke who was exiled in France because of his opinions as politician, orator, and philosopher. Voltaire admired him and compared him to Cicero. On Bolingbroke's advice he learned English in order to read the philosophical works of John Locke.
He wrote many books including:
Stories: Les Voyages du baron de Gangan (1739; Zadig (1747); Vision de Babouc (1748); Candide); Le Blanc et le noir (1764; The Two Genies, 1895); Jeannot et Colin (1764); La Princesse de Babylone (1768); Le Taureau blanc (1774).
History: Histoire de Charles XII (1731); Le Siècle de Louis XIV (1751); Histoire de l'Empire de Russie sous Pierre le Grand (1759-63); Précis du siècle de Louis XV (1768).

441- Xenophanes
Xenophanes was born around 560 BC at Colophon, Ionia and he died in 478. He was a Greek poet, a religious thinker, and a precursor of the Eleatic school of philosophy, which stressed unity rather than diversity and viewed the separate existences of material things as apparent rather than real. The Persians exiled Xenophanes from Greece in about 546 and he went to Sicily and in the Mediterranean. He settled at Elea in southern Italy. He ridicules the doctrine of the transmigration of souls, condemns the luxuries introduced from the nearby colony of Lydia into Colophon, and advocates wisdom and the reasonable enjoyment of social pleasure in the face of prevalent excess. The tradition that Xenophanes founded the school is based primarily on the testimony of Aristotle and Plato. "The Eleatic school, beginning with Xenophanes and even earlier, starts from the principle of the unity of all things," that is summarised in his statement "The all is one and the one is God." Xenophanes was less a philosopher of nature than a poet and religious reformer who applied generally philosophical and scientific notions to popular conceptions.

442- Yahweh
Yahweh is the God of the Israelites, his name had been revealed to Moses as four Hebrew consonants (YHWH) called the TETRAGRAMMATON. After the exile (6th century BC), and especially from the 3rd century BC on, Jews ceased to use the name Yahweh. As Judaism became a universal religion in the Greco-Roman world, the word Elohim, meaning "god," replaced Yahweh to make it more acceptable outside Palestine. At the same time, the divine name was increasingly regarded as too sacred to be uttered; it was thus replaced vocally in the synagogue ritual by the Hebrew word Adonai ("My Lord"), which was translated as Kyrios ("Lord") in the Septuagint, the Greek version of the Old Testament. The Masoretes replaced the vowels of the name YHWH with the vowel signs of the Hebrew words Adonai or Elohim. Thus, the artificial name Jehovah (YeHoWaH) came into being. The meaning of the personal name of the Israelite God has been variously interpreted.

443- Yeats
William Butler Yeats was born on June 13, 1865 at Sandymount, Dublin, Ireland and he died on Jan. 28, 1939 at Roquebrune-Cap-Martin, France. He was an Irish poet, dramatist, and prose writer, one of the greatest English-language poets of the 20th century. He received the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1923. Yeats wanted to cultivate the tradition of a hidden Ireland that existed largely in the anthropological evidence of its surviving customs, beliefs, and holy places, more pagan than Christian. His first publication, two brief lyrics, appeared in the Dublin University Review in 1885. He joined the Theosophical Society in London, whose mysticism appealed to him. The age of science was repellent to Yeats; he was a visionary, and he insisted upon surrounding himself with poetic images. He began a study of the prophetic books of William Blake, and this enterprise brought him into contact with other visionary traditions, such as the Platonic, the Neoplatonic, the Swedenborgian, and the alchemical. His early poems, collected in The Wanderings of Oisin, and Other Poems (1889), are the work of an aesthete. In 1889 Yeats met Maud Gonne, an Irish beauty, ardent and brilliant. He fell in love with her, but his love was hopeless. Maud Gonne liked and admired him, but she was not in love with him. Her passion was lavished upon Ireland; she was an Irish patriot, a rebel, and a rhetorician, commanding in voice and in person. When Yeats joined in the Irish nationalist cause, he did so partly from conviction, but mostly for love of Maud. The Celtic Twilight (1893), a volume of essays, was Yeats's first effort toward this end, but progress was slow until 1898, when he met Augusta Lady Gregory. Among his own plays that became part of the Abbey Theatre's repertoire are The Land of Heart's Desire (1894), Cathleen ni Houlihan (1902), The Hour Glass (1903), The King's Threshold (1904), On Baile's Strand (1905), and Deirdre (1907). Yeats published several volumes of poetry during this period, notably Poems (1895) and The Wind Among the Reeds (1899. But in the collections In the Seven Woods (1903) and The Green Helmet (1910), Yeats slowly discarded the Pre-Raphaelite colours and rhythms of his early verse and purged it of certain Celtic and esoteric influences. In 1917 Yeats published The Wild Swans at Coole. The Tower (1928), named after the castle he owned and had restored, is the work of a fully accomplished artist. Some of Yeats's greatest verse was written subsequently, appearing in The Winding Stair (1929). The poems in both of these works use, as their dominant subjects and symbols, the Easter Rising and the Irish civil war; Yeats' own tower; the Byzantine Empire and its mosaics; Plato, Plotinus, and Porphyry; and the author's interest in the philosophy of G.E. Moore and in contemporary psychical research. Yeats explained his own philosophy in the prose work A Vision (1925, revised version 1937. In 1913 Yeats spent some months at Stone Cottage, Sussex, with the American poet Ezra Pound acting as his secretary. Yeats devised what he considered an equivalent of the no drama in such plays as Four Plays for Dancers (1921), At the Hawk's Well (first performed 1916), and several others. In 1917 Yeats asked Iseult Gonne, Maud Gonne's daughter, to marry him. She refused. Some weeks later he proposed to Miss George Hyde-Lees and was accepted; they were married in 1917. In 1922, on the foundation of the Irish Free State, Yeats accepted an invitation to become a member of the new Irish Senate: he served for six years. In 1923 he was awarded the Nobel Prize for Literature. In 1936 his Oxford Book of Modern Verse, 1892-1935, a gathering of the poems he loved, was published. Still working on his last plays, he completed The Herne's Egg, his most raucous work, in 1938. Yeats's last two verse collections, New Poems and Last Poems and Two Plays, appeared in 1938 and 1939 respectively. Yeats died in January 1939 while abroad and he was buried at Roquebrune, France. In 1948 his body was finally taken back to Sligo and buried.

444- Zacharias Rhetor
Zacharias Rhetor (circa 470-540) was a monophysite writer, first a student in Alexandria, and then a member of an ascetic brotherhood. He became a lawyer in Constantinople. He was the author of books on the life of Severus of Antioch and of the monophysite leaders as well as a chronicle.

445- Zadok
Zadok is the name of the founder of an important branch of the Jerusalem priesthood. He was a descendant of Eleazar, the son of Aaron. He lived during the reigns of David and Solomon as High Priest. During the struggle for the succession of David's throne, Adonijah, David's eldest living son, was supported by the "old guard" (the general Joab and the priest Abiathar) while Solomon, the son of David and Bathsh was supported by the priest Zadok, the prophet Nathan, and the captain of David's bodyguard, Benaiah. Following the advice of Nathan, David appointed Solomon the heir to his throne; and Zadok and Nathan anointed the son of Bathsheba king in Gihon.

446- Zechariah
Zechariah was a Jewish minor prophet. Zechariah was active from 520 to 518 BC. A contemporary of the prophet Haggai in the early years of the Persian period, Zechariah shared Haggai's concern that the Temple of Jerusalem be rebuilt. Unlike Haggai Zechariah thought that the rebuilding of the Temple was the necessary prelude to the eschatological age, the arrival of which was imminent.

447- Zeno of Citium
Zeno of Citium (350-260 BC) was a Greek philosopher, founder of Stoicism. He was born in Citium, Cyprus. Little is known of his early life. He was a student of the 4th century BC Cynic philosopher Crates of Thebes and of the Platonist Xenocrates. About 300 BC, Zeno founded his own school of philosophy, known as Stoicism. Moral obligation, self-control, and living in harmony with nature were some of the principles of practical ethics with which Zeno was concerned. He taught in Athens for more than 50 years.

448- Zephaniah
Zephaniah, or Sophonias, was one of the Israelite minor prophets and the author of the 9th Old Testament prophetical books, who proclaimed the approaching divine judgment. He lived in the 7th century BC.

449- Zeus
In ancient Greek religion Zeus was a chief deity of the pantheon, a sky and weather god who was identical with the Roman god Jupiter. Zeus was regarded as the sender of thunder and lightning, rain, and winds, and his traditional weapon was the thunderbolt. He was called the father that is the ruler and protector of both gods and men. A Greek myth tells us that Cronus, king of the Titans, upon learning that one of his children would dethrone him, swallowed his children as soon as they were born. But Rhea, his wife, saved Zeus by replacing him by a stone for Cronus to swallow and hid Zeus in a cave on Crete. There he was nursed by the nymph (or female goat) Amalthaea and guarded by the Curetes (young warriors). As a man Zeus led a revolt against the Titans and succeeded in dethroning Cronus, with the assistance of his brothers Hades and Poseidon. As ruler of heaven Zeus led the gods to victory against the Giants (offspring of Gaea and Tartarus) and successfully crushed several revolts against him by his fellow gods. From his position atop Mount Olympus Zeus was thought to observe the affairs of men, seeing everything, governing all, and rewarding good conduct and punishing evil. Besides dispensing justice, Zeus was the protector of cities, the home, property, strangers, guests, and supplicants. Zeus had many love affairs with both mortal and immortal women. In order to achieve his amorous designs, Zeus frequently assumed animal forms, such as that of a cuckoo when he ravished Hera, a swan when he ravished Leda, or a bull when he carried off Europa. Notable among his offspring were the twins Apollo and Artemis, by the Titaness Leto; Helen and the Dioscuri, by Leda of Sparta; Persephone, by the goddess Demeter; Athena, born from his head after he had swallowed the Titaness Metis; Hephaestus, Hebe, Ares, and Eileithyia, by his wife, Hera; Dionysus, by the goddess Semele; and many others.

450- Zoroaster
Little is known of Zoroaster's life. Some scholars believe he lived between 1400 and 1000 B.C. in what is now northeastern Iran. But Zoroastrian tradition teaches that Zoroaster, also known in old Iranian as Zarathushtra or Zarathustra, was born around 628 BC probably at Rhages, Iran and he died -probably assassinated- about 551. He left his home in search of religious truth. After wandering and living alone for several years, he began to have revelations at the age of 30. In a vision, he spoke with Vohu Manah, a figure who represented the Good Mind. In the vision, Zoroaster's soul was led in a holy trance into the presence of Ahura Mazda. In the years after his revelations, Zoroaster composed the Gathas and spread the teachings of Ahura Mazda. Zoroaster's conversion of Vishtaspa, a powerful ruler, strengthened the new religion.
Zoroaster was an Iranian religious reformer and founder of Zoroastrianism, or Parsiism, as it is known in India, and a major personality in the history of the religions of the world. Zoroaster has been the object of much attention for two reasons.
- He became a legendary figure connected with occult knowledge and magical practices in the Near Eastern and Mediterranean world in the Hellenistic Age (300 BC to AD 300).
- His monotheistic concept of God has attracted the attention of modern historians of religion, who have speculated on the connections between his teaching and Judaism and Christianity.
Claims of pan-Iranianism, that Zoroastrian or Iranian ideas influenced Greek, Roman, and Jewish thought, may be disregarded; however the influence of Zoroaster's religious thought must be recognized but several problems concerning the religion's founder soon arise. For instance:
What part of Zoroastrianism derives from Zoroaster's tribal religion and what part was new as a result of his visions and creative religious genius?
To what extent does the later Zoroastrian religion (Mazdaism) of the Sasanian period (AD 224-651) genuinely reflected the teachings of Zoroaster?
To what extent do the sources -the Avesta (the Zoroastrian scriptures) with the Gathas (older hymns), the Middle Persian Pahlavi Books, and reports of various Greek authors- offer an authentic guide to Zoroaster's ideas?
Zoroaster's biography is limited or speculative. The date of Zoroaster's life cannot be ascertained with any degree of certainty. According to Zoroastrian tradition, he flourished "258 years before Alexander the Great and this would put him in 588 BC. According to tradition, he was 40 years old when this event occurred, thus indicating that his birthdate was 628 BC.

451- Zosimus
Zosimus was consecrated as Pope St. Innocent I's successor on March 18, 417. His brief but turbulent pontificate was embroiled in conflicts involving Gaul, Africa, and Pelagianism, a heretical doctrine that minimized the role of divine grace in man's salvation. The Pelagians, whose proponent Pelagius had been excommunicated on January 27, 417, by Innocent and whom the African bishops in general condemned, appealed to Rome and were rehabilitated. However, the next year Zosimus, again doubting Pelagius' orthodoxy, read his commentary on Romans; shocked by its doctrine, he issued the Epistola tractoria ("Epistolary Sermon") that excommunicated Pelagius and condemned his doctrine. Pelagius, horrified by his excommunication left, probably for Egypt.

452- Zostrianos
Zostrianos was a Christian Gnostic. He said that the process of pneumatic initiation is, in fact, "the purification of the unbornness".