Sophia Scriptura

Refutation of All Heresies 4.33.3

Hippolytus of Rome · Refutation of All Heresies · ca. 222–235 · Rome · Read in context

Authorship disputed: The work names no author. Book 1 was long printed among Origen's works as the Philosophumena; after books 4–10 were found in a manuscript from Mount Athos (published 1851), it was assigned to Hippolytus, the usual view today, though some scholars ascribe it to another Roman writer of the same circle. Books 2 and 3 are lost, and book 4 lacks its beginning.

Summary: The burning stone pyramid is really oil-soaked clay.

Textual problem in this passage: the printed text is uncertain or disputed here. See the notes.

Greek text · Duncker–Schneidewin, 98

Τὸ δὲ τὴν πυραμίδα καίεσθαι δᾳδίου δίκην, οὖσαν λίθον, αὕτη αἰτία. Γῆ μέν ἐστι Κρητικὴ τὸ μὲν σχῆμα πεπλασμένη πυραμίς, τὸ δὲ χρῶμα ὡς λίθος γαλακτικός, κατασκευάζεται δὲ τοῦτον τὸν τρόπον· βρέξας ἐλαίῳ πλείονι τὴν βῶλον, θεὶς ἐπʼ ἀνθράκων, ὀπτήσας καὶ πάλιν βρέξας καὶ καύσας δεύτερον καὶ τρίτον καὶ πολλάκις καίεσθαι δύνασθαι παρασκευάζει, κἂν ὕδατι βραχῇ· ἔχει γὰρ ἐν ἑαυτῷ πολὺ τὸ ἔλαιον· ἀνάπτεται δὲ διʼ αὐτοῦ, τοῦ μάγου σπεύδοντος, ἡ πυρὰ τίτανον ὑποκαιομένην ἔχουσα ἀντὶ σποδιᾶς καὶ λιβανωτὸν λεπτὸν καὶ πολὺν...

English · Claude translation

The reason the pyramid burns like a torch, though it is stone, is this. It is Cretan earth, molded into the shape of a pyramid and with the color of a milk-white stone, and it is prepared in this way: soaking the lump in plenty of oil, putting it on coals, baking it, soaking it again, and burning it a second and third time and often, he prepares it so that it can burn even if soaked in water; for it contains much oil in itself. The pyre is kindled by it, as the magician hurries, having quicklime burning underneath instead of ashes, and fine frankincense in quantity …

About this passage

Source
Duncker–Schneidewin, 98 · Ludwig Duncker and F. G. Schneidewin, eds., S. Hippolyti episcopi et martyris Refutationis omnium haeresium librorum decem quae supersunt (Göttingen: Dieterich, 1859); section divisions from Paul Wendland, ed., Hippolytus Werke 3: Refutatio omnium haeresium, GCS 26 (Leipzig: Hinrichs, 1916) · Greek text: L. Duncker and F. G. Schneidewin, Refutationis omnium haeresium (Göttingen, 1859), digitized by the Perseus Digital Library; section divisions from P. Wendland (GCS 26, 1916), digitized by the First Thousand Years of Greek project (Open Greek and Latin); both CC BY-SA 4.0
Text
As printed in Duncker–Schneidewin. Manuscript variants and the editor's apparatus are not reproduced; the problem in this passage is discussed in the notes.
Translation
Claude translation (claude-opus-5-5), 2026-09-27 · Translated by Claude from the Greek text of Duncker–Schneidewin; made independently of existing English translations.
Compare
Ante-Nicene Fathers, vol. 5 (1886) (an older public-domain English translation, whole volume at CCEL; checked against ours only after ours was made) · Its chapter numbers differ from the standard (Wendland) numbering used here.

Notes

Translation notes

  • A gap follows, marked "…".

Cite this passage

Hippolytus, Haer. 4.33.3 (trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/hippolytus-refutatio/4/33/3/).

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Plain text
Hippolytus, Haer. 4.33.3 (trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/hippolytus-refutatio/4/33/3/).

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