Refutation of All Heresies 4.9.1

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: Archimedes' figures for the distances of the planets from the earth are listed.

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Greek text · Duncker–Schneidewin, 66–68

Τὰ μὲν ἀπʼ ἀλλήλων διαστήματα τῶν κύκλων καὶ τῶν σφαιρῶν βάθη τε ὑπὸ τοῦ Ἀρχιμήδους ἀποδίδοται. Τοῦ δὲ ζωδιακοῦ τὴν περίμετρον λαμβάνει σταδίων δευτέρων ἀριθμῶν (??) καὶ μυριάδ. (??)· ὥστε συμβαίνειν τὴν ἐκ τοῦ κέντρου τῆς γῆς εὐθεῖαν ἄχρι τῆς ἐπιφανείας τῆς ἐσχάτης τὸ ἕκτον εἶναι τοῦ λεχθέντος ἀριθμοῦ, τὴν δὲ ἀπὸ τῆς ἐπιφανείας τῆς γῆς, ἐφʼ ἧς βεβήκαμεν, ἄχρι τοῦ ζωδιακοῦ, ἄρτι ῥηθέντος ἕκτον τοῦ ἀριθμοῦ, λεῖπον τέτρασι μυριάσι σταδίων, ὃ ἐκ τοῦ κέντρου τῆς γῆς μέχρι τῆς ἐπιφανείας αὐτῆς. ἀπὸ τοῦ Κρόνου δὲ κύκλου ἐπὶ τὴν γῆν φησὶ τὸ διάστημα σταδίων δευτέρων ἀριθμῶν εἶναι μονάδ. δύο καὶ μυριάδ. (??) καὶ μονάδ. (??)βψια. ἀπὸ τοῦ δὲ τοῦ Διὸς κύκλου ἐπὶ γῆν σταδίων δευτέρων ἀριθμῶν μονάδ. (??) καὶ μυριάδ. (??) καὶ μονάδας (??). ἀπὸ δὲ τοῦ πυρόεντος κύκλου ἐπὶ γῆν δευτέρων ἀριθμῶν μονάδ. μίαν καὶ μυριάδ. (??) καὶ μονάδ. (??) ἀφʼ ἡλίου ἐπὶ γῆν δευτέρων ἀριθμῶν μονάδ. μίαν καὶ μυριάδ. (??) καὶ μονάδας (??). ἀπὸ δὲ τοῦ Στίλβοντος ἐπὶ τὴν γῆν μυριάδ. (??), μονάδας (??). ἀπὸ δὲ Ἀφροδίτης ἐπὶ γῆν μυριάδ. (??), μονάδ. (??).

English · Claude translation

The distances of the circles from one another and the depths of the spheres are given by Archimedes. He takes the circumference of the zodiac as … of the second order of numbers and … myriads of stades; so that the straight line from the center of the earth to the outermost surface is a sixth of the said number, and the line from the surface of the earth on which we walk to the zodiac is a sixth of the number just mentioned, less four myriads of stades, which is the distance from the center of the earth to its surface. He says the distance from the circle of Cronus to the earth is two units of the second order and … myriads and … units of stades; from the circle of Zeus to the earth, … units of the second order and … myriads and … units; from the circle of the Fiery one to the earth, one unit of the second order and … myriads and … units; from the sun to the earth, one unit of the second order and … myriads and … units; from the Gleaming one to the earth, … myriads, … units; from Aphrodite to the earth, … myriads, … units.

About this passage

Source: Duncker–Schneidewin, 66–68 · 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; no textual problem is noted in this passage.
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

Most numbers could not be read by the digitizers (marked (??) in the digital text) and are shown as "…". "Second order of numbers" means multiples of a myriad of myriads (100,000,000). "The Gleaming one" is Mercury.

Notes on the original text

Digital text corrected (wrong breathing in the digital text): ἐφʼ ἦς βεβήκαμεν → ἐφʼ ἧς βεβήκαμεν.

Cite this passage

Hippolytus, Haer. 4.9.1 (trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/hippolytus-refutatio/4/9/1/).

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Plain text

Hippolytus, Haer. 4.9.1 (trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/hippolytus-refutatio/4/9/1/).

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