Cercops ( grc, Κέρκωψ) was one of the oldest

Orphic Orphism (more rarely Orphicism; grc, Ὀρφικά, Orphiká) is the name given to a set of religious beliefs and practices originating in the ancient Greek and Hellenistic world, associated with literature ascribed to the mythical poet Orpheus ...

poets. He was called a Pythagorean by

Clement of Alexandria Titus Flavius Clemens, also known as Clement of Alexandria ( grc , Κλήμης ὁ Ἀλεξανδρεύς; – ), was a Christian theologian and philosopher who taught at the Catechetical School of Alexandria. Among his pupils were Origen an ...

, which might have meant a Neopythagorean.Clement of Alexandria, ''

Stromata The ''Stromata'' ( el, Στρώματα), a mistake for ''Stromateis'' (Στρωματεῖς, "Patchwork," i.e., ''Miscellanies''), attributed to Clement of Alexandria (c. 150 – c. 215), is the third of a trilogy of works regarding the Christ ...

'', i.

Cicero Marcus Tullius Cicero ( ; ; 3 January 106 BC – 7 December 43 BC) was a Roman statesman, lawyer, scholar, philosopher, and academic skeptic, who tried to uphold optimate principles during the political crises that led to the est ...

, was said by Epigenes of Alexandria to have been the author of an Orphic epic poem entitled the "Descent to Hades", which seems to have been extant in the Alexandrian period. Others attribute this work to Prodicus of Samos, or Herodicus of Perinthus, or Orpheus of Camarina.Suda, ''Orpheus''. Epigenes also assigns to Cercops the Orphic which was ascribed by some to Theognetus of Thessaly, and was a poem in twenty-four books. The book ''The works of Aristotle'' (1908, p. 80 Fragments) mentioned. :

Aristotle Aristotle (; grc-gre, Ἀριστοτέλης ''Aristotélēs'', ; 384–322 BC) was a Greek philosopher and polymath during the Classical Greece, Classical period in Ancient Greece. Taught by Plato, he was the founder of the Peripatet ...

says the poet ''Orpheus'' never existed; the Pythagoreans ascribe this Orphic poem to a certain ''Cercon'' (which likely means ''Cercops'').

Notes

References

* {{authority control Ancient Greek poets 6th-century BC poets Pythagoreans Underworld in classical literature 6th-century BC religious leaders