Hegemonius () or Pseudo-Hegemonius was a 4th-century Christian who is known only from his presumed authorship of the ''Acta Archelai'', a work on

Manichaeism Manichaeism (; in ; ) is an endangered former major world religion currently only practiced in China around Cao'an,R. van den Broek, Wouter J. Hanegraaff ''Gnosis and Hermeticism from Antiquity to Modern Times''. SUNY Press, 1998 p. 37 found ...

preserved only in Latin.

"Traditionally attributed to Hegemonius, the Acta Archelai is the oldest and most significant anti-Manichaean polemical text. Originally composed in Greek in the fourth century, it has survived mainly in a near contemporary Latin translation - substantial section of the Greek version has however survived in the
Panarion In early Christianity, early Christian heresiology, the ''Panarion'' (, derived from Latin , meaning "bread basket"), to which 16th-century Latin translations gave the name ''Adversus Haereses'' (Latin: "Against Heresies"), is the most important o ...
of Epiphanius. The Acta gives a fictional account of a debate between Mani and Archelaus, the Christian bishop of the city of Carchar in Roman
Mesopotamia Mesopotamia is a historical region of West Asia situated within the Tigris–Euphrates river system, in the northern part of the Fertile Crescent. Today, Mesopotamia is known as present-day Iraq and forms the eastern geographic boundary of ...
as well as an important summary of his teaching on cosmogony and a highly polemical version of Mani's life. The work would later exercise enormous influence on anti-Manichaean writings in both Late Antiquity and Middle Ages."

A Latin edition ''Acta Disputationis Archelai, Episcopi Mesopotamia et Manetis Haresiarch'' was published by

Lorenzo Alessandro Zaccagni Lorenzo Alessandro Zaccagni (1652 -1712) was an Italian librarian, and Patristic scholar and author. His main contribution is a collection of texts relating to early controversies in Christianity, ''Collectanea monumentorum veterum Ecclesiæ græc� ...

, librarian of the

Vatican Library The Vatican Apostolic Library (, ), more commonly known as the Vatican Library or informally as the Vat, is the library of the Holy See, located in Vatican City, and is the city-state's national library. It was formally established in 1475, alth ...

, in ''Collectanea monumentorum veterum Ecclesiae graecae et latinae.'' Rome, 1698. Charles H. Beeson's edition appeared in 1906. An improved critical edition of the text of Breeson was published by Brepols Publishers (Turnhout, Belgium) in 2001. An English translation of Zaccagni's edition by S. D. F. Salmond appeared in 1871.Translation by Stewart Dingwall Fordyce Salmond (1838-1905) professor of Systematic Theology and Exegesis in the Free Church College of Aberdeen. A new translation by Mark Vermes of Breeson's edition appeared in 2001.

References

External links

English translation
S. D. F. Salmond, 1871.
Original Latin and Greek Text Online
(Charles Henry Beeson, German Edition, 1906) {{Authority control 4th-century writers Manichaeism 4th-century Christians