Sossianus Hierocles (

fl. ''Floruit'' ( ; usually abbreviated fl. or occasionally flor.; from Latin for 'flourished') denotes a date or period during which a person was known to have been alive or active. In English, the unabbreviated word may also be used as a noun indic ...

303 AD) was a late Roman aristocrat and office-holder. He served as a ''

praeses ''Praeses'' (Latin ''praesides'') is a Latin word meaning "placed before" or "at the head". In antiquity, notably under the Roman Dominate, it was used to refer to Roman governors; it continues to see some use for various modern positions. ...

'' in

Syria Syria, officially the Syrian Arab Republic, is a country in West Asia located in the Eastern Mediterranean and the Levant. It borders the Mediterranean Sea to the west, Turkey to Syria–Turkey border, the north, Iraq to Iraq–Syria border, t ...

under

Diocletian Diocletian ( ; ; ; 242/245 – 311/312), nicknamed Jovius, was Roman emperor from 284 until his abdication in 305. He was born Diocles to a family of low status in the Roman province of Dalmatia (Roman province), Dalmatia. As with other Illyri ...

at some time in the 290s. He was then made ''

vicarius ''Vicarius'' is a Latin word, meaning ''substitute'' or ''deputy''. It is the root of the English word "vicar". History Originally, in ancient Rome, this office was equivalent to the later English " vice-" (as in " deputy"), used as part of th ...

'' of some district, perhaps Oriens (the East, including Syria, Palestine, and, at the time, Egypt) until 303, when he was transferred to

Bithynia Bithynia (; ) was an ancient region, kingdom and Roman province in the northwest of Asia Minor (present-day Turkey), adjoining the Sea of Marmara, the Bosporus, and the Black Sea. It bordered Mysia to the southwest, Paphlagonia to the northeast a ...

. It is for his anti-Christian activities in Bithynia that he is principally remembered. He was, in the words of the '' Cambridge Ancient History'', "one of the most zealous of persecutors". While in Bithynia, Hierocles authored ''Lover of Truth'' (

Greek Greek may refer to: Anything of, from, or related to Greece, a country in Southern Europe: *Greeks, an ethnic group *Greek language, a branch of the Indo-European language family **Proto-Greek language, the assumed last common ancestor of all kno ...

: Φιλαλήθης, ''Philalethes''; also known as Φιλαλήθης λόγος, ''Philalethes logos''), a critique of Christianity. ''Lover of Truth'' is noted as the first instance of the trope, popular in later pagan

polemic Polemic ( , ) is contentious rhetoric intended to support a specific position by forthright claims and to undermine the opposing position. The practice of such argumentation is called polemics, which are seen in arguments on controversial to ...

, of comparing the pagan holy man

Apollonius of Tyana Apollonius of Tyana (; ; ) was a Greek philosopher and religious leader from the town of Tyana, Cappadocia in Roman Anatolia, who spent his life travelling and teaching in the Middle East, North Africa and India. He is a central figure in Ne ...

Jesus Christ Jesus (AD 30 or 33), also referred to as Jesus Christ, Jesus of Nazareth, and many Names and titles of Jesus in the New Testament, other names and titles, was a 1st-century Jewish preacher and religious leader. He is the Jesus in Chris ...

. Hierocles was among the campaigners for a stronger policy against Christians present at Diocletian's court through the early 4th century. The campaigners' aims were as realized in February 303 with the edicts of the Great Persecution, which expelled Christians from government service, deprived them of normal legal rights, and left them open to imprisonment and execution if they did not comply with traditional religious rites. Hierocles was an avid enforcer of these edicts in his function as ''praeses'' of Bithynia, and again while serving as '' praefectus Aegypti'' during the late 300s or early 310s. It is largely through incidental notes in the Christian author

Lactantius Lucius Caecilius Firmianus Lactantius () was an early Christian author who became an advisor to Roman emperor Constantine I, guiding his Christian religious policy in its initial stages of emergence, and a tutor to his son Crispus. His most impo ...

' ''On the Deaths of the Persecutors'' and ''Divine Institutes'' and

Eusebius of Caesarea Eusebius of Caesarea (30 May AD 339), also known as Eusebius Pamphilius, was a historian of Christianity, exegete, and Christian polemicist from the Roman province of Syria Palaestina. In about AD 314 he became the bishop of Caesarea Maritima. ...

's '' On the Martyrs of Palestine'' and ''Against Hierocles'' that we are aware of his activities. Inscriptions at

Palmyra Palmyra ( ; Palmyrene dialect, Palmyrene: (), romanized: ''Tadmor''; ) is an ancient city in central Syria. It is located in the eastern part of the Levant, and archaeological finds date back to the Neolithic period, and documents first menti ...

preserve the details of his early career.

Career

Hierocles was a ''praeses'' at some time between 293 and 303. The ''

Prosopography of the Later Roman Empire ''Prosopography of the Later Roman Empire'' (abbreviated as ''PLRE'') is a work of Roman prosopography published in a set of three volumes collectively describing many of the people attested to have lived in the Roman Empire from AD 260, the date ...

'' (''PLRE'') states that, as ''praeses'', he governed Phoenice Libanensis, the province on the eastern side of

Mount Lebanon Mount Lebanon (, ; , ; ) is a mountain range in Lebanon. It is about long and averages above in elevation, with its peak at . The range provides a typical alpine climate year-round. Mount Lebanon is well-known for its snow-covered mountains, ...

. The district included

, where the inscription attesting to Hierocles' career is located.Simmons, 848. Hierocles was the ''vicarius'' of some district (which Simmons and Barnes identify as Oriens) before 303; in that year he was made ''praeses'' of Bithynia. Although an apparent demotion (''praeses'' was a lower rank than ''vicarius'', with fewer responsibilities and less prestige), the move brought Hierocles closer to the imperial court, and the real seat of power: the emperor. Hierocles was later made '' praefectus Aegypti''. He is attested as such by a papyrus from Karanis (''Papyri Cairo Isiodrus'
69
= ''Sammelbuch griechischer Urkunden aus Aegypten'
9186
Karanis). However, while the papyrus's date is clear (January), its year is not. It has been identified as either 307 or 310/11; most experts take the later date, though the ''PLRE'' takes the former. Eusebius, in the ''Martyrs of Palestine'', gives a similarly ambiguous date: after describing the martyrdom of Apphianus (2 April 306), Eusebius moves to the martyrdom of Apphianus' brother Adesius, who, "a little later", assaulted the prefect Hierocles in

Alexandria Alexandria ( ; ) is the List of cities and towns in Egypt#Largest cities, second largest city in Egypt and the List of coastal settlements of the Mediterranean Sea, largest city on the Mediterranean coast. It lies at the western edge of the Nile ...

and was executed. Nor do the existing lists of Egyptian prefects allow further precision: the ''fasti'' have gaps between Clodius Culcianus on 29 May 306 (''Papyri Oxyrhynchus'
1104
and Valerius Victorinus in 308 (''Papyri Oxyrhynchus'
2674
as well as between Aelius Hyginus 22 June 309 (''Papyri Oxyrhynchus'
2667
and Aurelius Ammonius on 18 August 312 (''Chrestomathie'
2.64
. Timothy Barnes argues that the balance of probabilities favors the 310/311 date, as it would be consistent with what is known of Maximinus' actions elsewhere in the same period. In Palestine, in 308, he replaced the governor there with another, firmer supporter of his program of persecution.

Eusebius of Caesarea's ''Against Hierocles''

(c. 263–339) wrote a book titled ''Against Hierocles'' (''Contra Hieroclem'') at some time in the early 4th century. Its date is disputed.

Adolf von Harnack Carl Gustav Adolf von Harnack (born Harnack; 7 May 1851 – 10 June 1930) was a Baltic German Lutheran theologian and prominent Church historian. He produced many religious publications from 1873 to 1912 (in which he is sometimes credited ...

, writing early in the 20th century, argued that it should be dated to before 303, since it does not contain any reference to the persecution that began in that year. As it would have strengthened his argument if it had, this makes a later date unlikely. Ernst Schwartz, however, writing at about the same time, believed that ''Against Hierocles'' contained a reference to the death of

Galerius Galerius Valerius Maximianus (; Greek: Γαλέριος; 258 – May 311) was Roman emperor from 305 to 311. He participated in the system of government later known as the Tetrarchy, first acting as '' caesar'' under Emperor Diocletian. In th ...

, which happened in April or May 311. Schwartz consequently dated the work to between that event and the death of Maximinus in summer 313. J. Stevenson, in his ''Studies in Eusebius'' (1929), argued for a date of 306/07, on the grounds that Eusebius appears to refer to Hierocles as prefect of Egypt. His dating proved less popular in the literature than the dates of Harnack and Schwartz. Most mid-20th century scholars followed Schwartz. In 1976, Barnes, in a restatement and expansion of Harnack's arguments, contested Schwartz' dating. Barnes found the 311–13 dating difficult to countenance given what else is known about Eusebius' literary history at this period—namely, that he wrote his ''Preparation for the Gospel'' (in fifteen books) and his ''Demonstration of the Gospel'' (in twenty) in or soon after 313. Not only was this an expansive literary project, it was also, Barnes argued, a project far removed in tone and substance from ''Against Hierocles''. Moreover, it seems to betray an advance in Eusebius' knowledge: whereas in ''Hierocles'' Eusebius states that Hierocles' comparison of Jesus to Apollonius of Tyana is his sole act of originality ("of all the writers, who have ever attacked us, estands alone in selecting Apollonius, as he has recently done, for the purposes of comparison and contrast with our Saviour" p. 370.9–12), in the ''Preparation'', Eusebius makes extensive reference to Porphyry of Tyre's ''Against the Christians'', which used the same trope. Eusebius is also known to have written a work titled ''Against Porphyry'' in twenty-five books (it does not survive), which must fit somewhere into this timeline.Barnes, "Sossianus Hierocles", 241. Barnes disputes the validity of Schwartz's claim that Eusebius refers to the death of Galerius. The passage cited (p. 372.15–23 Kayser) could refer to

Decius Gaius Messius Quintus Trajanus Decius ( 201June 251), known as Trajan Decius or simply Decius (), was Roman emperor from 249 to 251. A distinguished politician during the reign of Philip the Arab, Decius was proclaimed emperor by his troops a ...

or Valerian. The latter is also a clear candidate for the event Eusebius describes as Christ's "easily overcoming those who on occasion attacked his divine teaching", and the "infidels who persecuted him bitterly" described in the passage: Valerian's persecution was cut short when he was captured and killed during a war with Persia in 260. His death inaugurated four decades of religious peace, during which no imperial official took action against Christians.

Possible mention in Lactantius

The unnamed individual mentioned by Lactantius who accused Jesus of having gathered a band of brigands may have been Sossianus Hierocles. According to Lactantius the individual accused Jesus of having a band of 900 brigands, and for this reason was crucified.Marjorie Colvile Strachey The fathers without theology -1958 Page 232 "band of nine hundred brigands, with whom he ravaged Palestine. It was for this criminal behaviour that he was crucified."

Notes

References

Ancient sources

*Eusebius of Caesarea. :*''Contra Hieroclem''. ::*Conybeare, F. C., trans. ''Philostratus. The life of Apollonius of Tyana, the Epistles of Apollonius and the Treatise of Eusebius''. 2 vols. London: Heinemann, 1912. Online at the Internet Archive: vols
12
Accessed 2 February 2010. Eusebius' treatise at 2.482–605. :*''De Martyribus Palestinae''. ::* McGiffert, Arthur Cushman, trans.

'. From ''Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers'', Second Series, Vol. 1. Edited by Philip Schaff and Henry Wace. Buffalo, NY: Christian Literature Publishing Co., 1890. Revised and edited for New Advent by Kevin Knight. Accessed June 9, 2009. ::* Cureton, William, trans.

'. London: Williams & Norgate, 1861. Accessed September 28, 2009. *Lactantius. :*''Divinae Institutiones'' (''Divine Institutes''). ::*Brandt, Samuel and Georg Laubmann, eds. ''L. Caeli Firmiani Lactanti Opera Omnia'' vol. 1. ''Corpus Scriptorum Ecclesiasticorum Latinorum'' 19. Vienna: F. Tempsky, 1890. Online at th
Internet Archive
Accessed 30 January 2010. ::*Fletcher, William, trans. ''The Divine Institutes''. From ''Ante-Nicene Fathers'', Vol. 7. Edited by Alexander Roberts, James Donaldson, and A. Cleveland Coxe. Buffalo, NY: Christian Literature Publishing Co., 1886. Revised and edited for New Advent by Kevin Knight. Online a

an

Accessed 30 January 2010. :*''De Mortibus Persecutorum'' (''On the Deaths of the Persecutors''). ::*Brandt, Samuel and Georg Laubmann, eds. ''L. Caeli Firmiani Lactanti Opera Omnia'' vol. 2.2. ''Corpus Scriptorum Ecclesiasticorum Latinorum'' 27.2. Vienna: F. Tempsky, 1897. Online at th
Internet Archive
Accessed 30 January 2010. ::*Fletcher, William, trans. ''The Divine Institutes''. From ''Ante-Nicene Fathers'', Vol. 7. Edited by Alexander Roberts, James Donaldson, and A. Cleveland Coxe. Buffalo, NY: Christian Literature Publishing Co., 1886. Revised and edited for New Advent by Kevin Knight. Online a

an

Accessed 30 January 2010.

Modern sources

*Barnes, Timothy D. "Sossianus Hierocles and the Antecedents of the Great Persecution". ''Harvard Studies in Classical Philology'' 80 (1976): 239–52. *Barnes, Timothy D. ''Constantine and Eusebius''. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 1981. *Bowman, Alan K. "Diocletian and the First Tetrarchy, A.D. 284–305". In ''The Cambridge Ancient History, Volume XII: The Crisis of Empire'', edited by Alan Bowman, Averil Cameron, and Peter Garnsey, 67–89. New York: Cambridge University Press, 2005. *Clarke, Graeme. "Third-Century Christianity." In ''The Cambridge Ancient History, Volume XII: The Crisis of Empire'', edited by Alan Bowman, Averil Cameron, and Peter Garnsey, 589–671. New York: Cambridge University Press, 2005. *Frend, W. H. C. ''Martyrdom and Persecution in the Early Church''. Grand Rapids, MI: Baker Book House, 1981 ept. of Basil Blackwell, 1965 ed. *Jones, A. H. M., R. Morris, and R. Martindale. ''The Prosopography of the Later Roman Empire''. 3 vols. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1971–92. *Louth, Andrew. "Eusebius and the Birth of Church History". In ''The Cambridge history of early Christian literature'', edited by Frances Margaret Young, Lewis Ayres, and Andrew Louth, 266–74. New York: Cambridge University Press, 2004. * Simmons, Michael Bland. "Graeco-Roman Philosophical Opposition". In ''The Early Christian World'', edited by Philip Francis Esler, 2.840–868. New York: Routledge, 2000. {{DEFAULTSORT:Hierocles, Sossianus 3rd-century births 4th-century deaths Year of birth unknown Year of death unknown 4th-century Greek writers 4th-century Romans 4th-century Roman governors of Egypt Roman governors of Bithynia and Pontus Roman governors of Egypt Diocletianic Persecution