Hippolytus of Rome

Uncommon card · No. 128494

Hippolytus of Rome ( hi-POLL-it-əs, Ancient Greek: Ἱππόλυτος; Romanized: Hippólytos, c. 165 – c. 235 AD) was one of the most important Christian thinkers of the second and third centuries, though his provenance, identity, and corpus remain elusive to scholars and historians. Suggested communities include Rome, Palestine, Egypt, Anatolia, and other regions of the Middle East. The best historians of literature in the ancient church, including Eusebius and Jerome, openly admit they cannot name where Hippolytus the biblical commentator and theologian served in leadership. They had read his works but did not possess evidence of his community. Photios I of Constantinople describes him in his Bibliotheca (cod. 121) as a disciple of Irenaeus, who was said to be a disciple of Polycarp; from the context, it seems Photios was suggesting Hippolytus publicly identified himself in this way. But this assertion is doubtful. One older theory claims he came into conflict with the popes of his time and seems...

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