The sources of Protrepticus

1. Homer 1 authority · 2 neutral 3 citations · 8 passages

   protrepticus 8 passages anchored here

   Explicitly named alongside Hesiod as a source of Greek theology.

   There is a sixth, an introductory, manner of deception that produces gods, according to which they reckon the twelve gods — of whom Hesiod sings his own theogony, and all that Homer treats of as theology.

2. Isaiah Isaiah 3 authority 3 citations

   protrepticus 3 passages anchored here

   The prophet Isaiah is explicitly named and quoted repeatedly as scriptural authority on God's incomparable power and the vanity of idols.

   "Who has measured," he says, "the heaven with a span and all the earth with the hollow of his hand?

3. Odyssey Homer 1 neutral · 1 refuted · 1 extended 3 citations

   protrepticus 3 passages anchored here

   The passage echoes a recognizable Homeric line describing a grief-forgetting song.

   This Eunomus of mine sings no measure of Terpander or of Capion, nor any Phrygian or Lydian or Dorian air, but the eternal measure of the new harmony that bears the name of God, the new song, the Levitical, "that lulls grief and anger, and brings forgetfulness of every ill.

4. Apollodorus 2 neutral 2 citations

   protrepticus 2 passages anchored here

   Explicitly named as the source for the Myous etymology.

   And if you derive it from a certain Myous, an Athenian whom Apollodorus says was killed while hunting, I do not grudge it:

5. Epistle to the Ephesians Paul 2 authority 2 citations

   protrepticus 2 passages anchored here

   Explicitly attributed to 'the blessed apostle', quoting language matching Ephesians.

   "I testify in the Lord that you no longer walk as the nations walk, in the vanity of their mind, being darkened in their understanding and alienated from the life of God, through the ignorance that is in them, through the hardness of their heart;

6. Galatians Paul 1 authority · 1 extended 2 citations

   protrepticus 2 passages anchored here

   The apostle is cited as calling the elements 'weak,' made for men's service, against the philosophers who deify them.

   Let the philosophers, then, confess that their teachers are the Persians or the Sauromatae or the magi, from whom they have learned the godlessness of the principles they reverence, ignorant of the ruler who is the maker of all things and the fashioner of those principles themselves — the God without beginning — while they turn to those poor and weak elements, as the apostle says, made for the service of men.

7. Iliad Homer 1 extended · 1 endorsed 2 citations · 3 passages

   protrepticus 3 passages anchored here

   Homer's epic lines are quoted approvingly across two paragraphs as unwitting evidence against the divinity and dignity of the gods.

   " And not Menander only, but Homer too and Euripides and many other poets convict your gods, and do not fear to revile them, even to no small degree.

8. Jeremiah Jeremiah 2 authority 2 citations

   protrepticus 2 passages anchored here

   The prophet Jeremiah is explicitly named and quoted as scriptural authority on God's nearness and creative power.

   "For the Lord who made the earth in his strength," as Jeremiah says, "set up the world in his wisdom.

9. Romans Paul 1 extended · 1 endorsed 2 citations

   protrepticus 2 passages anchored here

   The apostle Paul is quoted to explain the Greeks' exchange of God's glory for the likeness of corruptible man, endorsed as diagnosing the idolaters' error.

   "Because, knowing God, they glorified him not as God, neither were thankful, but became vain in their reasonings, and changed the glory of God into the likeness of an image of corruptible man, and served the creature rather than the Creator.

10. Sophocles 2 neutral 2 citations

    protrepticus 2 passages anchored here

    Cited alongside Epicharmus as a conflicting source on Ares.

    Take Ares, who even among the poets is honoured as much as may be — "Ares, Ares, bane of mortals, blood-stained, stormer of walls" — this fickle and hostile one was, as Epicharmus says, a Spartan;

11. Works and Days Hesiod 2 authority 2 citations · 3 passages

    protrepticus 3 passages anchored here

    Quoted for its doctrine, which Clement immediately turns to satirical use.

    "And the foolish learns by suffering" that superstition destroys and piety saves.

12. Sibylline Oracles the Sibyl 2 authority 2 citations · 4 passages

    protrepticus 4 passages anchored here

    Clement explicitly endorses the Sibyl as a trustworthy prophetic source, unlike the pagan oracles he attacks.

    " This same prophetess calls the temples ruins, foretelling thus that the temple of Ephesian Artemis shall be swallowed up by chasms and earthquakes:

13. unspecified poetic work Nicander 2 neutral 2 citations · 3 passages

    protrepticus 3 passages anchored here

    Cited twice for descriptive/naming details.

    For even if some of the animals do not have all the senses, like grubs and caterpillars and all that appear maimed straightway from their first birth, as moles and the shrew-mouse, which Nicander calls "blind and dreadful" — yet these are better than these xoana and statues, which are wholly dumb;

14. unspecified work describing Heracles's body Hieronymus (the philosopher) 2 neutral 2 citations · 1 passage

    protrepticus

    Cited for a physical, mortal-scale description of Heracles.

    and Hieronymus the philosopher describes even the build of his body — short, bristly-haired, robust;

15. 1 Corinthians Paul (the Apostle) 1 authority 1 citation

    protrepticus

    Clement quotes the Pauline formula to describe the mysteries reserved in heaven.

    Then you shall behold my God, and be initiated into those holy mysteries, and enjoy the things hidden in the heavens, reserved for me, "which neither ear has heard nor has entered into the heart of any.

16. Aristotle 1 neutral 1 citation

    protrepticus

    Explicitly named as reckoning the various Apollos.

    Yes, and as for Apollo, Aristotle reckons the first the son of Hephaestus and Athena — here, then, Athena is no longer a virgin;

17. Bacchae Euripides 1 refuted 1 citation

    protrepticus

    Clement quotes the reveler's line, echoing Euripides' Bacchae, and addresses its character Teiresias to reject pagan frenzy.

    "And truly I seem to see two suns and a double Thebes," said one as he revelled to the idols, drunk with unmingled ignorance;

18. Book of Jonah Scripture 1 extended 1 citation

    protrepticus

    References the Ninevites' repentance in response to a 'brief proclamation', matching the Jonah narrative.

    yours, if you will only to believe and to follow the brief proclamation, obeying which the Ninevites, by genuine repentance, exchanged the expected capture for the fair salvation.

19. Book of Zechariah Zechariah 1 authority 1 citation

    protrepticus

    Explicitly attributed, 'The prophet Zechariah threatens him'.

    "The Lord who chose Jerusalem rebuke you.

20. Callimachus 1 authority 1 citation · 3 passages

    protrepticus 3 passages anchored here

    Callimachus recurs three times as a source Clement relies on for factual/mythic claims.

    The Arcadians worship an Artemis called "the Strangled," as Callimachus says in his Causes.

21. Deuteronomy Moses 1 authority 1 citation · 2 passages

    protrepticus 2 passages anchored here

    Moses is cited as the authority for the law of true weight and measure and for the Shema's command to worship the one Lord alone.

    but you shall have a true and just weight" — taking God to be the weight and measure and number of all things.

22. Epistle to the Philippians Paul 1 authority 1 citation

    protrepticus

    Explicitly framed as the apostle 'exhorting the Macedonians'.

    "take heed lest we be found empty.

23. Euripides 1 neutral 1 citation · 2 passages

    protrepticus 2 passages anchored here

    Cited twice as a dramatic source.

    these sacrifices of yours Euripides puts upon the stage as tragedy.

24. Exodus Moses 1 authority 1 citation

    protrepticus

    Moses is cited as the authority for the prohibition against making likenesses of things in heaven or earth.

    "you shall not make," says the prophet, "the likeness of anything that is in heaven above or that is in the earth beneath.

Each stands at a single passage. The chapter carries the anchors.

protrepticus 76 sources

Aethlius · Argolic Affairs, book 2 · Athenodorus son of Sandon · Barbarian Customs · Chaldaic Affairs · Circuit of the Earth · Cypria · Delphica · Dosidas · Epistle to Titus (cf. Titus 2:11-13) · Epistle to Titus (cf. Titus 3:3-5) · Epistle to the Corinthians · Epistle to the Ephesians (cf. Ephesians 2:12) · Epistle to the Ephesians (cf. Ephesians 2:2) · Epistle to the Ephesians (cf. Ephesians 2:3-5) · Epistle to the Philippians (cf. Philippians 2:6-7) · Epistles to Timothy · Foundations of Temples · Gospel of John (John 10:9) · Gospel of John (John 1:1) · Gospel sayings (cf. Matthew 3:7-9, 7:15) · Histories, book 9 · Isaiah (Isaiah 40:3) / Gospel of John (John 1:23) · Isaiah (Zion oracle, cf. Isaiah 2:3 / Micah 4:2) · Isaiah (cf. Isaiah 54:1) · Isidore · Italian Affairs, book 4 · Leandrius · Loves or Fair Ones (Erotes) · On Cnidus · On Concord, book 3 · On Cyprus · On Mysteries · Orphic poems (Baubo episode) · Orphic poems (rite of Dionysus) · Persian Affairs · Phrygian/Sabazian mystery formulas · Psalms (Psalm 19) · Psalms (Psalm 22) · Psalms (Psalm 82) · Psalms (cf. Psalm 110:3 LXX) · Psalms and Proverbs (Scripture) · Pythagorean teaching on the one God · Returns (Nostoi) · Samian Affairs · Sibylline verses · Staphylus · The Charioteer · The Priestess · Tragic Subjects, book 1 · Zenon of Myndus · antiquarian works (unspecified) · antiquarian/periegetic works (unspecified) · collection of marvels · comedy (unspecified) · epic poem (unspecified) · fragment on swine · fragments (unspecified) · local history of Lesbos · lyric poetry on the Muses' parentage · sayings attributed to Diagoras and companions · sayings of Heraclitus · teaching of the elders · the Cycle, part 5 · the Eleusinian mystery watchword · the Gospel (sayings of Christ) · the Law of Moses (Torah) · the Law of Moses (cf. Deuteronomy 23:1-2) · tragedies on the Dioscuri · unspecified historical work · unspecified prose work · verses of Empedocles · verses of an unnamed idolatrous poet · verses of the poets (unnamed) · work on Philopator, book 1 · writings of Didymus the grammarian