The Shelves · Philosophy

The 'two million lines' of Zoroaster, as indexed by Hermippus

Known · Probablein Alexandria?Conjectured · Our reconstructionour placement

◇ Doubted: pseudonymous; the attribution is uncertain. Greek verses circulated under Zoroaster's name; nothing suggests they were translations of Avestan texts.

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I · The entry, in his form

In the table of Philosophy

Conjectured · Our reconstructionour placement

Pseudo-Zoroaster (Greek pseudepigrapha)

The 'two million lines' of Zoroaster, as indexed by Hermippus

Opening words not preserved.

Length: not counted

◇ Doubted: pseudonymous; the attribution is uncertain. Greek verses circulated under Zoroaster's name; nothing suggests they were translations of Avestan texts.

Above, his entry form, filled from what we know. Below, ours.

II · Does it survive? Where to read it

Lost

Known only from one sentence of Pliny.

Was it in Alexandria?

Known · Probable

Written in Alexandria.

In the cupboard: Hermippus indexed these verses at Alexandria.

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III · In the show

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IV · Sources and the living entry

Ancient references (3)
  • Pliny, Natural History 30.4
  • Porphyry, Life of Plotinus 16
  • Clement, Stromata 1.15.69
Modern scholarship (3)
  • R. Beck, 'Thus Spake Not Zarathustra: Zoroastrian Pseudepigrapha of the Greco-Roman World', in M. Boyce and F. Grenet, A History of Zoroastrianism III (Leiden: Brill, 1991), 491-565.
  • J. Bidez and F. Cumont, Les Mages hellenises: Zoroastre, Ostanes et Hystaspe d'apres la tradition grecque, 2 vols (Paris: Les Belles Lettres, 1938).
  • J. Bollansee, Hermippos of Smyrna and His Biographical Writings: A Reappraisal (Leuven: Peeters, 1999).

Entry checked 31 Oct 2026 · no corrections · Suggest a correction ›

THE 'TWO MILLION LINES' OF ZOROASTER, AS INDEXED BY HERMIPPUS

Beside it in the cupboard