The Shelves · Lyric (melic) poetry

Thalia (Banquet)

Θάλεια

Known · Attestedin Alexandria?Conjectured · Our reconstructionour placement

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I · The entry, in his form

In the table of Lyric (melic) poetry: “popular verse”

Conjectured · Our reconstructionour placement

Arius of Alexandria

c. 256–336 CE. An Alexandrian priest whose teaching that the Son had a beginning set off the controversy that led to the Council of Nicaea in 325. Fragments of his verse Thalia survive in Athanasius.

Thalia

Θάλεια

Opening words not preserved.

Length: not counted

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

II · Does it survive? Where to read it

Survives in fragments

Survives only in hostile quotations and paraphrases by Athanasius.

Was it in Alexandria?

Known · Attested

Written in Alexandria.

On the table: written in Alexandria; no evidence it was in the Library.

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III · In the show

  • Early Spread of Christianity & Esotericism, episode 17, at 48 minutes 34 secondsTranscriptEarly spread of Christianity and esotericism; Plotinus' hypostases and the Trinity.Known: attested
  • Alexandria as Esoteric Crossroads, episode 17, at 47 minutes 57 secondsTranscript“the evangelist Mark brought Christianity there in 42 CE”Church tradition, which the speaker labels 'legend… or tradition' (Eusebius, Church History 2.16); Eusebius' Chronicle, in Jerome's version, puts Mark's mission in the early 40s.Known: attested
    Correction
    What was said
    The Hermetic tracts were "all found outside of Alexandria".
    What the sources say
    Near Nag Hammadi in Upper Egypt, some 600 km south of Alexandria (about 615 km in a straight line, farther by the river). Codex VI holds three Hermetic texts (the Discourse on the Eighth and Ninth, the Prayer of Thanksgiving, an extract of the Asclepius) and an extract of Plato's Republic.
  • Heresiologists and early Christian doctrine, episode 2, at 2 minutes 2 secondsTranscript“Clement of Alexandria was a little bit more um he was a little bit more amunable to you know particularly the Gnostic schools”Known: attested
+ 3 more

IV · Sources and the living entry

Ancient references (2)
  • Athanasius, Orations against the Arians 1.5-6
  • Athanasius, On the Councils 15
Modern scholarship
  • R. Williams, Arius: Heresy and Tradition (London: Darton, Longman & Todd, 1987; rev. ed. 2001).

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

ΘΑΛΕΙΑ

Beside it on the table