The Shelves · Philosophy

On First Principles

Περὶ ἀρχῶν

Known · Attestedin Alexandria?Conjectured · Our reconstructionour placement

I · The entry, in his form

In the table of Philosophy

Conjectured · Our reconstructionour placement

c. 185–253 CE. Led the catechetical school from about 203 until he left for Caesarea in 231/232. He compiled the Hexapla, six versions of the Old Testament in parallel columns, the greatest work of Alexandrian textual criticism applied to scripture, and wrote On First Principles.

On First Principles

Περὶ ἀρχῶν

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 only in translation

The Greek is lost except excerpts; it survives in Rufinus's Latin translation of 398, which softened passages later judged heretical.

Was it in Alexandria?

Known · Attested

Written in Alexandria.

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

Read it today

Crombie translation, New Advent · a translation · link checked 31 Oct 2026

III · In the show

The One, Nous & World Soul, episode 17, at 50 minutes 33 secondsTranscript“I believe he studied with ammonia sakus. I'm not 100% sure off the top of my head” (intended: Ammonius Saccas)Known: attested
Correction
What was said
Tertullian studied with Ammonius Saccas.
What the sources say
Tertullian wrote in Latin at Carthage and did not study with Ammonius. The Christian hearer of Ammonius whom Porphyry names is Origen.
Reference
- Eusebius, Church History 6.19.6
Christian Mysticism · Chronology: Origen reads the SongOrigen reads the Song of Songs.Known: attested
Christian Mysticism · Figures: OrigenKnown: attested

+ 8 more

Symbolism · The Fourfold Sense, roots: 'Origen's three' senses of Scripture (On First Principles IV)Known: attested
Alchemy · Three principles, seven metals: Celsus' ladder of seven metal gates, preserved by Origen (Against Celsus VI.22)Known: attested
Astrology · Interlude: Celsus, quoted by Origen, on the ladder of seven gatesKnown: attested
Gnosticism · Figures: Heracleon, whose commentary on John is preserved in fragments by OrigenKnown: attested
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
Christian Mysticism · Chronology: The desert withdrawalThe desert withdrawal; Athanasius' Life of Antony.Known: attested

IV · Sources and the living entry

Ancient references (3)

Eusebius, Church History 6.19
Rufinus, preface to On First Principles
Justinian, Letter to Menas

Modern scholarship (2)

J. Behr, Origen: On First Principles, 2 vols (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2017).
A. van den Hoek, 'The "Catechetical" School of Early Christian Alexandria and Its Philonic Heritage', Harvard Theological Review 90.1 (1997): 59-87.

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

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