HEGESIPPUS

hegesippus, athenian orator and statesman, nicknamed [greek: krobylos] ("knot"), probably from the way in which he wore his hair. he lived in the time of demosthenes, of whose anti-macedonian policy he was an enthusiastic supporter. in 343 b.c. he was one of the ambassadors sent to macedonia to discuss, amongst other matters, the restoration of the island of halonnesus, which had been seized by philip. the mission was unsuccessful, but soon afterwards philip wrote to athens, offering to resign possession of the island or to submit to arbitration the question of ownership. in reply to this letter the oration de _halonneso_ was delivered, which, although included among the speeches of demosthenes, is generally considered to be by hegesippus. dionysius of halicarnassus and plutarch, however, favour the authorship of demosthenes. see demosthenes, _de falsa legatione_ 364, 447, _de corona_ 250, _philippica_ iii. 129; plutarch, _demosthenes_ 17, _apophthegmata_, 187d; dionysius halic. _ad ammaeum_, i.; grote, _history of greece_, ch. 90. hegesippus (fl. a.d. 150-180), early christian writer, was of palestinian origin, and lived under the emperors antoninus pius, marcus aurelius and commodus. like aristo of pella he belonged to that group of judaistic christians which, while keeping the law themselves, did not attempt to impose on others the requirements of circumcision and sabbath observance. he was the author of a treatise ([greek: hypomnemata]) in five books dealing with such subjects as christian literature, the unity of church doctrine, paganism, heresy and jewish christianity, fragments of which are found in eusebius, who obtained much of his information concerning early palestinian church history and chronology from this source. hegesippus was also a great traveller, and like many other leaders of his time came to rome (having visited corinth on the way) about the middle of the 2nd century. his journeyings impressed him with the idea that the continuity of the church in the cities he visited was a guarantee of its fidelity to apostolic orthodoxy: "in each succession and in every city, the doctrine is in accordance with that which the law and the prophets and the lord [i.e. the old testament and the evangelical tradition] proclaim." to illustrate this opinion he drew up a list of the roman bishops. hegesippus is thus a significant figure both for the type of christianity taught in the circle to which he belonged, and as accentuating the point of view which the church began to assume in the presence of a developing gnosticism.