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Alexander of Abonuteichos

Συγγραφή : Kamara Afroditi (25/3/2002)
Μετάφραση : Velentzas Georgios

Για παραπομπή: Kamara Afroditi, "Alexander of Abonuteichos",
Εγκυκλοπαίδεια Μείζονος Ελληνισμού, Μ. Ασία
URL: <http://www.ehw.gr/l.aspx?id=7162>
Αλέξανδρος Αβωνοτειχίτης (8/1/2008 v.1) Alexander of Abonuteichos (22/4/2008 v.1) 
 

1. General Information

Alexander of Abonuteichos was a philosopher and seer, who founded an oracle at the city of Abonou Teichos in Paphlagonia. His oracle became particularly popular in the second half of the 2nd c. AD. If Alexander had not been satirised by Lucian of Samosata, there would have been little information about him. The latter’s work, ‘Alexander the False Prophet’, although written to stigmatise Alexander’s activities and personality, is today an invaluable source concerning the philosopher’s life. Furthermore, it sets the scene for the relations between politics and religion in the Roman period. Apart from Lucian, information about Alexander also comes from Philostratus.1

2. Biography

Alexander was born in 105 AD in the Paphlagonian city of Abonou Teichos, later renamed Ionopolis on his initiative, and died in the same city circa 175 AD.2 There is no particular information about his family, as Alexander claimed that his father had been the mythical hero and son of Asclepius, Podaleirius. However, he must have been of humble origin. He had a daughter, who got married to the Roman official Rutilianus.3

According to Lucian, when Alexander was very young, was the lover and student of a magician from Tyana, who was in his turn one of Apollonius’ students. The magician initiated him into theurgy and magic. When his teacher and employer died, Alexander along with someone called Kokkonas started traveling and demonstrating their skills in magic. In this way they obtained money by fraud from the gullible rich. After they had wandered for some time, they decided to found an oracle, which would earn them both fame and money. Alexander thought that the ideal place for this would be his birthplace, for his compatriots in Paphlagonia were naive and superstitious.

3. Alexander the Seer

According to Lucian, the two companions began their career when they buried at the temple of Apollo in Chalcedon some bronze tablets, which forecasted the coming of Asclepius to Abonou Teichos. The inhabitants of the small town were informed about the prophecy and were impressed. Thus, they voted for the construction of a temple dedicated to the god. When the temple was founded, Alexander moved to the town, while Kokkonas remained in Chalcedon to utter oracles; he died shortly later. Alexander arrived at his birthplace as a prophet and clairvoyant. He started to pronounce oracles in a state of ecstasy. At some point he invented the following: he emptied a goose egg and put a newly born snake inside. He then buried the egg at a specific point in the mud and started running in the streets in a frenzy signalling the arrival of Asclepius. Before the very eyes of the gathered people, he unburied the egg with the little snake, the god’s symbol. The citizens believed him and started making offerings asking the god to help them. Then, Alexander, who had brought a tamed snake from Pella of Macedonia, started to receive visitors at home holding the snake in his hands. He named the snake ‘Glycon’ and prophesied supposedly with its help. His fame soon spread to Bithynia, the Pontus and Thrace as well as to Cilicia.

The oracle of Glycon was accepted by the Neoplatonists and the Pythagoreans, but was in confrontation with the Epicureans, because it criticized their philosophical views. The only city that had no relations with the oracle was Amastris, which remained loyal to the traditional gods and the Imperial Cult.

Alexander was very careful to be on good terms with the old oracles of Claros, Didyma and Mallus. He used to send his clients to those oracles for further advice. The oracle reached its heyday when its fame was spread to Italy. Wealthy and powerful Romans ran to ask for utterances; among them was the subsequent proconsul of Asia, Rutilianus. The latter was nearly sixty years old when he got there, but this did not prevent Alexander from asking him to marry his daughter, whose alleged mother was Selene (the Moon). The naive Roman official was glad to accept. The marriage made Alexander feel even more powerful. He then started to pronounce oracles about future destructions and calamities that were going to strike the cities of Asia Minor. In order to avoid disaster, the cities should ask for his help. However, according to Lucian, this help was useless in the case of Galen’s epidemic, the terrible plague that struck the empire in 165 AD. Those who had followed his advice and had written an appeal to Apollo on their front doors suffered more, probably because they felt protected and did not take the necessary preventive measures.

Alexander also established mysteries in honour of the god. They lasted for three days, while Christians and Epicureans were excluded. On the first day, there was an enactment of Apollo’s birth, his marriage to Coronis and the birth of Asclepius; on the second day, there was an enactment of Glycon’s birth, while on the third day, it was the turn of the marriage of Podaleirius to Alexander’s mother and Alexander’s birth as well as his intercourse with Selene and the birth of his daughter. A woman called Rutilia appeared as Alexander’s assistant during all the above mysteries. Alexander, in order to make the performances more convincing, had sexual intercourse with his assistant before the very eyes of the spectators.

4. Evaluation

Thanks to the fame the oracle had received, Alexander asked and managed to change the name of his birthplace into Ionopolis and issue coins depicting Glycon. The first coins with the humanlike snake were minted in the years of Lucius Verus and were circulating until the mid-3rd c. AD.

After Alexander died, Rutilianus, who was asked to decide on the oracle’s future, refused to appoint a replacement and established games in the founder’s honour. The prejudiced sources and the clear hatred of Lucian for Alexander are some of the reasons why contemporary research has not managed to fully evaluate Alexander’s work. However, it is certain that he had a great impact on his contemporaries probably until the early 3rd century AD. The fact that the oracle must have suspended its activity seems to agree with Lucian, who supported that everything was based on the craftiness and political links of its founder, who had managed to find a way to make himself known and become rich by exploiting the gullibility of people.

1. Lucian, Alex.; Philostratus, Σοφ.161-162. Also RE I.2, ‘Alexandros aus Abonou Teihos’, no. 70 (Riess).

2. Although the year 171 AD has also been suggested as the year of his death, the year 175 AD is considered more possible.

3. He must have been Publius Mummius Sisenna Rutilianus, who is known to have held a series of posts in Roman administration, finally being the proconsul of Asia circa 170 AD.
     
 
 
 
 
 

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