Page "Apollonius of Tyana" Paragraph 15

In Philostratus ’ description of Apollonius ’ life and deeds there are a number of similarities with the life and especially the claimed miracles of Jesus.

Perhaps this parallel was intentional, but the original aim was hardly to present Apollonius as a rival of Jesus.

However, in the late 3rd century Porphyry, an anti-Christian Neoplatonic philosopher, claimed in his treatise Against the Christians that the miracles of Jesus were not unique, and mentioned Apollonius as a non-Christian who had accomplished similar achievements.

Around 300, Roman authorities used the fame of Apollonius in their struggle to wipe out Christianity.

Hierocles, one of the main instigators of the persecution of Christians in 303, wrote a pamphlet where he argued that Apollonius exceeded Christ as a wonder-worker and yet wasn ’ t worshipped as a god, and that the cultured biographers of Apollonius were more trustworthy than the uneducated apostles.

This attempt to make Apollonius a hero of the anti-Christian movement provoked sharp replies from bishop Eusebius of Caesarea and from Lactantius.

Eusebius wrote an extant reply to the pamphlet of Hierocles, where he claimed that Philostratus was a fabulist and that Apollonius was a sorcerer in league with demons.

This started a debate on the relative merits of Jesus and Apollonius that has gone on in different forms into modern times.