Cercops

Cercops (Greek: Κέρκωψ) was one of the oldest Orphic poets. He was called a Pythagorean by Clement of Alexandria^[1] and Cicero,^[2] was said by Epigenes of Alexandria to have been the author of an Orphic epic poem entitled "the Descent to Hades" which seems to have been extant in the Alexandrian period.^[1] Others attribute this work to Prodicus of Samos, or Herodicus of Perinthus, or Orpheus of Camarina.^[3]

Epigenes also assigns to Cercops^[1] the Orphic ἱερος λογός which was ascribed by some to Theognetus of Thessaly, and was a poem in twenty-four books.

Notes

1. ^ ^{a b c} Clement of Alexandria, Stromata, i.
2. ^ Cicero De Natura Deorum i. 38
3. ^ Suda, Orpheus.

This article incorporates text from the public domain Dictionary of Greek and Roman Biography and Mythology by William Smith (1870).