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Epimenides

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Epimenides (ĕpĭmĕn`ĭdēz), fl. 6th cent.? B.C., Cretan prophet and miracle worker. According to one story, he was called to Athens to purify the city after the murder of Cylon on the Acropolis. Many poems, oracles, and sayings were attributed to him (Titus 1.12 is supposed to contain one of these).
Epimenides
philosopher nods off for 57 years in cave. [Gk. Legend: LLEI, I: 283]
See : Sleep

Epimenides 

a semilegendary sage, prophet, and poet of ancient Greece. Born on the island of Crete.

As a young shepherd, Epimenides fell asleep in a cave and slept for 57 (or 40) years. When he awoke, he discovered he had the abilities of both a priest and a poet. According to tradition, Epimenides purified Athens of the taint from murders committed at the altar during Cylon’s uprising (seventh century B.C.) and established the sanctuary of the Eumenides. Epic poems about the origin of the gods and about the construction of the Argo and Jason’s voyage have been ascribed to Epimenides. He is believed to have lived in the seventh or sixth century B.C; according to some authorities, his visit to Athens took place in 500. In classical tradition Epimenides is numbered among the seven wise men.



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In this way, playful actions set up irresolvable recursive feed-back loops that resemble the classic paradox of Epimenides the Cretan, who claimed that all Cretans are liars: if he is telling the truth, then he is lying (Bateson, "The Message," "Metalogue," "A Theory").
The famous case of Epimenides (6th century BC), the Cretan who declared that all Cretans are liars, was one of the first of these paradoxes.
Paul tried to build bridges with the pagan Greeks in Athens when he quoted from the poets Epimenides and Aratus of Soli in speaking of "the God in which we live and move and have our being.
 
 
 
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