A Dictionary of Greek and Roman biography and mythology

4. Bishop of Antioch, in the latter part of the second century of our era, and the author of one of the early apologies for Christianity which have come down to us. The common opinion concerning his time, derived from Eusebius, Jerome, and Nicephorus, has been elaborately canvassed by Dodwell and others, whose arguments are fully examined, and satisfactorily answered by Cave (Hist. Litt. s. a. 168), and Harless (ad Fabric. Bibl. Graec. vol. vii. p. 102). In the eighth (Heron. Chron. s. a. 2184) or tenth (Euseb. Chron. s. a. 2186 ; Syncoll. p. 352d.) year of Marcus Antoninus (A. D. 168/9 or 170/1), he succeeded Eros in the see of Antioch, of which he was the sixth bishop (Euseb. Hist. Eccl. 4.20; Hieron. de Vir. Ill. 25), or, including S. Peter, the seventh (Hieron. Algas. vol. iii. p. 318; Niceph. Chron. p. 417c.) ; and he held that office for thirteen years, that is, till A. D. 181 or 183 (Niceph. l.c.). Having been originally a heathen [*](* Respecting the opinion that he was not a heathen, but a Jew and a Sadducee, see Harless, l.c., p. 101.) , as he tells us himself (Ad Autolyc. i. p. 78), he was converted to Christianity by the study of the sacred Scriptures.