The Homeric Cento in Irenaeus, "Adversus Haereses" I, 9,4

Abstract

In the second volume of his Histoire des Doctrines Chretiennes, Jean Danielou discusses the relation between the thought of several early Christian fathers and certain aspects of Hellenistic culture.1 He shows that, along with the interplay of Greek philosophy and Christian theology, there also existed an interesting and fruitful exchange between Christians and non-Christians concerning the poems of Homer. Summarizing the researches of men such as Pepin and Buffiere, Danielou outlines some of the approaches taken by Christians at this time to Homer.2 Homer not only a topic of discussion and controversy among orthodox Christian writers. Some gnostic writers also made use of him and were, in Danielou's words, inspired by Homeric allegory. In particular Danielou refers to Valentinus and his school, and mentions, among other references, a citation of Homer in the Gospel of Truth.3 To support the claim that the school of Valentinus used the Homeric poems, Danielou points to the Homeric cento cited by Irenaeus in Book I of the Adversus Haereses (9,4). According to Danielou this cento was composed by Valentinus and interpreted by him in an allegorical (p. 82). At the same time he admits that the sense of the cento, as intended by Valentinus, is difficult to determine. If Danielou is correct in his interpretation of the origin ot the cento he has given us an interesting and significant piece of evidence for the understanding of Valentinian gnosticism and its practice of an allegorical exegesis of Homer.