Early Christian Beliefs About Pagan Poets
Early Christians usually said pagan poets were not trustworthy teachers about God, even when they sometimes said something true. Writers like Justin Martyr, Athenagoras, Clement of Alexandria, Theophilus of Antioch, Tertullian, Origen, Arnobius, and Lactantius often used poets to expose pagan myths or to show that the poets copied older truth in broken form. They still told readers to judge everything by Scripture and by the Christian faith.
128 early-church witnesses · 261 source quotations · compared with Scripture
What did early Christians believe about pagan Poets?
Early Christian writers usually treated pagan poets as useful but untrustworthy witnesses: they could preserve scraps of truth, but their stories about the gods were mostly false, shameful, or mixed with myth. Justin Martyr, Athenagoras, Theophilus of Antioch, Clement of Alexandria, Tertullian, Origen, Arnobius, Lactantius, and Minucius Felix all argue this in different ways, often saying the poets copied older truth, repeated rumors, or used fable to decorate false religion.
Some writers also quoted the poets against pagan worship, especially when the poems exposed the gods as immoral or human. A few texts are more positive, saying the poets sometimes bear witness to truth or deserve careful reading, but that praise is limited and still subject to Christian judgment. Overall, the evidence is broad and clear: early Christians did not treat pagan poets as final authorities, but as secondary voices that had to be tested by Scripture and the Christian faith.
Many more early Christian quotations, Bible passages, and source links are gathered below so you can study the evidence for yourself.
Key Takeaways
- Early Christians often quoted pagan poets, but they did not treat them as final authority.
- Many writers said the poets mixed truth with myth, rumor, or shameful stories about the gods.
- Some Christians used poet quotes to criticize pagan religion, not to defend it.
- Christian teaching stayed above the poets and was tested by Scripture.
Questions Answered by the Sources
Did early Christians reject pagan poets as teachers about the gods?
These sources say pagan poets should not be trusted as authorities on divine matters. They describe pagan poetry as fable, deception, or shameless invention, and point believers back to Scripture instead.
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Theophilus of Antioch, To Autolycus Supporting witness
...istener and reader must pay close attention to their words. Simylus also said, "It is the custom of poets to use one common name for both the extremely wicked and the excellent; therefore we must make distinctions." Philemon also says, "A foolish man who sits and only listens is a troublesome thing, for he does not criticize himself, so foolish is he." So then, we must pay attention and think carefully about what is said, examining critically what the philosophers and the poets have spoken.
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Athenagoras, A Plea for the Christians Supporting witness
For poets and philosophers, as to other subjects so also to this, have applied themselves in the way of conjecture, moved, by reason of their affinity with the afflatus from God, each one by his own soul, to try whether he could find out and apprehend the truth;
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Lactantius, The Divine Institutes Direct teaching
They say that the poets have spoken falsely, and yet they believe them: yes, truly they prove by the fact itself that the poets did not speak falsely;
More related quotations from this section 14 shown
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Gregory Thaumaturgus, Oration to Origen Direct teaching
...h a way that we would read with the greatest care everything written by the philosophers and by the poets of old. We were to reject nothing and refuse nothing, because at that time we did not yet have the power to judge critically. There was only one exception: the writings of the atheists. In their proud ideas, they fall away from the common understanding of mankind and deny that there is either a God or a providence. He wanted us to keep away from these writings, because they are not worthy to be read, and because it might happen that the soul within us, which is meant for piety, would be defiled by hearing words that are opposed to the worship of God. For even those who visit temples of piety, as they think them to be, are careful not to touch anything profane. Therefore, he held that the books of such people were not worthy even to be considered by those who have taken up the practice of piety. However, he thought that we should obtain and become familiar with all other writings. We were not to favor one kind or reject another, whether it was philosophical teaching or not, whether Greek or foreign, but to listen to what all of them had to say. And he acted on this principle
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Athenagoras, A Plea for the Christians Supporting witness
...nsidering that only the unbegotten God is eternal. For either the stories told by the crowd and the poets about the gods are not worthy of belief, and the honor shown to them is unnecessary, because those beings do not exist if the stories about them are false; or, if the births, love affairs, murders, thefts, castrations, and thunderbolts are true, then they no longer exist. They ceased to be, since they were born, and before that they had no existence. And by what principle should we believe some things and not believe others, when the poets wrote these stories in order to win greater reverence for them? Surely those through whom these beings came to be regarded as gods, and who worked to present their deeds as worthy of reverence, could not have made up their sufferings. Therefore, it has been shown, as far as I am able, if not as fully as the greatness of the subject deserves, that we are not atheists, since we acknowledge God, the Maker of this universe, and His Word.
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Arnobius, Against the Heathen Supporting witness
Even if we admit that all those things that dishonor the immortal gods were presented by poets only as jokes, what about the things found in serious, careful histories and handed down by you in secret mysteries? Were those also invented by the shameless imagination of poets? If these stories had seemed so absurd to you, you would neither have kept some of them in constant use, nor celebrated them as solemn festivals year after year, nor preserved them among your sacred rites as images of real events. With careful restraint, I will mention only one of these stories, though there are so many. It is the one in which Jupiter himself is brought forward as foolish and thoughtless, being deceived by the double meaning of words. In the second book of Antias—so that no one may think, perhaps, that I am falsely making up accusations—the following story is written:
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Minucius Felix, Octavius Supporting witness
All such figments of an unhealthy belief, and vain sources of comfort, with which deceiving poets have trifled in the sweetness of their verse, have been disgracefully remoulded by you, believing undoubtingly on your God.
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Tertullian, Apology Supporting witness
so that people might think Christians unworthy of credit because the poets or philosophers are so, or might regard the poets and philosophers as worthier of confidence from their not being followers of Christ.
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Theophilus of Antioch, To Autolycus Supporting witness
For indeed the poets — Homer, to wit, and Hesiod, being, as they say, inspired by the Muses — spoke from a deceptive fancy, and not with a pure but an erring spirit.
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Origen, Against Celsus Supporting witness
But whether Orpheus, Parmenides, Empedocles, or even Homer himself, and Hesiod, are the persons whom he means by inspired poets, let any one show how those who follow their guidance walk in a better way, or lead a more excellent life, than those who, being taught in the school of Jesus Christ, have rejected all images and statues, and even all Jewish superstition, that they may look upward through the Word of God to the one God, who is the Father of the Word.
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Justin Martyr, Hortatory Address to the Greeks Supporting witness
The poets? It will do your cause no good to say so to men who know the poets;
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Lactantius, The Epitome of the Divine Institutes Supporting witness
What do these things signify but impurity, which the poets do not venture to confess?
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Arnobius, Against the Heathen Supporting witness
35. But is it only poets whom you have thought proper to allow to invent unseemly tales about the gods, and to turn them shamefully into sport?
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Origen, Against Celsus Supporting witness
He refers us to divinely inspired poets, as he calls them, to wise men and philosophers, without mentioning their names;
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Clement of Alexandria, The Stromata (Miscellanies) Background
...; some in one place, others in other places; some by Hesiod, some by Homer, some by the rest of the poets; and some in prose writings, some by Greeks, some by Barbarians. And I, gathering together from all these sources the things that are most important and closely related, will make the present discourse new and varied."
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Hippolytus, Refutation of All Heresies Background
nor does this escape the notice of the poets, who express themselves thus:—
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Clement of Alexandria, Exhortation to the Heathen Background
Chapter 7. The Poets Also Bear Testimony to the Truth.
Did early Christians ever use pagan poets as partial witnesses to truth?
A second strand in the sources says poets sometimes preserved pieces of truth, even if they mixed them with error. These writers use pagan lines selectively and still treat Scripture as the higher authority.
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Clement of Alexandria, The Instructor (Paedagogus) Direct teaching
These people, then, are disgusting even to the pagan poets because of their behavior. So how could they not be rejected by the truth? In the same way, another comic poet, Alexis, also rebukes them. I will quote his words, which, by their exaggerated way of speaking, put to shame the stubbornness of their shamelessness. For he was not very far from the truth. And I cannot, out of shame, come to the defense of women who are exposed to such ridicule in comedy.
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Justin Martyr, Hortatory Address to the Greeks Direct teaching
Who, then, you people of Greece, do you call your teachers of religion? The poets? It will not help your case to say so to those who know the poets, for they understand how very ridiculous a theogony they have composed, as we can learn from Homer, your most distinguished and prince of poets. For he states, first, that the gods were originally generated from water, as he has written: "Both ocean, the origin of the gods, and their mother Tethys."
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Theophilus of Antioch, To Autolycus Supporting witness
...s hide. And his other deeds, his incest, adultery, and lust, are better told by Homer and the other poets. Why should I say more about his sons? About how Hercules burned himself; and about Bacchus, drunk and raging; and about Apollo, fearing Achilles and fleeing from him, and falling in love with Daphne, and not knowing the fate of Hyacinthus; and about Venus wounded, and Mars, the plague of mortals; and about the ichor flowing from the so-called gods. And these are actually the milder kinds of stories, since the god called Osiris is found to have been torn limb from limb. His mysteries are celebrated every year, as if he had died and were being found and searched for piece by piece. For it is neither known whether he died, nor is it shown whether he is found. And why should I speak of Atys mutilated, or of Adonis wandering in the woods and wounded by a boar while hunting; or of Æsculapius struck by a thunderbolt; or of the fugitive Serapis, chased from Sinope to Alexandria; or of the Scythian Diana, who was herself also a fugitive, a killer, a huntress, and a passionate lover of Endymion? Now, it is not we who make these things known, but your own writers and poets.
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Clement of Alexandria, Exhortation to the Heathen Direct teaching
And not only Menander, but Homer also, and Euripides, and other poets in great numbers, expose your gods, and are wont to rate them, and that soundly too.
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Arnobius, Against the Heathen Supporting witness
Is not he one of your poets, who re resented Mars and Venus as wounded by men's hands?
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Justin Martyr, The First Apology Direct teaching
And of these some taught atheism; and the poets who have flourished among you raise a laugh out of the uncleanness of Jupiter with his own children.
More related quotations from this section 4 shown
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Theophilus of Antioch, To Autolycus Supporting witness
For thus they most heartily celebrate Homer and Hesiod, and the rest of the poets, but the glory of the incorruptible and only God they not only omit to mention, but blaspheme;
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Arnobius, Against the Heathen Supporting witness
you say that those who have uttered so marvellous things are chiefs and kings among poets endowed with godlike genius, that they are persons most holy;
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1 Corinthians 10:20 Background
No, I imply that what pagans sacrifice they offer to demons and not to God. I do not want you to be participants with demons.
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Hippolytus, Refutation of All Heresies Background
Now, the poets of the Greeks allege that Ulysses sailed through (this channel), adroitly using (to his own purpose) the terribleness of these strange monsters.
Did early Christians quote pagan poets to criticize pagan myths and worship?
Several writers quote poets while arguing that pagan gods are morally shameful, inconsistent, or human inventions. The quotations function as rebuttals against pagan religion, not endorsements of it.
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Acts 17:28 Background
For in him we live, and move, and have our being; as certain also of your own poets have said, For we are also his offspring.
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Apostolic Constitutions, Apostolic Constitutions Direct teaching
Stay away from all pagan books. What do you have to do with such foreign teachings, laws, or false prophets that overthrow the faith of unstable people? What lack do you find in the law of God, that you should turn to those pagan fables? If you want to read history, you have the books of the Kings. If you want books of wisdom or poetry, you have the books of the Prophets, Job, and Proverbs. In them you will find greater depth of understanding than in all the pagan poets and sophists, because these are the words of the Lord, the only wise God. If you want something to sing, you have the Psalms. If you want the origin of things, you have Genesis. If you want laws and statutes, you have the glorious law of the Lord God. Therefore, completely stay away from all strange and diabolical books. No, when you read the law, do not think that you are required to keep the added precepts, if not all of them, then even some of them. Read those only for the sake of history, so that you may know them and glorify God that He has delivered you from so great and so many bonds. Aim to distinguish which rules came from the law of nature, and which were added afterward, or were additional rules introduce
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Justin Martyr, Hortatory Address to the Greeks Direct teaching
And if you decline citing the poets because you say it is acceptable for them to create myths and to tell untrue stories about the gods, do you think you have other religious teachers, or how do you claim to have learned this religion of yours? For it is impossible to know matters so great and divine without having first learned them from the initiated. You will likely say, “The sages and philosophers.” For you tend to turn to them like a fortified wall when anyone quotes your poets' opinions about the gods. Therefore, since it is appropriate to start with the ancients and the earliest, I will begin there and present the opinion of each, which is much more ridiculous than the theology of the poets. Thales of Miletus, who led the study of natural philosophy, declared that water was the primary principle of all things; he said that all things come from water and return to water. After him, Anaximander, also from Miletus, claimed that the infinite was the first principle of everything; from this all things are produced, and to this all decay. Thirdly, Anaximenes, also from Miletus, stated that air is the primary principle of all things; he said that all things are produced from air an
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Clement of Alexandria, The Instructor (Paedagogus) Background
...onomy 5. And so on. These things must be kept, along with whatever else is commanded in reading the Bible. And by Isaiah He commands us: "Wash yourselves, and make yourselves clean. Put away wickedness from your souls before my eyes. Learn to do good. Seek judgment. Rescue the wronged. Judge for the orphan, and justify the widow. And come, and let us reason together," says the Lord. And we will find many examples in other places also. For example, about prayer, Scripture says, "Good works are an acceptable prayer to the Lord." And the manner of prayer is described: "If you see the naked, cover him, and do not overlook those who belong to your own seed. Then your light shall break forth early, and your healing shall spring up quickly; and your righteousness shall go before you, and the glory of God shall surround you." What, then, is the fruit of such prayer? "Then you shall call, and God will hear you; while you are still speaking, He will say, 'I am here.'"
Did early Christians say Scripture was better than pagan poetry?
The sources repeatedly place biblical books above pagan poets, saying Scripture gives wisdom, history, song, and truth more reliably than pagan literature. One source explicitly tells readers to turn to the Bible rather than pagan books.
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Theophilus of Antioch, To Autolycus Direct teaching
...re being tormented with eternal punishments. These punishments were foretold by the prophets. Later poets and philosophers stole this teaching from the holy Scriptures so that their doctrines might seem believable. Yet they too have spoken beforehand about the punishments that will come upon the profane and unbelieving, so that no one would be left without a witness or be able to say, "We have not heard, nor have we known." But you too, if you are willing, should give reverent attention to the prophetic Scriptures. They will make your path clearer, so that you may escape the eternal punishments and obtain the eternal rewards of God. For He who gave the mouth for speech, formed the ear for hearing, and made the eye for seeing will examine all things and will judge with righteous judgment, giving to each person what he deserves. To those who by patient continuance in doing good, Romans 2:7, seek immortality, He will give everlasting life, joy, peace, rest, and an abundance of good things, which no eye has seen, no ear has heard, and no human heart has imagined. 1 Corinthians 2:9 But to the unbelieving and those who despise Him, who do not obey the truth but obey unrighteousness, w
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Lactantius, The Divine Institutes Supporting witness
Therefore, the stories of the poets are true, but they are covered over with an outward veil and appearance. It is possible that Mount Olympus gave the poets the idea for saying that Jupiter gained the kingdom of heaven, because Olympus is the common name for both the mountain and heaven. But the same history tells us that Jupiter lived on Mount Olympus when it says, "At that time Jupiter spent most of his life on Mount Olympus; and people used to go to him there for the administration of justice, if any matters were disputed. Moreover, if anyone had discovered some new invention that might be useful for human life, he would come there and show it to Jupiter." The poets transfer many things in this way, not because they want to speak falsely against the objects of their worship, but so that by using figures of many colors they may add beauty and grace to their poems. But those who do not understand the way, or the reason, or the nature of what is presented in figure attack the poets as false and sacrilegious. Even the philosophers were deceived by this error. Because these things said about Jupiter seemed unfitting for the character of a god, they introduced two Jupiters, one natur
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Lactantius, The Divine Institutes Direct teaching
Some people think these things are inventions of the poets, because they do not know where the poets got them. They say these things are impossible, and it is no wonder that it seems that way to them. For the poets tell the matter in a way that is different from the truth. Although they are much older than the historians, orators, and other kinds of writers, they did not know the secret of the divine mystery. Some mention of a future resurrection had reached them only by a vague rumor. So they passed it on, after hearing it carelessly and lightly, in the form of a made-up story. And yet they also testified that they were not following a certain authority, but only opinion, as Maro says,
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Lactantius, The Divine Institutes Supporting witness
The poets, therefore, however much they adorned the gods in their poems, and amplified their exploits with the highest praises, yet very frequently confess that all things are held together and governed by one spirit or mind.
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Lactantius, The Divine Institutes Supporting witness
The poets also added their influence, and by means of poems composed to give pleasure, raised them to the heaven;
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Lactantius, The Divine Institutes Supporting witness
...covered the truth with a fiction, in such a way that the truth itself took nothing away from public belief. What belonged to Neptune is clear. For we say that his kingdom was like that unlimited authority held by Mark Antony, to whom the senate had given power over the sea coast, so that he might punish the pirates and calm the whole sea. In this way all the sea coasts, together with the islands, fell to Neptune by lot. How can this be proved? Ancient accounts certainly testify to it. Euhemerus, an ancient author from the city of Messene, gathered the deeds of Jupiter and of the others who are regarded as gods, and wrote a history from the records and sacred inscriptions that were in the most ancient temples, especially in the sanctuary of Triphylian Jupiter. There an inscription showed that a golden column had been set up by Jupiter himself, and on that column he wrote an account of his deeds, so that later generations might have a memorial of his actions. Ennius translated this history and followed it, and his words are these: "There Jupiter gives to Neptune the rule of the sea, so that he might reign over all the islands and places bordering on the sea."
More related quotations from this section 4 shown
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Lactantius, The Divine Institutes Supporting witness
The poets transfer many things after this manner, not for the sake of speaking falsely against the objects of their worship, but that they may by variously colored figures add beauty and grace to their poems.
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Theophilus of Antioch, To Autolycus Supporting witness
The poets corroborate the testimony of the prophets.
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Athenagoras, A Plea for the Christians Supporting witness
And on what principle must we believe some things and disbelieve others, when the poets have written their stories in order to gain greater veneration for them?
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Irenaeus, Against Heresies: Book II Supporting witness
2. And not only are they convicted of bringing forward, as if their own [original ideas], those things which are to be found among the comic poets, but they also bring together the things which have been said by all those who were ignorant of God, and who are termed philosophers;
Common Questions
Did early Christians ever quote pagan poets?
Yes. Writers like Justin Martyr, Clement of Alexandria, Theophilus, and Origen quoted pagan poets, but usually to test them, correct them, or turn their words against pagan religion.
Did early Christians trust pagan poets?
Only partly. They sometimes admitted that poets said a few true things, but they usually said the poets mixed truth with false stories and could not teach the truth about God on their own.
Why did early Christians criticize pagan poets?
They criticized them because the poems often praised false gods, told immoral stories, or spread myths that Christians thought were not fit to guide belief.
Source Index for Pagan Poets
The guided sections above show the strongest quotations. This compact index highlights 160 ranked source links from 261 compiled sources for deeper study.
Source index 160 ranked links shown
Early Christian Writings 80 shown of 128
Primary-source quotations from early Christian writers and church documents.
Bible Passages 80 shown of 133
Related Bible passages saved for comparison with the early Christian quotations.
Related Resources
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Homer and Pagan Poetry
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Menander the Poet and Pagan Literature
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