Alexander the False Prophet

What it is

An exposure of a working oracle cult in Paphlagonia, built on a tame snake with a linen head. When Alexander wanted a crowd purged before the mysteries he had the herald cry out that any atheist, Christian, or Epicurean present should leave.

Why it lasted

Shows Christians and Epicureans lumped together as the two groups who would not play along, and gives the sharpest picture we have of the religious marketplace the church was competing in.

Scripture it works from

Where to read it

Public domain and free to read in full, though not held here. The archives below have it.

• Christian Classics Ethereal Library
• Project Gutenberg
• Internet Archive

These open a search on each archive rather than a direct link, which is the honest way to point at an edition nobody here has checked line by line.