Alexander the False Prophet

Alexander
Born	c. 105 Abonoteichus
Died	c. 170
Cause of death	gangrene of the leg
Nationality	Paphlagonian
Occupation	oracle of Aesculapius
Known for	false oracle

Alexander of Abonoteichus (Ancient Greek: Ἀλέξανδρος ὁ Ἀβωνοτειχίτης), also called Alexander the Paphlagonian (c. 105 – c. 170 CE), was a Greek mystic and oracle, and the founder of the Glycon cult that briefly achieved wide popularity in the Roman world. The contemporary writer Lucian reports that he was an utter fraud – the god Glycon was supposedly constructed out of a glove puppet. The vivid narrative of his career given by Lucian might be taken as fictitious but for the corroboration of certain coins of the emperors Lucius Verus and Marcus Aurelius and of a statue of Alexander, said by Athenagoras to have stood in the forum of Parium.

Lucian describes him as having swindled many people and engaged, through his followers, in various forms of thuggery. The strength of Lucian's venom against Alexander is attributed to Alexander's hate of the Epicureans. Lucian admired the works of Epicurus, a eulogy of which concludes the piece, and whether or not Alexander was the master of fraud and deceit as portrayed by Lucian, he may not have been too different from other oracles of the age, when a great deal of dishonest exploitation occurred in some shrines.

Not much is known about the early life of Alexander. He apparently worked in travelling medicine shows around Greece and might have been a prophet of the goddess Soi or a follower of Apollonius of Tyana. In Lucian, his partner in profession is given as one Cocconas of Byzantium. After a period of instruction in medicine by a doctor who also, according to Lucian, was an impostor, in about 150 CE he established an oracle of Aesculapius at his native town of Abonoteichus (femin.: Ἀβωνότειχος; later Ionopolis), on the Euxine, where he gained riches and great prestige by professing to heal the sick and reveal the future.

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