Oenomaus of Gadara

Oenomaus of Gadara (Greek: Οἱνόμαος ὁ Γαδαρεύς Oinomaus ho Gadareus; fl. 2nd century CE), was a PaganCynic philosopher. He is known principally for the long extracts of a work attacking oracles, which have been preserved among the writings of Eusebius of Caesarea.

Oenomaus was a native of Gadara, which was then a partially Hellenized community in northern Palestine. He is one of four philosophers listed in the Chronicle of Jerome, as flourishing in the 3rd year of Hadrian's reign (119 AD).

It has been suggested that Oenomaus is identical to the philosopher Abnimos ha-Gardi, who is mentioned several times in the Talmud and Midrash as the pagan friend of Rabbi Meir. Although this is not impossible, there is nothing in the Jewish stories to provide a convincing link to Oenomaus.

According to the Suda, Oenomaus wrote the following works:

The Emperor Julian also mentions that Oenomaus wrote tragedies. This list, however, does not include the work which is best known to us, namely, his attack on the oracles, which is sometimes entitled Against the Oracle (Κατα χρηστηρίων), but the proper title of which seems to have been Detection of Deceivers (Γοήτων Φωρά, Latin: Detectio Praestigiatorum).

Long extracts of this work are preserved by Eusebius in his Praeparatio Evangelica. Oenomaus was provoked to write this work having himself been deceived by an oracle. In the extracts available to us, Oenomaus attacks the various legendary accounts of the oracles (especially the Oracle at Delphi), launching a facetious attack on the supposed god (Apollo) behind the oracular pronouncements:

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