62 Erkki Koskenniemi tius (1,109–115). The late work, written about 200 AD, has, of course, only little to do with the historical figure of Epimenides, but it collects the tales of him in the ancient tradition, and it can be completed with sporadic earlier mentions. Epimenides was allegedly born in Cnossus, Crete, and, seeking his father’s lost sheep, he went to sleep in a cave for 57 years. This story is often told using different details, and especially the number of years vary (cf. Pausanias 1,14,4 [40 years]; Plutarch Mor. 784A [50 years]): The Jewish variant of this story, in which Baruch sleeps for 66 years (4 Bar. 5), is well known. According to Diogenes Laertius, Epimenides healed pestilence in Athens14 in the 46th Olympiad, i.e. 596- 593 BC (1,110), and Maximos of Tyrus (c. 38) also knew this tradition. Aristotle, too, knows Epimenides (Athenaion politeia 1) and dates him to the time of Alcmeonids, i.e. in the first years of the 6th century, as do Pausanias, Diogenes Laertios, Plutarch and also Cicero (de legibus 2,28). Jamblichus seems to make Epimenides a pupil of Pythagoras, or at least his follower (VP 135–136). Epimenides is often considered one of the famous seven sages15. On the other hand, Plato puts his floruit shortly before the Persian wars, i.e. about one hundred years later than Aristotle and most writers mentioned above (ἐλθὼν δὲ πρὸ τῶν Περσικῶν δέκα ἔτεσιν πρότερον, Leges 462d), and KERN still preferred Plato’s date in his PRE-article16. Historically, we thus only have the shadow of the man17 or perhaps of several men18. However, the tradition seems to have been well fixed later on, and Epimenides, that is, the one who was known in the 14 See also Athenaeus, Deipnosophistae 13,78. 15 Plut. Sol. 12; Clem. Alex. Str. 1,14,59. 16 KERN, ”Epimenides“, 173–174. On the problem, see K. LAKE, “Your Own Poets”, The Beginnings of Christianity I: The Acts of the Apostles (eds. F.J. F. JACKSON and K. LAKE vol. V, 246-251; London 1933) 247–248. 17 On this point, many modern scholars fail to see the discrepancy between Plato and Aristotle. HOLTZ, Die Pastoralbriefe, 213, dates Epimenides to the time of the Persian wars, and H. MERKEL to about 500 B.C. (Die Pastoralbriefe [NTD 9/1; Göttingen 1991] 94), i.e. they follow Plato and reject most of the tradition. J.D. QUINN (The Letter to Titus. [The Anchor Bible 35; New York / London / Toronto / Sydney / Auckland 1990]) 107 follows the date of the majority of the sources. L. OBERLINNER (Herdes Theologischer Kommentar zum Neuen Testament XI/2; Die Pastoralbriefe. Dritter Folge: Kommentar zum Titusbrief. Freiburg / Basel / Wien 1996) 38 dates Epimenides to the 6th /5th century. 18 A. C. THISELTON (”The Logical Role of the Liar Paradox in Titus 1:12,13: A Dis- sent from the Commentaries in the Light of Philosophical and Logical Analysis”, Bibli- cal Intepretation 2 [1994] 220) tentatively suggests that traditions of two Cretan men, a philosophical logician and a diviner had become confused in Classical antiquity. This is a good proposal, but, in my opinion, not critical enough. Although Aristotle already knew a Cretan philosopher, and Plato dated him differently, the exact information is scarce and, as usual, the ancient tradition was eager to fill in the gaps.