The Refutation of All Heresies.
Rome · 235
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Hippolytus
Hippolytus
170 CE–235 CE · Rome
Hippolytus (c. 170–235 CE) was a learned presbyter and theologian associated with the Roman church, known for the Refutation of All Heresies and a Commentary on Daniel. He clashed sharply with popes Callixtus I, Urban I, and Pontian over discipline and theology, setting himself up as a rival bishop of Rome — regarded by later tradition as the first antipope. In 235 he was exiled to the Sardinian mines by Emperor Maximinus Thrax alongside Pope Pontian, where he was reconciled to the Church before dying; he was venerated as a martyr and his remains were repatriated to Rome for burial on the Via Tiburtina. The liturgical text known as the Apostolic Tradition is traditionally associated with him, though its attribution is contested in current scholarship.
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Stop 1 of 2190–235Presbyter, Rival Bishop
RomeרומאItaly
What they did here
The sole well-documented location of Hippolytus's ministry: he served as presbyter under Zephyrinus, disputed with Callixtus I and his successors over penitential discipline and Christology, and headed a schismatic congregation as rival bishop — his Eastern origins are genuinely debated by scholars, and no specific birthplace is attested.
Rome in this era
Governed by the Roman emperors from the Antonines through the Tetrarchy, Rome housed a bishop's see of growing prestige, was the scene of periodic persecutions, and saw theologians such as Justin Martyr debate and die for the faith in the second century.
About Rome
Rome, on the Tiber in central Italy, grew from an Iron Age settlement into the capital of the Roman Republic and then of an empire that by the 1st century CE ruled the whole Mediterranean. Its Jewish community, attested from the 2nd century BCE, is among the oldest in Europe. Christian tradition holds that the apostles Peter and Paul died there, and the city became the seat of the popes. After the Western Empire ended in 476 it passed to Gothic kings, to Byzantium and then to papal rule as capital of the Papal States, until it became the capital of unified Italy in 1871. Vatican City, independent since 1929, lies within it.
In Rome at the same time
Julius Africanus, Origen, Sabellius, Novatian, Anterus, Bishop of Rome, Pontian, Bishop of Rome
Across the traditions, in Rome at the same time
In the same place & time
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Sages whose lives overlapped with Hippolytus’s in the same cities, drawn from their recorded journeys.
Across the traditions
The world in their lifetime
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Thinkers and teachers of other traditions whose lives overlapped with Hippolytus’s — a glimpse of the wider world they lived in. Drawn purely from recorded birth and death years.
Works(3)
Appendix to the Works of Hippolytus. Containing Dubious and Spurious Pieces.
Rome · 235