θεομαχέω
Ancient Greek
Etymology
From θεός (theós, “god”) + μάχομαι (mákhomai, “I fight”).
Pronunciation
- (5th BCE Attic) IPA(key): /tʰe.o.ma.kʰé.ɔː/
- (1st CE Egyptian) IPA(key): /tʰɛ.o.maˈkʰɛ.o/
- (4th CE Koine) IPA(key): /θe.o.maˈxe.o/
- (10th CE Byzantine) IPA(key): /θe.o.maˈçe.o/
- (15th CE Constantinopolitan) IPA(key): /θe.o.maˈçe.o/
Verb
θεομᾰχέω • (theomakhéō)
- to fight against God, or the gods[1]
- 405 BCE, Euripides, The Bacchae §45
- ...ὃς θεομαχεῖ τὰ κατ᾽ ἐμὲ...
- 300 BCE – 200 BCE, Septuagint, 2 Maccabees 7:19
- σὺ δὲ μὴ νομίσῃς ἀθῷος ἔσεσθαι θεομαχεῖν ἐπιχειρήσας.
- 46 CE – 120 CE, Plutarch, De superstitione §168c
- ...μὴ δόξῃ θεομαχεῖν καὶ ἀντιτείνειν κολαζόμενος...
Usage notes
- (Christianity) In the Patristic era, θεομαχέω—as well as its nom. and adj. forms, θεομαχία and θεόμαχος, respectively—was used to describe the promulgation (and promulgators) of dogma deemed to be heretical (e.g., Gnosticism, Arianism, etc.).[2]
- 150 CE – 215 CE, Clement of Alexandria, Stromata §3.2
- Καὶ ὅτι θεομαχεῖ ὅ τε Καρποκράτης ὅ τ᾽ Ἐπιφάνης...[3]
Derived terms
- θεόμαχος (theómakhos)
References
- Liddell and Scott, A Greek-English Lexicon, 9th ed. (Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1940), p. 790; cf. Johan Lust, Erik Eynikel, and Katrin Hauspie, eds., A Greek-English Lexicon of the Septuagint, rev. ed. (Stuttgart: Deutsche Bibelgesellschaft, 2003), s.v. "θεομαχέω".
- See G.W.H. Lampe, ed., A Patristic Greek Lexicon (Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1961), pp. 628–29.
- J.-P. Migne, ed., Clementis Alexandrini Opera Quae Exstant Omnia, in Patrologia Graeca, vol. 8 (Paris: J.-P. Migne, 1857), p. 1109.