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Hypsistarians
Sign in to savethumb|Cult statue of Zeus Hypsistos, from the sanctuary of Zeus Hypsistos, Imperial Roman times, Archaeological Museum, Dion.
Article
13 sectionsContents
- Evidence
- Inscriptions and archeology
- Ancient authors
- Interpreting the evidence
- Interpretations out of a pagan context
- Connections to Judaism
- History
- Hypotheses on origins
- Later history
- Mention by Goethe
- See also
- Sources
- References
thumb|Cult statue of Zeus Hypsistos, from the sanctuary of Zeus Hypsistos, Imperial Roman times, Archaeological Museum, Dion.
Hypsistarians, i.e. worshippers of the Hypsistos (, the "Most High" God), and similar variations of the term first appear in the writings of Gregory of Nazianzus (Orat. xviii, 5) and Gregory of Nyssa (''Refutation of Eunomius' Confession 38), about AD 374. The term has been linked to a body of inscriptions that date from around 100 AD to around 400 AD, mostly small votive offerings, but also including altars and stelae, dedicated to Theos Hypsistos, or sometimes simply Hypsistos, mainly found in Asia Minor (Cappadocia, Bithynia and Pontus) and the Black Sea coasts that are today part of Russia.