How many years did Epimenides sleep in the Cretan cave?
Epimenides slept for fifty-seven years while tending his father's sheep nearby. Ancient sources claim he lived nearly three hundred years according to his countrymen who honored him as a god.
Questions about Epimenides
Short answers, pulled from the story.
Why did Sparta execute Epimenides after capturing him?
His captors put him to death because he refused to prophesy favorably for them. Some stories say he died in Crete at an advanced age while others suggest he was taken prisoner by Spartans.
What specific actions did Epimenides take to purify Athens during the pestilence?
He arrived and set sheep on Mars Hill where they lay down. Altars were erected to suitable gods at those specific spots to cleanse the city of pollution brought by the Alcmeonidae.
Which New Testament passages quote verses from Epimenides' poetry?
Epimenides' Cretica appears quoted twice in the New Testament writings within Acts 17:28 and Titus 1:12. The phrase in Him we live and move and have our being comes directly from his poetry.
How does the statement all Cretans are always liars create a logical paradox?
He declared that all Cretans are always liars while he was a Cretan himself which generates a paradox of self-reference similar to the liar paradox. This statement creates a logical contradiction known as the Epimenides paradox.