θεομαχέω

Ancient Greek

Etymology

From θεός (theós, “god”) +‎ μάχομαι (mákhomai, “to fight”).

Pronunciation

(5^th BCE Attic) IPA^(key): /tʰe.o.ma.kʰé.ɔː/
(1^st CE Egyptian) IPA^(key): /tʰe.o.maˈkʰe.o/
(4^th CE Koine) IPA^(key): /θe.o.maˈçe.o/
(10^th CE Byzantine) IPA^(key): /θe.o.maˈçe.o/
(15^th CE Constantinopolitan) IPA^(key): /θe.o.maˈçe.o/

Verb

θεομᾰχέω • (theomăkhéō)

to fight against God, or the gods^[1]
- 405 BCE, Euripides, The Bacchae §45:
  ...ὃς θεομαχεῖ τὰ κατ᾽ ἐμὲ...
  ...hòs theomakheî tà kat’ emè...
  (please add an English translation of this quotation)
- 300 BCE – 200 BCE, Septuagint, 2 Maccabees 7:19:
  σὺ δὲ μὴ νομίσῃς ἀθῷος ἔσεσθαι θεομαχεῖν ἐπιχειρήσας.
  sù dè mḕ nomísēis athōîos ésesthai theomakheîn epikheirḗsas.
  (please add an English translation of this quotation)
- 46 CE – 120 CE, Plutarch, De superstitione §168c:
  ...μὴ δόξῃ θεομαχεῖν καὶ ἀντιτείνειν κολαζόμενος...
  ...mḕ dóxēi theomakheîn kaì antiteínein kolazómenos...
  (please add an English translation of this quotation)

Usage notes

(Christianity) In the Patristic era, θεομαχέω—as well as its nom. and adj. forms, θεομαχία and θεομάχος, 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]
- Philostorgius, Church History §2.3
  
  Ὅτι τὸν Ἄρειον ἐν τῷ θεομαχεῖν κατὰ τοῦ υἱοῦ ὑπερθειάζων...

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.