Cercops

(Κέρκωψ).

1. One of the oldest Orphic poets, called a Pythagorean by Clemens of Alexandria (Strom. i. p. 333, ed. Paris, 1629) and Cicero (de Nat. Deer. 1.38), was said by Epigenes of Alexandria to have been the author of an Orphic epic poem entitled the Descent to Hades (ἡ εἰς Ἅιδον κατάβασις), which seems to have been extant in the Alexandrine period. (Clem. Alex. l.c.) Others attribute this work to Prodicus of Samos, or Herodicus of Perinthus, or Orpheus of Camarina. (Suidas, s. v. Ὀρφεύς.)

Epigenes also assigns to Cercops (Clem. Alex. l.c.) the Orphic ἱερὸς λόγος which was ascribed by some to Theognetus of Thessaly, and was a poem in twenty-four books. (Fabric. Bibl. Graec. i. pp. 161, &c., 172; Bode, Gesch. der Episch. Dichtkunst der Hellenen, p. 125, &c.)