Oenomaus
Οἰνόμαος
(Οἰνόμαος).
1. of Gadara, a cynic philosopher, who flourished in the reign of Hadrian, or somewhat later, but before Porphyry. (Syncell. p. 349b.; Suid. s. v.) He was one of those later cynics whose philosophy consisted not so much in any definite system of doctrine, as in a free and unrestrained tone of thought and life. Thus the emperor Julian charges him with sensuality and profaneness; and his sarcasms upon the old cynic doctrines have led some to suppose, but without reason, that he belonged to some other sect. (Julian, Orat. vi. p. 199, vii. p. 209, ed. Spanheim.)
Works
Works mentioned by Suidas
Suidas mentions, as his works, Περὶ Κυνισμοῦ Πολιτεία Περὶ τῆς καθ̓ Ὃμηρον Φιλοσοφίας Περὶ Κράτητος καὶ Διορένους καὶ τῶν λοιπῶν.
Κατα τῶν χρηστηρίων
This list, however, does not include the work which is best known to us, namely, his exposure of the oracles, which is sometimes entitled Κατα τῶν χρηστηρίων, but the proper title seems to have been Γοήτων Φωρά., i. e. Detectio Praestigiatorum, Considerable extracts from this work are preserved by Eusebius, who tells us that Oenomaus was provoked to write it in consequence of having been himself deceived by an oracle. (Euseb. Praep. Evang. 5.18, foll., 6.7; Socrat. H. E. 4.13; Niceph. x 36; Theodoret. Therap. vi. p. 86, x. p. 141a.)
Tragedies
Julian also speaks of tragedies by Oeno maus (Orat. vii. p. 210).
From William Smith (ed.), Dictionary of Greek and Roman Biography and Mythology. Text provided under a CC BY-SA license by Perseus Digital Library, http://www.perseus.tufts.edu, with funding from the National Endowment for the Humanities and Tufts University. Data accessed from https://github.com/PerseusDL/canonical-pdlrefwk/ on 17 October 2026.