Alexander of Abonoteichus

The vivid narrative of his career given by Lucian might be taken as fictitious but for the corroboration of certain coins of the emperors Lucius Verus and Marcus Aurelius[1] and of a statue of Alexander, said by Athenagoras to have stood in the forum of Parium.

After a period of instruction in medicine by a doctor who also, according to Lucian, was an impostor, in about 150 CE he established an oracle of Aesculapius at his native town of Abonoteichus (femin.

Having circulated a prophecy that the son of Apollo was to be born again, he contrived that there should be found in the foundations of the temple to Aesculapius, then in course of construction at Abonoteichus, an egg in which a small live snake had been placed.

A large tame snake with a false human head, wound round Alexander's body as he sat in a shrine in the temple,[9] gave "autophones", or oracles unasked.

Through the cult Alexander achieved a certain level of political influence – his daughter married Publius Mummius Sisenna Rutilianus, the governor of the Roman province of Asia.

[2] Scholars have described Alexander as an oracle who perpetrated a hoax to deceive gullible citizens,[13][14] or as a false prophet and charlatan who played on the hopes of simple people.

He was said to have "made predictions, discovered fugitive slaves, detected thieves and robbers, caused treasures to be dug up, healed the sick, and in some cases actually raised the dead".