Because they are more menial and ignorant than every other people who are on the earth, the Egyptians have erred more than everyone else. For the gods of the barbarians and Greeks were not sufficient for them. So they introduced gods in the nature of animals and said that these were gods. . . . From ancient times, they also worshipped Isis. They say that she is a goddess whose husband was her brother, Osiris. . . . Some of them worship sheep; others worship a calf. Still others worship the pig, the herring, the crocodile, the hawk, the fish, the ibis, the vulture, the eagle, and the raven. Some of them worship the cat . . . and others, the dog. Some worship the adder and some, the asp. . . . Great then is the error into which the Egyptians have strayed. In fact, it is greater than that of any people who are upon the face of the earth. Aristides (c. 125, E), 9.272–274
O Greeks, do not be hostile towards the barbarians. Do not look on their opinions with ill will. For which of your institutions has not been derived from the barbarians? . . . To the Babylonians you owe astronomy; . . . to the Egyptians, geometry. Tatian (c. 160)
The Egyptians were the first to introduce astrology among men. . . . The Egyptians first invented the burning of lamps. They were the first to divide the year into twelve months, to prohibit intercourse with women in the temples, and to enact that no man should enter the temples from a woman without bathing. Again, they were the inventors of geometry. Clement of Alexandria (c. 195, E), 2.317
The best of the philosophers . . . culled tenets from other barbarians—primarily, the Egyptians. This is particularly true of transmigration of the soul. For the Egyptians pursue a philosophy of their own. This is principally shown by their sacred ceremonial. Clement of Alexandria (c. 195, E), 2.488
The Egyptians, in the purifications practiced among them, do not allow the priests to feed on meat. Clement of Alexandria (c. 195, E), 2.532
The Egyptians themselves have been permitted [by the Romans] the legal use of their ridiculous superstition. They have freedom to make gods of birds and beasts. In fact, they have freedom to condemn to death anyone who kills one of their gods. Tertullian (c. 197, W), 3.39
In that prophet [Isaiah], Egypt is sometimes understood to mean the whole world. Tertullian (c. 197)
Do not you [Romans] adore and feed Apis the ox, along with the Egyptians? You do not condemn their sacred rites instituted in honor of serpents, crocodiles, and other beasts! Mark Minucius Felix (c. 200, W), 4.191
Such a person appears to me to act very much like someone who had merely visited Egypt, . . . yet imagined that he was acquainted with the whole circle of Egyptian knowledge—even though he had learned only from the ignorant and had never associated with any of the priests or had learned the mysteries of the Egyptians from any other source. Origen (c. 248, E), 4.401
The Egyptians were guilty of error. For they, indeed, had solemn enclosures around the buildings they considered as their temples. However, within them, there was nothing except apes, crocodiles, goats, serpents, or some other animal. Origen (c. 248, E), 4.610
The Egyptians are a people who went as far as possible in degrading the Divine Being to the level of brute beasts. They did this either from superstition or from some other form of delusion. Origen (c. 248, E), 4.659