Atomus

Atomus or Atomos was a Jewish Cypriot magician who appears in the Antiquities of the Jews by Josephus working for Felix at Caesarea.^[1][2]

Atomus is described as having been employed by Felix to convince Herod Agrippa II's sister Drusilla to divorce Azizus of Emesa and marry him instead.^[3]

The text reads "Simon" in some Latin manuscripts and Hans Waitz (1904) suggested that the magi may have been identifiable as Simon Magus.^[4] This is not generally accepted as Atomus was a Jew and Simon Magus was a Samaritan.^[5]

References

1. Josephus; Louis H. Feldman (1996). Josephus: Jewish Antiquities, Book XX General Index X. Harvard University Press. ISBN 978-0-674-99502-4. Retrieved 20 September 2012.
2. Stephen Charles Haar (2003). Simon Magus: The First Gnostic?. Walter de Gruyter. pp. 62–. ISBN 978-3-11-017689-6. Retrieved 20 September 2012.
3. Arthur E. Palumbo, Jr. (1 May 2004). The Dead Sea Scrolls and the Personages of Earliest Christianity. Algora Publishing. pp. 252–. ISBN 978-0-87586-296-5. Retrieved 20 September 2012.
4. Waitz, Hans., “Simon Magus in der altchristlichen Literatur”, Zeitschrift für die neutestamentliche Wissenschaft und die Kunde des Urchristentums 5, pp. 121–143, 1904.
5. Arthur E. Palumbo - The Dead Sea Scrolls and the Personages of Earliest ... 2004 -0875862969 p.252 "H. Waitz suggested that this Atomus or Simon may have been Simon Magus as far back as 1904"