HIEROCLES, of Bithynia. He was the author of the fierce persecution of the Christians under the reign of Diocletian, at the beginning of the fourth century. At first he was a judge at Nicomedia, where his persecuting zeal raised him to the governorship of Alexandria. He wrote two books addressed to the Christians, in which he endeavoured to show that the Christian Scriptures were full of contradictions; and also that the miracles ascribed to Jesus Christ were equalled by those ascribed to Apollonius of Tyana. He was answered by Lactantius and Eusebius. He is sometimes confounded with Hierocles the Platonic philosopher.