PAPIAS, bishop of the Phrygian Hierapolis in the first half of the 2d century, is mentioned by Irenaeus as “an ancient man,” “the hearer of John and the companion of Polycarp.” According to the Chronicon Pascale, Papias suffered martyrdom at Pergamum in the year of that of Polycarp at Smyrna (163 a.d., or, according to other reckonings, 156). His name figures largely in Biblical criticism in connexion with his work entitled λογίων κνριακων lξηγησι<s, of which only a few small fragments have been preserved in the form of citations in the writings of Irenaeus, Eusebius, and later authors. See Gospels, vol. x. p. 815 sq.

The fragments are collected in Routh’s Reliq. Sacr. (vol. i., 1846), and in'Gebhard and Harnack’s Patr. Apost. Opera.