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Inspired by this question: Shulkan Arukh Yoreh De'ah 147 lists the prohibition to mention the name of a foreign deity (see also) Epiphanes means "God Manifest" in Greek. It is unclear to me if Antiochus Epiphanes saw himself or was worshiped as a deity.

Do any halachic sources deal with the permission (or lackthereof) in mentioning this name?

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  • Epiphanes, when referring to a person, means notable, distinguished, famous, renowned. Perhaps you want to ask this question in more generality?
    – magicker72
    Commented Dec 13, 2017 at 20:23
  • @magicker72 britannica.com/biography/Antiochus-IV-Epiphanes. Not being a linguist or very familiar with Greek myself I would speculate that he was substituting his name for God as in Θεὸς Ἐπιφανής ("God Manifest")
    – rikitikitembo
    Commented Dec 13, 2017 at 20:37
  • Aha, it appears that the English leaves out some of the Greek.
    – magicker72
    Commented Dec 13, 2017 at 20:44
  • Besides talking about a different name, why isn't this the same question as your first linked question? As in, what do you expect out of an answer here that isn't in the answer there?
    – magicker72
    Commented Dec 13, 2017 at 20:47
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    The answer there talks about a word that has a meaning (just like epiphanes by itself does not mean "god manifest", but just "manifest"); they are both appellations, not names. I'm not saying that they're duplicates, I'm just wondering why you think this case is special/different from that one.
    – magicker72
    Commented Dec 13, 2017 at 23:16

1 Answer 1

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Antiochus Epiphanes was never worshiped as a god, as we can see from Antiquities of the Jews by Josephus and I and II Maccabees. He attempted to enforce the worship of Zeus Olympius (II Maccabees 6:1-2). Accordingly, there is no prohibition to pronouncing his name in the Talmud. Ptolemy V Epiphanes, who ruled Egypt from 204-180 BCE, also bore the same title before him.

Bibliography: Jewish Encyclopedia: www.jewishencyclopedia.com/.../1589-antiochus-iv-epipha...; Encyclopedia Judaica : www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/antiochus.

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