Scholars have long been perplexed by the name
Erikepaios, and naturally, most of them have attempted to derive it from Greek etymology, however this seems questionable linguistically. The name has also been thought to have Hebrew origins because of its resemblance to
erekh appayim, "slow to anger." It has been argued, even in antiquity, that the name
Erikepaios was an Oriental import. Thus,
John Malalas, the 6th century CE
Antiotian historian, derives the name from the language spoken in his region. The mythographer
Otto Gruppe suggested the Phanes-myth appeared in its original form in
Babylonia. Thence it spread over the Near East, and took root particularly in
Syria and
Asia Minor. The gods of Babylon themselves were not imported, but the myth was attached to the local deities of the districts to which it spread. Erikepaios became important in a now-lost Orphic theogony referring to by modern scholars as the "
Rhapsodic Theogony", It is known through summaries in later
neo-Platonist authors. == Notes ==