Cerinthus flourished during the second half of the first century, though the date of his birth and his death are unknown. None of Cerinthus' actual writings seem to have survived. Our most detailed understanding of the man Cerinthus' teachings are from the 4th century Bishop Epiphanius of Salamis, a few centuries after his death, though Irenaeus of Lyon (c. 135-202) briefly outlines Cerinthus' beliefs in his five books against Gnosticism. Publication of surviving fragments of Hippolytus of Rome's (c. 170-235) "Capita Adversus Caium" demonstrate Epiphanius drew heavily from Hippolytus' "Refutation of the Thirty-two Heresies".