A sect of ancient heretics; denominated from their leader Hermogenes, who lived towards the close of the second century. Hermogenes established matter as his first principle; and regarding matter as the fountain of all evil, he maintained, that the world, and every thing contained in it, as also the souls of men and other spirits, were formed by the Deity from an uncreated and eternal mass of corrupt matter. The opinions of Hermogenes with regard to the origin of the world, and the nature of the soul, were warmly opposed by Tertullian.