According to the 4th-century CE heresiologist Epiphanius of Salamis, the Montanists or, as he calls them, the Phrygians traced their roots to Phrygia in the 19th year of Antoninus Pius’ reign, 157 CE. He identified them as Christian heretics (Heresy/Heretical)who were dedicated to false prophets and prophecy:

These Phrygians […] accept every Scripture of the Old and the New Testaments and likewise affirm the resurrection of the dead. But they boast of having one Montanus as a prophet, and Priscilla and Maximilla as prophetesses, and by payin…