Chapter XIII

, _infra_), in his notice of the Ophites gives the number

of these heavens as ten. See Pognon, _Coupes de Khouabir_, Paris, 1898, p. 213.

Footnote 241:

ἐπὶ τοῦ κύκλου καὶ τοῦ κέντρου αὐτοῦ κατέγραψε, Origen, _οp. cit._ Bk VI. c. 25.

Footnote 242:

Origen says, _loc. cit._, that Leviathan is Hebrew for “Dragon.” Cf. Ps. civ. 26.

Footnote 243:

That is to say: Jaldabaoth; Iao, which is probably one of the many attempts to represent in Greek the Tetragrammaton יהוה called in English Jehovah; Ailoaios or Eloaios, the singular of the well-known plural name of God in Genesis אלהים “Elohim”; and Adonai, אדני, “the Lord,” which in many parts of the O.T. replaces the Tetragrammaton. Harvey, however, _op. cit._ p. 33, n. 3, thinks Iao may simply represent the initial of the name of Yahweh coupled with Alpha and Omega to show His eternal nature. He connects this with “I am the first and the last” of Isaiah xliv. 6, and Rev. i. 11. Yet the later Greeks called Dionysos Iao. See the (probably spurious) oracle of Apollo Clarius quoted by Macrobius, _Saturnalia_, Bk I. c. 18, II. 19 _sqq._

Footnote 244:

Giraud, _op. cit._ p. 230.

Footnote 245:

πύλας ἀρχόντων αἰῶνι δεδεμένας: Origen, _cont. Cels._ Bk VI. c. 31. Perhaps we should read διδομένας, “Gates which belong to the age of the Archons,” _i.e._ while their rule lasts.

Footnote 246:

See the quotation from the Gospel of Philip later in this chapter, p. 79, _infra_.

Footnote 247:

This appears to be the sphere of the Sun to which the epithet μονότροπον “one-formed” is not inappropriate. Why he should be called δεσμὸν ἀβλεψίας “bond of blindness,” and λήθην ἀπερίσκεπτον “thoughtless oblivion,” does not appear. πρώτην δύναμιν πνεύματι προνοίας καὶ σοφίᾳ τηρουμένην “the first power preserved,” etc. coincides curiously with what is said in the _Pistis Sophia_ as to the Ship of the Sun and the “Virgin of Light.”

Footnote 248:

This seems to be the sphere of Saturn, the furthest or 7th reckoning from the earth and therefore according to the astronomy of the time the nearest to the upper heavens. Was the symbol of life the Egyptian ♀ or _ankh_? It was of course the jealous Jaldabaoth’s or Ialdabaoth’s wish that no human souls should penetrate beyond his realm.

Footnote 249:

So the _Pistis Sophia_ speaks repeatedly of the “Little Iao the Good.” This should be the sphere of the Moon. In the hymn to Attis given in this chapter, see n. 6, p. 54 _supra_, Attis-Dionysos-Osiris is identified with “the holy horned moon of heaven.” and the name Iao may be connected with the Coptic ⲒⲞϨ _ioh_ or “moon.” He may be called the πρῶτος δεσπότης θανάτου “first lord of death,” because Osiris, like Dionysos, was the first to return to life after being torn in pieces. The φέρων ἤδη τὴν ἰδίαν σύμβολον “bearing my own beard as a symbol” seems to refer to the attitude of the Egyptian dead, who is represented as holding his beard in his right hand when introduced into the presence of Osiris. See Budge, _Book of the Dead_, 1898 (translation volume), frontispiece, or _Papyrus of Ani_, _ibi cit._

Footnote 250:

This may be the sphere of Jupiter, who in one of the later documents of the _Pistis Sophia_ is made ruler of the _five_ planets. Sabaoth is probably the Divine Name צבאות “[Lord of] Hosts” which the Greeks took for a proper name. It, like Iao, appears often in the later documents. The πεντὰς δυνατωτέρα “mightier Pentad” may refer to the Three Men (Adamas, his son, and Christos), and the Two Women (the First Woman and Sophia) placed at the head of the universe by the Ophites.

Footnote 251:

This should be the sphere of Mercury, the messenger of the gods and leader of souls, who, unlike the higher powers, sees the earth from anigh and without veils. The παρθένου πνεῦμα “spirit of a Virgin” may be the Virgin of Light of the _Pistis Sophia_, who plays such an important part in the redemption of souls. Hippolytus’ Naassene writer (Hipp. _op. cit._ Bk V. c. 9, p. 181, Cruice) speaks of Jesus as the true gate and talks in this connection of “Life-giving water” and of “we Christians celebrating the mystery in the third gate”—an allusion which is unintelligible at present, unless it refers to the waters of baptism.

Footnote 252:

The sphere of Venus? The planet is said in one of the later documents of the _Pistis Sophia_ to be ruled by a power from “Pistis Sophia, the daughter of Barbelo,” another name for the material antitype of the heavenly Sophia or Mother of Life, whom we shall meet with later.

Footnote 253:

The sphere of Mars? No allusion is made elsewhere to the φραγμὸν πυρὸς “fence of fire”; but we do of course often hear of an empyrean or heaven of fire stretching over the earth. The ζωῆς ξύλον is, according to both Origen and Celsus, the Cross; Origen, _op. cit._ Bk VI. cc. 34, 37.

Footnote 254:

The proper order would appear to be:

(1) Horaios ♂ the guardian of the First Gate, _i.e._ that of Fire.

(2) Ailoaios ♀ the guardian of the Second Gate, _i.e._ that of Air.

(3) Astaphaios ☿ the guardian of the Third Gate, _i.e._ that of Water.

Above these we have (4) Adonai the ☉ the first power as distinguished from mere porters or guardians of gates, (5) Iao the ☽ called in the password the second, and (6) and (7) Sabaoth ♃ and Jaldabaoth ♄ above all. This would about correspond with the astronomy of the time, which tried to put the sun in the centre of our system. But the relative places of Sabaoth, Jaldabaoth, and Ailoaios are very uncertain, and Epiphanius in describing the Ophite sect whom he calls “Gnostics” says that some wished to make Ialdabaoth occupy the 6th heaven, and others Ailoaios, called by him Elilaios, while giving the 7th to Sabaoth. Epiph. _Haer._ XXVI. c. 10, p. 174, Oehler.

Footnote 255:

Origen, _cont. Cels._ Bk VI. c. 31. If ♄ corresponds to Michael and also to Jaldabaoth, ♃ ought to do the like to Suriel and Iao, ♂ to Sabaoth (which would be appropriate enough) and to Raphael, the sun to Adonai and Gabriel, and so on. No system of correspondences, however, can be devised that does not break down on scrutiny. Sammael, which is here Michael’s other name, is used in the _Ascensio Isaiae_ (see Charles, _Ascension of Isaiah_, p. 6) as a name of Satan. But it may well be that good and bad spirits occupying corresponding places in the universe were sometimes called by the same names. So one of the documents of the Pistis Sophia speaks of an angel cryptically named Zarazaz “who is called by the demons after a strong demon of their own place, Maskelli”: _Pistis Sophia_, p. 370, Copt.

Footnote 256:

Though Babylonian in origin it must early have found its way into Egypt. See Maspero, _Ét. Égyptol._ II. p. 385 and