Bonner, SMA – PDF, 134.

for the material universe. It is even possible that this idea of the 365 heavens and their ruler was borrowed from the theories of astrologers and magicians. Irenaeus' concluding words may be taken to strengthen that possibility:⁵⁴ “Trecentorum autem sexaginta quinque coelorum locales positiones distribuunt similiter ut mathematici. Illorum enim theoremata accipientes in suum characterem doctrinae transtulerunt: esse autem principem illorum, Αβρασαξ, et propter hoc CCCLXV numeros habere in se.”

Thus it would appear that the name Abrasax, with its isopsephic significance as corresponding to the number of days in the year,⁵⁵ may be no invention of Basilides, nor indeed of any other Gnostic teacher, but may have been invented by some astrologer as a mystic reminder of the period of the sacred sun. But if, as seems certain, its significance is solar, there is no reason to consider it a name for the cock-headed god and him only. It is to be found in connection with several other types also, and may be regarded as a word of power rather than a proper name.⁵⁶ Now if the word Abrasax is not necessarily Gnostic, and if it is not a proper name for the cock-headed anguipede, that type has no claim to be considered Gnostic in any sense except, perhaps, that careless use of the word, unfortunately too common even among scholars, to describe secret magical lore. The reports of Gnostic doctrine have comparatively little to say about monstrous demons or aeons, and they are least of all to be expected in the system of Basilides, who seems to stand out as a man of elevated mind and character; and if the cock-headed anguipede had really played an important part in that or any other Gnostic mythology we should expect, and with good reason, to be told more about it by Christian writers.⁵⁷

Some careful students, recognizing that Abrasax cannot be regarded as the proper name of the cock-headed god, have called him Iao, with a show of reason, since that name is inscribed on the god's shield in the great majority of the known specimens; further, the associations of the name in Semitic religion are such that it might naturally be borrowed for a powerful and important deity. But it is to be remembered that a shield inscription, like a shield device, may be primarily apotropaic in its intention; it may be a word charged with magical power, but not necessarily a name belonging to the holder of the shield. Furthermore, Iao is inscribed on a great variety

⁵⁴ 1, 19, 4.

⁵⁵ In a love charm in PGM IV, 330 f., directions are given for binding a lead tablet, on which a defixio has been inscribed, with 365 knots, the operation to be accompanied with the words αβρασαξ κατάσχες. Some name (Abrasax or Mithras), whose number is 365, is apparently invoked in an inscription on a small altar found at Herek in Pontus (Cumont, REG 15, 1902, 314).

⁵⁶ The isopsephic equivalence of Abrasax and Mithras (written Μείθρας), another solar figure, was noted by Jerome, Comm. in Amos 3 (PL 25, 1018). Augustine (De haeres. 4, PL 42, 26) seems to regard abrasax as a word of power rather than the personal name of a god or aeon: “(Basilides) . . . hoc distabat a Simonianis, quod trecentos sexaginta quinque caelos esse dicebat, quo numero dierum annus includitur. Unde etiam quasi sanctum nomen commendabat, quod est αβρασαξ, cuius nominis litterae secundum Graecam supputationem eundem numerum complent.”

⁵⁷ The words of Tertullian in Apol. 16 cannot be fairly interpreted as referring to the cock-headed god. He has in mind various figures of Greek and Egyptian mythology that combine bestial and human characteristics, such as Anubis, Ammon, Pan, the satyrs, the giants, Hermes with wings on his feet, etc.

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