Abraxas ( Biblical Greek : ἀβραξάς , romanized: abraxas , variant form ἀβράναξ romanized: abranax ) is a word of mystic meaning in the system of the Gnostic Basilides , being there applied to the "Great Archon " ( megas archōn ), the princeps of the 365 spheres ( ouranoi ). The word is found in Gnostic texts such as the Holy Book of the Great Invisible Spirit , and also appears in the Greek Magical Papyri . It was engraved on certain antique gemstones , called on that account Abraxas stones , which were used as amulets or charms. As the initial spelling on stones was Abrasax ( Αβρασαξ ), the spelling of Abraxas seen today probably originates in the confusion made between the Greek letters sigma (Σ) and xi (Ξ) in the Latin transliteration .
63-495: The seven letters spelling its name may represent each of the seven classic planets . The word may be related to Abracadabra , although other explanations exist. There are similarities and differences between such figures in reports about Basilides's teaching, ancient Gnostic texts, the larger Greco-Roman magical traditions , and modern magical and esoteric writings. Speculations have proliferated on Abraxas in recent centuries, which has been claimed to be both an Egyptian god and
126-511: A demon . Gaius Julius Hyginus ( Fab . 183 ) gives Abrax Aslo Therbeeo as names of horses of the sun mentioned by ' Homerus '. The passage is miserably corrupt, but it may not be accidental that the first three syllables make Abraxas. The proper form of the name is evidently Abrasax , as with the Greek writers, Hippolytus , Epiphanius , Didymus ( De Trin . iii. 42), and Theodoret ; also Augustine and Praedestinatus ; and in nearly all
189-475: A "benevolent ghost sent on Earth by Abraxas". A vast number of engraved stones are in existence, to which the name "Abraxas-stones" has long been given. One particularly fine example was included as part of the Thetford treasure from fourth century Norfolk, England. The subjects are mythological, and chiefly grotesque, with various inscriptions, in which ΑΒΡΑΣΑΞ often occurs, alone or with other words. Sometimes
252-445: A cock, a lion, or an ass, and the tail of a serpent was formerly taken in the light of what Irenaeus says about the followers of Basilides: These men, moreover, practise magic, and use images, incantations, invocations, and every other kind of curious art. Coining also certain names as if they were those of the angels, they proclaim some of these as belonging to the first, and others to the second heaven; and then they strive to set forth
315-465: A crescent for the Moon. The written symbols for Mercury, Venus, Jupiter, and Saturn have been traced to forms found in late Greek papyri. The symbols for Jupiter and Saturn are identified as monograms of the initial letters of the corresponding Greek names, and the symbol for Mercury is a stylized caduceus . A. S. D. Maunder finds antecedents of the planetary symbols in earlier sources, used to represent
378-463: A demon as documented in J. Collin de Plancy's Infernal Dictionary , Abraxas (or Abracax) is labeled the "supreme God" of the Basilidians, whom he describes as "heretics of the second century". He further indicated the Basilidians attributed to Abraxas the rule over "365 skies" and "365 virtues". In a final statement on Basilidians, de Plancy states that their view was that Jesus Christ was merely
441-414: A great majority of instances the name Abraxas is associated with a singular composite figure, having a Chimera -like appearance somewhat resembling a basilisk or the Greek primordial god Chronos (not to be confused with the Greek titan Cronus ). According to E. A. Wallis Budge , "as a Pantheus, i.e. All-God, he appears on the amulets with the head of a cock ( Phœbus ) or of a lion ( Ra or Mithras ),
504-530: A planet being defined as a natural satellite directly orbiting the Sun (or other stars ) and having cleared its own orbit. Therefore, only five of the seven classical planets remain recognized as planets, alongside Earth , Uranus , and Neptune . The Babylonians recognized seven planets. A bilingual list in the British Museum records the seven Babylonian planets in the following order: In Mandaeism ,
567-523: A result, the alchemical glyphs for the metal and associated planet coincide. Alchemists believed the other elemental metals were variants of these seven (e.g. zinc was known as "Indian tin" or "mock silver" ). Alchemy in the Western World and other locations where it was widely practiced was (and in many cases still is) allied and intertwined with traditional Babylonian-Greek style astrology; in numerous ways they were built to complement each other in
630-571: Is 545." Another says "Amerimnus thought upon his lady Harmonia for good. The number of her honorable name is 45." Suetonius , writing in 121 AD, reports a political slogan that someone wrote on a wall in Rome: which appears to be another example. In Greek, Νερων, Nero, has the numerical value: Ν 50 + ε 5 + ρ 100 + ω 800 + ν 50 = 1005, Ν {} ε {} ρ {} ω {} ν {} {} 50 + 5 + 100 + 800 + 50 = 1005,
693-467: Is Abrasax, because his name contains the number 365, the number of the days in the year; i.e. the sum of the numbers denoted by the Greek letters in ΑΒΡΑΣΑΞ according to the rules of isopsephy is 365: Epiphanius ( Haer . 69, 73 f.) appears to follow partly Irenaeus, partly the lost Compendium of Hippolytus. He designates Abraxas more distinctly as "the power above all, and First Principle", "the cause and first archetype" of all things; and mentions that
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#1732779671481756-422: Is Abraxas. ... it appears that Abraxas has much deeper significance. We may conceive of the name as that of the godhead whose symbolic task is the uniting of godly and devilish elements. Abraxas doesn't take exception to any of your thoughts or any of your dreams. Never forget that. But he will leave you once you become blameless and normal. Abracadabra: not an Indian word at all, a cabbalistic formula derived from
819-401: Is Mars-day. The modern English days of the week were mostly inherited from gods of the old Germanic Norse culture – Wednesday is Wōden ’s-day ( Wōden or Wettin eqv. Mercury), Thursday is Thor ’s-day (Thor eqv. Jupiter), Friday is Frige -day (Frige eqv. Venus). Equivalence here is by the gods' roles; for instance, Venus and Frige were both goddesses of love. It can be correlated that
882-455: Is a God about whom you know nothing, because men have forgotten him. We call him by his name: Abraxas. He is less definite than God or Devil. ... Abraxas is activity: nothing can resist him but the unreal ... Abraxas stands above the sun[-god] and above the devil If the Pleroma were capable of having a being, Abraxas would be its manifestation. That which is spoken by God-the-Sun
945-429: Is at its brightest when it is in opposition , which occurs approximately every twenty-five months. Jupiter and Saturn are the largest of the five planets, but are farther from the Sun, and therefore receive less sunlight. Nonetheless, Jupiter is often the next brightest object in the sky after Venus. Saturn's luminosity is often enhanced by its rings, which reflect light to varying degrees, depending on their inclination to
1008-520: Is evident from these particulars that Abrasax was the name of the first of the 365 Archons, and accordingly stood below Sophia and Dynamis and their progenitors; but his position is not expressly stated, so that the writer of the supplement to Tertullian had some excuse for confusing him with "the Supreme God". With the availability of primary sources, such as those in the Nag Hammadi library ,
1071-429: Is from the mathematician Apollonius of Perga , writing in the 3rd century BC. He asks: "Given the verse: ΑΡΤΕΜΙΔΟΣ ΚΛΕΙΤΕ ΚΡΑΤΟΣ ΕΞΟΧΟΝ ΕΝΝΕΑ ΚΟΥΡΑΙ ('Nine maidens, praise the glorious power of Artemis'), what does the product of all its elements equal?" More conventional are the instances of isopsephy found in graffiti at Pompeii , dating from around 79 AD. One reads Φιλω ης αριθμος ϕμε , "I love her whose number
1134-482: Is life; that which is spoken by the Devil is death; Abraxas speaketh that hallowed and accursed word, which is life and death at the same time. Abraxas begetteth truth and lying, good and evil, light and darkness in the same word and in the same act. Wherefore is Abraxas terrible. The bird fights its way out of the egg. The egg is the world. Who would be born must first destroy a world. The bird flies to God. That God's name
1197-404: Is one which has exercised the ingenuity of many savants, but it may be said that all the engraved stones fall into three classes: While it would be rash to assert positively that no existing gems were the work of Gnostics, there is no valid reason for attributing all of them to such an origin. The fact that the name occurs on these gems in connection with representations of figures with the head of
1260-403: Is the practice of adding up the number values of the letters in a word to form a single number. The total number is then used as a metaphorical bridge to other words evaluating the equal number, which satisfies isos or "equal" in the term. Ancient Greeks used counting boards for numerical calculation and accounting, with a counter generically called psephos ('pebble'), analogous to
1323-630: Is uncertain what the actual role and function of Abraxas was in the Basilidian system , as our authorities (see below) often show no direct acquaintance with the doctrines of Basilides himself. In the system described by Irenaeus , "the Unbegotten Father" is the progenitor of Nous "Discerning Mind"; Nous produced Logos "Word, Reason"; Logos produced Phronesis "Mindfulness"; Phronesis produced Sophia "Wisdom" and Dynamis "Potentiality"; Sophia and Dynamis produced
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#17327796714811386-654: The Refutation of All Heresies (vii. 26) by Hippolytus , who appears in these chapters to have followed the Exegetica of Basilides. After describing the manifestation of the Gospel in the Ogdoad and Hebdomad , he adds that the Basilidians have a long account of the innumerable creations and powers in the several 'stages' of the upper world ( diastemata ), in which they speak of 365 heavens and say that "their great archon"
1449-509: The Scroll of Abatur . The planets are listed according to the traditional Mandaean order of the planets as mentioned in Masco (2012). The astrological symbols for the classical planets appear in the medieval Byzantine codices in which many ancient horoscopes were preserved. In the original papyri of these Greek horoscopes, there are found a circle with one ray ( [REDACTED] ) for the Sun and
1512-795: The ecliptic ; however, the rings themselves are not visible to the naked eye from the Earth. Solar System → Local Interstellar Cloud → Local Bubble → Gould Belt → Orion Arm → Milky Way → Milky Way subgroup → Local Group → Local Sheet → Virgo Supercluster → Laniakea Supercluster → Local Hole → Observable universe → Universe Each arrow ( → ) may be read as "within" or "part of". Isopsephy In numerology , isopsephy ( / ˈ aɪ s ə p ˌ s ɛ f i / ; from Greek ἴσος (ísos) 'equal' and ψῆφος (psêphos) 'count', lit. ' pebble ' ) or isopsephism
1575-664: The 8th and 9th centuries AD, and promoted in Europe by Fibonacci of Pisa with his 1202 book Liber Abaci , numerals were predominantly alphabetical. For instance in Ancient Greece , Greek numerals used the alphabet. It is just a short step from using letters of the alphabet in everyday arithmetic and mathematics to seeing numbers in words, and to writing with an awareness of the numerical dimension of words. An early reference to isopsephy, albeit of more-than-usual sophistication (employing multiplication rather than addition),
1638-401: The Basilidians referred to 365 as the number of parts ( mele ) in the human body, as well as of days in the year. The author of the appendix to Tertullian De Praescr. Haer . (c. 4), who likewise follows Hippolytus's Compendium, adds some further particulars; that 'Abraxas' gave birth to Mind ( nous ), the first in the series of primary powers enumerated likewise by Irenaeus and Epiphanius; that
1701-937: The Latin word calculus , from which the English calculate is derived. Isopsephy is related to gematria : the same practice using the Hebrew alphabet . It is also related to the ancient number systems of many other peoples (for the Arabic alphabet version, see Abjad numerals ). A gematria of Latin script languages was also popular in Europe from the Middle Ages to the Renaissance , and its legacy remains an influence in code-breaking and numerology . Until Arabic numerals were adopted and adapted from Indian numerals in
1764-552: The Moon, a headdress with a crescent attached. A diagram in Johannes Kamateros' 12th century Compendium of Astrology shows the Sun represented by the circle with a ray, Jupiter by the letter zeta (the initial of Zeus , Jupiter's counterpart in Greek mythology ), Mars by a shield crossed by a spear, and the remaining classical planets by symbols resembling the modern ones, without the cross-mark seen in modern versions of
1827-591: The Norse gods were attributed to each Roman planet and its god, probably due to Roman influence rather than coincidentally by the naming of the planets. A vestige of the Roman convention remains in the English name Saturday. In alchemy , each classical planet (Moon, Mercury, Venus, Sun, Mars, Jupiter, and Saturn) was associated with one of the seven metals known to the classical world ( silver , mercury/quicksilver , copper , gold , iron , tin and lead respectively). As
1890-571: The Perfect Being". Another identification with Osiris is made in PGM VII. 643-51: "you are not wine, but the guts of Osiris, the guts of ... Ablanathanalba Akrammachamarei Eee, who has been stationed over necessity, Iakoub Ia Iaō Sabaōth Adōnai Abrasax." PGM VIII. 1-63, on the other hand, identifies Abraxas as a name of " Hermes " (i.e. Thoth ). Here the numerological properties of the name are invoked, with its seven letters corresponding to
1953-621: The Queen of the World of Darkness who is also their mother. However, individually, some of the planets can be associated with positive qualities. The names of the seven planets in Mandaic are borrowed from Akkadian . Some of the names are ultimately derived from Sumerian , since Akkadian had borrowed many deity names from Sumerian. Each planet is said to be carried in a ship. Drawings of these ships are found in various Mandaean scriptures , such as
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2016-490: The Sun and Moon) and two additional invisible planets( tamo'graha ); rahu and ketu. Mercury and Venus are visible only in twilight hours because their orbits are interior to that of Earth. Venus is the third-brightest object in the sky and the most prominent planet. Mercury is more difficult to see due to its proximity to the Sun. Lengthy twilight and an extremely low angle at maximum elongations make optical filters necessary to see Mercury from extreme polar locations. Mars
2079-470: The ancients was associated with, held dominion over, and "ruled" a certain metal (see also astrology and the classical elements ). The list of rulership is as follows: Some alchemists (e.g. Paracelsus ) adopted the Hermetic Qabalah assignment between the vital organs and the planets as follows: Indian astronomy and astrology ( jyotiṣa ) recognises seven visible planets (including
2142-745: The body of a man, and his legs are serpents which terminate in scorpions, types of the Agathodaimon . In his right hand he grasps a club, or a flail, and in his left is a round or oval shield." This form was also referred to as the Anguipede . Budge surmised that Abrasax was "a form of the Adam Kadmon of the Kabbalists and the Primal Man whom God made in His own image". Some parts at least of
2205-463: The book De Mysteriis in reply to Porphyry (vii. 4) admits a preference of 'barbarous' to vernacular names in sacred things, urging a peculiar sanctity in the languages of certain nations, as the Egyptians and Assyrians ; and Origen ( Contra Cels . i. 24) refers to the 'potent names' used by Egyptian sages, Persian Magi , and Indian Brahmins , signifying deities in the several languages. It
2268-494: The chain of events that leads to the Demiurge's rule of this world, and the salvage effort that ensues. As such, the role of Aeons of Eleleth, including Abraxas, Sophia, and others, pertains to this outer border of the Pleroma that encounters the ignorance of the world of Lack and interacts to rectify the error of ignorance in the world of materiality. The Catholic church later deemed Abraxas a pagan god, and ultimately branded him
2331-481: The confident assertions of modern writers to this effect rest on no authority. Isaac de Beausobre properly calls attention to the significant silence of Clement in the two passages in which he instructs the Christians of Alexandria on the right use of rings and gems, and the figures which may legitimately be engraved on them ( Paed . 241 ff.; 287 ff.). But no attempt to identify the figures on existing gems with
2394-514: The fact that these objects move across the celestial sphere relative to the fixed stars. Therefore, the Greeks were the first to develop the astrological connections to the planets' visual detail. Through the use of telescopes other celestial objects like the classical planets were found, starting with the Galilean moons in 1610. Today the term planet is used considerably differently, with
2457-598: The figure mentioned above are solar symbols , and the Basilidian Abrasax is manifestly connected with the sun. J. J. Bellermann has speculated that "the whole represents the Supreme Being, with his Five great Emanations, each one pointed out by means of an expressive emblem. Thus, from the human body, the usual form assigned to the Deity, forasmuch as it is written that God created man in his own image, issue
2520-487: The god Raphaēl , by the god Abrasax Ablathanalba Akrammachari ...". In text PGM V. 96–172, Abraxas is identified as part of the "true name which has been transmitted to the prophets of Israel" of the "Headless One, who created heaven and earth, who created night and day ... Osoronnophris whom none has ever seen ... awesome and invisible god with an empty spirit"; the name also includes Iaō and Adōnai. "Osoronnophris" represents Egyptian Wsir Wn-nfr , " Osiris
2583-411: The gods associated with the classical planets. Bianchini's planisphere , produced in the 2nd century, shows Greek personifications of planetary gods charged with early versions of the planetary symbols: Mercury has a caduceus; Venus has, attached to her necklace, a cord connected to another necklace; Mars, a spear; Jupiter, a staff; Saturn, a scythe; the Sun, a circlet with rays radiating from it; and
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2646-468: The great god, Iaeō ". The patriarchs are sometimes addressed as deities; for which fact many instances may be adduced. In the group "Iakoubia, Iaōsabaōth Adōnai Abrasax", the first name seems to be composed of Jacob and Ya. Similarly, entities considered angels in Judaism are invoked as gods alongside Abrasax: thus "I conjure you ... by the god Michaēl , by the god Souriēl , by the god Gabriēl , by
2709-624: The identity of Abraxas remains unclear. The Holy Book of the Great Invisible Spirit , for instance, refers to Abraxas as an Aeon dwelling with Sophia and other Aeons of the Pleroma in the light of the luminary Eleleth . In several texts, the luminary Eleleth is the last of the luminaries (Spiritual Lights) that come forward, and it is the Aeon Sophia, associated with Eleleth, who encounters darkness and becomes involved in
2772-675: The legends on gems. By a probably euphonic inversion the translator of Irenaeus and the other Latin authors have Abraxas , which is found in the magical papyri, and even, though most sparingly, on engraved stones. The attempts to discover a derivation for the name, Greek, Hebrew, Coptic, or other, have not been entirely successful: Perhaps the word may be included among those mysterious expressions discussed by Adolf von Harnack , "which belong to no known speech, and by their singular collocation of vowels and consonants give evidence that they belong to some mystic dialect, or take their origin from some supposed divine inspiration". The Egyptian author of
2835-611: The magic papyri. This word is usually conceded to be derived from the Hebrew (Aramaic), meaning "Thou art our father" (אב לן את), and also occurs in connection with Abraxas; the following inscription is found upon a metal plate in the Karlsruhe Museum: АВРАΣАΞ ΑΒΛΑΝΑΘ ΑΝΑΛΒΑ IO IO IO IAO SABAO KURIE ABRASAX KURIE MEITHRAS KURIE PHALLE. IO PAN, IO PAN PAN IO ISCHUROS, IO ATHANATOS IO ABROTOS IO IAO. KAIRE PHALLE KAIRE PAMPHAGE KAIRE PANGENETOR. HAGIOS, HAGIOS, HAGIOS IAO. There
2898-486: The moon: [24] Ho! Sax, Amun , Sax, Abraxas; for thou art the moon, (25) the chief of the stars, he that did form them, listen to the things that I have(?) said, follow the (words) of my mouth, reveal thyself to me, Than, (26) Thana, Thanatha, otherwise Thei, this is my correct name. The magic word "Ablanathanalba", which reads in Greek the same backward as forward , also occurs in the Abraxas-stones as well as in
2961-468: The name of the supreme god of the Basilidan gnostics, containing the number 365, the number of the days of the year, and of the heavens, and of the spirits emanating from the god Abraxas. Classical planet A classical planet is an astronomical object that is visible to the naked eye and moves across the sky and its backdrop of fixed stars (the common stars which seem still in contrast to
3024-434: The name of this God in the language of the baboons. The papyrus goes on to describe a cosmogonic myth about Abraxas, describing how he created the Ogdoad by laughing. His first laughter created light; his second divided the primordial waters ; his third created the mind; his fourth created fertility and procreation; his fifth created fate; his sixth created time (as the sun and moon); and his seventh and final laughter created
3087-466: The names of the seven planets are derived from the seven Babylonian planets. Overall, the seven classical planets ( Classical Mandaic : ࡔࡅࡁࡀ , romanized: šuba , lit. 'The Seven'; ࡔࡉࡁࡉࡀࡄࡉࡀ šibiahia , "planets"; or, combined, šuba šibiahia "Seven Planets" ) are generally not viewed favorably in Mandaeism, since they constitute part of the entourage of Ruha ,
3150-481: The names, principles, angels, and powers of the 365 imagined heavens. Incantations by mystic names were characteristic of the hybrid Gnosticism planted in Spain and southern Gaul at the end of the fourth century and at the beginning of the fifth, which Jerome connects with Basilides and which (according to his Epist ., lxxv.) used the name Abraxas. It is therefore not unlikely that some Gnostics used amulets, though
3213-405: The personages of Gnostic mythology has had any success, and Abraxas is the only Gnostic term found in the accompanying legends that is not known to belong to other religions or mythologies. The present state of the evidence therefore suggests that their engravers and the Basilidians received the mystic name from a common source now unknown. Having due regard to the magic papyri , in which many of
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#17327796714813276-563: The planets). Visible to humans on Earth there are seven classical planets (the seven luminaries ). They are from brightest to dimmest : the Sun , the Moon , Venus , Jupiter , Mars , Mercury and Saturn . Greek astronomers such as Geminus and Ptolemy recorded these classical planets during classical antiquity , introducing the term planet , which means 'wanderer' in Greek ( πλάνης planēs and πλανήτης planētēs ), expressing
3339-628: The planets, although the order was staggered (see below). The first hour of each day was named after the ruling planet, giving rise to the names and order of the Roman seven-day week . Modern Latin-based cultures, in general, directly inherited the days of the week from the Romans and they were named after the classical planets; for example, in Spanish Miércoles is Mercury, and in French mardi
3402-472: The principalities, powers, and angels, the last of whom create "the first heaven". They, in turn, originate a second series, who create a second heaven. The process continues in like manner until 365 heavens are in existence, the angels of the last or visible heaven being the authors of our world. "The ruler" [ principem , i.e., probably ton archonta ] of the 365 heavens "is Abraxas, and for this reason he contains within himself 365 numbers". The name occurs in
3465-548: The scourge of Power." In the absence of other evidence to show the origin of these curious relics of antiquity the occurrence of a name known as Basilidian on patristic authority has not unnaturally been taken as a sufficient mark of origin, and the early collectors and critics assumed this whole group to be the work of Gnostics. During the last three centuries attempts have been made to sift away successively those gems that had no claim to be considered in any sense Gnostic, or specially Basilidian, or connected with Abrasax. The subject
3528-487: The search for hidden knowledge (knowledge that is not common i.e. the occult). Astrology has used the concept of classical elements from antiquity up until the present day today. Most modern astrologers use the four classical elements extensively, and indeed they are still viewed as a critical part of interpreting the astrological chart. Traditionally, each of the seven " planets " in the Solar System as known to
3591-464: The seven planets and its isopsephic value of 365 corresponding to the days of the year. Thoth is also identified with Abrasax in PGM LXXIX. 1-7: "I am the soul of darkness, Abrasax, the eternal one, Michaēl, but my true name is Thōouth, Thōouth." One papyrus titled the "Monad" or the "Eighth Book of Moses " (PGM XIII. 1–343) contains an invocation to a supreme creator God; Abraxas is given as being
3654-479: The soul. Then, from various sounds made by Abrasax, there arose the serpent Python who "foreknew all things", the first man (or Fear ), and the god Iaō , "who is lord of all". The man fought with Iaō, and Abrasax declared that Iaō's power would derive from both of the others, and that Iaō would take precedence over all the other gods. This text also describes Helios as an archangel of God/Abrasax. The Leyden Papyrus recommends that this invocation be pronounced to
3717-423: The symbols. The modern Sun symbol, pictured as a circle with a dot (☉), first appeared in the Renaissance . The Ptolemaic system used in ancient Greek astronomy placed the planets by order of proximity to Earth in the then-current geocentric model , closest to furthest, as the Moon, Mercury, Venus, Sun, Mars, Jupiter, and Saturn. In addition the day was divided into seven-hour intervals, each ruled by one of
3780-413: The two supporters, Nous and Logos , symbols of the inner sense and the quickening understanding, as typified by the serpents, for the same reason that had induced the old Greeks to assign this reptile for an attribute to Pallas. His head—a cock's—represents Phronesis , the fowl being emblematical of foresight and vigilance. His two hands bear the badges of Sophia and Dynamis , the shield of Wisdom, and
3843-576: The unintelligible names of the Abrasax-stones reappear, besides directions for making and using gems with similar figures and formulas for magical purposes, it can scarcely be doubted that many of these stones are pagan amulets and instruments of magic. The magic papyri reflect the same ideas as the Abrasax-gems and often bear Hebraic names of God. The following example is illustrative: "I conjure you by Iaō Sabaōth Adōnai Abrasax, and by
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#17327796714813906-407: The whole space is taken up with the inscription. In certain obscure magical writings of Egyptian origin ἀβραξάς or ἀβρασάξ is found associated with other names which frequently accompany it on gems; it is also found on the Greek metal tesseræ among other mystic words. The meaning of the legends is seldom intelligible: but some of the gems are amulets; and the same may be the case with nearly all. In
3969-944: The world, as well as the 365 heavens, was created in honour of 'Abraxas'; and that Christ was sent not by the Maker of the world but by 'Abraxas'. Nothing can be built on the vague allusions of Jerome , according to whom 'Abraxas' meant for Basilides "the greatest God" ( De vir. ill . 21), "the highest God" ( Dial. adv. Lucif . 23), "the Almighty God" ( Comm. in Amos iii. 9), and "the Lord the Creator" ( Comm. in Nah . i. 11). The notices in Theodoret ( Haer. fab . i. 4), Augustine ( Haer . 4), and 'Praedestinatus' (i. 3), have no independent value. It
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