112 LITERATURE OF GNOSTIC WISDOM
only through fragments preserved in and discussions included in the heresiol-
ogists. Suffice it to say that Basilides was a successful early second-century
gnostic teacher in the cosmopolitan city of Alexandria, Egypt, and Valentinos
must have known of his teachings while he was there. Another well-known
teacher of the second century is Marcion, whom we discussed briefly in the
general introduction to this volume. On account of his theological dualism,
with its critical stance toward the Jewish god, the Hebrew Bible, and the world
in general, Marcion sometimes is called a gnostic, though we do not under-
stand him to be an advocate of a religion of gnosis, as we noted above.
Valentinos was an Egyptian born in the Nile delta around the beginning of
the second century. A convert to Christianity, Valentinos was educated in
Alexandria, and he learned about Greek philosophy, Christian thinking (most
likely including that of Basilides), and hellenistic Jewish methods of reading
and interpreting the scriptures. He also seems to have been influenced by the
Sethian gnostics of his time. Bentley Layton supports this by citing Irenaeus's
observation: "Valentinos adapted the fundamental principles of the so-called
gnostic school of thought [Layton's classic gnostics] to his own kind of sys-
tem."^8 Valentinos went on to Rome, where he was caught up in theological
and ecclesiastical affairs in the Christian community there. The heresiologist
Tertullian maintained that Valentinos hoped to become bishop of Rome—or,
we might say, his century's equivalent of the pope. Valentinos proved to be a
brilliant teacher, and among his followers several continued his gnostic
thought in their own literary works. This volume contains the best of their ef-
forts. Of Valentinos's own writings little survives. Among the Valentinian texts
presented here only the mystical meditation entitled the Gospel of Truth may
have been composed by Valentinos himself.^9 Of the other literary works of
Valentinos, a fragment of a poem, "Summer Harvest," survives in the writings
of the heresiologist Hippolytus:
Through spirit I see that all are suspended,
through spirit I know that all are conveyed,
flesh suspended from soul,
soul depending on air,
air suspended from atmosphere.
- Irenaeus, Against Heresies 1.11.1.
9- Kurt Rudolph, incidentally, disagrees with this suggestion {Gnosis, 319).
