GLOSSARY^819Tibil Earth, physical world, in Mandaean thought.
Tomb The body is the prison or tomb of the soul according to a platonic and Orphic
teaching reflected in gnostic texts.
Torah Hebrew for "instruction," the Jewish law.
Triple male See MALE.
Trismegistos Greek for "thrice greatest." Superlative epithet of Hermes in hermetic texts.
Twelve Number of signs of the zodiac, and so the number of cosmic authorities produced
by the demiurge in the Secret Book of John. Also the number of tribes of Israel, and the
number of students (disciples) and messengers (apostles) of Jesus in the early church.
Twin Gnostic texts include various references to a twin. Judas Thomas is the twin brother
of Jesus in the Gospel of Thomas and the Book of Thomas. The angel who appears to
Mani and gives revelation as his heavenly double is called the twin. Behind such refer-
ences may be the conviction that one's divine counterpart is the twin, alter ego, or true
self that one knows when one knows oneself in gnostic thought.
Umm al-kitab Arabic for "Mother of Books," a text of mystical, gnosticizing ghuluw.
Uthra Any of the light beings who are forces for good and inhabitants of the realm of light
or the pleroma in Mandaean thought.
Veil A veil separates the world within the pleroma from the world outside, in the Gospel of
Philip and On the Origin of the World. See LIMIT. The veil also refers to the curtain
that separates the holy of holies from the holy place in the Jewish temple.
Vine Grapevine, the plant of Dionysos, the Greek god of fertility, ecstasy, and wine, linked
to Eros in On the Origin of the World.
Virgo "Virgin," constellation referred to in the Discourse on the Eighth and the Ninth.
Wisdom See SOPHIA.
Word See LOGOS.
Yahweh YHWH, the ineffable name of god in Hebrew. Yahweh is the child of Eve and the
demiurge in the Secret Book of John.
Yaldabaoth Demiurge or creator of this world, especially in Sethian texts. The name prob-
ably means "child of chaos" or "child of (S)abaoth" in Aramaic. See Layton, Gnostic
Scriptures, 74~755 Scholem, Jewish Gnosticism, Merkabah Mysticism, and Talmudic Tra-
dition, 71-72. Also called Sakla, Samael.
Yao A form of Yahweh, especially in Greek. Yao is a power of this world in some gnostic
texts and a son of Yaldabaoth in On the Origin of the World.
Yatim Class of angels in the Mother of Books. The two Yatim ("orphans" or "single ones")
mentioned there may be Miqdad and Abu Zarr/Abu Dharr.
Yeshua Aramaic for Jesus.
Yoel Heavenly dignitary and luminary connected to Sethian baptism in the Gospel of
the Egyptians.
Zeus Father god and the ruler of Olympian deities in Greek mythology. Referred to in the
Book of Baruch and the Naassene Sermon.
Ziwa "Radiant," a common epithet of beings of light, for example, Adakas-Ziwa, in Man-
daean sources.
Zoe Greek for "life," the name of Eve in some traditions. Zoe is the enlightened after-
thought hidden within Adam in the Secret Book of John, the daughter of Pistis Sophia