as a high festival (Clemens, _Strom_. i. 21
s. 18). The various attempts at combination probably point to the fact that
the purely mythical figure of a god-saviour (Heros) was connected first by
Basilides with Jesus of Nazareth. As to what the conception of Basilides
was of the completion of the process of redemption, the available sources
tell us next to nothing. According to an allusion in Clemens, _Strom_. ii.
8 s. 36, with the mission of the Saviour begins the great separation of the
sexes, the fulfilment and the restoration of all things. This agrees with
the beginning of the speculation of Basilides. Salvation consists in this,
that that which was combined for evil is once more separated.

Among the later followers of Basilides, actual magic played a determining
part. They hand down the names of the rulers of the several heavens as a
weighty secret. This was a result of the belief, that whoever knew the
names of these rulers would after death pass through all the heavens to the
supreme God. In accordance with this, Christ also, in the opinion of these
followers of Basilides, was in the possession of a mystic name (Caulacau =
[Hebrew: QAW LAQAW] Jes. xxviii. 10) by the power of which he had descended
through all the heavens to earth, and had then again ascended to the
Father. Redemption, accordingly, could be conceived as simply the
revelation of mystic names. In this connexion the name Abraxas and the
Abraxas gems must be remembered. Whether Basilides himself had already
given this magic tendency to Gnosticism cannot be decided.

Basilides, then, represents that form of Gnosticism that is closest to
Persian dualism in its final form. His doctrine is most closely related to
that of Satornil (Saturninus). From most of the other Gnostic sects, with
the exception perhaps of the Jewish-Christian Gnosticism, he is
distinguished by the fact that with him the figure of the fallen female god
(Sophia Achamoth), and, in general, the idea of a fall within the godhead
is entirely wanting. So far as we can see, on the other hand, Basilides
appears actually to represent a further development of Iranian dualism,
which later produced the religious system of Mani.

Accounts of the teaching of Basilides are to be found in all the more
complete works on Gnosticism (see bibliography to the article GNOSTICISM).
The original sources are best reproduced in Hilgenfeld, _Ketzergeschichte
des Urchristentums_ (1884), pp. 195-230. See also Kr