BASILIDES. (Gk. lia sileid es) . A famous Gnostic Christian of dria, who flourished during the reign of Hadrian (A.D. 117-138). Few details of his life are known. We are told, on doubtful authority, that. he was a pupil of the heretical at. Antioch, and that he taught in Persia, where his dualistic system was later revived by Mani (see AlAmen.Ersm). Basilides himself claimed to he a follower of one Glaucias, 'the interpreter of Peter,' but no such person is known to us from any other source. The otherwise unknown prophecies of Barcabbas aw Barcoph, to which Basilides refers, have been conjectured to be apocryphal Zoroastrian books. Basilides wrotA! a Gospel commentary. called the Exegetica. in 24 books.. Origen speaks of a "Gospel aceord ing to Basilides," but it is improbable that Ba silides did more than edit some kind of a gos pel for the use of his followers. Ile shows some acquaintance with material included in our Mat thew, Luke, and John. His son Isidore wrote several books, three of which are mentioned by Clement of Alexandria. and from others of the Basilidian School there come various incanta tions and odes. None of these writings are known to us except through opponents of the movement. Agrippa Castor was one of the first to attack Basilides, but his book has per ished. Irenxus, Clement of Alexandria, Hippo lytus, and Origen discuss Basilides's doctrine at some length. but they do not agree in their ac counts of what he taught. Follow-big their divergent opinions, some modern scholars hold that Basilides constructed his system on Greek models, especially Aristotle; others, that he drew ; from the Orient, especially from the Persian dualism of Zo•oaster. Criticism inclines at pres ent toward the latter view.
Basilides's teaching should be studied in com parison with that of other Gnostics. (See GNos vcissi.) He taught an elaborate cosmology, a system less perhaps like emanation than like evolution from the great, Original. The cosmic
process extended through a complicated series of heavens to the creation of our universe, and included redemption as its chief Christian fea ture. This redemption is not so much from sin as from cosmic disorders of all kinds, occasioned by Darkness invading the domain of Light. In the ensuing conflict, Light (Good) finally con quers. Basilides's system was not acceptable to the Church at large, and was pronounced heret ical. His followers, however, were quite numer ous, and we hear of them as late as the Fourth Century, although they never attained any im portance outside of Egypt. It is doubtful whether we should connect the later Priscillian ists of Spain with the Basilidians. An illustra tion of how widely the Basilidians departed from the principles of their founder may be drawn from the fact that some of them practiced a gross licentiousness, while Basilides was inclined toward asceticism.
The 'Abraxas gems,' many of which have been brought to light, are wrongly supposed by some to be Gnostic origin, because of the occur rence of the word 'Abraxas' (Abrasax is the correct form) in Basilides's system, where it is the collective designation of the heavenly or spiritual beings, whose number is 365 (repre sented in Greek by the letters of the word abra sax). These charms and amulets probably have nothing to do with Gnosticism. See ABRAXAS.
BIBLIOGRAPHY. Uhlhorn, Pas basilidianische Bibliography. Uhlhorn, Pas basilidianische System (Gottingen, 1855) ; Alansel, gnostic Here sits, ed. Lightfoot (London, 1875) ; fort, "Basilides," in Smith and Waee, Dictionary of Christian Biography (London, 1887) ; Schaff, History of the Christian Church, 11., 466-472 (New York, 1891). See further, under GNOSTI CISM.
BASiLIO DA GAMA, ba-sir."16-5 Jost. See GAMA, Jost BASIII0 DA.