The Shelves · Philosophy
Ethics, On the Attached Soul, and Expositions of the Prophet Parchor
I · The entry, in his form
In the table of Philosophy
Conjectured · Our reconstructionour placementfl. c. 130–160 CE. Basilides' son and pupil, who carried on his father's teaching in the second century. Clement of Alexandria quotes three of his books: On the Attached Soul, the Ethics and the Expositions of the Prophet Parchor.
Ethics, On the Attached Soul, and Expositions of the Prophet Parchor
Opening words not preserved.
Length: not counted
Above, his entry form, filled from what we know. Below, ours.
II · Does it survive? Where to read it
Survives in fragments
Three fragments in Clement.
Was it in Alexandria?
ConjecturedWritten in Alexandria. His father taught in Alexandria and Clement quotes him; no source says where Isidore lived or wrote.
On the table: placed with the works written in the city, as his father's school was in Alexandria, though no source says where he wrote; no evidence it was in the Library.
Read it today
- Clement, Stromata book 2 (Wilson translation, New Advent) · a translation · link checked 31 Oct 2026
- Clement, Stromata book 6 (Wilson translation, New Advent) · a translation · link checked 31 Oct 2026
III · In the show
- Exorcism, theurgy, and the mission of the Elus-Cohen, episode 5, at 30 minutes 57 secondsTranscriptThe demiurge who 'didn't realize there was anything higher', placed by the speaker in the Basilidian corpus.Known: attested
- Heresiologists and early Christian doctrine, episode 2, at 43 secondsTranscriptHeresiologists: the early schools known through their opponents.Known: attested
- Gnostic readings of the serpent and demiurge, episode 2, at 37 minutes 33 secondsTranscriptGnostic readings of the serpent and the demiurge.Known: attested
+ 12 more
- Gnostic texts and orthodoxy, episode 11, at 19 minutesTranscriptKnown: attested
- Gnosticism, Material vs Spiritual Reality, episode 23, at 37 minutes 20 secondsTranscriptValentinians and Basilideans.Known: attested
- Plato’s Demiurge vs. the Gnostic Demiurge, episode 36, at 1 hour 54 minutes 33 secondsTranscriptPlato's demiurge against the Gnostic demiurge.Known: attested
- Exorcism, theurgy, and the mission of the Elus-Cohen, episode 5, at 32 minutes 51 secondsTranscript“I believe it's in the val the the basalitian corpus where uh it might be in the exogetica”Basilides' Exegetica, in twenty-four books (Clement; Agrippa Castor in Eusebius).Known: attested
- Crisis, descent, and recurring esoteric patterns, episode 37, at 39 minutes 47 secondsTranscript“if you're thinking of like the the Basilidians and some of the the early Christian sects, it's actually when they celebrated the incarnation of Christ.”Mark Stavish's conversation; Clement, Stromata I.21.146.Known: attested
- Baptism, anointing, and the Holy Spirit, episode 2, at 23 minutes 50 secondsTranscript“Basalian gnostics did not celebrate the incarnation of the Lord on or around the winter solstice”Known: attested
- Gnostic texts and orthodoxy, episode 11, at 20 minutes 11 secondsTranscript“The the Coptic schools in Alexandria in and around Alexandria”Known: attested
Correction
- What was said
- "The Coptic schools in Alexandria".
- What the sources say
- The Alexandrian teachers wrote in Greek; Coptic belongs to the later translations made in Upper Egypt.
- Path: Martinism and Reintegration, station 4Understand the anointing. The Basilidian feast of the Baptism.Known: attested
- Gnosticism · Chronology: Great system-builders'Basilides active in Alexandria under Hadrian, 117–138'.Known: attested
- GematriaHebrew gematria only. Abrasax = 365 in Greek isopsephy (Irenaeus, Against Heresies I.24.7) is the Alexandrian counterpart the instrument does not cover.Known: attested
IV · Sources and the living entry
Ancient references
- Clement, Stromata 2.113-114; 3.1-3; 6.53.2-5
Modern scholarship (2)
- B. Layton, The Gnostic Scriptures (New York: Doubleday, 1987)
- W. A. Löhr, Basilides und seine Schule (Tübingen: Mohr Siebeck, 1996)
Entry checked 31 Oct 2026 · no corrections · Suggest a correction ›
ETHICS, ON THE ATTACHED SOUL, AND EXPOSITIONS OF THE PROPHET PARCHOR
Beside it on the table
- Basilides of Alexandria, Exegeticac. 120–140 CE · Survives in fragments
- Epiphanes, son of Carpocrates, On Righteousnessc. 130–150 CE · Survives in fragments
- Clement of Alexandria, Exhortation to the Greeksc. 195 CE · Survives whole
- Attributed to Clement of Alexandria, Letter to Theodore, quoting a 'Secret Gospel of Mark'c. 200 CE if genuine; copied in the 18th century · Survives in fragments