Roy Kotansky and Jeffrey Spier - The 'Horned Hunter' On A Lost Gnostic Gem PDF

lshe "Horned Hunter" on a
Lost Gnostic Gem
Roy Kotansky
Santa Monica, California
and
Jeffrey Spier
University College, LJondon
The noted Provensal antiquarian Nicolas-Claude Fabri de Peiresc (1580-

1 1637), perhaps the most dedicated of an intexuational circle of acquain-
tances studying and collecting classical antiquities in the early seventeenth
century,l took an especially keen interest in ancient gems. With his friend,
the painter Peter Paul Rubens (1577-1640), he planned an extensive pub-
lication on the subject that unfortunately never saw completion.2 Although
Peiresc focused most of his attention on collecting Roman gems portraying
classical iconography, he was also intrigued by the enigmatic series of
magical gems as were many others in the Renaissance, who considered
the gems to be the products of early Gnostic heretics.3 A correspondence
lDavid Jaffe, "The Barberini Circle: Some Exchanges between Peiresc, Rubens and their
Contemporaries," Journal of the History of Collections 1 (1989) 119-47.
2Hermance M. van der Meulen-Schregardus, Petrus Paulus Rubens Antiquarius: Collector
and Copyist of Antique Gems (Alphen aan den Rijn: Vis-Druk, 1975); Oleg Neverov, "Gems
in the Collection of Rubens," The Burlington Magazine 121 (1979) 424-32.
3Note, for example, the writings cited by Jean Chiflet in his introduction to Joannes Macarius
(Jean L'Heureux), Abraxas seu Apistopistus (Antwerp: Balthasaris Moreti, 1657) 6-8 (includ-
ing a reference to Peiresc). Although the use of the term "Gnostic" as a designation for the
magic gems has fallen into considerable disfavor today, there is enough overlap between the
HTR 88:3 (1995) 315-37
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316 HARVARD THEOLOGICAL REVIEW
between Peiresc and Rubens in 1623, frequently cited in the modern litera-
ture, discusses the putative meaning of an amulet in Rubens's collection
depicting a bell-shaped object thought to represent the "divine womb."4
The gem is a Renaissance forgery based on genuine ancient examples; the
concurrent and correct identification of this puzzling type as a uterus,
however, contrasts markedly with the fanciful interpretations later fashion-
able in the nineteenth century.5
Peiresc also recorded magical gems in other collections and carefully
copied the Greek inscriptions found on them.6 By 1633, his own collection
of such gems amounted to about two hundred specimens7; although few
gems are mentioned in his surviving letters or manuscripts, his correspon-
dence with Claude Menestrier (d. 1639), librarian to Cardinal Francesco
Barberini and Peiresc's agent in Rome, records Menestrier's purchase of
several magic gems for his client from the collection of Natalitio Benedetti.
In a series of letters to Menestrier in 1629, Peiresc describes the gems in
some detail; like his contemporaries, however, he understood little of the
Greek inscriptions he read, other than to transcribe the occasionally recog-
nizable angel-names.8
"magic" and "Gnostic" systems to argue for a serious reappraisal of their affiliation. We take
this up, to some degree, below.
4H. Koehler, "Erlauterung eines von Peter Paul Rubens an Nicolas Claude Fabri de Peiresc
gerichteten Dankschreibens," Me'moires de l'Acade'mie impe'riale des Sciences de Saint-
Petersbourg 6.3 (1836) 1-34, esp. 11-13; 23-24; Peter Paul Rubens, Correspondence de
Rubens (vol. 3; eds. Max Rooses and Charles Ruelens; Anvers: Veuve de Backer, 1900) 203-
39; Campbell Bonner, Studies in Magical Amulets, Chiefly Graeco-Egyptian (Ann Arbor:
University of Michigan Press,1950) 80-83; Alphons A. Barb, "Diva Matrix: A Faked Gnostic
Intaglio in the Possession of P. Rubens and the Iconology of a Symbol," JWCI 16 (1953) 193-
98; Meulen-Schregardus, Petrus Paulus Rubens, 35 and 91.
sSee Bonner, Studies in Magical Amulets, 80-83, citing the implausible theories of Jacques
Matter (Histoire critique du Gnosticisme [3 vols.; Paris: Bertrand, 1828] 3. 51-53), Koehler
("Erlauterung"), and Charles William King (The Gnostics and Their Remains, Ancient and
Mediaeval [2d ed.; London: Nutt, 1887] 110-11, 300).
6See, for example, MS 9530, Fonds Fransaise, Bibliotheque Nationale, Paris, 234-35; MS
1809, Bibliotheque Inguimbertine, Carpentras, 400.
7Peiresc to Claude Saumaise,14 November 1633, Nicolas-Claude Fabri de Peiresc. Lettres
a Claude Saumaise et a son entourage (1620-1637) (ed. Agnes Bresson; Le Corrispondenze
letterarie, scientifiche ed erudite dal Rinascimento all' eta moderna 3; Florence: Olschki,
1992) 33.
8Peiresc to Pierre Dupuy, Lettres de Peiresc (7 vols.; ed., Philippe Tamizey de Larroque;
Paris: Imprimerie nationale, 1894) 5. 559-61, 563-65, 572, 575. Peiresc usually refers to the
inscriptions merely as "Greek letters" and once refers to a gem "with various angel names on
the reverse" (Lettres, 560). Peiresc's most ambitious commentary, including a nearly correct
reading of a seven-line inscription, is on a gem he owned, now in the Cabinet des Medailles,
Paris (= Armand Delatte and Philippe Derchain, Les intailles magiques gre'co-egyptiennes
[Paris: Bibliotheque Nationale,1964] 188-89, no.250); see Bresson, Nicolas-Claude de Peiresc,
33-34.
, , . , , , Cs \ , , ,
ROY KOTANSKY and JEFFREY SPIER 317
Among Peiresc's papers now in Paris is an illustration, apparently in his

own hand, of a magic gem showing an ouroboros9 enclosing a twelve-line
inscription.l° In the margin, Peiresc identifies the gem as a "prase" (in
Gemma prasio) and states that it was received from Menestrier on October
23, 1630 [plate 1]. The term "prase" (from the Greek spacylos, "light
green"; spacylaS, "emerald [?]") usually matches green chalcedony in
modern gemological nomenclature, and chalcedony is a semiprecious stone
often used for magic gems. Unfortunately, there is no further mention of
the piece among Peiresc's documents, and we have not been able to locate
the gem in any extant collection; nevertheless, in order to make it available
to a wider readership, we publish Peiresc's transcript of the gem for the
first time, with our own interpretation of the inscription.
OIOAHOTATH
OBAKA ^ IXTXO K
EPATArPACOTTOC
4 ECTINOIlPWTOIlAT
WPOTOICWMATOCM
ONOCWNAIAIlANT
WNIlOPETMENOCCO
8 AOMWNTOCIC¢PArI
C *ZZZ [fig.]OAPA
KWNECT W
AEONTOKEO
1 2 AXOC.
O 'Ioanovavn, / o BaKatl%v%, o K/£pataypaS, ovto5 / £CTT1V O

spcl)osa/cl)p, o tov. csc atoS 11/OVOi Cl)V, ola sav/cl)v ZOp£V<O>R£VOi.
£°/X°s)VtOS {t}cspayl/5 Zzz [fig-] o apa/KCi)V £CTTCt) / £0VTOK£+/-
aBoS. [plate 1]
Translation: Ioaeouaue-Bakaxichych-Keratagras. This one is the First-
Father, the one being single of substance, passing through all (things).
"Solomon's Seal:" [magic signs]. Make the serpent with a lion's head.
9The "snake eating its tail," or ouroboros (from the Greek ovpn,Bopo/ovpo,Bopos, "de-
vouring its tail"), is a magic figure widely studied as an Egyptian symbol of perpetuity; see
Laszlo Kakosy, "Ouroboros," Lexikon der Agyptologie 6 (1986) 886-93; Waldemar Deonna,
"Ouroboros," Artibus Asiae 15 (1952) 163-70; Karl Preisendanz, "Ein altes Ewigkeitssymbol
als Signet und Druckmarke," Gutenburg-Jahrbuch (1935) 143-49; idem, "Aus der Geschichte
des Uroboros," in Ferdinand Herrmann and Wolfgang Treutlein, eds., Brauch und Sinnbild:
Eugen Fehrle zum 60. Geburtstag gewidmet von seinen Schulern und Freunden (Karlsruhe:
Kommissionsverlag, 1940) 195-209.
t°See plate 1; MS 9530, Fonds Fransaise, Bibliotheque Nationale, Paris, 222. We are
grateful to David Jaffe for information on Peiresc and for suggesting that the drawing pictured
here is by his own hand.
g Commentary
Before discussing the individual elements of this inscription, we first

observe that the magic names of the first three lines apparently achieved
something of canonical status in magical circles judging from the fact
that the formula appears elsewhere in the context of a slightly longer, but
similar, inscription on a beige onyx. Published in 1930 and recently resur-
facing on the antiquities market, the stone carries the following inscription
along the edge of its surface: Nvx£va,130k,13ax o 'loa7wl0vevE aovanl
Bar[aelxv]x KEpazadyas / 'Iax / savTcov 6£cssBS / 'Ia.ll The itali-
cized portions indicate the wording parallel with that of Peiresc's gem; they
are discussed more specifically in the commentary below.
(1) o 'Iobllovavll (read 'Ioallovavll): The close reading o loalllov£v£
aovalll in the parallel gem cited above suggests that the delta of our text
should be read as alpha.
At first sight, the name seems little more than a permutation of vow-
els.l2 But the reading of Mouterde's gem, IOVEVE, can be readily inter-
preted as a phonetic rendering for the Hebrew Tetragrammaton, ;ll;r, a
divine name of unknown vocalization but often articulated illn", (yah(u)wah;
"Jehovah"). Although most scholars believe "Jehovah" to be a late (ca.
1 100 CE) hybrid form derived by combining the Latin letters JHVH with
the vowels of Adonai (the traditionally pronounced version of ;1l;1b),13 many
magical texts in Semitic and Greek establish an early pronunciation of the
divine name as both Yehovah and Yahweh.l4
l l"Nycheuabolbach, o loaeioueue aouaei Bak[axichy]ch Keratagas, Iao Master of the

Universe, Iao." This restored reading is based on the parallel in the Peiresc gem. The beige
onyx is engraved on one surface only and measures 3.3 x 2.9 cm. It was first published in Rene
Mouterde, "Le Glaive de Dardanos: Objets et inscriptions magiques de Syrie," Me'langes de
l'Universite' Saint-Joseph 15 (1930) 72-74, no. 7, plate 2, 3 and figure 7. The piece suppos-
edly comes from Beirut and pictures a lion-headed ouroboros encircling the words, "Iao
Master of the Universe" (see Job 5:8; Wis 6:7; 8:3), along with several ring-like characters and
a small human bust. We were able to examine this piece at a Munich antiquities dealer in May,
1990. It has subsequently appeared at auction; see Frank Sternberg, AG, Zurich, Auction 24
(19-20 November, 1990) lot 463.
See the second half of n. 33.
See Henry O. Thompson, "Yahweh," Anchor Bible Dictionary 6 (1992) 101 la.
14See, for example, Roy Kotansky, "Two Inscribed Jewish Aramaic Amulets from Syria,"
IEJ 41 (1991) 267-81, with commentary on B 7 (p. 279): 17Rml;l; on "Yahobel" (Yahoba + el-
terminative) in reference to the Slavonic Ladder of Jacob 2:18 Yoava, see James H. Charlesworth,
ed., The Old Testament Pseudepigrapha (2 vols.; Garden City, NY: Doubleday, 1983-85) 2.
408; Roy Kotansky, Joseph Naveh, and Shaul Shaked, "A Greek-Aramaic Silver Amulet from
Egypt in the Ashmolean Museum," Mus 105 (1992) 5-24, line 4: lOO£ ( = U1U'). Forms like
nnn and nnnl;nS, discussed by Joseph Naveh and Shaul Shaked (Amulets and Magic Bowls
[Jerusalem: Magnes and Leiden: Brill, 1985] 165-66), also seem to give inescapable ex-
amples, although the editors themselves sound a cautionary note by interpreting such ex-
(2) o BaKatlxu%: Bakaxichych has been explained as Egyptian for "Ba

('Soul') of Darkness, Son of Darkness.''l5 A still unpublished lead tablet in
the Getty Museum invokes Bakaxichych as "Prince of Demons" (o mpavvoS
tcov bal,uovcov). The name also occurs commonly in the so-called
%V%,3a%v% l0gOs 16
(2-3) o K/epaxaypaS (Mouterde has -ayaS): The name is not the usual
vox magica. We suspect an addendum lexicis, as the Greek formation sug-
gests something to do with horns (Greek Kepai/Kepa-) and the chase
(aypa).l7 The name means either "hunter of horn," or "horned hunter." If
the name means "hunter of horn," then it implies one who hunts with the
bow (traditionally made of horn) or one who hunts after horned (or hooved)
prey (deer, antelope, bulls, and the like). If the name means "horned hunter,"
it is a deity who actually wears horns.l8 A discussion of the possible iden-
tity of this figure is taken up in the excursus below.
amples as ;l9m;ll,9 as Yah-in-Yah. Numerous Greek examples of such renderings without -n

("in") for the Tetragrammaton can be adduced from the papyri and the church fathers (for
example, 'Iapve or 'Iaoze). The Semitic examples with -n, therefore, can hardly be explained
as the preposition "in" (which makes little onomastic sense here), but must represent tradi-
tional pronunciations of the Divine Name. Even our gem's rlozaDrl (if articulated il oio aDrl
= /Fll/, that is, (y)e^ hou we^h) closely approximates Yehovah. Wolf Wilhelm Grafen Baudissin
(Studien zur semitischen Religionsgeschichte, vol.1: Der Ursprung des Gottesnamens 'Iax
[Leipzig: Grunow, 1876] 204, no. 20) cites a gem with the letters Iaxtle (Yakweh); see also
the Gnostic Ap. John 24.18-19: Eloim and Yave (NHC 3.1).
isSee the widely circulated (but unpublished) index to PGM, Register VI, s.v.; Robert W.
Daniel and Franco Maltomini, Supplementum Magicum I (Papyrologica Coloniensia 16; Opladen:
Westdeutscher Verlag, 1990) no. 44,15, and commentary on 161, which cites Theodor Hopfner,
"Der religionsgeschichtliche Gehalt des groSen demotischen Zauberpapyrus," ArOr 7 (1935)
114-15; and Robert Ritner, in Hans Dieter Betz, ed., The Greek Magical Papyri in Translation
(2d ed.; Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1992) 202 n. 76.
For example, PGM 5.11, 362, 366-67 (tatx ozx pzavaE,%U%) and elsewhere.
17Although no Greek nouns in -aypaS are attested thus far, in Oppian, the uncommon
adjectives, 6UsaypilS, eS ("unluckily caught"); tioaypilS, eS ("lucky in the chase"); and
sokDaypili, -eS ("catching much game"), provide a good morphological connection to the
nominal type 1cepaxaypai, oD, o ("hunter of horn"). The compound would be equivalent to
such formations in -oil pas for which simplex masculine forms are not known: eXeXavxo0 paS,
oD, o ("elephant-hunter"); i%ozo0ilpai, oD, o ("fish-hunter"); opvtOo0ilpaS, oD, o ("bird-
catcher") (see opvtOaypezili, oio, o ["bird catcher"] in Scholia to Aristoph. Nu. 731); see
also Carl Darling Buck and Walter Petersen, A Reverse Index of Greek Nouns and Adjectives
(Midway reprint; Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1975) 697, 2.
i8The two need not be mutually exclusive; the epithet may actually describe an age-old
theriomorphic deity whose devotees would have enacted the hunting ritual clad in masks of
horned prey; see our excursus below; Vassos Karageorghis, "Notes on some Cypriote Priests
Wearing Bull-Masks," HTR 64 (1971) 261-70; Erik Sjoqvist, "Die Kultgeschichte eines cyprischen
Temenos,"ARW30 (1933) 308-59, esp. 344-47; WalterBurkert (GreekReligion [Cambridge,
MA: Harvard University Press, 1985] 65) mentions the Cypriot priests equated with mytho-
logical Horned Ones, the Kerastai (see p. 372 n. 94, citing Ovid Met. 10.223-37).
(4-5) o sposa/p: Although other compounds in -1latcop are fre-

quent, the noun is otherwise found only in Eustathius.l9 Peculiar -satcop
compounds are also particularly common in Gnosticism, for example,
savTosap in the Coptic untitled text in the Bruce Codex.20
(5-7) o tou scoRatoS /ovo5 cov, bla liav/Txv ZOp£D<0>R£VOi: This
peculiar Greek expression is prone to several widely diverse interpreta-
tions. First, the Greek syntax of o. . . cov, enclosing Rovo5 plus a genitive,
suggests that Rovo5 modifies tou scoRatoS and means "bereft of; with-
out.''21 In the strict sense, this interpretation yields the most grammatical
meaning. The "bodiless primordial" or "first-father" expressed by these
words reminds one of the Hermetic Corpus's doctrine of a succession of
three heavenly beings. The first god, the creator, is the eternal and unbegotten
demiurge; the second god, the Cosmos, is a deity that is created; and the
third is Man himself: 1xpeotos yap savTXv, ovTXs wai ai bt°S wai
a7£VVTOi Kai 6qRIOUp7Oi T@V O@V 0£0G- 6£DT£pOi 6£ O KaT £iKova
aijToi) ijz' aijToi) 7£VO£VOi. . . To 6£ tpitov 4xov, o avOpsoS, waT'

£iKoVa T0D KOOU 7£VO£VOi ("For the First God of all is truly the
eternal and unbegotten Demiurge of the Universe; but the Second is the
one begotten in his image by him. . . and the third creature is Man, begot-
ten in the image of the Cosmos)."22 Of these, the second god (Cosmos) is
thought of as corporeal, whereas the first is bodiless: tou £V yap aio-
oav£Tal Cos scoRaToS, ToU 6£ £vVolav XaplDav£l C0i ascoRaToU.23 This
incorporeality of the first god is also expressed, for example, in Porphyry:

O £V ZP@Toi 0£0i a@aT°i T£ XV wai aviVoS wai a£plotoS,
wk. (assigned to oi flkatcovlKoi).24 On our gem, the notion of an incor-
poreal god simply signifies a belief in a formless deity who pervades all
things. Such a religious outlook belonged to the common property of late
antique metaphysical thinking and in most cases need not imply any direct
borrowing from Gnostic, Hermetic, Stoic, or Neoplatonic schools of thought.
t9Buck and Petersen, Reverse Index, 307.

20Carl Schmidt, ed., and Violet MacDermot, trans., The Books of Jeu and the Untitled Text
in the Bruce Codex (NHS 13; Leiden: Brill, 1978), "Index of Greek Words," p. 331 (Untitled
228, 234, p. 219, with notes citing Iren. Adv. haer. 1.1, 12.3; Eugnostos 74; Soph. Jes. Chr.
90; Pistis Soph. 19); other examples from Schmidt and MacDermot include: aioxosap,
"self-engendered father" (p.329: Untitled 228,234,248, etc.; Epiph. Pan. 26.10.4; Eugnostos
75; Soph. Jes. Chr. 95); a7rao3p, "fatherless" (p. 328: Jeu 104, 121); spoasao3p, "the fore-
fatherless one" (p. 331: Jeu 121); and sposao3p, "forefather" (p. 331: Untitled 228, 230,
248, 252, etc.).
2lLSJ, s.v. Rovos, 1.2.
22Corp. Herm. 8.2, 5; for the identity of the second being as the Cosmos, see Ibid., 8.1.
23"The second god is perceived as corporeal but conceives of the first as bodiless." Ibid.,
8.5.
24"The first god is bodiless, immovable and indivisible...." Porphyry De Abstinentia 2.37.
ROY KOTANSKY and JEFFREY SPI ER 321
That our text may in fact, however, show some kinship with real Gnostic
doctrine is discussed further below.
If mere incorporeality were intended, however, why did the writer not
simply transcribe o asco,uatoi cov, "the one who is incorporeal," as in the
several references given above? Further, the presence of the article sug-
gests specificity; xou sco,uatoi must refer to one who is bereft of the body
or bereft of his body (with tou being the weak possessive), as if actual
possession of the body were a bona fide option. But this would give a
questionable reading of the Greek. In what sense would the First-Father
have been at one time embodied and then deprived of embodiment, as if he
once had a body and then lost it?
Clearly, the stress is being laid on the fact that the First-Father is ,uovot
in his sco,ua; but the sense is not "bereft of body," rather it is "single of
substance" or"monadic in his corporeal substance." The phrase describes
the substance of the cosmos.25 In short, the doctrine represents a Gnostic-
like description of the unity of the First-Principle: the First-Father in his
corporeal unity is one. Among the Nag Hammadi codices, one sees the
connection in the Tripartite Tractate's description of the First-Father:
The Father is a Single One, like a number, for he is the First One and
the one who is only himself. Yet he is not like a solitary individual.
Otherwise, how could he be a father? For whenever there is a "father,"
the name "son" follows. But the Single One, who alone is the Father,
is like a root with tree, branches, and fruit.26
Our gem seems to express much the same idea when it claims that the
First-Father is ,uovot in his corporeity he is single in his wholeness. The
use of o@,ua, however, is dot to impute to the Father a necessary corporeity,
rather it betokens the unity or whole of a thing: o tou sco,uatoS ,uovos xv
is one who is in essence a monadic being.27 Note the Tripartite Tractate
which elsewhere reads: "Rather, he possesses this constitution, without
having a face or a form, things which are understood through perception,
whence also comes (the epithet) 'the incomprehensible."'28
Although they may be accidental, further connections with the Tripartite
Tractate also occur in the doctrine of the Trinity, for here as well our gem
lays stress on the tripartite names of the Protopator: Ioaeouaue, Bakaxichych,
25oo3Fa here is akin to Plato's description of the whole of the cosmos in Tim. 28B: yeyovev
opaxoS ya p a7tT0S TE ETT Wai o@a t%@v, "The Cosmos has come into existence, because
it is visible, tangible, and has substance" (see further, Tim. 31B-32C). Plato's Timaeus was a
favorite of Gnostic and Neoplatonist cosmographers.
26Tri. Trac. 51.6-19; Harold W. Attridge and Dieter Mueller, trans., in James M. Robinson,
ed., The Nag Hammadi Library in English (3d ed.; San Francisco: Harper & Row, 1988) 60.
27See LSJ, s.v. o@a, IV.
28Tri. Trac. 54.28-32 (ET: Attridge and Mueller, Nag Hammadi, 62).
and Keratagras.29 In this case, the tripartition represents a means of de-

scribing and naming what in fact is ineffable and unnameable. Similarly, in
the Trimorphic Protennoia, Barbelo the first hypostasis of the Perfect
Entirety in the book's opening hymn is described with three names:
It is [I] who am first thought, [the] thinking that exists in [. . .].

It is [I] who am the movement that exists in the [entirety],
In [whom] the entirety stands at rest,
[The first]-produced among those that have [come into existence],
[Who] existed before the entirety, [who] am called by three names,
and who alone exist [perfect]....
I am incomprehensible, existing within the incomprehensible and mov-
ing within every creature....
Who exist among those who have come into existence;
Who move among all, and who am strong among all;
Who travel uprightly....30
Here again we encounter language that stresses Barbelo's primacy, per-

fect existence, and flawless motion throughout the universe much like the
language of the Peiresc gem, although strictly speaking, Barbelo, the Sec-
ond Principle, is here called "First Thought" and ''First-Produced.''3l The
29Unlike the reading of the Mouterde gem, the Peiresc text seems to divide the magic
names into an unequivocal triad in its use of the article o before each name of the triadic unity.
30Trim. Prot. 35.1-6; 10-11; 19-21; Bentley Layton, The Gnostic Scriptures (Garden City,
NY: Doubleday, 1987) 89. Of course, the notion of an all-pervading god in all these texts owes
much to Stoicism, whether the god is described as a ssa, sveioFa, or U%n. See Proclus
In Platonis Timaeum (citing Chrysippus), p. 297 Schneider (= von Arnim, SVF II §1042 [p.
308, 3-4]): o yap azxos 0e°S Tcap' aio(Jp spo3xo5 o3v 6til1cet 6ta xoio 1COoROz vai 6ta
a1S xa1S Kat V%a1 tfst vai sPssts a%poxoS T@v 6t0t1cOzZeVo3V, "For this same
(according to Chrysippus), being primary, pervades the cosmos and matter, and is a soul and
principal not separate from its inhabitants" (see von Arnim, SVF II §1027 [p. 306, 22]). If the
Peiresc gem, too, seems indebted to Stoic ideas of god, it shares this with Gnosticism as the
common property of late antique thought. But the vocabulary of the Peiresc gem is not espe-
cially Stoic, eschewing, for example, the widespread terminus technicus 6tattv in favor of
the common TcopeiooRat, a verb indicating real motion, as in the Gnostic texts cited above.
3lAmong the various Gnostic documents, some confusion of epithets and attributes are
bound to exist when describing such primal entities as the Parent of the Entirety (the First
Principle) and Barbelo (the Second Principle), who is often explained as an hypostasis or
forethought of the Entirety. Before this "hypostasization," of course, there was no "First
Principle" at all, as "first" already implies the existence of what is "second." In a sense,
therefore, the inexplicable emanation of another principle from what is wholly perfect in its
abstract entirety creates a sort of cosmic duality that never before existed. The first emanation
from the Entirety, then, is in itself a "First" of sorts; it only becomes the "Second" Principle
when defined over-and-against the Entirety. This is why the language of primacy can be
readily applied to a Second Principle. Note, for example, Steles Seth 120.26: "You are a parent
(produced) by a parent" (Layton, Gnostic Scriptures, 154, with n. j: "The Barbelo is 'parent'
of its constituents, even while being a product of the invisible parent or One"); further, Steles
further claim that Barbelo is the "movement that exists in the [entirety]"
(2), is "moving within every creature" (11), and "who move among all"
(19) comes remarkably close to our gem's Protopator described as the one
who "travels through all things."32 Both Barbelo and our First-Father also
seem to enjoy a certain privilege as a triadic being. This tripartite status
seems to be a special doctrine in Barbelo-Gnostic texts.33 That a monadic
principle like Barbelo can also be tripartite poses no apparent obstacle in
these texts.34
(7-8) So/ko,uxvxo5 {t}aXpayt/5 *iZZ (the prothetic t in front of the
cluster -ozpp- is a common reflection of phonetic vernacular). "Seal of
Solomon" preserves a sort of label or subtitle copied from the writerss
formulary. The label was only supposed to identify the mystic signs that
immediately followed.35 The phenomenon of carelessly transcribing snip-
pets and instructions from handbook rubrics along with the intended textual
material is surprisingly widespread in magic. A stone originally published
Seth 121.30: "O you who are nonexistent" (with n. f: "The Barbelo aeon is here addressed by
an epithet of its parent" [p. 154]). For an excellent overview of the Gnostic cosmic drama, see
Layton, Gnostic Scriptures, 14- 15.
32See the description of Barbelo in Steles Seth 120.32-33: "You have come into existence
from the One by the One / You have traveled: you have entered the One" (Layton, Gnostic
Scriptures, 154, with n. m, which equates "traveled" with becoming immanent).
33The tripartite name alluded to in Trim. Prot. 35.5 is later specified as "Father, Mother,
Son" in 37.20 (Layton, Gnostic Scriptures, 91; see 233, n. a). Elsewhere in Trimorphic Protennoia
we find triadic names (formed from the luminaries), such as Phainion-Ainion-Oroiael (38.35);
Mellephanea-Loion-Daueithai (39.1); and Mousanion-Amethen-Eleleth (39.3-4). For other
references to such triadic forms in the so-called Sethian or Barbeloite Gnostic texts, note
Apocryphon of John (NHC 2.1; 3.1; 4.1; BG, 2); Gospel of the Egyptians (NHC 3.2; 4.2);
Steles Seth (NHC 7.5); Zostrianus (NHC 8.1); Allogenes (NHC 11.3). Although there is no
precise parallel to our Ioaeouaue-Bakaxichych-Keratagras in Gnostic texts, the rare examples
given above show that virtually any triadic name could be made up. Quite close, perhaps, to
our Ioaeouaue, is the name given to the parent Barbelo in Gos. Eg. 54.1-7: Ieoueao and in
78.17: Ieeouoa (see Layton, Gnostic Scriptures, 107 n. d, and 118). For the frequent occur-
rence of magic names in the Barbelo (Sethian) systems, note Howard M. Jackson, "The Origin
in Ancient Incantatory Voces Magicae of Some Names in the Sethian Gnostic System," VC 43
(1989) 69-79.
34Note, for example, Steles Seth 122.1, 8-11: "You are a superior unit! [= Monad] /. . . And
you have been a cause of multiplicity: / And you have found and remained One, while yet
being a / cause of multiplicity in order to become divided. / You are a threefold replication:
truly you are thrice replicated. You are One belonging to the One...." (Layton, Gnostic
Scriptures, 155 with notes).
35Rudolf Egger ("Inschriften," Der romische Limes in Osterreich 16 [1926] 135-56, lines
8-9), publishes a similar miscopied designation onto a lead curse-tablet, but this time with a
bit more of the instructions: 0x0U<o3>vo5 oXpatiS, Xoptxat ev o3pa, xoio o3.... ("Seal
of Solomon is to be worn in the hour of the. . . )." Note also the inscription on the carnelian
in Hanna Philipp, Mira et Magica: Gemmen im Agyptischen Museum der staatlichen Museen
(Mainz: von Zabern, 1986) 119-20, no. 196, 11-13: aio il oXpay<g> aio XttS} i
oXpaytiS ilv ypaXoevn ("This is the seal itself, the seal that was inscribed").
324 HARVARD THEOLOG ICAL REVIEW
as Gnostic by Blanchet, but reinterpreted by Bonner and Youtie, provides

a particularly impressive example of this practice: £z1 T@, £aX T0
6X6£Ka¢UBBov ovoRa <Kal £x1> Tn Z£plO%Q 'Iax ("Engrave on the middle
of the stone the twelve-leaf name and on the circumference the name Iao").36
Why was there such careless copying of material never meant for tran-
scription? At least in the case of the gemstones, we hypothesize that glyptic
artists were regularly employed to write charms onto stone. These artisans
were trained in executing a repertory of prescribed figures and stereotypical
names and would not have been hired for their literacy but for their accu-
racy in engraving. Outside of Egypt where trained scribes and papyrus may
not have been readily available, gem cutters may have been employed to
copy charms onto the medium with which they would have been most
familiar. This would explain the often neat transcription of wayward and
malapropos sections from formularies; they are products of a sort of prac-
ticed semiliteracy.37
The four characters that follow the label, "Seal of Solomon," are in-
tended to represent the hoary seal itself; they mirror a tradition that the
archetypal seal enclosed the four letters of the Tetragrammaton. This tra-
dition is expressed, for example, in a relevant medieval manuscript: OpKI4@
ORai. . . £ii T° baKTUXI6lOV O £600 TX aA1X£1 zOXO@VTI, O £1%£
y£ypaR£vov to ovoRa tou £yaXoU @£0D ("I adjure you [demons]. . .

by the ring that was given to King Solomon that had on it the name of the
great God engraved. . . ).D38 The Z-like symbols drawn by Peiresc are
36Adrien Blanchet, "Une pierre gnostique apparentee peut-etre a la 'Pistis Sophia,"' Melanges
Maspero, vol. 2: Orient grec, romain et byzantin (Cairo: L'Institut franc,ais d'archeologie
orientale, 1934-37) 283-87; Delatte and Derchain, Intailles magiques, 317, no. 462; and
Campbell Bonner and Herbert C. Youtie, "A Magical Inscription on a Chalcedony," TAPA 84
(1953) 60-66, reprinted in Herbert C. Youtie, Scriptiunculae Posteriores (2 vols.; Bonn:
Habelt, 1981-82) 2. 676-82.
37It is also possible that scribes copied texts in languages with which they were not famil-
iar. They would transcribe the letters beautifully but be completely unaware of what they were
copying. A good example of such a misread text was a curse tablet originally published as
nonsense by Mouterde ("Glaive de Dardanos," 106-7), but brilliantly restored to its putative,
original model by David R. Jordan ("New Defixiones from Carthage," in John H. Humphrey,
ed., The Circus and a Byzantine Cemetery at Carthage [Ann Arbor: University of Michigan
Press, 1988] 1. 126-27). The tablet's provenance, Berytus, suggests that the scribe was a
semitic-speaking Jew who did not know Greek.
38Armand Delatte, Anecdota Atheniensia, vol. 1: Texte relatifs d l'histoire des religions
(Bibliotheque de la faculte de l'Universite de Liege 36; Liege: Vaillant-Carmanne,1927) 245,
34sqq.; compare also 122, 19-22; 127, 1-2; 263, 7-9; see further on this tradition, Kotansky,
Naveh, and Shaked, "Silver Amulet," lines 16, 27, with commentary, 19. The most pertinent
reference to Solomon's seal in the magical papyri occurs in PGM 4.3040: Otl opiciCco (y£
vaTa n5 of paylboS, 5 £0£TO EOxO@V £X1 TnV ykavav Toz Inp£iot, val £an£V
("because I adjure you by the seal which Solomon placed on Jeremiah's tongue, and he spoke");
> , ,, , , , , , \ , , ,,
frequent on magical gems and derive from a palaeo-Hebrew version of the

ineffable name (with the three Z-like symbols equalling888, a common ci-
pher for God's name). The symbols are similar to, but not to be confused
with, the three-barred S's often found on Chnoubis gems.
(8-10) 0 apa/K@V £CTTX / £0VTOK£¢/aXOi: These words preserve more
instructions copied from the handbook and presumably detail how the head
of the ouroboros is to be engraved. The serpents in both Peiresc's and
Mouterde's drawings are clearly lion-headed.39 This specific iconography is
also common on the so-called Chnoubis amulets; on our gem, a tiny
Chnoubis was engraved between the magic symbols and the words o
bpa/Kxv. This is discussed further below.
A particularly good parallel to our text is found in the Leiden magical
papyrus: ilkloS yBu¢£al £x1 100D IOTpOX10D TOV TpOZOV TOUTOV-
DpAK@V £aT) £VKU@V, oT£¢avoU o%nRan oupav £V TX otoRan £%@V.
£CTTX 6£ £VT05 T0D apaKOVT05 KaV0apO5 aKAV@X05 i£poi. T0 6£ ovoRa
£K T@V 0z1a0£ £p@V T0D 100D 7XU£15 i£pO7<>D¢IK@5, @5 ZpO¢qTal
£70DA1V, Kal T£XtAai XOp£1 Kaoap£lXs ("Helios is to be engraved on

a heliotrope stone in the following manner: let the serpent be fat [literally
"pregnant"], shaped like a [laurelwreath] crown, having its tail in its mouth.
And let there be within the serpent a radiant sacred scarabaeus. And on the
back of the stone you shall engrave the name in hieroglyphics, as the
prophets say, and after consecrating it, wear it in purity."40 This compares
well with another magical text: £CTTIV 6£ O 7XU¢OR£V05 £iG TOV Xl00V
HXlxpos avbp[laS] B£0VTOXPOCT@ZOS, T1] F£V aPICTT£Pa %£1PI KPaT@V
ZOXOV Kal RaTlYa, KDK@ 6£ autou apaKovTa OUPO5OPOV, DX0 6£
xo £6aXoi 0u BlOou to ovoRa touto (KpO5£)- 'a%a a%a%a %a% %ap%apa
%a%' ("And this is what is engraved on the stone: Helioros, a lion-faced
human figure who holds in his left hand a globe and flail, and encircling
him is an ouroboros serpent. Underneath in the exergue of the stone is this
name [keep it secret]: Acha achacha chach charchara chach'').4l In each of
see Daniel Sperber, "Some Rabbinic Themes in Magical Papyri," JSJ 16 (1985) 93-103, esp.
95-99. Further, Dennis C. Duling ("The Eleazar Miracle and Solomon's Magical Wisdom in
Flavius Josephus's Antiquitates Judaicae 8.42-49," HTR 78 [1985] 1-25, esp. 15-17) gives
references to Solomon's seal ring and amulets in rabbinic and Jewish sources; see also idem,
"Solomon, Exorcism, and the Son of David," HTR 68 (1975) esp. 246-47. The Nag Hammadi
tractate On the Origin of the World (NHC 2.5 and 13.2) also mentions a Book of Solomon as
if it is widely known (107.14); and Apoc. Adam 79.3-18 (NHC 5.5) refers to the proverbial
demons under Solomon's control. Duling ("Eleazar Miracle," 17) mentions Solomon only in
2 Treat. Seth 63.11 (NHC 7.2) and in Testim. Truth 70 and 6.27 (NHC 9.3).
39See PGM 2 pl 1.4 (on PGM 7.17).
40PGM 12.274-77.
41PGM 1.143-47-
these references the leonine and serpentine features describe solar iconog-
raphy.
g Discussion
The instructions copied at the end of the Peiresc inscription tell us that
the serpent (ouroboros) is to be B£ovtoK£¢aBos ("with a lion's face," or
"lion-headed"). The parallel references given directly above indicate the
degree to which lion-headed deities were important to magic. Is there any
possible connection, then, between this lion-headed deity and those found
in certain systems of Gnosticism? We have also taken pains to introduce
relevant Gnostic parallels throughout the discussion of this gem. What
connection, if any, has the text of this gem with Gnosticism?
To answer these questions we must return to the issue first raised at the
opening of this study. What is the relationship between "Gnostic" gems and
Gnosticism? In his seminal studies on the gems, Campbell Bonner ad-
dressed this problem in somewhat equivocal terms. First, in an article
published in this journal nearly fifty years ago, and later in his magisterial
Studies in Magical Amulets, Bonner said that "[the] term [Gnostic] has
been so widely accepted that there is something to be said for retaining it"
(when applied to the gems) and proceeded in his observation that "it was
natural that Gnostic elements should make their appearance in magical
texts."42 In the ensuing paragraph, however, Bonner's judgment was less
. .
promlslng:
The writers may or may not have belonged to a Gnostic sect; but the
documents themselves, whether written on papyrus or carved on gem
stones, can seldom be regarded as monuments of Gnostic religion....
In brief, Gnosticism is merely one of several religious influences that
have left their mark on these amulets. As a group they cannot be
labelled as Gnostic; individual pieces that can be so described are rare,
and still rarer are those that can be assigned to a particular Gnostic
sect.43
Bonner's assessment is largely correct; most magic gems that carry any
readable inscriptions preserve rather simple, guileless prayers for health.
Despite his careful words, however, Bonner later spotlights "a remarkable
gem" as "one of the few relics of Gnosticism" among the corpus of magic
gems.44 Because of the importance of that gem and its possible relationship
to the Peiresc gem, it deserves some mention here.
42Campbell Bonner, "Magical Amulets," HTR 39 (1946) 25-53, esp. 25-26; and idem,
Studies in Magical Amulets, 1-2.
43Bonner, Studies in Magical Amulets, 1.
44Ibid., 1 35.
The obverse of the green-red jasper (D. 188) pictures a standing lion-
headed deity clothed in the "Egyptian apron" with a staff and situla.45 The
inscnption, running from the front to the back of the stone reads, IakbapaX
Aaplllk / Ia Iax E;agia A6@val EXxal Qpeo5 A<sta¢cos ( = 'Qpalos,
'Astaalo5). To all familiar with Gnostic mythology, Ialdabaoth is the
infamous creator-demiurge who fashions the material universe after the
ideal of the perfect spiritual realm. This is surprising, since Ialdabaoth is
usually not found among the voces magicae of the papyri and gems. To-
gether with the names on the gem's reverse, Ialdabaoth (with Ia equalling
IaRbaaco0) forms a group of seven archons that appears in canonical lists
of "demonic rulers" (ap%ov£S bat,uov£g). This list appears to be impor-
tant to the mythology of the so-called Ophite Gnostics. The seven-
Ialdabaoth, Iao, Sabaoth, Adonai, Eloai, Horaios, and Astaphaios are more
or less listed in this form in at least four other Gnostic records.46
With regard to Peiresc's gem, we allow for the possibility that B£0Vto-
K£¢aBoS describes only the tiny silhouette of the Chnoubis figure in Peiresc's
drawing, as suggested above. In this case all of the material taken from the
"handbook" should be removed from any direct Gnostic context; the in-
structions describe the making of a common Chnoubis gem, which are
usually made of green prase, just as ours was. Nevertheless, the Gnostic
setting of the lion-headed figure of BonnerJs gem corresponds precisely to
Origen's description of Ialdabaoth as AzovTo£t6ns ("lion-faced"). Curiously,
this figure on gems is the same as the lion-headed god named Helioros
(Helios-Horus) described above in the commentary on lines 8-10.47 This
spell is no ordinary magic formulary but one full of Gnostic theology and
vocabulary.48
45Ibid., 135-36; originally published in idem, "An Amulet of the Ophite Gnostics," in
Commemorative Studies in Honor of Theodore Leslie Shear (Hesperia Suppl. 8; 1949; re-
printed Amsterdam: Swets & Zeitlinger, 1975) 4346.
46Bonner (Studies in Magical Amulets, 136) cites Irenaeus Adv. haer. 1.28.1-8; and Origen
Cels. 6.32.15-26, 6.30-31 (see also 6.30-31). Fuller discussion and sources are available in
R. van den Broek, "The Creation of Adam's Psychic Body in the Apocryphon of John," in idem
and Marten Vermaseren, eds., Studies in Gnosticism and Hellenistic Religions Presented to
Gilles Quispel on the Occasion of his 65th Birthday (EPRO 91; Leiden: Brill, 1981) 38-57;
Howard M. Jackson (The Lion Becomes Man: The Gnostic Leontomorphic Creator and the
Platonic Tradition [SBLDS 81; Atlanta: Scholars Press, 1985] 21-26) gives the best up-to-
date treatment of the gem.
47PGM 1.143-46.
48There is much that is Gnostic in this shorter magical handbook, P. Berol. 5025 (PGM 1),
especially the unusual invocation of the sposap in lines 195-222. The spell, called a
"prayer of deliverance" (pzoxtlc), contains little of the ordinary kind of language found in
the longer magical formularies and is rich in Gnostic slogans (spo¢zns ["firstborn"];
Xp@TOt£Vni 0e°i ["first-engendered god"]; sposa@p ["first father"]; avasaD£ooal ["to
repose"]; aieSv-compounds; pi403Ra ["root"]; b£lcavo; ["decans"]; soia ["wisdom"];
t , t , , ,\ Cb \ , ,
328 HARVARD THEOLOG ICAL REVIEW
The angelic name Ariel on Bonner's gem has been ingeniously explained
as an etymological Beiname for Ialdabaoth; Ariel means ';lion of God." On
this stone, Gerschom Scholem may well be correct in stating that C;Ariel
seems to have been, therefore, an older name of Ialdabaoth, and the sectar-
ian who designed this amulet was still aware of the original context and
meaning of Ariel."49
Among the named Gnostic groups, the so-called Ophite sect, named for
their arcane veneration of the snake, oXls, provides a possible context for
Bonner's gem. As for the Peiresc gem, several factors point to a similar
overlap between magic and a specific Gnostic group. First, the unusual
term o sposap must be granted preferential weight in seeing any-
thing Gnostic in our gem's inscription. It is too specialized to represent a
casual magic term and is doubtlessly part of the repository of ancient Gnostic
jargon. Second, the emphasis on the deity's monadic form fits comfortably
into a Gnostic system that assigns perfect unity to the First Parent. Finallys
although not in itself specifically Gnostics the stone's leonine serpents com-
bined with other factorss points to a specifically Gnostic environment. After
all, the lion is equated with Iaidabaoth. For our writers this lion-headed
serpent of the magicians will serve a befitting purpose.
Our gem writer copied his text from a magical formularys as the hapless
carry-over of portions of the recipe indicates. Clearly much of the text
owes its allegiance to traditional magic. The specific sayings outo5 £CTT1V
o sposap o Tou cnaTos Rovos xv ola savv ZOp£D0R£VOis
howevers reads like a Gnostic quotation, its ultimate source cannot be iden-
tifieds but its prior context in a magical handbook suggests it was originally
literarys probably a hymnic verse replicated from a lost Gnostic book. Of
course there is an inherent danger in attempting to specify any particular
avayncn [i'fate"]; £iR0tpREVn l"destiny"]; 0kl esOal of the vz%il [;'tribulation (of the
soul)"]; 6Al@V a£plog ["aerial demon"]; WaTaXa:av£aoal ["to be constrained"], etc.).
Although pointing out the particularly Adamic and Jewish character of this spell, Erik Peterson
("Die Befreiung Adams aus der 'Avay " in Fruhkirche, Judentum, und Gnosis: Studien und
Untersuchungen [Freiburg: Herder, 1959] 107-28) was not-before the advent ofthe Nag
Hammadi library in a position to recognize its Gnostic features; see further, Roy Kotansky,
"Incantations and Prayers for Salvation on Inscribed Greek Amulets," in Christopher A. Faraone
and Dirk Obbink, eds., Magika Hiera: Ancient Greek Magic and Religion (New York/Oxford:
Oxford University Press, 1991) 107-37, esp. n. 110; Jarl Fossum and Brian Glazer, ';Seth in
the Magic Texts," ZPE 100 (1994) 86-92, esp. 87 and n. 6.
49Gershom G. Scholem, Jewish GnosticismJ Merkabah Mysticism, and Talmudic Tradition
(2d ed.; New York: Jewish Theological Seminary of America, 1965) 72. Jackson (Lion Be-
comes Man, 16-21) treats the subject fully and writes, "Ariel proved to be a fashionable
archontic name for Gnostic mythographers; it emerges in decadent contexts in which its
original leonine associations seem either to have been neglected or forgotten altogether" (p.
21). Bonner's Ialdabaoth gemstone is not one of those "neglected or forgotten' examples;
Jackson has much of importance to say about it (pp. 21-24).
Gnostic group who might have been responsible for such a written frag-
ment. Based on the discussion found in much of the commentary above,
however, some form of Barbeloite Gnosticism whether it be called Sethian,
Ophite, or the like seems the most likely group to which our putative
fragment can be assigned. This is true, especially in view of the gem's
emphasis on what are perceived as elements of the more classic expose of
the Gnostic creation myth: the primacy of the parent, the stress on triadic
names, and the immanence of the Barbelo aeon.
In conclusion, we must return an affirmative answer to the question of
whether magic gems can in certain cases be termed Gnostic. The names
(and rubrics) on our gem come from the vast depository of magical litera-
ture; but the specific theodicean reference to an all-pervading, monadic
First-Father seems distinctively Gnostic. Perhaps Gnostic, too, is the lion-
like quality assigned the Ophite serpent that encircles the whole gem, as if
to represent the all-encompassing Father as he travels through the universe.
Much unappreciated material that can contribute directly to our understand-
ing of Gnostic, Hermetic, or Neoplatonic philosophy remains to be uncov-
ered in the magic literature. Insofar as the two belief systems, "Gnosticism"
and "Magic," often shared a common cosmological world view, they both
enticed the workaday person with a means of escaping a creation fraught
with uncertainty and anxiety, a world that in the end could not itself pro-
vide a promise of health in its present society nor safety in the life to
come. Magic and Gnosticism claimed they could do both.
g Excursus: The "Horned God," Apollo-ReDep, Keraiatas,

Karneios, and Keratagras
Who is our gem's "Horned Hunter"? In the Greek magical papyri early
references to hunting are largely unknown, and any carry-overs from Greek
myth would usually cede this position to Artemis, the great huntress, who
does appear commonly in magic. She could also be pictured adorned with
hunting horns (or with the horns of the crescent moon, in her capacity as
lunar deity). Hints of her role as the neolithic "Mistress of Beasts" (zotvla
Ollpxv) are still present in the Greek magical papyri.50
But our deity is clearly male and probably solar. To find a male equiva-
lent of Artemis, of course, one would have to look to her famous brother
50See, for example, PGM 4.2708-84; Artemis Agrotera (and Agraia), the "Artemis of the
Hunt," mentioned first in 11. 21.470 (with zoxvta 0npxv), regularly received sacrifice before
battle; see Michael H. Jameson, "Sacrifice before Battle," in Victor D. Hanson, ed., Hoplites:
The Classical Greek Battle Experience (London/New York: Routledge, 1991) 197-227, esp.
209-11. For Artemis in magic, see Theodor Hopfner, "Hekate-Selene-Artemis und Verwandte
in den griechischen Zauberpapyri und auf den Fluchtafeln," in Theodor Klauser and Adolf
Rucker, eds., Pisciculi: Studien zur Religion und Kultur des Altertums (Munster: Aschendorff,
1939) 125-45; on Artemis in general, see Burkert, Greek Religion, 149-52.
Apollo, who may have behaved as a horned hunter by a more direct, cultic
association with Artemis.51 At Delos, where both Artemis and Apollo com-
manded widespread cultic worship, a massive Horn Altar of Artemis, ac-
claimed as an ancient wonder, was erected to the goddess.S2 Elsewhere, as
Walter Burkert observes, deposits of sacrificial goat horns pervade sanctu-
aries where Artemis and Apollo were venerated.S3 Apollo was also honored
at the festival called Karneia, whose name can be invariably explained as
either ram and/or horn.S4
5lApollo as a hunter is well-established; as Apollo Agraios at Megara (Paus. 1.41.6), he is

the equivalent of his sister Artemis the huntress. Burkert (Greek Religion, 145, see also 405
n. 22) also proposes some intriguing comparisons between Apollo and Semitic Restep (and the
Hittite guardian god) who are associated with the horned, stag- and bull-gods, as well as with
bow and arrow. Christopher A. Faraone (Talismans and Trojan AIorses: Guardian Statues in
Ancient Greek Myth and Ritual [New York/Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1992] 125-27;
appendix 1: "Reshep, Irra, and the 'Oriental' Apollo") compares the "pestilential" Apollo to
the Hittite god Irra; see further idem, "Bow-Bearing Plague Gods: Heracles, Apollo, Artemis,"
in Faraone, Talismans and Trojan AIorses, 57-61. Of course, as god of the bow (made of horn),
Apollo is a god who exerts his influence beyond the sport of chase and hunt; he is slayer of
the giant Tityos and the serpent Python.
52See Burkert, Greek Religion, 65, 92, 144, and 372 n. 93.
s3At Dreros, Psychro, and Kato Syme; Burkert, Greek Religion, 372 n. 93.
54See LSJ, s.vv. Kapvov, Kapvos. Michael Pettersson (Cults of Apollo at Sparta: The
AIyakinthia, the Gymnopaidiai and the Karneia [Stockholm: Svenska Institutet i Athen, 1992]
57-72) gives the most recent assessment of the festival. See also Burkert, Greek Religion,
234-36, esp. 236, on the divine epithet Karneios (of Zeus as well as Apollo). Among other
things, the Karneia involves a mock foot race in which a disadvantaged runner is chased down
as in a hunt (see discussion below and n. 67). The beast of sacrifice is a ram, and ram's horns
are linked with the festival's traditions. See Pettersson, Cults of Apollo, 58-59 and Burkert,
Greek Religion, 235,440 n.19, on an early votive inscription picturing ram's horns; for a ram-
horned Apollo Karneios on coins, see Friedrich Imhoof-Blumer, "Apollon Karneios auf
kyrenaischen und anderen griechischen Munzen," Revue Suisse de Numismatique 21 (1917)
5-1 1; Pettersson, Cults of Apollo, 61-62 and fig. 1 1. Greek xo Kapvovs "Gallic horn," (Hesychius);
o Kapvos, "ram," K£p£lVOs, "horned" (Aquila, Symmachus, etc.); Kapv£tos, KapTvos (see
nn.64-65, below) must all be related to Semitic *QRN [horn]: Hebrew qeren; Aramaic qarnd';
Ugaritic qrn, all "horn" (of ram, goat, etc.). See John Pairman Brown, "The Sacrificial Cult
and its Critique in Greek and Hebrew (I)," JSS 24 (1979) 159-73, esp. 169-71; and most
recently Saul Levin, "The Dilemma of Quantity or Quality in Inter-Phylum Etymologies," in
A. D. Volpe, ed., The Seventeenth LFACUS Forum 1990 (Columbia, SC: Hornbeam,1991) 408-
17, esp. 411-14; Saul Levin, "Comparative Grammar of Indo-European and Semitic: Is This
the Right Time?" General Linguistics 30 (1990) 152-64, esp. 156-57; note also that the
Arabic qarn(un) is translated "part of man's head where horns are in beasts" (see lnP BDB,
901); cf. vpaviov, To, and Kapnvov, To, "head" (!); lcapavx, i, "goat" (Cretan), (Hesychius);
Kpava, II. = lceXaRi] "head" (Hesychius); Kpas (< *Kpav5 ?), "head," etc. That Indo-Euro-
pean shares the same etymon (Latin cornu, etc.) should not detract from the importance of this
comparison; note Walter Burkert's seminal remarks in The Orientalizing Revolution: Near
Eastern Influence on Greek Culture in the Early Archaic Age (Cambridge, MA: Harvard
University Press, 1992) 33-40.
A curious find from Bronze Age Cyprus may shed some unexpected
light on our epithet o KepaxaPypai. A significant temple-complex uncov-
ered at Enkomi in 1948 yielded a statuette of a standing male figure dressed
in a kilt and wearing a conspicuous conical headdress compnsed of two
arching steer horns.Ss That this horned figure represented the sanctuary's
central cultic image is inferred not only from the remains of sacrificial
offerings and libations discovered in adjacent rooms, but also from the
specific presence of bovine and horned cult objects found among the scat-
tered debris. The sanctuary finds have yielded predominantly bucranial
remains, animal bones (including stag antlers), a votive bull, and a curious
grouping of miniature gold foil horns.S6 The statue had been removed from
its original setting and reinstalled following a sizable earthquake.S7
Although the deity's exact cultic identity remains unknown, the statue
has been eponymized as the Horned God. Scholars today are inclined to
identify him with Apollo-ReNep, an early merger of the famous Hellenic
god with his remarkably close Syro-Aegean (perhaps chthonic) counterpart
first popular at urban centers like Ebla and Ugarit. We shall discuss below
the possibility that an original Horned God was exported to the west and
later identified with an "Apollo of the Horn" (not vice versa). In any event,
both ReNep and Apollo combine aspects of healing-and-plague metaphorized
in the firebrands of bow and arrow.S8 In the Syro-Cypriot arena, Apollo and
ssPorphyrios Dikaios, "The Bronze Statue of a Horned God from Enkomi," Archaologischer
Anzeiger (1962) 1-39; idem, Enkomi: Excavations 1948-1958, vol.1: The Architectural Remains.
The Tombs (Mainz: von Zabern, 1969) 295; Kyrianos Hadjioannou, "On the Identification of
the Horned God of Engomi-Alasia," in Claude F.-A. Schaeffer, ed., Alasia (Mission archeologique
d'Alasia 4; Paris: Klincksieck and Leiden: Brill, 1971) 33-42; Emily T. Vermeule, Gotterkult
(Archaeologia Homerica 3; Gottingen: Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht, 1974) 158-62 and see ad-
ditional literature at 159 n. 293; further, Burkert, Greek Religion, 47, 65, and 365 n. 3. The
archaeological context of the statue, which measures only approximately 55 cm high, dates the
object to the early 12th century BCE; there is clear evidence, however, that the object was used
in the temple for at least a century. A second horned deity (the bronze Nergal-Resep) surfaced
at Enkomi in 1963; see, for example, Claude F.-A. Schaeffer, "Gotter der Nord- und Insel-
volker in Zypern," AfO 21 (1966) 59-69 (including discussion of the earlier horned god).
56Dikaios, "Horned God from Enkomi," 8-11, and fig. 15.
57Dikaios (Enkomi Excavations, 295) says, "The statue was found in room 10 of the Ashlar
Building in Area I, placed in a pit dug in the debris from the destruction of Level III B, namely
the second destruction of that building." See further, Dikaios, "Horned God from Enkomi,"
18-24.
58See Burkert, Greek Religion, 145 and 405, n. 22, especially on Apollo of Amyklai's
equation with Resep (A)mukal; further, see Walter Burkert, "Resep-Figuren, Apollon von
Amyklai und die 'Erfindung' des Opfers auf Cypern. Zur Religionsgeschichte der 'Dunklen
Jahrhunderte,"' Grazer Beitrage 4 (1974) 51-79; Edward Lipidski, "Resheph Amyklos," in
idem, ed., Phoenicia and The East Mediterranean in the First Millennium BC (Studia Phoenicia
5; Leuven: Peeters, 1987) 87-99; Manfred K. Schretter, Alter Orient und Hellas: Fragen der
Beeinfllussung griechischen Gedankengutes aus altorientalischen Quellen, dargestellt an den
ReNep were often equated; this correlation is reinforced by attributes of

both as stag-gods.59 Even the statue's iconography betrays a near perfect
blend of Aegean and Syrian elements 60
What, if any, of the cult's continuity? As mentioned above, the Enkomi
statue itself enjoyed sustained cultic importance for generations. The Horned
God and the context in which it was found reminds scholars of an exten-
sive belief in horned deities extending far back into Neolithic (if not
Palaeolithic) times. The strangely modernistic sanctuaries at Qatal Huyuk
are famous for their steer-altars and shrines full of tauromorphic imagery.6l
More importantly, however, a Hellenistic dedication from Vegla (near Pyla
and 1:)hekelia) equates the Enkomi Horned God with Apollo Keraiates. The
inscription, on a large stone pithos, or earthenware jar, runs as follows:
'AxoRkxvl / Kepalatlll / 'AxoRkxvlos Meveavos aveOllKe ("Apollonios,
Gottern Nergal, Rescheph, Apollon (Innsbrucker Beitrage zur Kulturwissenschaft 33; Innsbruck:
Institut fur Sprachwissenschaft, 1974) 151-56; Stephen C. Glover, "The Cults of Apollo on
Cyprus: A Preliminary Study," in Jane C. Biers and David Soren, eds., Studies in Cypriote
Archaeology (Institute of Archaeology Monograph 18; Los Angeles: University of California
Press, 1981) 145-51; William J. Fulco, The Canaanite God Resep (AOS 8; New Haven:
American Oriental Society, 1976) 38-41, 49-s4; Lowell K. Handy, "Resheph," Anchor Bible
Dictionary 5 ( 1992) 678-79. There is also a particularly Cyprian Apollo in the Apollo Alasiotas,
equated with Restep in ancient inscriptions. Hadjioannou ("Identification of the Horned God")
wishes to equate Alasiotas with the Horned God (=Kereatas), which may be inevitable; more
evidence from iconography, however, would support this view. That Alasia is the Bronze Age
name for Cyprus is all but certain; see, for example, Lennart Hellbing, Alasia Problems
(Studies in Mediterranean Archaeology 57; Goteborg: Paul Alstroms Forlag, 1979) 65-78, on
Apollo-Resep, 21-28; Schaeffer, Alasia, passim; James D. Muhly, "Lead Isotope Analysis
and the Kingdom of Alashiya," Report of the Department of Antiquities Cyprus, 1983 (Nicosia:
Department of Antiquities/Zavallis, 1983) 210-18.
59The Karatepe inscription (Herbert Donner and Wolfgang Rollig, Kanaanaische und
aramdische Inschriften [3 vols.; 2d ed.; Wiesbaden: Harrassowitz, 1966-69] 1. 5 [text], no.
26 A ii, 10) names Resep with the epithet sprm, the meaning of which (among other possibili-
ties) is "he-goats" or "stags" (Donner and Rollig, Inschriften, 2. 43). See also Fulcot Restep,
5, 7-9, 29-30, 44-46 (ReNep as gazelle-god, sometimes kilted [!]). Further, on Resep-Apollo
on Cyprus as a solar deity, see, for example, Donner and Rollig, Inschriften, 2 42, 3-4; and
D. Conrad, "Der Gott Reschef," ZA W 83 (1971) 157-83, esp. 161 -63. Other epithets of Resep
are summarized in Faraone, Talismans, 125.
60The Enkomi figure is specifically styled Mycenaean and Syrian; see Dikaios ("Horned
God from Enkomi," 29-32), who stresses known contacts between Cyprus and the Syrian
coast; Hadjioannou, "Identification of the Horned God," 33,35; further, Vermeule, Gotterkult,
159-60. This Syro-Cypriote interchange may be important for our gem's Keratagras, whose
provenance is also probably Syria, as discussed below.
6lJames Mellaart, (iatal Huyuk: A Neolithic Town in Anatolia (London: Thames & Hudson,
1967); Burkert, Greek Religion, 37-38; Mary Settegast, Plato Prehistorian: I0,000 to 51°°°
B.C. Myth, Religion, Archaeology (Hudson, New York: Lindisfarne, 1990) 161-208 (with
illustrations). It is no longer unusual to see direct cultic survivals of Bronze Age religion in
archaic and classical times.
65Paus. 1.4 .2: £CST1 6£ £V TX 7URvasiw ap%aix zksiov z kxv KaBoz£vxv
son of Menon, dedicated this to Apollo Keraiates").62 About this important

inscription, Dikaios further writes:
Pausanias VIII 34,5 mentions a temple of Apollo K£p£axas in Arcadia

on the Messenian frontier. Apollo-Kereatas is considered the God of
horned cattle, himself perhaps imagined as horned, a feature which
brings to mind the bronze statue described here. In view of the connec-
tions, cultural and linguistic, between Arcadia and Cyprus we would
be justified in considering Apollo Kereates a candidate name for the
Enkomi God.63
Of course, this is not to rule out the equation of the Horned God with
Apollo-ReNep; the Arcado-Cypriot Keraiatas will become the later, Helle-
nistic title for this seemingly timeless god. Other descriptions of a therio-
morphic Apollo, however, especially in his form as a ram, must also be
affiliated with our horned God/hunter in order to bring him into closer
communication with the late antique world. We have already had occasion
to name the festival of Apollo Karneios, who is mentioned in inscriptions
at least as late as the first century scE.64 Pausanias describes yet another
horned Apollo: the Apollo Karinos revered as a pyramidal stone at Megara
Nisaia.65
62Arthur H. S. Megaw, "Archaeology in Cyprus, 1951," JHS 72 (1952) 115; Dikaios,

"Horned God from Enkomi," 35 (with n.35); Vermeule, Gotterkult, 160 n.295 with additional
references; Glover, "Apollo on Cyprus," 148-49.
63Dikaios, "Horned God from Enkomi," 35; see also idem, "Evidence for the Cult of
Apollo Kereates at Cyprus," Fasti Archaeologici 6 (1951) 2686. The text of Paus. 8.34.5
reads, toi)Tep £V 6 ai syai ynS £iA1 Tni AiXUTlaoi bX0 T0D AXoxXvoi T0D K£p£aTa
to i£pov ("The fountains of this [river Karnion] in the land of Aipytis are beneath the temple
of Apollo Kereatas"). Dikaios (pp. 35-36) continues with the observation that, through asso-
ciations with neighboring excavations at Vounous and Ayia Irini, which disclose bull cults in
the context of possible rites of fertility, the Enkomi god was first a god of fertility as the
Syrian Resef himself was. Dikaios also asserts that the Horned God's posture with an out-
stretched right arm suggests the attitude of protection. For protective statues in general, see
Faraone, Talismans, esp. 3-35.
64LSJ, s.v. Kapv£loS; see LSJ Supplement, s.v. Kapv£loS (on Koan inscriptions) and n.
66 below. Christian LeRoy ("Lakonika, II," BCH 89 [1965] 371-76) publishes a pyramidal
block with a ram's head said to represent Apollo Karneios. Pettersson (Cults of Apollo, 61-
62) reinterprets a similar pillar-shaped stone from Glanitsa in Arcadia as a representation of
Apollo Karneios; Henri Metzger ("Le sanctuaire de Glanitsa [Gortynie])," BCH 64-65 [1940-
41] 17-21) had originally taken it as a depiction of Hermes.
Nl)R¢a6o3v kioos sap£%o£voS xl)paRiboS cs%ilRa oi) £^yaBllS toi)ov 'Axokke3va

OVORa4OUAI KaplVOV, Kai Ei£10D1ZV £aT1V £vTaD0a i£pov ("There is in the old gym-
nasium near the gates called Nymphades a not large pyramidal stone. They call this stone
Apollo Karinon, and there is also there a temple of the Eileithyiae"); see Michael H. Jameson,
David R. Jordan, and Roy D. Kotansky, A Lex Sacra from Selinous (GRBM 11; Durham, NC:
Duke University Press, 1993) 98-99, for this in the context of aniconic representations of
The implications of all this for our gem's o K£paxaypas, however late
and seemingly unimportant, now come into somewhat sharper focus. The
text of our gem leans strongly toward an original Syrian provenance-
judging from the important parallel in the Mouterde gem. The statue of the
Cyprian Horned God was no locally ensconced deity of only regional im-
portance. The continuously active commercial and cultural movement be-
tween Cyprus and Syria from Bronze Age times cultivated the ideal
environment for a natural exchange of Greek, Semitic, and Anatolian be-
liefs. The cult of the Horned God, Keraiatas, and its likely association with
an originally indigenous Apollo Alasiotas (ReNep), venerated on Cyprus
and in Arcadia (as Kereatas), subsequently spread to include (apart from
Lakonia and Messenia) the Dorian populations of Knidos, Kos, Kyrene,
and Megara Nisaia, Sikyon, Sybaris-Thyrioi, and Thera.66 In his embodi-
ment as Karneios and Karinos, this "Apollo of the Horn" is worshipped as
propitiatory deities, in general; see further, Faraone, Talismans, 16 n.53, (on kindred baetyloi).
On Cyprus, too, conical baetyls in the temple of Apollo Hylates have been found, see Glover,
"Apollo on Cyprus," 146 (with references). Intriguing, as well, is the Apollo of Kyrenia (a
town located on the north shore of Cyprus); see Glover, "Apollo on Cyprus," 147. Does this
geographic Apollo Kerynetes also reflect a horned ancestor (from the root *QRN)? (On the
etymology of KaplvoS, etc., see above, n. 54).
66Pettersson (Cults of Apollo, 60, with n. 344) gives the ancient references for the distri-
bution of Karneios, which may also be inferred from the month name Karneion attested at
Akragas, Kalymna, Kos, Epidaurus, Epidauros Limera, Gela, Knossos, Nisyros, Rhodes, Sparta,
Syracuse, and Tauromenion. Apollo Karneios at Knidos is new (see SEG 39 [1989]=1992
1118). On Apollo Karneios at Kos, note Jameson, et al., Lex Sacra, 115; Rudolf Herzog,
Heilige Gesetze von Kos (Abhandlungen der Preussischen Akademie der Wissenschaften 6;
Berlin: Akademie der Wissenschaften, 1928) 35. Neither Pettersson nor others seem to men-
tion any possible connection between Doric Karneios and the Arcado-Cypriot counterpart,
Apollo Karaiatas, Kereatas, or Karinos. Only Dikaios ("Horned God from Enkomi") and
Hadjioannou ("Identification of the Horned God," ) have ventured to equate Kereatas with the
original Enkomi Horned God; we endorse this venture. We may also hazard a connection with
the Spartan Apollo Agraios (nn. 50-51 above), a hunting god associated with battle, and
therefore with death (like Resep). The rise and spread of the cult of (Apollo) Karneion is, of
course, obscure. We follow Burkert (Greek Religion, 236) who refers to "a pre-Dorian Ram
God," adding, "Here it is scarcely possible to penetrate beyond the migration period." None-
theless this is a powerful admission of the god's antiquity. See also Samson Eitrem, Beitrage
zur griechischen Religionsgeschichte, vol. 1: Christiana videnskabs-selskabs forhandlinger;
1910, no. 4 (Christiania: Dybwad, 1910). We suggest that an originally foreign Syro-Cypriote
horned god spread first to Lakonia (and Messenia) via Arcadia, probably as a result of the
Arcadian Wars in the 6th century BCE. On the possibility of cultic worship coming from
Cyprus to Arcadia (and not vice versa), see Mary E. Voyatzis, "Arcadia and Cyprus: Aspects
of their Interrelationship Between the Twelfth and Eighth Centuries sC," Report of the De-
partment of Antiquities Cyprusl 1985 (Nicosia: Department of Antiquities/Zavallis, 1985)
155-63. Sion M. Honea ("Stone Age Survivals in the Myth of the Calydonian Boar," JRH 18
[1994] 2-26, esp. 8-12) traces the Spartan Karneia to the Stone Age hunt.
a ram at a festival that includes a sort of hunting race meant to bring

prosperity to the polis.67
A Horned Hunter, Keratagras, of late date, especially if associated with
Syria, should come as no surprise. Syria was a hotbed of ancient magic
belief (as well as an important seat of Gnosticism), and there is much in
the aboriginal character of the Horned God that would have easily lent
itself to adoption into a local Gnostic or magic pantheon.68 Despite prevail-
ing views that ReNep was an underworld pestilential god,69 the representa-
tive Apollo-ReNep found on Cyprus shows him to be very much solar.70
Burkert also observes how the cult of Dorian Apollo Karneios embodied a
whole complex of conflicting beliefs that defies easy classification and
points to a very old religion; apotropaic-propitiatory rites (especially in a
martial context), hunting, fertility, prophecy, and war, as well as residual
chthonian aspects, can all be detected in varying aspects of the Karneia.71
All of the horned deities named above, including the Keratagras of our
67As mentioned above in n. 54. The race, called staphylodromos, involved a group of
youths who chase after a figure decked out with fillets while he prays for good omens on the
city's behalf. The capturing of the hunted man thus bestows fortune (Immanuel Bekker, Anecdota
Graeca [3 vols.; Berolini: Nauckium, 1814-21] 1. 305; s.v. cstaQl)BoApoRol; Pettersson,
Cults of Apollo, 57 and 68); Honea, "Stone Age Survivals," 5-13. Burkert (Greek Religion,
235) rightly sees in the figure an archetype of the sacrificial victim: " . . .what is unique about
the Karneia race is that someone runs on ahead who is to be captured. It is a hunt, and yet the
person destined as victim is not expected to let out a cry of despair, but to pronounce a good
wish for the polis: the victim displays willing acquiescence" (our emphasis). On the other
hand, Pettersson (Cults of Apollo, 58 and 68-71) sees in the race the symbolic chasing of the
festival's eponymous mantic seer (Karnos; see n. 72 below), who had been murdered and
divinized as a sort of ghost of Apollo (¢assRa 'Ax0xBe3vo5, Konon FGr.H 26 frag. 1.26; see
Burkert, Greek Religion, 236 and 441 n. 25). The city's well-being is thus identified with the
blessing that augury brings. Neither view affects our interpretation of Keratagras, for both
recognize the hunting character of the race.
680n the number of magical objects from Syria, see, for example, Roy Kotansky, Greek
Magical Amulets: The Inscribed Gold, Silver, Copper, and Bronze Lamellae (Papyrologica
Coloniensia, 22.1; Opladen: Westdeutscher Verlag, 1994) part 1, nos. 45-49.
69William F. Albright, Archaeology and the Religion of Israel (Sth ed.; Baltimore: Johns
Hopkins Press, 1968) 79, 81; see also Handy, "Resheph," 679; Faraone, Talismans, 125-27.
70As gatekeeper for the sun god, see Charles Virolleaud, "Les nouvelles tablettes de Ras
Shamra (1948-1949)," Syria 28 (1951) 22-56; as a solar deity of justice, see Conrad, "Der
Gott Reschef," 161-63; see also Handy, "Resheph," 679. Dikaios ("Horned God from Enkomi,"
36) has suggested that the deity is protective, although its discovery in situ within a trench
tells much about its underworld associations.
79Burkert, Greek Religion, 236; Pettersson (Cults of Apollo, 64) writes: "It is thus possible
to view the Karneia as a rite of purification, the purpose of which was to restore a broken
communication with the gods and purify the army." He further connects the worship of Apollo
Karneios with Artemis, a connection we have suggested at the outset of this excursus. The
Apollo-Artemis pairing in the Karneia, and the festival's associations with martial, apotropaic,
stone, at the very least seem to point to a common tradition in a sort of all-
purpose tutelary god who became most easily assimilated in historical times
to Hellenic Apollo, himself one of the most polygenous of gods.72
The religion of Greek magic combines apotropaic, solar theology with
the stygian world of execration and curse; intention often determines the
deities invoked, whether they be chthonian or Olympian. The Bakaxichych
of our gem is an underworld prince of devils; Iao is principally a solar
deity. What better way to represent the fullness of the magical cosmos than
to have capped the third element of the tripartite god, Ioaeouaue-
Bakaxichyxch-Keratagras, with a name recognized to carry both netherworld
and solar attributes, not to speak of a host of other aspects both ghostly and
divine? By combining the more canonical heaven-and-earth deities of magic,
the Ia of the Sky and the Ba of the Earth, with the more circumscribed
theriomorphic, tutelary god of the hunt, the Horned One, the writer of this
charm was able to bring together a diversity of religious traditions in shap-
ing a new trinity for protection and security.
thanatological, and hunting-fertility rites, can also be detected in the role of Artemis Agrotera
(Agraia)/Apollo Agraios discussed in nn. 50-51, above.
72The name of this original horned god, Karneion (from the root *QRN), must surely lie
behind the seer, Karnos (n. 67 above) whose unpropitious death and its atonement provides
for the Karneia's aition; the Spartan Krios also plays a possible role (Burkert, Greek Religion,
236, 441 n. 25; Pettersson, Cults of Apollo, 58, 70; and Honea, "Stone Age Survivals," 10-12).
Divination associated with battle could also join Artemis/Apollo Karneios to Artemis Agrotera/
Apollo Agraios (n. 71 above). The death of Karnos is the death of a seer; it brings "plague and
disaster on the army" (Burkert, Greek Religion, 236); Artemis Agrotera routinely receives a
she-goat before Spartan battle in order to obtain good divinatory signs (Jameson, "Sacrifice
before Battle," 209). Does Karnos's murder bring symbolic destruction precisely because the
mantis was needed to interpret the favorable prebattle signs?
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Drawing of the Peiresc Gem (wiffi kind permission of ffie Biblio*6que

Nationale de France)

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lshe "Horned Hunter" on a

Lost Gnostic Gem

The noted Provensal antiquarian Nicolas-Claude Fabri de Peiresc (1580-

HTR 88:3 (1995) 315-37

Among Peiresc's papers now in Paris is an illustration, apparently in his

O 'Ioanovavn, / o BaKatl%v%, o K/£pataypaS, ovto5 / £CTT1V O

Before discussing the individual elements of this inscription, we first

l l"Nycheuabolbach, o loaeioueue aouaei Bak[axichy]ch Keratagas, Iao Master of the

(2) o BaKatlxu%: Bakaxichych has been explained as Egyptian for "Ba

amples as ;l9m;ll,9 as Yah-in-Yah. Numerous Greek examples of such renderings without -n

(4-5) o sposa/p: Although other compounds in -1latcop are fre-

aijToi) ijz' aijToi) 7£VO£VOi. . . To 6£ tpitov 4xov, o avOpsoS, waT'

incorporeality of the first god is also expressed, for example, in Porphyry:

t9Buck and Petersen, Reverse Index, 307.

and Keratagras.29 In this case, the tripartition represents a means of de-

It is [I] who am first thought, [the] thinking that exists in [. . .].

Here again we encounter language that stresses Barbelo's primacy, per-

as Gnostic by Blanchet, but reinterpreted by Bonner and Youtie, provides

y£ypaR£vov to ovoRa tou £yaXoU @£0D ("I adjure you [demons]. . .

frequent on magical gems and derive from a palaeo-Hebrew version of the

£K T@V 0z1a0£ £p@V T0D 100D 7XU£15 i£pO7<>D¢IK@5, @5 ZpO¢qTal

£70DA1V, Kal T£XtAai XOp£1 Kaoap£lXs ("Helios is to be engraved on

g Excursus: The "Horned God," Apollo-ReDep, Keraiatas,

5lApollo as a hunter is well-established; as Apollo Agraios at Megara (Paus. 1.41.6), he is

ReNep were often equated; this correlation is reinforced by attributes of

son of Menon, dedicated this to Apollo Keraiates").62 About this important

Pausanias VIII 34,5 mentions a temple of Apollo K£p£axas in Arcadia

62Arthur H. S. Megaw, "Archaeology in Cyprus, 1951," JHS 72 (1952) 115; Dikaios,

Nl)R¢a6o3v kioos sap£%o£voS xl)paRiboS cs%ilRa oi) £^yaBllS toi)ov 'Axokke3va

a ram at a festival that includes a sort of hunting race meant to bring

ROY KOTANSKY and JEFFREY SPIER 337

t LT N e r7P dro J4Tb ^ F r -e.

Drawing of the Peiresc Gem (wiffi kind permission of ffie Biblio*6que

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