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Abraxas Elaioides
Abraxas ( grc-x-biblical, ἀβραξάς, abraxas, variant form romanized: ) is a word of mystic meaning in the system of the Gnostic Basilides, being there applied to the "Great Archon" (), the princeps of the 365 spheres (). The word is found in Gnostic texts such as the ''Holy Book of the Great Invisible Spirit'', and also appears in the Greek Magical Papyri. It was engraved on certain antique gemstones, called on that account Abraxas stones, which were used as amulets or charms. As the initial spelling on stones was (), the spelling of seen today probably originates in the confusion made between the Greek letters sigma (Σ) and xi (Ξ) in the Latin transliteration. The seven letters spelling its name may represent each of the seven classic planets. The word may be related to '' Abracadabra'', although other explanations exist. There are similarities and differences between such figures in reports about Basilides's teaching, ancient Gnostic texts, the larger Greco- ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Gnosticism
Gnosticism (from grc, γνωστικός, gnōstikós, , 'having knowledge') is a collection of religious ideas and systems which coalesced in the late 1st century AD among Jewish Jews ( he, יְהוּדִים, , ) or Jewish people are an ethnoreligious group and nation originating from the Israelites Israelite origins and kingdom: "The first act in the long drama of Jewish history is the age of the Israelites""The ... and early Christian sects. These various groups emphasized personal spiritual knowledge (''gnosis'') above the orthodox teachings, traditions, and authority of religious institutions. Gnostic cosmogony generally presents a distinction between a supreme, hidden God and a malevolent demiurge, lesser divinity (sometimes associated with the Yahweh of the Old Testament) who is responsible for creating the nature, material universe. Consequently, Gnostics considered material existence flawed or evil, and held the principal element of salvation to be direct ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Homer
Homer (; grc, Ὅμηρος , ''Hómēros'') (born ) was a Greek poet who is credited as the author of the ''Iliad'' and the ''Odyssey'', two epic poems that are foundational works of ancient Greek literature. Homer is considered one of the most revered and influential authors in history. Homer's ''Iliad'' centers on a quarrel between King Agamemnon and the warrior Achilles during the last year of the Trojan War. The ''Odyssey'' chronicles the ten-year journey of Odysseus, king of Ithaca, back to his home after the fall of Troy. The poems are in Homeric Greek, also known as Epic Greek, a literary language which shows a mixture of features of the Ionic and Aeolic dialects from different centuries; the predominant influence is Eastern Ionic. Most researchers believe that the poems were originally transmitted orally. Homer's epic poems shaped aspects of ancient Greek culture and education, fostering ideals of heroism, glory, and honor. To Plato, Homer was simply the one who ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Persia
Iran, officially the Islamic Republic of Iran, and also called Persia, is a country located in Western Asia. It is bordered by Iraq and Turkey to the west, by Azerbaijan and Armenia to the northwest, by the Caspian Sea and Turkmenistan to the north, by Afghanistan and Pakistan to the east, and by the Gulf of Oman and the Persian Gulf to the south. It covers an area of , making it the 17th-largest country. Iran has a population of 86 million, making it the 17th-most populous country in the world, and the second-largest in the Middle East. Its largest cities, in descending order, are the capital Tehran, Mashhad, Isfahan, Karaj, Shiraz, and Tabriz. The country is home to one of the world's oldest civilizations, beginning with the formation of the Elamite kingdoms in the fourth millennium BC. It was first unified by the Medes, an ancient Iranian people, in the seventh century BC, and reached its territorial height in the sixth century BC, when Cyrus the Great fou ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Porphyry (philosopher)
Porphyry of Tyre (; grc-gre, Πορφύριος, ''Porphýrios''; ar, فُرْفُورِيُوس, ''Furfūriyūs''; – ) was a Neoplatonic philosopher born in Tyre, Roman Phoenicia during Roman rule. He edited and published ''The Enneads'', the only collection of the work of Plotinus, his teacher. His commentary on Euclid's ''Elements'' was used as a source by Pappus of Alexandria. He wrote original works in the Greek language on a wide variety of topics, ranging from music theory to Homer to vegetarianism. His ''Isagoge'', or ''Introduction'', an introduction to logic and philosophy, was the standard textbook on logic throughout the Middle Ages in its Latin and Arabic translations. Porphyry was, and still is, also well-known for his anti-Christian polemics. Through works such as ''Philosophy from Oracles'' and ''Against the Christians'' (which was banned by Constantine the Great), he was involved in a controversy with early Christians. Biography The ''Suda'' (a 10th- ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
De Mysteriis Aegyptiorum
''On the Mysteries of the Egyptians, Chaldeans, and Assyrians'' ( grc-gre, Περὶ τῶν Αἰγυπτίων μυστηρίων), also known as the ''Theurgia'' and under its abbreviated Latin title ''De Mysteriis Aegyptiorum'' (''The Egyptian Mysteries''; or often simply ''De Mysteriis''), is a work of Neoplatonic philosophy primarily concerned with ritual and theurgy and attributed to Iamblichus. Porphyry is known to have had a disagreement with Iamblichus over the practice of theurgy, and the ''Mysteries'' consists mainly of Iamblichus' responses to the criticisms of his teacher. Authorship Proclus, writing 100 years after Iamblichus, seems to have ascribed to him the authorship of the ''Mysteries''. However, the differences between this book and Iamblichus' other works in style and in some points of doctrine have led some to question whether Iamblichus was the actual author. Still, the treatise certainly originated from his school, and in its systematic attempt to give a ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Adolf Von Harnack
Carl Gustav Adolf von Harnack (born Harnack; 7 May 1851 – 10 June 1930) was a Baltic German Lutheran theologian and prominent Church historian. He produced many religious publications from 1873 to 1912 (in which he is sometimes credited as Adolf Harnack). He was ennobled (with the addition of von to his name) in 1914. Harnack traced the influence of Hellenistic philosophy on early Christian writings and called on Christians to question the authenticity of doctrines that arose in the early Christian church. He rejected the historicity of the Gospel of John in favor of the Synoptic Gospels, criticized the Apostles' Creed, and promoted the Social Gospel. In the 19th century, higher criticism flourished in Germany, establishing the historical-critical method as an academic standard for interpreting the Bible and understanding the historical Jesus . Harnack's work is part of a reaction to Tübingen, and represents a reappraisal of tradition. Besides his theological acti ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Isaac De Beausobre
Isaac de Beausobre (8 March 1659 – 5 June 1738) was a French Protestant churchman, now best known for his two-volume history of Manichaeism, ''Histoire Critique de Manichée et du Manichéisme'' . Life Beausobre was born at Niort, Deux-Sèvres. After studying theology at the Protestant Academy of Saumur, he was ordained at the age of twenty-two, becoming pastor at Châtillon-sur-Indre. After the revocation of the edict of Nantes he fled to Rotterdam (November 1685), and in 1686 was appointed chaplain in Oranienbaum to the princess of Anhalt-Dessau, Henrietta Catherine of Orange-Nassau. In 1693, on the death of John George II, Prince of Anhalt-Dessau, he went to Berlin and became a court preacher, and in 1695 pastor for the French church at Friedrichswerder Church. He became court preacher, counsellor of the French Reformed Consistory, director of the Maison française, a hospice for French people, inspector of the French gymnasium and superintendent of all the French churches ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Jean Hardouin
Jean Hardouin ( en, John Hardwin; la, Johannes Harduinus; 1646 – 3 September 1729), was a French classical scholar. He is most known for his theory that most texts from Antiquity were forgeries. Biography He was born at Quimper in Brittany. Having acquired a taste for literature in his father's book-shop, he sought and obtained admission into the order of the Jesuits in around 1662 (when he was 16). In Paris, where he went to study theology. He ultimately became librarian of the Lycée Louis-le-Grand in 1683, and he died there. His first published work was an edition of Themistius (1684), which included no fewer than thirteen new orations. On the advice of Jean Garnier (1612–1681) he undertook to edit the ''Natural History'' of Pliny for the Dauphin series, a task which he completed in five years. Aside from editorial work, he became interested in numismatics, and published several learned works on this subject, all marked by a determination to be different from other in ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Nehunya Ben HaKanah
Nehunya ben HaKanah ( he, נחוניה בן הקנה) was a tanna of the 1st and 2nd centuries. It appears from Bava Batra 10b that Nehunya was a contemporary, but not a pupil, of Johanan ben Zakai. He was the teacher of Ishmael ben Elisha. Nehunya was rich and had a large retinue of servants; but he was distinguished for his meekness and forgiving nature, to which he attributed his attainment of great age; two short prayers composed by him exhibit the same qualities. According to Rabbi Yochanan, Nehunya interpreted the entire Torah by the hermeneutic rule known as the "general and particular" ("kelal ufrat"), a rule which his pupil Rabbi Ishmael made the eighth of his 13 hermeneutic rules. Nehunya is frequently mentioned in the Talmud; in Hullin 129b he is referred to disagreeing with Eliezer and Joshua in regard to a halakhah. In a post-Talmudic text, he said that the Pharaoh of the Exodus was rescued from the Red Sea, that he repented, that he afterward reigned in Nineveh, and ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Charles William King
Charles William King (5 September 1818 – 25 March 1888) was a British Victorian writer and collector of gems. Early life King was born in Newport, Monmouthshire, and entered Trinity College, Cambridge, in 1836. He graduated in 1840, and obtained a fellowship in 1842. He was a senior fellow by the time of his death in London. He took holy orders, but never held any parish position. Gem expert King spent much time in Italy, where he laid the foundation of his collection of engraved gems and gemstones, which, having been increased by subsequent purchases in London, was sold by him in consequence of his failing eyesight, and was presented in 1881 to the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York. He was recognized universally as one of the greatest authorities in this department of art. His chief works on the subject are: *''Antique Gems, their Origin, Uses and Value'' (1860), a complete and exhaustive treatise *''The Natural History of Precious Stones and Gems and of the Precious ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Samuel Sharpe (scholar)
Samuel Sharpe (1799–1881) was an English Unitarian banker who, in his leisure hours, made substantial contributions to Egyptology and Biblical translation. Like his literary uncle Samuel Rogers, he was connected for much of his life with Newington Green Unitarian Church. Life He was the second son of Sutton Sharpe (1756–1806), brewer, by his second wife, Maria (died 1806), and was born in King Street, Golden Square, London, on 8 March 1799, baptised at St. James's, Piccadilly. His mother was the third daughter of Thomas Rogers, banker, and thus sister to Samuel Rogers, who in addition to banking was also known as a poet and literary gatekeeper. On her death, followed later in 1806 by his father's failure, Samuel and his five siblings were orphaned. They found a second mother in his half-sister Catherine, the only child of his father's first marriage. She was in her early 20s when she was faced with this domestic tragedy and challenge. She resolved to keep the family togethe ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
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