Chap. II.] 



ADAM'S PEAK. 



135 



a Christian source. In framing their theological system, 

 the Gnostics, who, even during the hfetime of tlie 

 Apostles, corrupted Christianity by an admixture of the 

 mysticism of Plato' ; assigned a position of singular pre- 

 eminence to Adam, who, as "/(?«, the primal man^' next 

 to the " Noos " and " Logos,'' was made to rank as the 

 third emanation from the Deity. Amongst the details of 

 their worsliip they cultivated the veneration for monu- 

 mental rehcs ; and in the precious manuscript of tlie 

 fourth century, which contains the Coptic version of the 

 discourse on '■'■Faithful Wisdom"^ attributed by Ter- 

 tulhan to the great gnostic heresiarch Valentinus, there 

 occurs the earhest recorded mention of the sacred 

 footprint of Adam. The Saviour is there represented 

 as informing the Vu^gin Mary that he has appointed the 

 spirit Kalapataraoth as guardian over the footstep 

 (bkemmut) " impressed by the foot of leii, and placed 

 him in charge of the books of leu, written by Enoch in 

 paradise." ^ 



The Gnostics in then' subsequent dispersion under the 

 persecution of the emperors, appear to have communi- 

 cated to the Arabs this mystical veneration for Adam * 

 as the great protoplast of the human race ; and in the 

 rehgious code of Mahomet, Adam, as the pure creation 

 of the Lord's breath, takes precedence as the Eicel' id- 

 enbiya, " the greatest of all patriarchs and prophets," 



^ Gibbon, Decline and Fall, cli. 

 XV. xxi. xlvii. 



2 'H Ui<TT,) ^of!ia. 3ISS. Brit. 

 3Ius. No. 5114. A Latin translation 

 by Schwartze, of this unique manu- 

 script (probably one of the most 

 ancient in existence) was published 

 at Ijerlin, 1851, under the title of 

 Pistis Sophia. The passage adverted 

 to above is as follows : " Et posui 

 KaXaTTarapavctiO apyovrrt saper skon- 

 viut in quo est pes leu, et iste circum- 

 dat nttoi'ag omneset I'niapixtvac. Ilium 

 posui custodientem libros Jen/' &c., 

 p. 221. In previous passages leu is 

 described as " primus homo." 



3 Schwartze has left the Coptic 

 word " skemmut " untranslated, out 

 DuLVruiER, in the Journal Asiatiqiie 

 for September, 184G, p. 170, rentiers 

 it the " footstep," trace. 



* Adam was not the only scriptu- 

 ral character whose footsteps were 

 venerated by the Mahometans. Ibn 

 Batuta, early in the 14th century, 

 saw at Damascus " the Jlosque of 

 the Foot, on which there is a stone, 

 having upon it the print of the foot of 

 Moses." — Ibn Batuta, ch. v. p. 30, 

 Lee's Trand. 



K 4 



