By the Bev. W. F. Short. 189 



esoteric belief, from which, indeed, they borrowed many, if not 

 most, of their symbols ; and on their gems, therefore, he is repre- 

 sented with a lion's head surrounded by rays, and often inscribed 

 2e/*e? EtXayLt=the eternal sun (Cbaldee). He is also called %z;ou/3t? 

 = the good spirit, and sometimes the giant queller. These Chaldean 

 terms point to another and earlier connection, namely, with the lost 

 civilization, and astronomical and so-called magical science of 

 Mesopotamia, and it would not be hard to show — if there were 

 time this evening — that India also contributed to the outward forms, 

 at least, of the gnostic belief, sending them, among other things, 

 and the whole Latin world in the last few centuries, the popular 

 worship of Serapis, who is nothing but the Indian Yama, Lord of 

 the Dead. 



Before leaving this part of the subject I would point out a curious 

 modification of the serpent form. The gem I exhibit is, perhaps, a 

 modern copy, but if so it is an accurate copy, of an old gnostic gem. 

 I believe it to be genuine. The serpent is replaced by a chrysalis, 

 with human face surrounded by the usual rays, and inscribed Semes 

 Eilam. At the foot, within lines, is the name I. A. 0= Jehovah ; on 

 each side of the figure is read A.vo% x°^X vov ft L(; =I am all the good 

 spirit: while outside appears, very badly spelt, yiyavTopr)fCTa= 

 the giant queller, and another title which I do not understand. I 

 interpret this to be primarily the sun sleeping in its winter solstice, 

 with all the titles of the divinity of which it is the symbol, secon- 

 darily of the human soul bound in the chrysalis of the body, but 

 to be identified with the Eternal One when that chrysalis is burst 

 by death. To support this you may remember that in the old 

 Egyptian mythology, as shown in the celebrated " Book of the 

 Dead," the purified and perfected soul not only is received by, but 

 becomes mystically identified with, Ra, the spiritual sun, the Lord 

 of the unseen world. 



I have said nothing, for want of time, of the series of gems and 

 sculptures connected with the worship of Mithras, the Persian sun- 

 god, which prevailed so widely at this time throughout the Roman 

 Empire, but these, too, were made by the gnostics, so universally 

 eclectic in their tastes, to contribute to their strange mystic 



