type of the paternal aspect of the earth-goddess’ consort[174]. This is best shown, perhaps, in the Eleusinian legend of Zeus and Persephone; but Alexander himself was said to have been begotten by Zeus in the form of a serpent, and no Phrygian goddess seems ever to have been portrayed without one[175]. So much was this the case that in the Apocryphal _Acta Philippi_ it is said that sacred serpents were kept in all the heathen temples in Asia. Hierapolis is, in the same document, called Ophioryma or the serpent’s stronghold, whence idolatry seems to be spoken of as the Echidna or Viper[176]. The connection of the serpent with the Sabazian rites has already been mentioned. This Ophiomorphus, or god in serpent form, was in the later Ophite teaching the cause not only of man’s soul but of his passions. The Latin text of Irenaeus says that from him came “the spirit and the soul and all earthly things, whence all forgetfulness, and malice, and jealousy, and envy, and death came into being[177].” This was evidently written under the influence of the Christian idea that the serpent of Genesis was Satan or the Devil. But Hippolytus tells us, no doubt truly, that the Ophiomorphus of the earlier Ophites was in the opinion of his votaries a benevolent and beneficent power. After saying that they worship “nothing else than Naas, whence they are called Naassenes, and that they say that to this Naas (or serpent) alone is dedicated every temple, and that he is to be found in every mystery and initiatory rite,” he continues, “They say that nothing of the things that are, whether deathless or mortal, with or without soul, could exist apart from him. And all things are set under him, and he is good and contains all things within himself, as in the horn of the unicorn, whence beauty and bloom are freely given to all things that exist according to their nature and relationship[178].” It can hardly be doubted that the writer from whom Hippolytus here quotes is referring to the soul or animating principle of the world, whom he here and elsewhere identifies with the great God of the Greek mysteries[179]. Hence it was the casting-down to this earth of Ophiomorphus which gave it life and shape, and thus stamped upon it the impress of the First Man[180]. As Ophiomorphus was also the child of Ialdabaoth son of Sophia, the Soul of the World might therefore properly be said to be drawn from all the three visible worlds[181].