Hypostasis of the Archons
Originally written in Greek in the second or third century CE, the only known copy is a Coptic translation found in Codex II of the Nag Hammadi library.
The first half retells the first six chapters of the Book of Genesis, while the second presents a revelation dialog between Norea and the angel Eleleth.
Hypostasis combines elements from Jewish traditions, Greco-Roman and Egyptian myths, and the dialogues of Plato, especially Timaeus.
The core figures in its narrative are female, while its antagonists are male, and the archons attempt to rape both Norea and Eve.
[1][2] The Gnostics held a negative view of the material world, which they believed was made by a flawed creator inferior to the ultimate God, and professed a soteriology of salvation through knowledge.
[3] To attain this knowledge, Gnostic exegesis emphasized finding hidden, esoteric meanings within sacred texts, especially the early chapters of Genesis, which Christians generally read as a history of Adam's original sin.
[7] However, unlike most Sethian texts, Hypostasis only briefly mentions Seth himself, focusing instead on his sister Norea.
[11] The divine feminine spirit (ⲡⲛⲉⲩⲙⲁ) descends from heaven and enters the man, bringing him to life and naming him Adam.
[13][14] The spirit then enters a serpent, through which she tells Adam and Eve to eat fruit the tree of the knowledge of good and evil.
[29][30] Sophia responded by introducing light into the world,[31][32] while her daughter Zoe rebuked Yaldabaoth and banished him to Tartarus.
Bentley Layton dates it to the third century CE, based on its philosophical Platonism and the history of mythological developments the text reflects.
This was a common literary technique in Gnostic writings, and implied the authors were not sharing the full extent of their knowledge.
[79][80] The Greek word hypostasis is used four times in the text, where it is describes both current reality and the process of becoming real.
[44] The imagery of Zoe breathing a fiery angel and sending Yaldabaoth to Tartarus may have been inspired by Egyptian coffin texts, such as Spell 575 and 937.
Hypostasis builds on this tradition in its central motif of archons attempting to rape Norea and Eve.
[107] However, John Turner argues that Hypostasis reflects an early version of Sethian Gnosticism rooted in "a disaffected and heterodox Judaism.
"[108] Roger Bullard agrees that these inversions "[do] not necessarily give the document any anti-Jewish animus, however, in spite of Isaiah 46:9 being quoted as a self-proclamation of the jealous and inferior God of the Old Testament.
"[55] Ross Kraemer argues that Hypostasis closely parallels the "unambiguously Jewish" text Joseph and Aseneth.
This may echo the creation myth in the Symposium, in which humans are incomplete halves of doubled entities which were previously combined.
[115][21] The description of Yaldabaoth as lion-headed may allude to Plato's Republic, which describes one aspect of the passionate soul as leonine.
[88] Aristotle's Generation of Animals linked miscarriages to both androgyny and monstrosity, which are characteristics of both Yaldabaoth (who is described as an abortion) and the archons.
[120] Hypostasis of the Archons retells the opening chapters of Genesis, although it changes the chronology of Adam naming the animals[121] and does not mention the creation of the world or Cain's children.
[143] He is presented as violating the Ten Commandments; he commits adultery by coveting Eve, lies to humans, and dishonors his mother by claiming his superiority.
In Hypostasis, these roles are split: Yaldabaoth orders the flood, while Sabaoth tells Noah to build the ark.
[165][166] Sabaoth's seven offspring represent the seven planets according to Ptolemy: the Sun, the Moon, Mercury, Venus, Mars, Jupiter, and Saturn.
[167][44][33] Eleleth is identified as a Luminary, which was a generic term for celestial objects that included both the Ptolmaic "planets" and the stars.
[168] Unlike most Greco-Roman traditions, Gnostic texts like Hypostasis present the divine as primarily feminine, not masculine or androgynous.
[171] The archons are also presented as either androgynous or male, and their power is specifically masculine, as they attempt to rape both Norea and Eve.
[174] Roel van den Broek argues that the Ephesians quotation is merely "an introductory remark by the text’s last redactor,"[175] and Roger Bullard considers the allusion to Jesus out of place, noting that "at no other point in this section is there any reference to the eschatological or prophetic implications of the events narrated".
[176] In contrast, Elaine Pagels argues for a more fundamental Christian influence, believing that the references to Paul signal "the author's intent to read Genesis through Paul's eyes (and not, as others have suggested, a superficial attempt to christianize other sources, or glosses tacked onto non-Christian material by a hypothetical redactor).
