Le Muson 126 (1-2), 29-43. doi: 10.2143/MUS.126.1.2983533 - Tous droits rservs.

Le Muson, 2013.
THE APOCALYPSE OF ZOSTRIANOS AND IOLAOS
A Platonic Reminiscence
of the Heracleidae at NHC VIII,1.4*
For Bentley Layton
The Sethian Gnostic
1
apocalypse Zostrianos (Nag Hammadi Codex VIII,1)
provides a crucial glimpse into Gnostic Platonism of the third century C.E.
and beyond
2
, but not just for its metaphysics; the texts genre and literary
trappings also provide useful information about how some Gnostics pack-
aged their more philosophically-inclined works, and, indeed, regarded the
Hellenic culture which loomed behind their investigations into the intel-
ligible spheres. Research into Zostrianos has focused on its metaphysics
and relationship to contemporary Pagan thought, leading a vast majority
of scholars to regard it as a Pagan apocalypse, perhaps even designed
to appeal to contemporary Greek philosophers
3
. Yet an attentive reading
* This article was written under the auspices of a postdoctoral research fellowship
from Copenhagen University (the Faculty of Theology), to which I express my gratitude.
1
Important critiques of the category of Gnosticism include WILLIAMS, Rethinking
Gnosticism, KING, What is Gnosticism?. Here I generally agree with Layton that Gnostics
is a useful term for designating a particular group of individuals who called themselves
Gnostics (knowers) and were associated with a particular body of myths centered on
the fall of Sophia and the creation of the world by a morally ambivalent or evil demiurgic
figure (LAYTON, Prolegomena, p. 366-369; see also, more recently, BRAKKE, Gnostics,
p. 29-51). Certainly this myth is referred to in passing in Zost., NHC VIII,1.9-11. More-
over, Porphyry (Vit. Plot., ch. 16) entitles the work his master composed against the mem-
bers of their seminar who possessed a copy of Zost. Against the Gnostics (Prv tov
Gnwstikov). Zost. appears to belong to the Sethian school of Gnosticism divined by
SCHENKE, Phenomenon, p. 588-616, and in other works; the classic monograph is TURNER,
Platonic Tradition; for critique and more recent discussion, see WILLIAMS, Sethianism,
p. 32-63; RASIMUS, Paradise.
2
We know that some Greek Vorlage of Zostrianos circulated in the seminar of the
great philosopher Plotinus, in the year 263 C.E. (Porph. Vit. Plot., ch. 16; for analysis, see
TARDIEU, Gnostiques, p. 503-546). Dating the Greek Vorlagen and tracing the Coptic trans-
lations of Zostrianos and the related Platonizing Sethian literature from Nag Hammadi
(particularly Allogenes [NHC XI,3]) is a controversial and complex undertaking, albeit not
germane to the present work. For a pre-Plotinian dating of Zost. and Allogenes, see recently
TURNER, Pre-Plotinian Parmenides Commentaries, p. 1131-1172; for a post-Plotinian dating,
see most recently MAJERCIK, Porphyry and Gnosticism; for a short summary of scholarship
and the issues involved, see BURNS, Apophatic Strategies, p. 177-179.
3
DORESSE, Apocalypses, p. 255-263; FRANKFURTER, Regional Trajectories, p. 151;
PEARSON, Gnosticism as Platonism, p. 60; IDEM, From Jewish Apocalypticism, p. 150;
IDEM, Ancient Gnosticism, p. 99-100; ABRAMOWSKI, Nicnismus, p. 561; KALER, Flora,
p. 146. On Zost. as a Pagan apocalypse attempting to appeal to a Hellenically-minded
96268_Museon_2013_1-2_03_Burns.indd 29 1/07/13 13:59
30 D.M. BURNS
of its frame narrative and routine investigation of its characters back-
grounds in Greco-Roman literature leads one to consider instead a milieu
for Zostrianos that is deeply colored by contemporary Jewish and Christian
apocalyptic literature, even rejecting the authority of Hellenic tradition.
The work begins by describing the anxiety which weighs upon the
eponymous seer prior to revelation
4
:
I was in the cosmos for the sake of those of my generation (ot) and those
who would come after me, the living elect... I preached forcefully about the
entirety to those who had alien parts
5
. I tried their works (booue)

for a
little while; thus the necessity of generation brought me into the manifest
(world). I was never pleased with them, but always I separated myself from
them, since I had come into being through a holy birth. And being mixed,
I straightened my soul, empty of evil...
6

This Sethian sage is frustrated with others in his community and their
works, and separated himself from them. He then ponders questions
relating to the production of the various strata of being and their rela-
tionship to the transcendent first principle
7
. This leads him to despair:
And as I (was) meditating upon these things, so as to understand them,
I brought them up daily, according to the custom (twp) of my race
(gnov), to the God of my fathers (eiote). I blessed them all. For my
forefathers and their descendants who sought, (all) found
8
. But as for me,
I did not cease from asking after a place of repose (Mton) worthy of my
spirit, without being bound

by the sensible world. Finally, I became terribly
upset and felt depressed about the small-mindedness that surrounded me.
I dared (tlmein) to do something, and to deliver myself unto the beasts of
the desert for a violent death
9
.
audience, see SIEBER, Introduction, p. 239; other assignments of this rhetorical trajectory
to each of the Platonizing Sethian apocalypses (including Zost.) include J.D. TURNER in
many studies, such as Introduction: Zostrianos, p. 53; IDEM, Platonic Tradition, p. 292ff;
FRANKFURTER, Regional Trajectories, p. 160-161; ATTRIDGE, Apocalyptic Traditions,
p. 197, 205; MAZUR, Plotinus Mysticism, p. 177, 309 n. 61.
4
All translation of Coptic, Greek, and Latin presented below is my own, except as
noted. For Zost., I have consulted the editions of LAYTON SIEBER, Zostrianos, p. 30-225;
BARRY FUNK POIRIER, Zostrien, p. 236-481; for commentary on the text, see also
TURNER, Commentary:Zostrianos, p. 483-662. When possible, apocalypses and testaments
are cited following the abbreviation, notation, and translations in CHARLESWORTH, Old
Testament Pseudepigrapha. Citations of classical Greek sources correspond to those found
in the TLG, abbreviated per the OCD.
5
TURNER, Commentary:Zostrianos, p. 486, identifies those with alien parts as con-
trasting the souls who belong to the heavenly world of forms, i.e. the wholes. See also
PERKINS, Gnostic Dialogue, p. 80-81.
6
Zost. NHC VIII,1.1.5-31.
7
Ibidem, 2.1-3.13.
8
Cf. Mt 7:7-9/Luke 11:9-10; Gos. Thom. log. 2, 92, 94. For discussion, see ATTRIDGE,
Seeking and Asking, p. 295-302.
9
Zost. NHC VIII,1.3.13-28.
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THE APOCALYPSE OF ZOSTRIANOS AND IOLAOS 31
This passage is deeply coded with Judeo-Christian language. First, while
the local ancestral god is never explicitly identified, the title God of my
fathers is a common Septuagintism for the Jewish deity, as demonstrated
by Scopello
10
. Second, Perkins notes that early Christian sects were com-
monly accused by Jews of betraying the traditions of our fathers
11
.
Third, it is common in Jewish apocalypses for the revelation to arrive
when the seer is in a state of emotional turbulence
12
. One might add that
the very site of a desert meditation has a direct parallel in the Apocalypse
of Enosh quoted in the Cologne Mani Codex
13
.

Although Zostrianos is
alone amongst Jewish seers in asserting that suicide is a viable solution,
the interest in beasts devouring men in the desert occurs in the Enochian
Similitudes
14
.

The idiom with which Zostrianos speaks about communitys God and
his ancestors is rather biblical, without explicitly identifying the com-
munity as Jewish or Christian. Rather, he talks in a way that he expects
Jews and Christians to understand. The identity of these ancestors and
the content of their customs remain uncertain.
Scopello has argued that the common reference to the Jewish Patriarchs,
our fathers is re-constellated in this Sethian context to refer to Seth and
his lineage. Turner also identifies the ancestors as Sethians, speculating
that the works and customs in question are typical Sethian mythologou-
mena, such as the names and powers of the intelligible beings or story of
the celestial and terrestrial Adams related in the Apocryphon of John
15
.
The problem with this line of reasoning is that the lineage Zostrianos refers
to is unquestionably problematized, driving the seer to self-annihilation.
The rest of the treatise contains only positive references to Seth and his
seed, not to mention lengthy elaborations of traditional Sethian doxol-
ogy and ethnically-reasoned soteriology. It is hard to imagine that the
community he rejects here is a Sethian one.
10
SCOPELLO, Apocalypse of Zostrianos, p. 381, followed (with reservations) by WILLIAMS,
Immovable Race, p. 85 n. 29.
11
See Ap. John NHC II,1.13-17; John 7:12, 7:47; Just. Mart. Dia. ch. 69; Sanh. 43a,
Acts Phil. 19; cit. PERKINS, Gnostic Dialogue, p. 80-82.
12
TURNER, Commentary:Zostrianos p. 493, recalls 2 En. 1:3; see also 4 Ezra 3:2-11,
4:12; 2 Bar. 5:1-4; Apoc. Ab. 3, 6; CMC 58.8-16.
13
CMC 52.12-16, noted also by ATTRIDGE, Apocalyptic Traditions, p. 201. Cf. Asc.
Is. 4.13. Heraclides protagonist Empedotimus (Procl. Comm. Remp. 2:119 [Kroll]) also
encountered Hades and Persephone in the desert before attending a final judgment (see
COULIANO, Psychanodia, p. 40ff).
14
1 En. 61:5-6.
15
SCOPELLO, Apocalypse of Zostrianos, p. 382; TURNER, Platonic Tradition, p. 676;
IDEM, Commentary:Zostrianos, p. 493, 495.
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32 D.M. BURNS
We are provided with more clues once the scene is rudely interrupted
by a visitor:
Then, there stood there before me the angel of knowledge of eternal [light].
And he said to me, Zostrianos, why have you become so insane that you
do not know the great, eternal (ones) who are above? [ ] to you [ ] and
[concerning] [ ]...send you to [ ]
16
that you are now saved [ ]...truly is
in eternal destruction
17
. Nor [ ]
18
...to those you know, [so that] you save
some others, those who the father of those on high will choose
19
. [Do you]
think, now, that you are the father of [your race] or that Iolaos is your
father? [ ]
20
an angel of God, who [ ]
21
for you through [holy] people
22
?
Come, and pass out from (sine) some [places]
23
to which youll return,
another time, in order to preach to the living race, to save those who are
worthy, and to strengthen the chosen ones (niswt[P]); for great is the
contest (gn) of this aeon, and short is the time (xrnov) of this land
24
.
Zostrianos chastisement by the angel, another typical apocalyptic motif,
provides the necessary clues to determine his ancestry. Much hinges on
how one translates the Coptic of lines 810 on page 4 of the MS:
[kme]eue on eNtKpiwt Nte p[ekgenos] e O^ L^ A^ O^ S pe pekiwt.
Scopello does not address it. Layton, Poirier, and Turner translate it as
a question (do you think that you are the son of Iolaos?), assuming
that Iolaos must be Zostrianos father
25
. The translation is correct, but its
interpretation is problematic for several reasons. First, the angel is clearly
rebuking Zostrianos for his delusions; stating the obvious, his ostensible
paternity, contributes nothing to the speech. Second, Zostrianos community,
including perhaps his carnal father, is his problem, not his solution. The
angels puzzling query gives us pause to here to review some outside
evidence about both Zostrianos and Iolaos.
16
BARRY FUNK POIRIER, Zostrien: Voi [l pourquoi tu [as t] envoy vers le...
17
BARRY FUNK POIRIER, Zostrien: M[pRjw]pe. Do not be in eternal destruction...
18
BARRY FUNK POIRIER, Zostrien: [MpRei]me; LAYTON SIEBER, Zostrianos:
MpVeime. Do not/he did not know/pay attention to...
19
BARRY FUNK POIRIER, Zostrien: [ceux que]... choisira. LAYTON SIEBER,
Zostrianos: chosen elect.
20
LAYTON SIEBER, Zostrianos: ou[. BARRY FUNK POIRIER, Zostrien: ouN tak N.
21
BARRY FUNK POIRIER, Zostrien: ea[vimo]eit, who guided you.
22
SCOPELLOS recollection (Apocalypse of Zostrianos, p. 382) of Qumran literature re:
the title holy people is enticing and certainly supports the present analysis, but the
sentence is too fragmentary to draw any conclusions.
23
With BARRY FUNK POIRIER, Zostrien: N n[i ma]. LAYTON SIEBER, Zostrianos:
n n[a].
24
Zost. NHC VIII,1.3.28-4.20.
25
SCOPELLO, Apocalypse of Zostrianos, p. 382; LAYTON, Gnostic Scriptures, p. 125 n. e;
TURNER, Commentary:Zostrianos, p. 484; IDEM, Pre-Plotinian Parmenides Commentaries,
p. 132; see also WILLIAMS, Sethianism, p. 44. LAYTON SIEBER, Zostrianos and BARRY
FUNK POIRIER, Zostrien, agree on the text.
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THE APOCALYPSE OF ZOSTRIANOS AND IOLAOS 33
Who is Zostrianos? In a passage discussed separately by Mark Edwards
and John Turner, Arnobius says:
Thus the magus Zoroaster would come, if you will, through the fiery region
from the inner earth, so that we would agree with the writer Hermippus;
Bactrianus, too is in accord with the account of Ctesias that he writes in his
Historiarum Primo that he [e.g. Zoroaster] was an Armenian, the grandson
of Zostrianos, and a Pamphylian of the line of Cyrus
26
As Edwards argues
27
, the multiplication of names found in Arnobius
results from confusion about Platos reference, in Republic book X, to
the figure of Er:
It isnt however a tale of Alcinous that Ill tell you, but that of a brave
man called Er who died in battle, the son of Armenius and in the line of
Pamphylos
28
For my part I even know of men who say that Er was an Armenian; such
men must be made to explain how it is possible that an Armenian can be of
the race of Pamphylos. It makes no difference that men of great authority,
like Theodorus of Asine, have held this theory
29
.
While Theodorus had conflated Pamphylia and Armenia, Clement of
Alexandria had conflated Er with Zoroaster:
Zoroaster wrote these things (Zoroaster), son of Armenios, of the race of
Pamphylos: having died in battle and come into Hades, I learned them
from the Gods
30

The sum of all this evidence is that Zostrianos is the legendary grandfa-
ther of Zoroaster
31
. Arnobius associated him with Armenia as well as the
line of Pamphylos, thus likening him to Er, the seer in Platos Republic
book X, who is also said to be a descendent of Pamphylos.
26
Adv. nat. 1.52 (age nunc veniat, quaeso, per igneam zonam magus interiore ab orbe
Zoroastres, Hermippo ut assentiamur auctori, Bactrianus et ille conveniat cuius Ctesias res
gestas historiarum exponit in primo, Armenius, Zostriani nepos, et familiaris Pamphylos
Cyri...). For summary of commentary on the Latin, see EDWARDS, Zoroasters, p. 282-
283, whose sense of the passage agrees with the present approach. For commentary see
BIDEZ CUMONT, Mages, I, p. 109-110; SCHMIDT, Plotins Stellung, p. 21-22, 51; PUECH,
Plotin et les gnostiques, p. 88-89; ELSAS, Neuplatonische und gnostische Weltablehnung,
p. 34; TARDIEU, Gnostiques, p. 530-531.
27
EDWARDS, Zoroasters, p. 287.
28
Plat. Res. X 614b: All o mntoi soi, n d g, Alknou ge plogon r,
ll lkmou mn ndrv, Jrv to Armenou, t gnov Pamflou
29
Procl. Comm. Remp. 2:110.14-18 (Kroll), tr. EDWARDS, Zoroasters, p. 284 (oda d
gwg tinav ka Armnion tn Jra lgontav, ov rwtn de, pv tn Armnion
Pmfulon ena fjsin t gnov e ka mn ndrev adooi toto plabon,
Qedwron lgw tn Asinaon).
30
Clem. Alex. Strom. 5.14.103.2 (Sthlin): atv gon Hwrostrjv grfei tde
sungraca Hwrostrjv Armenou, t gnov Pmfulov, n polmw teleutsav
n Aidj genmenov djn par qen.
31
Not great-grandfather, pace RASIMUS, Porphyry, p. 106.
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34 D.M. BURNS
Significantly, Proclus notes that a descendent of Pamphylos cannot
also be an Armenian. Why not? In the ancient world, a Pamphylian
could be a resident of Pamphylia, a region between Cilicia and Lycia
(modern-day southern Anatolia). Its name means pan-phyle, i.e. all-
races. Ancient legends reported by Herodotus, Strabo, and Pausanias
say that the region was settled by a motley crew of Achaeans after the
Trojan War, who were led westward by the three Achaean seers Calchus,
Amphilochus, and Mopsus
32
. Some late traditions say that the name derived
from a Pamphylia, daughter of Mopsus, or an unrelated man by name
of Pamphylos, about whom nothing else is known
33
. In any case, it is
easy to imagine that ancient Platonists would associate the visionaries
Zostrianos, Zoroaster, and Er with a region settled not by one but three
Achaean seers.
However, we must also consider another, more famous, Pamphylos
the legendary founder of the Dorian Greeks closely associated with the
descendants of Heracles, the Heracleidae
34
. Traditions going back to
the seventh-century BCE report that after Heracles death, his son Hyllus
led the other Heraclids about Greece, seeking refuge. They were received
at the court of Hercules friend Aegimus, in Thessaly. Upon Aegimus
death, his sons, Pamphylos and Dymas, swore allegiance to Hyllus, fused
their lineages, and together with him invaded the Peloponnesus the
so-called return of the Heracleidae and founded the Dorian race
35
.
This Greek ethnic group was split into three fula (tribes), descended
from its three founders the Hylleis, the Dymanes, and the Pamphyloi.
However, Pamphylos Doric Pamphylians were closely associated with
Sparta, not Pamphylia
36
. Pamphylian Greek is full of Doric and Arcadian
elements
37
, and so some scholars have conflated the Doric, Heraclid
Pamphylos with the Anatolian region of Pamphylia
38
. I am tempted to do
the same, but I have not found any ancient sources that explicitly connect
the aetiological myths of Pamphylia and the Dorians.
32
Herod. Hist. 7.91; Strab. Geogr. 14.668; Paus. Descr. 7.3.4; RUGE, Pamphylia,
col. 361-362.
33
RUGE, Pamphylia, col. 361.
34
For Dorians and the Heracleidae in the same breath, see Tyrt. frg. 11; Thucy-
dides 1.12.3; Diod. Sic. Bib. hist. 7.9.1; Paus. Descr. 2.13.1.
35
Tyrt. fr. 19; see also HALL, Ethnic Identity, p. 60-61, to which I am indebted for the
sources discussed here. For a survey of scholarly investigation into the possible origins of
the three Dorian phylai, see ibidem, p. 8ff.
36
Pind. Pyth.1.60-63; see also idem, Isthm. 9.3-4.
37
Thus RUGE, Pamphylia, col. 362-363.
38
Ibidem, col. 361.
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THE APOCALYPSE OF ZOSTRIANOS AND IOLAOS 35
Who is Zostrianos? He is of the Pamphylian race, but whether that
means the lineage of Doric Pamphylos or the land of Pamphylia, settled
by seers, is not yet clear.
Doubts were raised above concerning the interpretation of the angels
words to Zostrianos: do you think that Iolaos is your father? So, who
is Iolaos? Ancient myths have it that Iolaos was the nephew of Hercules
39
.
In antiquity he was known as the first lumpidromov, and strongly
associated with athletic competition
40
. In his old age, he defended the
sons of Hercules, the Heracleidae, from his uncles nemesis, Eurysthenes.
In Euripides play The Children of Heracles, the aged Iolaos, a surro-
gate-father for the Heracleidae, was restored to youth for one day to meet
and slay Eurysthenes at Athens
41
. Iolaos was also famed for leading Attic
colonists to Sardinia, whose inhabitants became known as Iolaeioi and
Iolaeis
42
. In the Roman Empire, the figure of Iolaos was closely bound
up with the cult of Hercules. He was particularly important in Thebes,
where he had a tmenov and was the chief mythological figure in the
initiatory rites for young men. He was associated with the festival of the
Herakleia, so much so that it was sometimes called the Iolaeia
43
. Finally,
Iolaos was the genius of Carthage
44
.
I submit that the story of Iolaos relationship with the Heracleidae
clears up our question about which Pamphylos it is that Zostrianos,
Zoroaster, and Er are related to. Since the angel of knowledge refers
to the savior of the Heracleidae, we can assume that the Pamphylian
background of our seers is that of the Doric Greeks of Sparta, who traced
39
Hesiod, [Scut.] l. 74ff; Ps.-Apollod. Biblio. 2.70; Paus. Descr. 8.14.9. The present
discussion of Iolaos summarizes the evidence presented in KROLL CUMONT, Iolaos,
col. 1844-1845; GRAF, Iolaos, p. 1072.
40
Eur. Heraclid. 88; for the monuments, see Pind. Ol. 9.98-99; Paus. Descr. 1.19.3;
8.14.9, 45.6; for the olympiad, see ibidem, 5.8.3, 17.11.
41
Eur. Heraclid. 854-858, tr. H. Taylor and R. Brooks, in BURIAN SHAPIRO, Euripides:
Suddenly, two stars, all blazing fire, settle down
on the horses yokes, hiding the chariot
in a kind of cloud or shadow.
Men who understand these things said those stars
were Hebe and your son, Herakles.
Then, out of that darkness in the air came Iolaos
young, his strong shoulders straining on the reins,
a man in all the vigor and freshness of his youth.
See also Paus. Descr. 1.44.10; Ovid, Metam. 9.394. For the history of the Dorians
self-identification with the Heracleidae, see HALL, Ethnic Identity, p. 62ff.
42
Strab. Geogr. 5.225; see also Diod. Sic. Bib. hist. 4.29ff; 5.15, 5.22 (cit. TURNER, Pla-
tonic Tradition, p. 294-295 n. 29; IDEM, Commentary:Zostrianos, p. 484); Paus. Descr.10.17.5.
43
Plut. Frat. amor. 492c; Diod. Sic. Bib. hist. 4.24.4; schol. Pind. O7 154, O9 143-151.
44
KROLL CUMONT, Iolaos, col. 1846, on Polyb. Hist. 7.9.2.
96268_Museon_2013_1-2_03_Burns.indd 35 1/07/13 13:59
36 D.M. BURNS
their lineage back to the Heracleidae. On this reading, the literary frame
that opens NHC VIII presents a Zostrianos who is unhappy in a Dorian
community. The God of our fathers is a Greek god (Zeus?). Zostri-
anos gets depressed there, tries to commit suicide, and meets an angel of
the lord, who asks him, do you think that Iolaos is your father?
It is impossible that Iolaos could be his literal father, for several rea-
sons; weve already observed that the question doesnt fit the context,
but now we can say more.
For instance, there are no records of Iolaos having a son. Hesiod men-
tions a daughter that Iolaos has with Megara, by name of Leipephile
but no sons
45
. Next, Pamphylos son of Aegimus belongs to a generation
of Greeks after Iolaos; if Zostrianos was Iolaos son, then he would be
of the same generation as Pamphylos, which is improbable, since Arno-
bius clearly knows him not as a close relative of Pamphylos, but as
belonging to his lineage. Finally, the manuscript of Nag Hammadis Zos-
trianos mentions Iolaos in the first lines of page 1, but the lacunae around
it do not permit a restoration of pjyre anywhere
46
.
Father must here indicate an ancestor or progenitor of a group with
distinct ethnic identity, thus people or lineage of Iolaos, nephew of
Heracles
47
. So Zostrianos and Iolaos do have some kind of kinship, but
the angel wishes to contrast Zostrianos line with that of Hercules and
the Dorian Greeks. The question of fatherhood is sarcastic. In apocalyp-
tic literature, angels occasionally tire of the ignorance of seers and regale
them with questions
48
, and that is the case here, so as to say: do you
really think Iolaos, or any of these Dorians, is your ancestor? Of course
not. Youre a member of the Immovable Race!
49
. The angel then takes
Zostrianos on his heavenly journey, which culminates in his acquisition
45
Paus. Descr. 9.40.5-6.
46
LAYTON SIEBER, Zostrianos, and TURNER, Commentary: Zostrianos, note the
mention of Iolaos at the beginning of the tractate, VIII,1.1.4. The line is obliterated:
[os .] . . [. . . .] .S .[ . .]I^A mN olaos. As Sieber remarks ad loc., the surviving ink
traces, bottoms of vertical strokes, do not permit a restoration of pjyre N, the son
of [ ]-ia and Iolaos, fitting the common genealogy to the beginning of apocalypses
(e.g. Sim. En. 1 En. 37:1-2; 4 Ezra 1:1-43; 2 Bar. 1:2).
47
Possibly a survival from Semitic; see BROWN DRIVER BRIGGS, Hebrew and
English Lexicon, s.v. 4b, p. 3b. Several prospective terms for father qua ancestor
in Zost.s Greek Vorlage could have been translated as eiwt: patr is used in the singu-
lar for ancestor in the LXX (Gen 10:21, 17:4-5, 19:37-38, 36:9.43, Dt 26:5, Is 43:27,
Ezek 16:3.43), while in Classical Greek, one has gentjv or gonev (LIDDEL SCOTT,
Greek-English Lexicon, p. 343b, 356b). I thank Dr. Matthew Neujahr for discussing this
lexical issue with me.
48
2 Bar. 22:2-8, 55; Apoc. Adam NHC V,5.66.17-21 (Adam, why are you sighing?).
49
Immovable Race is a common Sethian epithet for the elect (WILLIAMS, Immov-
able Race).
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THE APOCALYPSE OF ZOSTRIANOS AND IOLAOS 37
of secrets beyond the ken of even the angels; he obtains visions of the
Barbelo, receives a crown, and returns to preach to his seed not the
seed of Iolaos, but the seed of Seth, an ethnic designation that is most
intelligible in terms of contemporary Christian language about the faith
as a third race
50
. To borrow from Denise Buells language, Zostrianos
engages in Sethian ethnic reasoning, contrasting the material, empty
Dorian lineage with the spiritual lineage of Seth
51
.
One question remains: if the author of Nag Hammadis Zostrianos
wished to thus subvert the popular lore about Er and Zostrianos Pam-
phylian heritage to engage in a polemic against the Greeks, why did they
focus on the figure of Iolaos? Why doesnt the angel ask, Zostrianos, do
you think you are the son of Pamphilos? or Heracles, or some such?
One possibility is that the author of Zostrianos wished to invoke Iolaos
association with athletic competition. The angel of knowledge describes
the present world as an gn, struggle, but also competition; the
sage in heaven talks about crowns, and gets one himself
52
. It is not impos-
sible that Zostrianos refers to contemporary Christian martyrological lan-
guage about receiving crowns after ones gn
53
. Perhaps this martyro-
logical discourse is intensified by a jab at Greek athletics, of which Iolaos
was a patron saint.
I prefer another possibility, which is that the author(s) of Zostrianos
refers to Iolaos in order to refer to one of their favorite authors, Plato.
Iolaos was best known as Hercules sidekick; during battle with the
Hydra, the hero is attacked by a giant crab. Against any single opponent
Hercules is invincible, but two monsters at once are too much. Iolaos
evens the odds by fighting off the crab
54
.
50
On Christians as a third-race, see Aristid. Ath. Apol. 2.1 (Greek); Pre. Pet. ap.
Clem. Al. Strom. 6.5.41.4-7, 42.2, 13.106.4-107.1; Ter. Scorp. 10.10; Nat. 1.8. The
source of inspiration is likely 1 Cor 10:32. On these passages, see LIEU, Race, p. 489;
BUELL, Rethinking the Relevance of Race, p. 461ff; EADEM, Why This New Race?,
p. 66ff. See also Gos. Phil. NHC II,3.75.31ff. In still other texts, Christians are a fourth
race, see Aristid. Ath. Apol. 2.1 (Syriac); Clem. Al. Exc. 28, p. 118-120 (Sagnard) and
commentary ad loc.
51
BUELL, Rethinking the Relevance of Race, p. 461; EADEM, Why This New Race?,
p. 9.
52
Zost. 129.15-19.
53
Many examples could be given, but see, for instance, 1 Pet 5:4; cf. 2 Cor 3:18;
Ter. Cor. 15. A probable inspiration is the celestial reward of the righteous in heaven,
postmortem transformation into a luminary body (Dan 12:3; 1 En. 104:2-3). Instances
from the various late antique acta of the martyrs can be found in MUSURILLO, Acts of the
Christian Martyrs, p. 72.28-33, 184.7-9, 194.13-14, etc.
54
See Hes. Theog. 323; Ps.-Apoll. Bibl. 2.5.2, 2.6.1; Diod. Sic. Bib. hist. 4.31;
Plut. Amat. 761d.
96268_Museon_2013_1-2_03_Burns.indd 37 1/07/13 13:59
38 D.M. BURNS
Significantly, Plato recalls this episode in his Euthydemus. Here, poor
Socrates is double-teamed by the eponymous sophist and his brother,
Dionysodorus. Pressed to explain his inability to respond to their argu-
ments, he exclaims:
I am weaker than either of you, so that I do not hesitate to run away from
you both together. I am much more worthless than Heracles, who was unable
to fight it out with both the Hydra, a kind of lady-sophist who was so clever
that if anyone cut off one of her heads of argument, she put forth many more
in its place, and with another sort of sophist, a crab arrived on shore from the
sea rather recently, I think. And when Heracles was in distress because this
creature was chattering and biting on his left, he called for his nephew Iolaos
to come and help him, which Iolaos successfully did. But if my Iolaos should
come, he would do more harm than good.
And when you have finished this song and story, said Dionysodorus, will
you tell me whether Iolaos is any more Heracles nephew than yours?
55
Jackson rightly defends giving the role of Iolaos to Socrates companion
in the dialogue, Ctesippus
56
; Ctesippus aid is of dubious worth, given his
lack of self-control and his own fondness for eristic
57
. The aid of Iolaos,
which here connotes a detour into verbal playfulness that detracts from
philosophical inquiry, is best rejected. Similarly, Zostrianos education
doesnt help him any more in his interaction with his community than
Ctesippus eristic is able to help Socrates; rather, he finds himself walk-
ing in circles around impossible metaphysical questions and driven to
despair
58
. While Zostrianos knows that he is different from those in his
society, he does not know how or why, because he does not have knowl-
edge of himself or his origins.
Whether or not one finds the Euthydemus a plausible backdrop for
Zostrianos frame narrative, the story is clearly about the impossibility of
obtaining true knowledge without external (i.e. divine) aid
59
.

Moreover,
as is common in apocalypses
60
, the source of authority is not incidental,
55
Euthyd. 297b7-d2, tr. Sprague; see also Phaedo 89c, where Socrates volunteers to
be the Iolaos of Phaedo, who finds the turnabout quite silly.
56
JACKSON, Socrates Iolaos, p. 381.
57
Ibidem, p. 382ff recalls 283e1, 294d7, 294d4, 300d3, but esp. 299c-e, 300d; Lys. 211b-c.
58
It is following on his questions about the categories of intelligible beings and the
production of Substance from that which is insubstantial (Zost. NHC VIII,1.2.14-3.17)
that Zostrianos becomes exasperated. In the context of Iolaos and the hydra myth, it is
worth recalling Plat. Soph. 240c: the mixture of being and not-being is topov, and
by this exchange of words the many-headed sophist (polukfalov sofistv) has once
more against our will compelled us to confess that non-being somehow exists (t m n...
enai).
59
TURNER, Commentary:Zostrianos, p. 487, 493.


60
Thus COLLINS, Apocalyptic Imagination, p. 41-42; also the essays collected in YARBRO
COLLINS, Early Christian Apocalypticism, esp. AUNE, Apocalypse of John, p. 87-91.
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THE APOCALYPSE OF ZOSTRIANOS AND IOLAOS 39
but central to the pericope. It is unclear what local custom Zostrianos
uses to put forth questions to the god the diverse media of Greek
oracles come to mind
61
, or he could simply mean prayer but his dis-
satisfaction with what are most likely Greek authorities draws a contrast
with Sethian thought. The text uses genre, idiom, and language that, in
recognizably Judeo-Christian terms, describes the unhappy, pre-revelatory
polytheistic life of a would-be patriarch, a Pamphylian in the lineage
of Iolaos
62
. It is thus unlikely that Zostrianos and the other so-called
Platonizing Sethian apocalypses
63
is a product of Pagan culture,
for its frame narrative is designed to appeal to those familiar with the
authority and traditions of Jewish apocalyptic literature. It unfavorably
invokes a particular Hellenic ethnic group in order to disparage adherents
of the Hellenic philosophy, and demand the attention of its readers to the
authoritative, Sethian lore that awaits them.
Bibliographical abbreviations
ABRAMOWSKI, Nicnismus = L. ABRAMOWSKI, Nicnismus und Gnosis im Rom
des Bischofs Liberius: Der Fall des Marius Victorinus, in Zeitschrift fr
Antikes Christentum, 8 (2005), p. 513-566.
ATHANASSIADI, Philosophers and Oracles = P. ATHANASSIADI, Philosophers and
Oracles: Shifts of Authority in Late Platonism, in Byzantion, 62 (1992),
p. 45-62.
ATTRIDGE, Apocalyptic Traditions = H.W. ATTRIDGE, Valentinian and Sethian
Apocalyptic Traditions, in The Journal of Early Christian Studies, 8.2 (2000),
p. 173-211.
ATTRIDGE, Seeking and Asking = H.W. ATTRIDGE, Seeking and Asking
in Q, Thomas, and John, in J. ASGEIRSSON K. DE TROYER M. MEYER
(ed.), From Quest to Q: Festschrift James M. Robinson, Leuven, 2000,
p. 295-302.
AUNE, Apocalypse of John = D. AUNE, The Apocalypse of John and the Problem
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BARRY FUNK POIRIER, Zostrien = C. BARRY W.P. FUNK P.-H. POIRIER
J.D. TURNER, Zostrien (NH VIII,1), (Bibliothque Copte de Nag Hammadi,
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Zoroastre, Ostans et Hystaspe, daprs la tradition grecque, Paris, 1938
(repr. 1973), vol. I, p. 107-127.
61
Surveyed in JOHNSTON, Ancient Greek Divination; still useful is PARKE, Greek Ora-
cles. Certainly an attack on the oracles would have provoked a Platonist of the second or
third-century CE, for such practices were undergoing a revival in and cross-fertilization
with Platonic thought see ATHANASSIADI, Philosophers and Oracles, p. 45-62.
62
A similar narrative template can be observed in the Apocalypse of Abraham.
63
In strong agreement re: Zost.s sister treatise Marsanes, per BRANKAER, Marsanes,
p. 21-41.
96268_Museon_2013_1-2_03_Burns.indd 39 1/07/13 13:59
40 D.M. BURNS
BRAKKE, Gnostics = D. BRAKKE, The Gnostics, Cambridge, 2010.
BRANKAER, Marsanes = J. BRANKAER, Marsanes: un texte Sthien platonisant?,
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BROWN DRIVER BRIGGS, Hebrew and English Lexicon = F. BROWN
S.R. DRIVER C.A. BRIGGS (ed.), A Hebrew and English Lexicon of the Old
Testament, Cambridge, 1906.
BUELL, Rethinking the Relevance of Race = D. BUELL, Rethinking the Relevance
of Race for Early Christian Self-Definition, in Harvard Theological Review,
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BUELL, Why This New Race? = D. BUELL, Why This New Race? Ethnic Reasoning
in Early Christianity, New York, 2005.
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Euripides, Oxford, 2009.
BURNS, Apophatic Strategies = D. BURNS, Apophatic Strategies in Allogenes, in
Harvard Theological Review, 103.2 (2010), p. 161-179.
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CMC = L. KOENEN C. RMER (ed.), Der Klner Mani-Kodex. Abbildungen und
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COLLINS, Apocalyptic Imagination = J.J. COLLINS, The Apocalyptic Imagination,
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COULIANO, Psychanodia = I.P. COULIANO, Psychanodia: A Survey of the Evidence
Concerning the Ascension of the Soul and its Relevance (tudes prlimi-
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ELSAS, Neuplatonische und gnostische Weltablehnung = C. ELSAS, Neuplatonische
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FRANKFURTER, Regional Trajectories = D. FRANKFURTER, The Legacy of Jewish
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THE APOCALYPSE OF ZOSTRIANOS AND IOLAOS 41
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Zost. = Zostrianos
Centre for Naturalism and Christian Semantics Dylan Michael BURNS
Department for Biblical Exegesis
Kbmagergade 44-46
DK-1150 Copenhagen K, Denmark
dylan.burns@uni-leipzig.de
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THE APOCALYPSE OF ZOSTRIANOS AND IOLAOS 43
Abstract Pages one and four of Nag Hammadi Codex VIII puzzlingly refer
to a certain Iolaos. Why would the nephew of Hercules appear in the frame
narrative of a Platonizing Sethian apocalypse? A close reading of this pericope,
recollection of parallel themes in contemporary apocalypses, and review of evi-
dence about the figures of Zostrianos and Iolaos show that the text wishes to
contrast the Heracleidae with the seers true spiritual genos the seed of Seth.
While Zostrianos revelations deal with Neoplatonic metaphysics, the text also
rejects Hellenic authority. Why, then, the choice of Iolaos as the target of the texts
polemic? It is worth recalling a reference to him in Platos Euthydemus, speculat-
ing that the Gnostic author considers philosophy sans revelatory aid nothing more
than sophistry. In any case, pace prior scholarly consensus, Zostrianos was not
composed by or for a Pagan audience or as an ecumenical text, but is writ-
ten for an audience that rejected Hellenic authority, and was instead beholden to
Judeo-Christian apocalyptic traditions.
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