consequence of a connection that was made by the ancients between the

myth of the fallen angels and the myth of the succession of the violent
Titans.36 Thus it is not surprising that the Titans are prominent among the
Peratics chief archons: Kronos, Iapetos, Rhea.
The naming process appears to have been a central feature of the book,
since the excerpt provides, in most cases, the rulers domain and both the
common name for the ruler and the rulers real or secret name. In the
cases where the secret name is not recorded in this excerpt, I imagine it
would have been recited and transmitted as oral hierophantic teaching so
that the entire mystery was not revealed in a manner that the uninitiated
(like Hippolytus!) might discover intact. Likewise, Clement of Alexandria
says that the Christian mysteries are delivered through speech and, even
though he is committing much of his knowledge to writing in his book,
he purposely omits the unspeakable ( ) forbidden mysteries,
fearing that they might fall into the wrong hands. 37 It appears that some
mystery cult leaders even used books written in arcane letters so that they
could only be read and interpreted by the priests on behalf of the initiates.
This practice also safeguarded the cult secrets from the eyes of the
uninitiated.38
The Peratic book also records examples of those who were created in
the image of specific rulers: hero(in)es, gods and/or demons, and famous
people associated with the fields of magic and astrology. This is an uncommon
feature since Gnostic cosmogonies usually involve creation of lower
beings according to the model of the upper luminous aeons, rather than
according to the image of the fallen archontic figures. 39 Human beings
generally are created in the image of Anthropos revealed to the archons
from the other world.40 Basilides system, according to Irenaeus, has some
similarity with the Peratic since each successive heaven is created and
populated by angels according to the image of the previous heaven and its
Jan N. Bremmer, Greek Religion and Culture, the Bible and the Ancient Near East ( JSRC
8; Leiden: Brill, 2008), 7399.
37 Clement of Alexandria, Strom. 1.1.14.2 (Otto Stahlin, Clemens Alexandrinus. Stromata
Buch IIV [Berlin: Akademie-Verlag, 1960], 10).
38 Cf. Apuleius, Metamorphoses 11.22 (William Adlington and Stephen Gaselee, eds.,
Apuleius: The Golden Ass. [New York: Putnams Sons, 1915], 57679).
39 Cf. Apoc. Jn. NHC II 12,3413,1 (Michael Waldstein and Fredrick Wisse, eds., The Apocryphon
of John: Synopsis of Nag Hammadi Codices II,1; III,1; and IV,1 with BG 8502,2 [NHMS
33; Leiden: Brill, 1995], 7677).
40 Cf. Apoc. Jn. NHC II 14,1415,14 (ibid., 8487); Irenaeus, Adv. Haer. 1.30.6 (Adelin Rousseau
and Louis Doutreleau, eds., Irenee de Lyon : Contre les Heresies. Livre 1 [Vol. 2
36