ABSTRACT
Basilides was the first Christian intellectual known in the history of the Egyptian Church (Tardieu 1994: 86). He taught in Alexandria under emperor Hadrian (117–138) and may have lived until the emperor Antoninus (138–161) according to Clement of Alexandria (Stromateis VII.106.4), who also records that Basilides claimed to have been taught by Glaucias, the interpreter of the apostle Peter. According to the author of the Elenchos (VII.20.1) he also received secret traditions of the Savior through Matthias. Basilides had a son, Isidoros, who was his disciple (Clement, Strom VI.53). His place of origin and his education remain unknown in spite of some biographical details invented by heresiologists to prove that his doctrine is part of the history of Christian heresies.
