The Apologists · AD 130–180 · External witness
Isidore, son of Basilides
fl. c. 150 (death unrecorded) · Gnostic teacher · Heir of the Basilidean school · Alexandria
External witness
Who Isidore, son of Basilides was
Son and disciple of Basilides, who carried his father's Alexandrian school into the next generation and gave it an ethical literature — Clement of Alexandria quotes his Ethics and On the Grown Soul in order to refute them, preserving thereby nearly all that survives of him. With Epiphanes son of Carpocrates he shows the second-century heresies propagating, like the churches, by succession from father to son.
Also listed in non-christian witnesses and heretics & schismatics.
Common questions
When was Isidore, son active?
Isidore, son of Basilides is dated fl. c. 150 (death unrecorded) in the archive, which places Isidore, son in the Apologists (AD 130–180). The dating is traditional and approximate; the archive marks it as uncertain rather than fixing a year the sources do not give.
Which early sources mention Isidore, son?
Isidore, son of Basilides is named in 2 primary-source passages catalogued here, drawn from Clement of Alexandria and Hippolytus of Rome. Every passage is quoted from a named public-domain translation, earliest first.
Where was Isidore, son from?
The archive associates Isidore, son of Basilides with Alexandria.
Who were Isidore, son’s contemporaries?
The archive links Isidore, son of Basilides to 3 other figures, including Basilides of Alexandria, Epiphanes, son of Carpocrates and Clement of Alexandria. Each connection is drawn from a source that places them together, not from inference.
Primary-source mentions (2)
Every passage below is quoted from a named public-domain translation, earliest first.
Stromateis II.20; VI.6
c. AD 200Isidore, at once son and disciple of Basilides, in the first book of the Expositions of the Prophet Parchor writes…Clement of Alexandria · VI.6 · source text
Refutation of All Heresies VII.20 ('Isidorus, his true child and disciple')
c. AD 225Basilides, therefore, and Isidorus, the true son and disciple of Basilides, say that Matthias communicated to them secret discourses, which, being specially instructed, he heard from the Saviour.Hippolytus of Rome · Refutation VII.20 · source text
Connected in the archive
People
Events in this lifetime
- AD 95 · Domitian’s reprisals, AD 95
- AD 96 · Rome writes to Corinth: 1 Clement, AD 96
- AD 112 · Pliny writes Trajan, AD 112
- AD 117 · Symeon and Ignatius martyred, AD 117
- AD 135 · Bar Kokhba crushed; Aelia Capitolina, AD 135
- AD 144 · Marcion expelled at Rome, AD 144
Place
Places served
The one place the sources put Isidore, son.