The Apologists · AD 130–180 · External witness
Ptolemy the Valentinian
fl. c. 150 – 170 (death unrecorded) · Valentinian teacher · Author of the Letter to Flora · Rome (?)
External witness
Who Ptolemy the Valentinian was
The ablest pupil of Valentinus, and the author of the one Gnostic text of the school preserved nearly whole — the Letter to Flora, an urbane exposition to a Christian woman of how to read the Law of Moses as a mixture of divine, human, and elder-imposed elements, quoted in full by Epiphanius. Irenaeus opens his great work by naming Ptolemy’s followers as the immediate provocation: “the disciples of Ptolemy, an offshoot of the Valentinian school.” He shows the movement at its most persuasive and pastoral — which is precisely why the church answered it so fully.
Also listed in non-christian witnesses.
Common questions
When was Ptolemy active?
Ptolemy the Valentinian is dated fl. c. 150 – 170 (death unrecorded) in the archive, which places Ptolemy 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.
What did Ptolemy write?
Ptolemy the Valentinian has 1 catalogued writing in the archive: Letter to Flora.
Which early sources mention Ptolemy?
Ptolemy the Valentinian is named in 3 primary-source passages catalogued here, drawn from Irenaeus of Lyon, Hippolytus of Rome and Epiphanius of Salamis. Every passage is quoted from a named public-domain translation, earliest first.
Where was Ptolemy from?
The archive associates Ptolemy the Valentinian with Rome (?).
Writings (1)
Letter to Flora
The Valentinian pastoral tract on the Law, preserved whole by EpiphaniusThe Law, since it is not the ordinance of the perfect God the Father, is to be divided into three parts. (working translation)Read the interlinear source text →
Primary-source mentions (3)
Every passage below is quoted from a named public-domain translation, earliest first.
Against Heresies, Preface 2
c. AD 180I refer to the disciples of Ptolemaeus, whose school may be described as a bud from that of Valentinus… lest any should be carried off, as sheep are by wolves.Irenaeus of Lyon · 2 · source text
Refutation of All Heresies VI.35 (the Italian school: Ptolemy and Heracleon)
c. AD 225Panarion 33 (which alone preserves his Letter to Flora)
c. AD 375Connected in the archive
People
Events in this lifetime
- 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
- AD 156 · The New Prophecy erupts, AD 156
Place
Places served
The one place the sources put Ptolemy.
- 1Rome