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Ch. 4: Engraved Gems as Talismans

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ENGRAVED AND CARVED GEMS 129
tence might have been regarded as typifying the union of the Old and New Testaments, and such an acrostic would certainly have been looked upon as possessing a mystic and supernatural power.
Many explanations have been offered as to the origin and significance of the characteristic figure of the Abrasax god engraved on a number of Gnostic amulets. There seems to be no doubt that this figure was invented by Basilides, chief of the Gnostic sect bearing his name, and who flourished in the early part of the second cen-
tury a.D. While the details of the type as perfected were undoubtedly borrowed from the eclectic symbolism of the Egyptian and western Asiatic world it is almost impos­sible to conjecture the reasons determining the selection of this particular form.
A jasper engraved with the famous Gnostic symbol was set in the ring worn by Seffrid, Bishop of Chichester (a.d. 1159). This ring was found on the skeleton of the bishop and is now preserved in the treasury of the Cathe­dral of Chichester. Undoubtedly the curious symbolic figure was given a perfectly orthodox meaning, and, in-9
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