Hypsistos

Hypsistos

685

Here the literary style changes from a narration in the third person to a first-person narrator. Taken as an indicator for the merging of sources by previous scholarship, it should rather be interpreted as a conscious shift in style to highlight the heavenly revelation which follows. Norea is given further knowledge of the genesis and the “hypostasis of the archons” (as announced in the beginning); she is instructed about her “root,” about the coming of the “true man” in the end, and the final ascension of “her and her children” to heaven. By means of the first-person narrative, Norea functions as the recipient of this revelation as well as the mediator of saving knowledge to other “gnostics” (cf. Norea as an entirely divine being in NHC IX,2). The rather short and abbreviated theogonic and cosmogonic myth that is told in this second part of the Hypostasis of the Archons requires already informed readers. Compared to other “gnostic” texts the positive evaluation of the figure of Sophia is striking: her failure which brings the lower creator god and the material world into being in the first place is not much emphasized in the Hypostasis of the Archons. Sophia is not in need of salvation herself. Her repentance as narrated by other texts is taken over by another remarkable figure: Sabaoth. He is one of the children of the great archon but turns away from his father and offers praise to Sophia instead. He is therefore enthroned in the seventh heaven right below the veil. It was also Sabaoth who earlier in the text initiated the building of the ark to rescue Noah and his children. It seems that Sabaoth represents the god of the Jews and of the non-“gnostic” Christians. Although they lack access to higher realms, their position is not entirely negative. But the true “gnostics” know themselves to be children of Norea. Bibliography. Primary: ■ Barc, B., L’Hypostase des Archontes (BCNH.T 5; Québec, Que./Leuven 1980). ■ Kaiser, U. U., Die Hypostase der Archonten neu herausgegeben, übersetzt und er■ Layton, B., “The klärt (TUGAL 156; Berlin 2006). Hypostasis of the Archons,” in Nag Hammadi Codex II, 2–7, vol. 1 (ed. id.; NHS 20; Leiden 1989) 234–59, 321–36. Secondary: ■ King, K. L., “Ridicule and Rape, Rule and Rebellion: ‘The Hypostasis of the Archons’,” in Gnosticism and the Early Christian World (ed. J. E. Goehring et al.; Son■ Pearson, B. A., “Revisiting oma, Calif. 1990) 3–24. Norea,” in Images of the Feminine in Gnosticism (ed. K. L. King; ■ Turner, J. D., Sethian Philadelphia, Pa. 1988) 265–75. Gnosticism and the Platonic Tradition (BCNH.E 6; Québec, Que. 2001).

Ursula Ulrike Kaiser

Hypsiphrone (NHC XI, 4) Hypsiphrone, “The high-minded one,” is a short (69–72 or 74 in NHC XI) and poorly preserved text whose contents can no longer be satisfactorily reconstructed. The subject matter seems to be a narrative told by Hypsiphrone herself (a name not other-

686

wise attested) about a journey during which she left her “place of virginity” and “went out into the world.” Her brother Phainops also appears in the story. The preserved fragments display no Christian features and lack allusions to the Bible. Bibliography: ■ Funk, W.-P., “Hypsiphroné (NH XI,4),” in Écrits gnostiques (ed. J.-P. Mahe/P.-H. Poirier; Bibliothèque de la Pléiade 538; Paris 2007) 1575–84. ■ Turner, J. D., “NHC XI,4: Hypsiphrone,” in Nag Hammadi Codices XI, XII, XIII (ed. C. W. Hedrick; NHS 28; Leiden 1990) 269–79.

Einar Thomassen

Hypsistos Theos Hypsistos (Gk. Θες ψιστος, the Highest God), is used in the LXX to translate the Hebrew El Elyon, referring to the Jewish God YHWH. The term also occurs in over 375 inscribed religious dedications dating from the 1st century BCE to the 4th century CE found in the Greek-speaking world, the majority from Asia Minor, the Black Sea, and the Mediterranean Islands including Cyprus. Some of these were set up by diaspora Jews, but a larger number had no specific Jewish associations. Most of these dedications were addressed to Theos Hypsistos, and some simply to Hypsistos, but many also refer to Zeus Hypsistos. The adjective was rarely applied to other pagan divinities. Gregory of Nyssa and Gregory of Nazianzus mentioned worshippers of the Highest God in 4th century Cappadocia. The latter’s father, before becoming a Christian bishop, had been a member of a hypsistarian group which rejected idols and sacrifice, but worshipped fire and lights; its members respected the Sabbath and Jewish dietary regulations, but were not circumcised (Gregory of Nazianzus, Or. Bas.18.5). Gregory of Nyssa observed that the Hypsistianoi called their god hypsistos and pantokrator, but differed from Christians in not calling God Father (Gregory of Nyssa, Refutatio Confessionis Eunomii 38). It is striking that Gregory of Nazianzus’ account of the cult and customs of the hypsistarians coincides almost exactly with Josephus’ description of the practices of the god-fearers (θεοσεβε ς; σεβμενοι τν θεν), non-Jewish participants in synagogue worship in the 1st century CE (C. Ap. 2.39, 282). This supports the hypothesis that the god-fearers of the NT were precisely worshippers of Theos Hypsistos. The interpretation of this rich and complex evidence is controversial. Stephen Mitchell, building on a classic study of Emil Schürer, has argued that Theos Hypsistos was the name given to an all-powerful aniconic divinity, the object of quasi-monotheistic worship by individuals and communities in the late Hellenistic and early imperial periods between the 1st century BCE and the 5th century CE. Their beliefs and practices overlapped with those of Jews, whose synagogues they sometimes shared. In later antiquity they were only narrowly distin-

Authenticated | [email protected] Download Date | 3/22/16 12:40 PM

Hyrcanus

687

guished from Christian sects, but up to the 3rd century they often appeared in purely pagan contexts. Nicole Belayche, who emphasizes the diversity of paganism, and argues that there was no unified cult of Theos Hypsistos, has called this interpretation into question. She suggests that the term could be applied to any major divinity in the rich polymorphous environment of later paganism in the Roman Empire. Markus Stein, as well as challenging the equation of worshippers of Theos Hypsistos with the god-fearers mentioned by Josephus and in the Acts of the Apostles, argues that the hypsistarian and Christian notions of God were incompatible with one another. Bibliography: ■ Belayche, N., “Hypsistos: A Way of Exalting the Gods in Graeco-Roman Polytheism,” in The Religious History of the Roman Empire (ed. J. A. North/S. R. F. Price; Oxford 2011) 139–74. ■ Mitchell, S., “The Cult of Theos Hypsistos between Pagans, Jews, and Christians,” in Pagan Monotheism in Late Antiquity (ed. P. Athanassiadi/M. Frede; Oxford 1999) 81–148. ■ Mitchell, S., “Further Thoughts on the Cult of Theos Hypsistos,” in One God: Pagan Monotheism in the Roman Empire (ed. S. Mitchell/P. van Nuffelen; Cambridge 2010) ■ Schürer, E., “Die Juden im bosporanischen 167–208. Reiche und die Genossenschaft der σεβμενοι θεν ψιστον ebendaselbst,” SPAW 12/13 (1897) 200–225. ■ Stein, M., “Die Verehrung des Theos Hypsistos: ein allumfassender pagan-jüdischer Synkretismus?,” EpAn 33 (2001) 119–26.

Stephen Mitchell See also /God (Names and Epithets); /Godfearers; /Pantokrator

Hyrcanus 1. Son of Tobias Hyrcanus the Tobiad belonged to a family called by the name of its ancestor, Tobiah. A man named Hyrcanus, son of Tobiah ( Τωβ ου), is mentioned briefly in 2 Macc 3 : 11, and most have considered him to be the same as Hyrcanus, son of Joseph, in Josephus’ so-called “Tobiad romance” (Ant. 12.154– 236). Doran, however, has challenged this connection, and his argument has some plausibility given the widespread practice of papponymy during this period. A prominent ancestor of Hyrcanus’ family, “Tobiah the Ammonite slave,” is mentioned already in the memoir of Nehemiah (e.g., 2 : 10; 6 : 1; cf. 1 Macc 5 : 13). As confirmed by the Zenon Papyri, this Tobiah and his descendants governed an area of the Transjordan (Ammon) during the Persian and Hellenistic periods. Dramatic archaeological confirmation of the family’s presence in this area has been found at ‘Iraq al-Amir, near Amman, Jordan. Although Tobiah is viewed negatively in Nehemiah, it is clear from Josephus and 2 Macc that the family was influential in Jewish circles during the Hellenistic era. Josephus relates that Hyrcanus’ father, Joseph, became a friend of king Ptolemy V Epiphanes (204–

688

181 BCE), farming taxes for the Egyptian ruler in Syria, Phoenicia, Judea, and Samaria. Joseph had seven sons by one wife and then had Hyrcanus by his niece, the daughter of his brother Solymius (Ant. 12.186–89). (Regarding the etymology of the name Hyrcanus, of which this is the first recorded instance, see the entry on John Hyrcanus I.) Hyrcanus the Tobiad was a successful and wealthy man who continued farming taxes for the Ptolemies, though reportedly at continual strife with his brothers. The author of 2 Macc, who called Hyrcanus “a man who occupied a very high position,” wrote that Hyrcanus had a portion of his wealth deposited in the Jerusalem temple when the temple’s treasury was seized by Seleucus IV Philopater’s minister, Heliodorus. We are told by Josephus that when the balance of power shifted to the Seleucid king Antiochus IV Epiphanes, Hyrcanus took his own life out of fear. Bibliography: ■ Doran, R., “Parties and Politics in Pre-Hasmonean Jerusalem: A Closer Look at 2 Macc 3 : 11” SBLSP 11 (1982) 107–11. ■ Gera, D., Judaea and Mediterranean Politics: 219–161 B.C.E. (Leiden 1997) 36–58. ■ Schwartz, D. R., “Josephus’ Tobiads: Back to the Second Century?,” in Jews in a Greco-Roman World (ed. M. Goodman; Oxford 1998) 47–61. ■ Tcherikover, V., Hellenistic Civilization and the Jews (Philadelphia, Pa. 1959). [Esp. 126–42]

2. John Hyrcanus I John Hyrcanus was a son of the second-generation Hasmonean leader Simon and led the Jewish people for approximately thirty-one years, from 135/4 to 104 BCE. In 1 Maccabees 13–16, the Hebrew name John (Ιωαννην/Ywḥnn) is used solely to speak of him, though in Josephus and other sources the surname Hyrcanus is either added to John (as in Ant. 13.228, Ιωννην … δ κα Yρκανς ν νομα), or more often it is used alone. Several proposals have been put forward to explain the name Hyrcanus, which is found for the first time in reference to Hyrcanus the Tobiad. The name is not native to Greek, and arguments have been made for Persian and Ptolemaic-Egyptian origins. Our main source of information for the life of John Hyrcanus is Josephus (J.W. 1.55–69; Ant. 13.228–300), though 1 Macc 16 tells of his ascent to leadership and refers to a pro-Hasmonean chronicle of his reign that has not survived (16 : 23–24). Josephus’ presumed source, Nicolaus of Damascus, is characteristically less enthusiastic about the Hasmoneans than 1 Macc, though Josephus still presents John as a successful leader who died after “administering the government excellently for thirty-one years” (Ant. 13.299). The beginning of John’s career was marked by difficulty. He was jolted into leadership when his father and other family members were seized and killed by John’s brother-in-law Ptolemy, who seemingly had designs on the throne. John weathered this calamity, only to be faced with a threat from

Authenticated | [email protected] Download Date | 3/22/16 12:40 PM