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Bardaisan (Syriac: ܒܪ ܕܝܨܢ, Bardais ̣ān), known in Arabic as Ibn Daisan (1]( ]اﺑﻦ دﯾﺼﺎنand in Latin as
Bardesanes (A.D. 154–222), was a Syriac or Parthian[2] gnostic[3] and founder of the Bardaisanites.
A scientist, scholar, astrologer, philosopher and poet, Bardaisan was also renowned for his knowledge
of India, on which he wrote a book, now lost.[4]
Biography[edit]
Early life and education[edit]
Bardaisan (Syriac: ܒܪ ܕܝܨܢbar Dais ̣ān "son of the Daiṣān") was a Syriac author born on 11 July 154,
in Edessa, Osroene, which, in those days, was alternately under the influence of both the Roman
Empire and the Parthian Empire. To indicate the city of his birth, his parents called him "Son of the
Daisan", the river on which Edessa was situated. He is sometimes also referred to as "the Babylonian"
(by Porphyrius); and, on account of his later important activity in Armenia, "the Armenian", (by
Hippolytus of Rome), while Ephrem the Syrian calls him "philosopher of the Arameans" (Syriac:
ܦܝܠܘܣܘܦܐ ܕܐܖ̈ܡܝܐ, Filosofā d-Arāmāyē). Some sources refer to his high birth and wealth; according to
Michael the Syrian, Bardaisan's parents had fled Persia and Sextus Julius Africanus reports that he
was of the Parthian nobility.[2] His parents, Nuhama and Nah 'siram, must have been people of rank,
for their son was educated with the crown-prince of Osroene at the court of Abgar VIII. Africanus says
that he saw Bardaisan, with bow and arrow, mark the outline of a boy's face with his arrows on a shield
which the boy held.
Owing to political disturbances in Edessa, Bardaisan and his parents moved for a while to Hierapolis
(now Manbij), a strong centre of Babylonianism. Here, the boy was brought up in the house of a priest
Anuduzbar. In this school he learnt all the intricacies of Babylonian astrology, a training that
permanently influenced his mind and proved the bane of his later life. At the age of twenty-five he
happened to hear the homilies of Hystaspes, the Bishop of Edessa, received instruction, was baptized,
and even admitted to the diaconate or the priesthood. "Priesthood", however, may merely imply that he
ranked as one of the college of presbyters, because Bardaisen remained in the world and had a son
called Harmonius, who according to Sozomen's Ecclesiastical history, was "deeply versed in Grecian
erudition, and was the first to subdue his native tongue to meters and musical laws; these verses he
delivered to the choirs".[citation needed] When Abgar IX, the friend of his youth, ascended the throne
(179), Bardaisan took his place at court. While a sincere Christian, he was clearly no ascetic, but
dressed in finery "with berylls and caftan", according to Ephrem, one of his critics.
Preaching activity[edit]
Bardaisan is said to have converted prince Abgar IX to Christianity (probably after 202, i.e. after his
visit and honourable reception at Rome), and even he did not, he had an important share in
Christianizing the city. Both king and philosopher laboured to create the first Christian state. However,
while he showed great literary activity against Marcion and Valentinus, Bardaisan himself went to
create his own heterodox Christian dogma by mixing its doctrines with Babylonian astrology. Other
commentators say his philosophy ended up resembling those of Valentinus, if not adhering to them
completely. Epiphanius of Salamis and Bar Hebraeus assert that he was first an orthodox Christian
and afterwards an adept of Valentinus. As a gnostic, he certainly denied the resurrection of the body,
and so far as we can judge by the obscure quotations from his hymns furnished by Ephrem he
explained the origin of the world by a process of emanation from the supreme God whom he called the
Father of the Living. His teachings formed the basis of the Manichaeism and later of the batini sects of
Shia Islam.[7]
Bardaisan and his movement were considered heretic by the Christians, and he was subjected to
critical polemics. Those claimed, probably falsely, that he became a Valentinian Gnostic out of
disappointed ambitions in the Christian church. In particular, he was vigorously combated by St.
Ephrem. who mentioned him in his hymns:
And if he thinks he has said the last thing
He has reached heathenism,
O Bar-Daisan,
Son of the River Daisan,
Whose mind is liquid like his name![8]
Encounter with religious men from India[edit]
Porphyry states that on one occasion at Edessa, Bardaisan interviewed an Indian deputation of holy
men (Ancient Greek: Σαρμαναίοι "śramaṇas") who had been sent to the Roman emperor Elagabalus
or another Severan emperor, and questioned them as to the nature of Indian religion. The encounter is
described in Porphyry De abstin., iv, 17[9] and Stobaeus (Eccles., iii, 56, 141):
For the polity of the Indians being distributed into many parts, there is one tribe among them of
men divinely wise, whom the Greeks are accustomed to call Gymnosophists. But of these
there are two sects, one of which the Bramins preside over, the Samanaeans the other.[10]
The race of the Bramins, however, receive divine wisdom of this kind by succession, in the
same manner as the priesthood. But the Samanaeans are elected, and consist of those who
wish to possess divine knowledge. And the particulars respecting them are the following, as
the Babylonian Bardaisan narrates, who lived in the times of our fathers, and was familiar with
those Indians who, together with Damadamis, were sent to Caesar. All the Bramins originate
from one stock; for all of them are derived from one father and one mother. But the
Samanaeans are not the offspring of one family, being, as we have said, collected from every
nation of Indians.
— Porphyry De abstin., iv,
Exile and death[edit]
Eventually, after 353 years of existence, the Osrhoenic kingdom came to an end by the Romans under
Caracalla. Taking advantage of the anti-Christian faction in Edessa, captured Abgar IX and sent him in
chains to Rome. Though he was urged by a friend of Caracalla to apostatize, Bardaisan stood firm,
saying that he feared not death, as he would in any event have to undergo it, even though he should
now submit to the emperor. At the age of sixty-three he was forced to take refuge in the fortress of Ani
in Armenia and tried to preach there, but with little success. He also composed a history of the
Armenian kings. He died at the age of sixty-eight, either at Ani or at Edessa. According to Michael the
Syrian, Bardaisan had besides Harmonius two other sons, called Abgarun and Hasdu.
Bardaisanite school[edit]
The followers of Bardaisan (the Bardaisanites) continued his teachings in a sect of the 2nd century
deemed heretical by later Christians. Bardaisan's son, Harmonius, is considered to have strayed
farther from the path of orthodoxy. Educated at Athens, he added to the Babylonian astrology of his
father Greek ideas concerning the soul, the birth and destruction of bodies and a sort of
metempsychosis.
A certain Marinus, a follower of Bardaisan and a dualist, who is addressed in the "Dialogue of
Adamantius", held the doctrine of a twofold primeval being; for the devil, according to him is not
created by God. He was also a Docetist, as he denied Christ's birth of a woman. Bardaisan's form of
gnosticism influenced Manichaeism.
St. Ephrem's zealous efforts to suppress this powerful heresy were not entirely successful. Rabbula,
Bishop of Edessa in 431–432, found it flourishing everywhere. Its existence in the seventh century is
attested by Jacob of Edessa; in the eighth by George, Bishop of the Arabs; in the tenth by the historian
Masudi; and even in the twelfth by Shashrastani. Bardaisanism seems to have merged first into
Valentinianism and then into common Manichaeism.
Doctrine[edit]
Various opinions have been formed as to the real doctrine of Bardesanes. As early as Hippolytus
(Philosoph., VI, 50) his doctrine was described as a variety of Valentinianism, the most popular form of
Gnosticism. Adolf Hilgenfeld in 1864 defended this view, based mainly on extracts from St. Ephrem,
who devoted his life to combating Bardaisanism in Edessa. However, it has been argued that the
strong and fervent expressions of St. Ephrem against the Bardaisanites of his day are not a fair
criterion of the doctrine of their master. The extraordinary veneration of his own countrymen, the very
reserved and half-respectful allusion to him in the early Fathers, and above all the "Book of the Laws
of the Countries" suggest a milder view of Bardaisan's aberrations.
Like the Early Christians, Bardaisan believed in an Almighty God, Creator of heaven and earth, whose
will is absolute, and to whom all things are subject. God endowed man with freedom of will to work out
his salvation and allowed the world to be a mixture of good and evil, light and darkness. All things,
even those we now consider inanimate, have a measure of liberty. In all of them the light has to
overcome the darkness.
Shashrastani states: "The followers of Daisan believe in two elements, light and darkness. The light
causes the good, deliberately and with free will; the darkness causes the evil, but by force of nature
and necessity. They believe that light is a living thing, possessing knowledge, might, perception and
understanding; and from it movement and life take their source; but that darkness is dead, ignorant,
feeble, rigid and soulless, without activity and discrimination; and they hold that the evil within them is
the outcome of their nature and is done without their co-operation".[11]
He apparently denied the resurrection of the body, though believed Christ's body was endowed with
incorruptibility as with a special gift. Bardaisan postulated that after six thousand years this Earth shall
have an end, and a world without evil would take its place.
Bardaisan also thought the sun, moon and planets were living beings, to whom, under God, the
government of this world was largely entrusted; and though man was free, he was strongly influenced
for good or for evil by the constellations. According to St. Ephrem, Sun and Moon were considered
male and female principles, and the ideas of heaven amongst the Bardaisanites were not without an
admixture of sensuality (or "obscenities"). Led by the fact that "spirit" is feminine in Syriac, Bardaisan
might have held unorthodox views on the Trinity.
Writings[edit]
Bardaisan apparently was a voluminous author. Though nearly all his works have perished, we find
notices of the following:
Dialogues against Marcion and Valentinus.[12]
Dialogue "Against Fate" addressed to an Antoninus. Whether this Antoninus is merely a friend of
Bardaisan or a Roman emperor and, in the latter case, which of the Antonines is meant, is a
matter of controversy. It is also uncertain whether this dialogue is identical with "The Book of the
Laws of the Countries", of which later on.[13]
A "Book of Psalms", 150 in number, in imitation of David's Psalter.[14] These psalms became
famous in the history of Edessa; their words and melodies lived for generations on the lips of the
people. Only when St. Ephrem composed hymns in the same pentasyllabic metre and had them
sung to the same tunes as the psalms of Bardaisan, did the latter gradually lose favour. We
probably possess a few of Bardaisan's hymns in the Gnostic Acts of Thomas; the "Hymn on the
Soul"; the "Espousals of Wisdom"; the consecratory prayer at Baptism and at Holy Communion. Of
these only the "Hymn on the Soul" is generally acknowledged to be by Bardesanes, the authorship
of the others is doubtful. Though marred by many obscurities, the beauty of this hymn on the soul
is striking. The soul is sent from its heavenly home to the earth, symbolized by Egypt, to obtain the
pearl of great price. In Egypt it forgets for a while its royal parentage and glorious destiny. It is
reminded thereof by a letter from home, succeeds in snatching a raiment of light, it returns to
receive its rank and glory in the kingdom of its father.
Astrologico-theological treatises, in which his peculiar tenets were expounded. They are referred
to by St. Ephrem, and amongst them was a treatise on light and darkness. A fragment of an
astronomical work by Bardaisan was preserved by George, Bishop of the Arab tribes, and
republished by Nau.[15]
A "History of Armenia". Moses of Chorene[16] states that Bardaisan, "having taken refuge in the
fortress of Ani, read there the temple records in which also the deeds of kings were chronicled; to
these he added the events of his own time. He wrote all in Syriac, but his book was afterwards
translated into Greek". Though the correctness of this statement is not quite above suspicion, it
probably has a foundation in fact.
"An Account of India". Bardaisan obtained his information from the Indian Sramana (wandering
monks) ambassadors to the Roman Emperor Heliogabalus. A few extracts are preserved by
Porphyry and Stobaeus.[17]
"Book of the Laws of the Countries". This famous dialogue, the oldest remnant not only of
Bardaisanite learning, but even of Syriac literature, if we except the version of Holy Writ, is not by
Bardaisan himself, but by a certain Philip, his disciple. The main speaker, however, in the dialogue
is Bardaisan, and we have no reason to doubt that what is put in his mouth correctly represents his
teaching. Excerpts of this work are extant in Greek in Eusebius[18] and in Caesarius;[19] in Latin in
the "Recognitions" of Pseudo-Clement[20] A complete Syriac text was first published from a sixth-
or seventh-century manuscript in the British Museum by William Cureton, in his Spicilegium
Syriacum (London, 1855), and by Nau. It is disputed whether the original was in Syriac or in
Greek; Nau is decided in favour of the former. Against a questioning disciple called Abida,
Bardaisan seeks to show that man's actions are not entirely necessitated by Fate, as the outcome
of stellar combinations. From the fact that the same laws, customs and manners often prevail
amongst all persons living in a certain district, or through locally scattered living under the same
traditions, Bardaisan endeavours to show that the position of the stars at the birth of individuals
can have but little to do with their subsequent conduct, hence the title "Book of the Laws of the
Countries".
See also[edit]
Gnosticism
History of Gnosticism
List of Gnostic sects
Notes[edit]
1. ^ Houtsma, M. Th (1993). E.J. Brill's First Encyclopaedia of Islam, 1913-1936. BRILL.
ISBN 9004097910.
2. ^ Jump up to: a b Prods Oktor Skjaervo. Bardesanes. Encyclopædia Iranica. Volume III. Fasc. 7-8.
ISBN 0-7100-9121-4.
3. ^ After Bardaisan Studies on Continuity and Change in Syriac Christianity in Honour of Professor
Han. J.W. Drijvers (Orientalia Lovaniensia Analecta), archived from the original on 8 March 2012,
retrieved 2 September 2018
4. ^ Edessa – Parthian Period, University of Evansville, archived from the original on 20 February
2007
5. ^ Patricia Crone (28 June 2012). The Nativist Prophets of Early Islamic Iran: Rural Revolt and
Local Zoroastrianism. Cambridge University Press. pp. 546–220. ISBN 978-1-107-01879-2.
6. ^ St. Ephraim of Syria, Translated by A. S. Duncan Jones, 1904
7. ^ Porphyry "On abstinence from animal food" Book IV, Paragraphs 17&18.
8. ^ [1] Jaucourt, Louis, chevalier de. "Samanean." The Encyclopedia of Diderot & d'Alembert
Collaborative Translation Project. Translated by E.M. Langille. Ann Arbor: Michigan Publishing,
University of Michigan Library, 2012. http://hdl.handle.net/2027/spo.did2222.0002.611 (accessed
30 April 2018). Originally published as "Samanéen," Encyclopédie ou Dictionnaire raisonné des
sciences, des arts et des métiers, 14:590–592 (Paris, 1765).
9. ^ Arendzen 1913 cites Haarbrucker tr. (Halle, 1850), I, 293.
10. ^ Arendzen 1913 cites Theodoretus, Haer. fab., I, xxii; Eusebius of Caesarea, Church History, IV,
xxx, 3.
11. ^ Arendzen 1913 cites Eusebius, Historia Ecclesiastica, IV, xxx, 2; Epiphanius, Haer., LVI, I;
Theodoretus, Haer. fab., I, xxii.
12. ^ Arendzen 1913 cites St. Ephrem, Serm. Adv. Haer., liii.
13. ^ in "Bardesane l'astrologue" etc. (Paris, 1899) (see Arendzen 1913).
14. ^ Arendzen 1913 cites History of G. A., II, 66.
15. ^ Arendzen 1913 cites Langlois in Karl Wilhelm Ludwig Müller, Fragmenta Historicorum
Graecorum, V, lxviii sqq.
16. ^ Arendzen 1913 citesPraeparatio Evangelica, VI, x, 6 sqq.
17. ^ Arendzen 1913 cites Quaestiones, xlvii, 48.
18. ^ Arendzen 1913 cites IX, 19sqq.
References[edit]
Sebastian Brock, Bardaisan, in Sebastian Brock et al. (eds.), Gorgias Encyclopedic Dictionary of
Syriac Heritage, Piscataway, Gorgias Press, 2011
H.J.W. Drijvers, Bardaisan of Edessa, Van Assen, Gorcum, 1966 (reprint: Piscataway, Gorgias
Press, 2014, with a new introduction by Jan Willem Drijvers and an updated bibliography)
Ilaria Ramelli, Bardaisan of Edessa: A Reassessment of the Evidence and a New Interpretation,
Piscataway, Gorgias Press, 2009
McLean, Norman (1911). "Bardais ̣ān" . In Chisholm, Hugh (ed.). Encyclopædia Britannica. 3 (11th
ed.). Cambridge University Press. pp. 395–396.CS1 maint: ref=harv (link)
This article incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain: Arendzen, John
(1913). "Bardesanes and Bardesanites". In Herbermann, Charles (ed.). Catholic Encyclopedia.
New York: Robert Appleton Company.
External links[edit]
Wikiquote has quotations related to: Bardaisan
An hymn against Bar Daisan
Chambers, Ephraim, ed. (1728). "Bardesanites". Cyclopædia, or an Universal Dictionary of Arts
and Sciences (first ed.). James and John Knapton, et al.
One of the chapters of Mani's lost Book of Secrets concerned Bar Daisan, according to the list of
its contents given by the tenth-century Islamic writer Ibn al-Nadim in his Encyclopedia.
