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Basilides (Greek: Βασιλείδης) was an early Christian Gnostic religious teacher in Alexandria, Egypt[1] who taught from 117 to 138 AD,[* 1] and claimed to have inherited his teachings from the apostle Saint Matthias.[2][3] He was a pupil of either the Simonian teacher Menander,[4] or a supposed disciple of Peter named Glaucias.[5] The Acts of the Disputation with Manes state that for a time he taught among the Persians.[6] According to Agapius of Hierapolis he appeared in the 15th year of Trajan reign (113 AD).[7] He is believed to have written over two dozen books of commentary on the Christian Gospel (now all lost) entitled Exegetica,[4] making him one of the earliest Gospel commentators.
The followers of Basilides, the Basilideans, formed a movement that persisted for at least two centuries after him[8] – Epiphanius of Salamis, at the end of the 4th century, recognized a persistent Basilidian presence over the Nile Delta in Egypt.[9] It is probable, however, that the school melded into the mainstream of Gnosticism by the latter half of the 2nd century.[10]
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