Irenæus, l. c., and Hippolytus, who
gives an elaborate account of the doctrines of Valentinus (L. VI. capp.
xvi.–xxxii.), both represent Sophia, “Wisdom,” as
giving birth not to Satan, but to a shapeless abortion, which was the
origin of matter. According to Irenæus (I. iv. 2), Achamoth,
the enthymesis of Sophia, gave birth to the Demiurge, and “from
her tears all that is of a liquid nature was formed.”
In Tertullian’s Treatise
against the Valentinians chap. xxii., Achamoth is said as by
Cyril to have given birth to Satan: but in chap. xxiii. Satan
seems to be identified (or interchanged) with the Demiurge.