Another characteristic figure of Gnosticism is that of the Primal Man ([Greek: prôtos anthrôpos]). In many systems, certainly, it has already been forced quite into the background. But on closer examination we can clearly see that it has a wide influence on Gnosticism. Thus in the system of the Naasseni (see Hippolytus, _Philosophumena_), and in certain related sects there enumerated, the Primal Man has a central and predominant position. Again, in the text on which are based the pseudo-Clementine writings (_Recognitions_, i. 16, 32, 45-47, 52, ii. 47; and _Homilies_, iii. 17 seq. xviii. 14), as in the closely related system of the Ebionites in Epiphanius (_Haer._ xxx. 3-16; cf. liii. 1), we meet with the man who existed before the world, the prophet who goes through the world in various forms, and finally reveals himself in Christ. Among the Barbelognostics (Irenaeus i. 29. 3), the Primal Man (Adamas, _homo perfectus et verus_) and Gnosis appear as a pair of aeons, occupying a prominent place in the whole series. In the Valentinian systems the pair of aeons, Anthropos and Ekklesia, occupy the third or fourth place within the _Oydoás_, but incidentally we learn that with some representatives of this school the Anthropos took a still more prominent place (first or second; Hilgenfeld, _Ketzergeschichte_, p. 294 seq.). And even in the _Pistis-Sophia_ the Primal Man "Ieu" is frequently alluded to as the King of the Luminaries (cf. index to C. Schmidt's translation). We also meet with speculations of this kind about man in the circles of non-Christian Gnosis. Thus in the _Poimandres_ of Hermes man is the most prominent figure in the speculation; numerous pagan and half-pagan parallels (the "Gnostics" of Plotinus, Zosimus, Bitys) have been collected by Reitzenstein in his work _Poimandres_ (pp. 81-116). Reitzenstein has shown (p. 81 seq.) that very probably the system of the Naasseni described by Hippolytus was originally derived from purely pagan circles, which are probably connected in some way with the mysteries of the Attis cult. The figure in the Mandaean system most closely corresponding to the Primal Man, though this figure also actually occurs in another part of the system (cf. the figure of Adakas Mana; Brandt, _Mandäische Religion_, p. 36 seq.) is that of Manda d'hayye ([Greek: gnôsis tês zôês]; cf. the pair of aeons, Adamas and Gnosis, among the Barbelognostics, in Irenaeus i. 29. 3). Finally, in the Manichaean system, as is well known, the Primal Man again assumes the predominant place (Baur, _Manich. Religionssystem_, 49 seq.).