ABSTRACT
"Valentinus came to Rome under Hyginus, reached his peak under Pius, and remained until the time of Anicetus". Valentinus's own teachings are attested only by eight short fragments, deriving from his letters, his homilies, and a hymn. Valentinus never composed a systematic text himself but was content in his teaching and preaching to comment on topics taken from various Gnostic and other sources. As the main source for Valentinian doctrine, scholars have traditionally relied on Irenaeus, Haer 1–8, where Irenaeus reports in detail on a system he describes as the hypothesis of the Valentinians, though he also hints that the system actually derives from Ptolemy or Ptolemy's followers. According to Tertullian, it was Ptolemy who introduced names for the individual aeons as well as the numerical organization of the Pleroma, whereas Valentinus himself had conceived of the aeons as "thoughts, sentiments and emotions" within the deity.
