Note 319 — Chapter III · THE ORIGIN OF GNOSTICISM
Reading edition
Probably, however, it refers to the number of letters in the name in some more or less fantastic spelling or cryptogram. When Hippolytus speaks of the Demiurge Ialdabaoth as “a fiery God, a fourth number” (Philosophumena, Bk V. c. 7, p. 153, Cruice), there can be little doubt that he is referring to the Tetragrammaton or four-lettered name of Jehovah. Cf. the “hundred-lettered” name of Typhon, p. 104, infra.