of attraction that it now drew within its limits even Judaeo-Christian sects. Among these we must mention the Judaeo-Christian Gnostic Cerinthus, also the Gnostic Ebionites, of whom Epiphanius (Haer.) gives us an account, and whose writings are to be found in a recension in the collected works of the Pseudo-Clementine Recognitions and Homilies; to the same class belong the Elkesaites with their mystical scripture, the Elxai, extracts of which are given by Hippolytus in the Philos. (ix. 13). Later evidence of the decadence of Gnosticism occurs in the Pistis-Sophia and the Coptic Gnostic writings discovered and edited by Schmidt. In these confused records of human imagination gone mad, we possess a veritable herbarium of all possible Gnostic ideas, which were once active and now rest peacefully side by side. None the less, the stream of the Gnostic religion is not yet dried up, but continues on its way; and it is beyond a doubt that the later Mandaeanism and the great religious movement of Mani are most closely connected with Gnosticism. These manifestations are all the more characteristic since in them we meet with a Gnosticism which remained essentially more untouched by Christian influences than the Gnostic systems of the 2nd century A.D. Thus these systems throw an important light on the past, and a true perception of the nature and purpose of Gnosticism is not to be obtained without taking them into consideration.
Bibliography.—A. Neander, Genetische Entwicklung d. vornehmsten gnostischen Systeme (Berlin, 1818); F. Chr. Baur, Die christl. Gnosis in ihrer geschichtl. Entwicklung (Tübingen, 1835); E. W. Möller, Gesch. der Kosmologie in der griechischen Kirche bis Origenes (Halle, 1860); R. A. Lipsius, Der Gnosticismus (Leipzig, 1860; originally in Ersch and Gruber’s Encyclopädie); H. L. Mansel, The Gnostic Heresies of the 1st and 2nd Centuries (London, 1875); K. Kepler, Über Gnosis und altbabylonische Religion, a lecture delivered at the Congress of Orientalists (Berlin, 1881); A. Hilgenfeld, Ketzergeschichte des Urchristentums (Leipzig, 1884); and in Ztschr. für wissenschaftl. Theol. 1890, i. “Der Gnosticismus”; A. Harnack, Dogmengeschichte, i. 271 seq. (cf. the corresponding sections of the Dogmengeschichten of Loofs and Seeberg); W. Anz, “Zur Frage nach dem Ursprung des Gnosticismus,” Texte u. Untersuchungen, xv. 4 (Leipzig, 1897); R. Liechtenhahn, Die Offenbarung im Gnosticismus (Göttingen, 1901); C. Schmidt, “Plotins Stellung zum Gnosticismus u. kirchl. Christentum” Texte u. Untersuch. xx. 4 (1902); E. de Faye, Introduction à l’étude du Gnosticisme (Paris, 1903); R. Reitzenstein, Poimandres (Leipzig, 1904); G. Krüger, article “Gnosticismus” in Herzog-Hauck’s Realencyklopädie (3rd ed.) vi. 728 ff.; Bousset, “Hauptprobleme der Gnosis,” Forschungen z. Relig. u. Lit. d. alten u. neuen Testaments, 10 (1907); T. Wendland, Hellenistisch-römische Kultur in ihren Beziehungen zu Judentum und Christentum (1907), p. 161 seq. See further among important monographs on the individual Gnostic systems, R. A. Lipsius, “Die ophitischen Systeme,” Ztschr. f. wissensch. Theologie (1863); G. Heinrici, Die valentinianische Gnosis u. d. Heilige Schrift (Berlin, 1871); A. Merx, Bardesanes von Edessa (Halle, 1863); A. Hilgenfeld, Bardesanes, der letzte Gnostiker (Leipzig, 1864); A. Harnack, “Über das gnostische Buch Pistis-Sophia,” Texte u. Untersuch. vii. 2; C. Schmidt, “Gnostische Schriften,” Texte u. Untersuch. viii. 1, 2; and also the works mentioned under § II. of this article. (W. Bo.)
GNU, the Hottentot name for the large white-tailed South
African antelope (q.v.), now nearly extinct, know to the Boers
as the black wildebeest, and to naturalists as Connochaetes (or
Catoblepas) gnu. A second and larger species is the brindled
gnu or blue wildebeest (C. taurinus or Catoblepas gorgon), also
known by the Bechuana name kokon or kokoon; and there are
several East African forms more or less closely related to the
latter which have received distinct names.
White-tailed Gnu, or Black Wildebeest (Connochaetes gnu).
GO, or Go-bang (Jap. Go-ban, board for playing Go), a popular
table game. It is of great antiquity, having been invented in
Japan, according to tradition, by the emperor Yao, 2350 B.C.,
but it is probably of Chinese origin. According to Falkener the
first historical mention of it was made about the year 300 B.C.,
but there is abundant evidence that it was a popular game
long before that period. The original Japanese Go is played on
a board divided into squares by 19 horizontal and 19 vertical
lines, making 361 intersections, upon which the flat round men,
181 white and 181 black, are placed one by one as the game
proceeds. The men are placed by the two players on any intersections
(me) that may seem advantageous, the object being to
surround with one’s men as many unoccupied intersections as
possible, the player enclosing the greater number of vacant
points being the winner. Completely surrounded men are
captured and removed from the board. This game is played in
England upon a board divided into 361 squares, the men being
placed upon these instead of upon the intersections.
A much simpler variety of Go, mostly played by foreigners, has for its object to get five men into line. This may have been the earliest form of the game, as the word go means five. Except in Japan it is often played on an ordinary draughts-board, and the winner is he who first gets five men into line, either vertically, horizontally or diagonally.
See Go-Bang, by A. Howard Cady, in Spalding’s Home Library (New York, 1896); Games Ancient and Oriental, by Edward Falkener (London, 1892); Das japan.-chinesische Spiel Go, by O. Korschelt (Yokohama, 1881); Das Nationalspiel der Japanesen, by G. Schurig (Leipzig, 1888).
GOA, the name of the past and present capitals of Portuguese
India, and of the surrounding territory more exactly described
as Goa settlement, which is situated on the western coast of
India, between 15° 44′ and 14° 53′ N., and between 73° 45′ and
74° 26′ E. Pop. (1900) 475,513, area 1301 sq. m.
Goa Settlement.—With Damaun (q.v.) and Diu (q.v.) Goa settlement forms a single administrative province ruled by a governor-general, and a single ecclesiastical province subject to the archbishop of Goa; for judicial purposes the province includes Macao in China, and Timor in the Malay Archipelago. It is bounded on the N. by the river Terakhul or Araundem, which divides it from the Sawantwari state, E. by the Western Ghats, S. by Kanara district, and W. by the Arabian Sea. It comprises the three districts of Ilhas, Bardez and Salsette, conquered early in the 16th century and therefore known as the Velhas Conquistas (Old Conquests), seven districts acquired later and known as the Novas Conquistas, and the island of Anjidiv or Anjadiva. The settlement, which has a coast-line of 62 m., is a hilly region, especially the Novas Conquistas; its distinguishing features are the Western Ghats, though the highest summits nowhere reach an altitude of 4000 ft., and the island of Goa. Numerous short but navigable rivers water the lowlands skirting the coast. The two largest rivers are the Mandavi and the Juari, which together encircle the island of Goa (Ilhas), being connected on the landward side by a creek. The island (native name Tisvādī, Tissuvaddy, Tissuary) is a triangular territory, the apex of which, called the cabo or cape, is a rocky headland separating the harbour of Goa into two anchorages—Agoada or Aguada at the mouth of the Mandavi, on the north, and Mormugão or Marmagão at the mouth of the Juari, on the south. The northern haven is exposed to the full force of the south-west monsoon, and is liable to silt up during the rains. The southern, sheltered by the promontory of Salsette, is always open, but is less used, owing to its greater distance from the city of Goa, which is built on the island. A railway connects Mormagão, south of the Juari estuary, with Castle Rock on the
