Historical Background
According to Hippolytus, this view was inspired by the Pythagoreans, who called the first thing that came into existence the "monad", which begat the dyad, which begat the numbers, which begat the point, begetting lines or finiteness, etc. Pythagorean and Platonic philosophers like Plotinus and Porphyry condemned Gnosticism (see Neoplatonism and Gnosticism) for their treatment of the monad or one.
Read more about this topic: Monad (philosophy)
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