Heretics that Never Existed

So we have established that Irenaeus was really talking about establishing a persecution against the followers of Mark and Polycarp within the ranks of the Church with help from his friends in high places (i.e. the court of Commodus). Ok, but what about all those other crazy heretics mentioned in his writings and others? How much reality is there to any of these claims?

Let's start at the beginning by identifying the 'real' heretics:

(a) 'those of Mark' (Marcionites, Marcosians etc)

(b) those of Polycarp whose heretical leanings are now obscured by Polycarp's identification of a certain 'Valentinus' as the ultimate root of their evil (i.e. their original association with Polycarp and the Johannine Diatessaron are now effectively obscured) Florinus, Ptolemy, Heracleon etc. On my identification of Polycarp as a crazy, lunatic heretic see my article at Hermann Detering's site.

Then there are the 'fake heretics' that never had any historical existence which develop from a (deliberate) misunderstanding of some sort (either in Irenaeus or subsequent writers) i.e.

(c) 'Ebion the leader of the Ebionites' (there never was an 'Ebion' his name represents a back formation from the Aramaic Evionim i.e. 'the Ebionites' had a leader named 'Ebion')

(d) 'Marcion the leader of the Marcionites' (Marcion is a similar back formation from the Aramaic 'those of Mark' see link above)

(e) 'Elxai the leader of the Elxasites' (again an Aramaic backformation)

(f) there never was Valentinus (likely from palatinus?)

(g) there never was a Carpocrates (undoubtedly from a comparison of the Alexandrian followers of Mark with Harpocrates; the comparison with Serapis from the period is well known and likely forms the identification of Marcion 'of Pontus' or 'of Sinope')

(h) Simon Magus' name 'Simon' undoubtedly comes from the Aramaic siman the divine 'sign' or portent of some sort. Simon is somehow derived from Samaritan sources and may be identical with 'Dositheus' i.e. 'the gift of God' (see Moses reception of the Torah described as a 'gift' in the Torah).

Got to catch my plane but I think you get an idea of the general unreliability of these statements taken for granted to be true by scholars ONCE AGAIN ...