His rescue of Helen from a brothel launched a forerunner for the legend of Faust.

(1st Century CE) From Samaria, he was thought to be one of the earliest Gnostics, and a follower of John the Baptist. He was skilled in the arts of the Occult. He interpreted the Garden of Eden, exodus from Egypt, and the crossing of the Red Sea as allegories. He was rejected by Peter for his views on the Holy Spirit. (see Simony) Simon Magus offered the disciples of Jesus payment for the power to perform miracles. He formed the ancient Gnostic sect of Simonianism, and is thought to have influenced later secular forms of Gnosticism. (See "Jung and the Lost Gospels", by Hoeller, Theophysical Pub., 1989.) http://www.gnosis.org/library/grsmead/grsm_simon_magus.htm (See also; Dositheos.)