(from aqua, water), a Christian sect which arose in the 2d century, who allege that water was not created, but was coeternal with God. They are thought to have derived this notion from Hermogenes, a celebrated painter at Carthage. The same notion was promulgated by Thales, the founder of the Ionic school of Greek philosophy, who flourished B.C. 640, and whose fundamental tenet was that water was the primary principle of the world. (See HERMOGENES); (See HYLE); (See THALES).