Nag Hammadi library

The Nag Hammadi library is a collection of early Christian Gnostic texts discovered in the town of Nag Hammadi in 1945. That year, thirteen leather-bound papyrus codices buried in a sealed jar were found by local peasants. The writings in these codices comprised 52 mostly Gnostic tractates (treatises), but they also include three works belonging to the Corpus Hermeticum and a partial translation of Plato's Republic. The codices are believed to be a library hidden by monks from the nearby monastery of St Pachomius when the possession of such banned writings denounced as heresy was made an offense. The zeal of Athanasius in extirpating non-canonical writings and the Theodosian decrees of the 390s may have motivated the hiding of such dangerous literature.

Related Topics:
Early Christian - Gnostic - Nag Hammadi - 1945 - Papyrus - Codices - Treatise - Corpus Hermeticum - Plato - ''Republic'' - Heresy - Athanasius - Theodosian decrees - 390

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The contents of the codices were written in Coptic, though the works were probably all translations from Greek. Most famous of these works must be the Gospel of Thomas, of which the Nag Hammadi codices contain the only complete copy. After the discovery it was recognized that fragments of these sayings of Jesus appeared in manuscripts that had been discovered at Oxyrhynchus in 1898, and quotations were recognized in other early Christian sources. The 1st or 2nd century date of the lost Greek originals behind the Coptic translations is controverted, but the manuscripts themselves are from the 3rd and 4th centuries.

Related Topics:
Coptic - Greek - Gospel of Thomas - Oxyrhynchus - 1898 - 1st - 2nd century - 3rd - 4th

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The Nag Hammadi codices are housed in the Coptic Museum in Cairo, Egypt.

Related Topics:
Coptic Museum - Cairo, Egypt

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