nag hammadi final report

7/30/2019 Nag Hammadi Final Report

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T H E N A G H A M M A D I C O D IC E S E D I T I N G P R O . J E C T :A F I N A L R E P O R T

by Stephen EmmelIns t i tu te for Ant iqu i ty and Chr is t ian i tyClaremont Graduate School

The Nag Hanmadi Codices Edi t ing Project of the Aner ican ResearchCenter in Egypt has marked a crucia l chapter in Ehe history of a remarkable col -lec t ion o f anc ien t manuscr ip ts . I These twe lve papyrus cod ices and par t of arh i r teenth, apparent ly discovered by a farmer in the vicini ty of the Upper Egyp-tian city of Na g Haurmadi near the end of Lg452 and no w kept at the Copric Museumin old Cairo, date roughly to the lat ter hal f of the fourth century CE.3 Theyare among the oldest wel l -preserved exarnples of the papyrus codex to have sur-v ived the centur ies, specimens f rom the very heart of the epoch-making t ransi -t ion from the scrol l to the codex as the standard form for a book.{ They con-ta in Copt i . c t rans la t ions of f i f t y -one Greek tex ts rs th i r t y -s ix o f wh ich rere* Please note that the bibl iographical details for works referred to below byauthor and date appear at Ehe end of this report.

i- A fu1l and authorlcative account of thls rather coqlicated history lsbelng prepared by Jernes M. Roblnson for publication Ln The Faestile Edition ofthe Ndg Hawnadt Codices: Inttpdtrction (Leiden: Brlll, scheduled to appear lnL979). See also Doresse (1958-1959) and the revtsed an expanded English trans-la t ioa of th is r rork , Doreaae (1960) , Bobinson (1967/68) , (L97Zb) and (1977a) .A more popular accormt Ls glven by Dart (L976).2 Fo t the most recent l-nfornatlon on the site and the discovery see Robin-so n ( 1 9 7 6 ) .3 See especla l ly Barns (1975, 12) ,4 For the historLcal context to rdhlch the developnent of the codex forn

is relevant see the stlrrulating study by Roberls (1954) and the artlcle byS k e a t ( 1959 ) .5 At least tno further text6 may be represented, The largest unplaced frag-lrents of codex xrr (see The Faesiftile Edttion of the Nag Hantmdt. codieee: co&Leeen' fi I dld XIII lletden: Bri]-l, f9731 pt . t0t/102, fragnenra I and 2) have no rye t been ldentlfied with elther of the two knorrn texts in that. codex and naytherefore represent a fl-fty-second text. Falnt traces of ink beneath the decora-tive line narking che preauned end. of The Tripant4te Iractate Ln codex I (p. f3g)may be the beglnning of a fifty-third text, which could have extended ae fa ras p. 142 of the codex (see EmeL lIgTTal). That at least the l@diate sourceaof the Coptlc texts nere in Greek is not serlously dlsputed by scholars. That


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previously unknor^m in any form, nd represent a select ion of works coryosed atd i f f e ren t t i nes across the f i rs t th ree or four cenEur ies o f our era and in var i -ous pa r t s o f th e He l l en i s t i c wo r l d . (See f i g . L -2 , )

t lhy and by whom these Eexts \^rere col lected together in Copt ic isfa r f rom clear . For a l though they d isp lay an overa l l i n te res t in the esoter i caspect of the rel igious fement that washed across the Roman Empire in the ear lycentur ies o f th is era , no one doct r ina l pos i t ion un i f ies the i r con ten t and nos ing le there c lear l y under l ies the i r p resenta t ion .6 Rather , they cast a d i f fuseand welcorn l ight into several of the darker corners of the rel ig ious specula-t ion ou t o f wh ich Chr is t ian i t y emerged as a poten t cu l tu ra l fo rce . (See Appen-dix I : Tab le o f Texts in the Nag Hammadi Cod ices. )

I t is to the d i f f i cu l t i nvest iga t ion o f gnost i c i s rn tha t the NagHamnadi codices make their largest contribution. Prerriously known ahoost en-t i re ly f rom the repor ts o f ear l y Chr is t ian theo log ians who sought to re fu tethem, the gnost ics I v iews on Ehe creaEion of the wor ld and on the nature anddest iny of nan can now be studied at f i rst hand in most of the texts frour NagHannadi. The texts display the rather bewi lder ing diversi ty of ideas that isi t se l f charac ter i s t i c o f gnost i c i sm and severa l d i f f e ren t t ypes of gnost i cthought a re represented . One tex t , though c lear l y gnost i c , po lemi -c izes bothaga ins t ca tho l i c Chr is t ian i t y and aga insE o ther gnost i c g roups as wel l ! Th isnew wealth of pr imary sources has reopened important quest ions about the originand nature o f gnost i c i s rn and, more impor tan t l y , about i t s evo lu t ionary in te rac-t ion wi th ear l y Chr is t ian i t y . T

But no t a l l o f the Nag Haurmad i tex ts are gnost i c . A few re f lec tmore or less or thodox ear ly Chr ist ian views. Some der ive from the Hernet ict rad i t ion . One has been ident i f i ed as a shor t sec t ion f rom PlaEors RepubL ie .

SeEl-tlc sources 1ay behind sone of those Greek cexts remains a possibllity' espe-cially ln the case of Thz Goepel AcardLng to Tl@mas. (See' fo r exaryle, Gulllau-nont [1958]. Nagel [1969a] atteqls to illuro:inate sone obscure passages Ln fho-nazsby supposing that it lras t.ranslated directly fron Aramai-c lnto Coprlc.)5 The apparent lack of uniLy among Ehe texts has led souE scholars toquestion the general acceptance of the coces as a group or "library." The eis, as yet, no firrn evidence to prove thaE they were ever considered as such inantiquity. (See further Appendix II: The Scribes Who Copied the Nag HannadiCodices.) Neverthelesg, this diversity of content exists not only aDng the

codlces but even anong the texts wi.thin an individual codex. Varlous atteqtsto account for thls have been nade by Sve-Sderbergh (1967, esp. PP . 552-553aad 559-560) an d (1975) and by Frederik i{isse (1971' esp. pp . 2L9-222) arrdItGnostlcisn and Early Monastlclsn in Egypt" to aPpear Lo, Gnoei.s: Fests ehri- tfu t Aow Jonas (G*ingen and zrlch: Vandenhoek und RuPrecht ' in press). l{isseargues that the text6 ar e unlfied by a strlct ascetlc tend ency.

7 A comprehensive bibliography of studles on gnosticisn in general and onthe Nag llarnnadl texts in partlcular ha s been Prepared by Scholer (197f). Th eblbliography is suppleDented annually io the auturm issue of Noon Iestamentwnbeginning rrith vol. 13 (1971). For a stirnulating introduclion to gnosticthought see Jonas (1953) .


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Fig . 1 . The Gebe l e l -Tar i f i s a sect ion ofacross t.he river from the modern city of Na gevidence concerning the discovery of the Na gI^rere found hidden in a ceramic jar somewhere

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the eastern wal l of the Ni le Val leyHanmadi in Upper Egypt. Al l theIlammadi codices indicates that theyat the base of th is inpos ing c1 i f f ,

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Fig. 2. iulost of the Nag Hammadi codices arr ivedCai ro s t i l l bor :nd in to the i r l ea ther covers . Nodices Edi t ing Project ever sar^/ heur thus.a t the Copt i cmember of the

lluseum in OldNag Hamnadi Co -


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Fig. 1. The Gebel el-Tari f is a sect ion ofacross the river from Lh e modern city of Nagevidence coneerning the discovery of th e Na g\^Iere found hidden in a ceramic j ar somewhere

Ehe eastern wal l of the Nile Val leyHannadi in Upper Egypt. All th eHammadi codices indicates that theyat the base of this imposing cl i f f .ffi

Coptic Museum n 01dof the Nag Ha:nnadi Co-Fig . 2 . Mos of the Nag llammadi co diees arrived at theCairo st i l l bor:nd into their leather eovers. No memberdices Bdit ing Project ever sa/ them thus.


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As source mater ia l fo r the ear ly h is to ry o f Chr is t ian thought and l i t e ra tu rethe Nag Haumadi codices are clear ly invaluable.The goa l of the Nag Hamrnad i Cod ices Ed i t ing Pro jec t , funded by theSnithsonian Inst i tut ion from July L974 through January L975 and again in J ulyand August 197518 has been to fu r ther the study of the manuscr ip ts in th ree re-spects : phys ica l reconst ruc t ion of Ehe f ragrnented papyrus leaves, conserva t iono f t he en t i r e co l l ec t i on f o r sa f e s t o rage and d i spLay , and pub l i ca t i on . T hecomple t ion of the pro jec t has seen major success in a l l t h ree of these c lose lyin te r re la ted endeavors and br ings to a c lose a long chapter o f research au thoredby Ehe d i l i gen t e f fo r t s o f numerous scho lars .

R e e o n s t r u c t i o nTLre reconst ruc t ion of the papyr i began, fo r the most par t , in thevery late nineteen-f i f t ies with the work of Pahor Labib and Mart in Krause. A1-

though codex II I , the f i rst of the codices to be acqui red by the Copt ic Museum,had been conserved in glass f rames as ear ly as L947, the rest remained in theharrds of ant iquit ies dealers unt i l Lg49.s At that t iure a French scholar work-ing in Ca i ro , Jean Doresse, comple ted a hur r ied inventory o f the co l lec t ionfor Egypt ian of f i c ia l s and packed the cod ices in to a su i t case. The su i t case wasthen sealed and kept in the custody of the Departnent of Ant iquit ies pending theprocurement of funds for purchasing i ts contents. T l rat there hTas al ready souredisorder among the papyrus leaves and fragnents is indicated by photographs ofthe codices taken pr ior to thei r storage in the suitcase, and some damage ap-parently occurred between this t ime an d th e time when th e suitcase r^ras againopened, b rie f ly in Lg52 and f inally in 1956 . I 0 Ac cordingly, when th e GermanArcheo log ica l Ins t i t u te donated panes of p lex ig lass to the Copt i c Museum in 1959,Labib, Krause and Victor Girgis conserved the papyr i in the order in which theyfound themr l l thus preserving the f ragments in the sequence and condi t ion inwhich they had cone into the possession of the museum. ^ '

8 I am personally indebted to the Smithsonian Inst i tut ion and the ARCEfor also providing funds for my return to the United States at Ehe close ofthe pro ject in the auturnnof L977.9 During this per iod most of codex I r^/asexported from Egypt and of-fered for sale in Europe and the Uni ted States. I t r^ ras urchased for the C.G.Jung Inst i tute in Zr ich, SwitzerLartd. in L952 and later presented to the erni-nent psyctrologist as a bir thday present. In return for publicat ion rights tothe part of the codex that remained in Cairo, Jungts heirs have returned their

possession to Egypt. The last of these leaves and fragments were registered atthe Copt ic Museum n October L975. The Egypt ian ant iquit ies dealer had init ial-ly conserved this part of codex I in glass frames. Tlrese r^tere removed when thebinding and papyrus leaves r^rereexported, necessitat ing a second conservat ion,this t ime in plexiglass, when the leaves r^rere acquired for the Jung Inst i tute.0nce back in Cairo this part of codex I \^ras econserved in conformity with theres t o f Ehe co l lec t ion .10 See Krause (L962, L22-L23) .l t Krause-Labib (L962, 2L) .L2 Krause-Labib (L962, 5 n. 6) . I^ i i th regard to the smal ler f ragments,


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In the case of the well-preserved manuacrlpts this nethod of con-servatlon fo r the nost part sisrp y retaLned the correct sequence of the page8.Thus the initial reconstructlon of codices I, II, III , V, \,:t, WI and XIIIITposed few problerls. But codices IV, V[II, IX, X, XI and XII consisted of abouttwo thousand fragnents, only a small number of which could be readily placed incorrect page sequence. (See fig. 3.) Krause and Labib succeeded in reconstructlngmost of codex IV on the basis of other coples of the two texts lt contains, thoughthLs reconstruction could no t be carrled through on-the papyrus itself r.rlthoutdisturbing the official lnvento ry of the fragrents, r" Whlle Krause waa alsoable to draw sore conclusions about the original nake-up of the other fLve frag-mentary codices, the exact reconstruction of these renained quLte problenatlc. "By thls tine, ho\rever, plans were undertay fo r the Unlted NationsEducational, Sclentific and Cultural organlzatlon (IJNESCO)o supervise the pub-lication of a photographlc facsircile editlon of the collection, a continuatlonof work begun by Pahor Lablb.16 with this project in vlew, nearly all of theleaves and fragrents were photographed betneen 1962 and 1966, thus pern:mentlyrecording the evldence that the inttlal conservation had sought to preserve,"In 1968 Janes M. Roblngon was asked by the UNESCOo examlne these photographsand to report on Ehe work that would be required to prepale thero fo r plU.ca-tion. the Institute for AntiquLty and ChrLstlanity (Clareoont., Callfornla)the reupon laltiated the Coptlc cnostlc Library Project, directed by Roblnson,to prepare English translatlons of the entire collection. In the course oftheir work, the scholars engaged in thls project also prepared hypothetlcal re-constructions of the very fragnentary codlces and contlnued the difflcult taskof identlfying the proper places of the many snall fragrents remalni.ng frorn allthe codlces. But in the absence of direct access to the papyrl ln Cairo their

wo k had to reEaln unconfirroed.This clrcunstance changed ln Decenber 1970 when the UNESCOnterna-tlonal CoEnittee for the Nag liamadl Codices held its first plenary neetlng in Cairo,0n December 15 the couoit tee was granted per:nlsalon to open the plexiglass f raresan d a techD.lcal sub-corunl-ttee of four nenbe s (Sdren Giversen, Rodolphe Kasser,

however, this nethod was apparent ly not. r igorously applied. Instead these r.rereoften conserved in clusters in a few plexigldss frames, from which only a verygeneral idea of their or iginal locat ion can sometimes be gained. Many othersmall fragnents r^tere left lying in Ehe leather bindings or in the boxes in whichthe bindings had been stored, These r^rere ot consewed in plex ig lass unt i l 1970.13 I^ILrat s called codex XIII did not survive into modern tiues as a com-plete codex. Rather it consists of S leaves that were removed from the niddleof a codex and placed inside the binding of codex VI in ant iquity. See Robin-son (L972a)L4 Krause-Lab ib (L962, 40) .15 See Krause (L962, L27-L29).16 L a b i b ( 1956 ) .L7 Tlr is photographic record has proved the value of Labib and Krausersconservat ion procedure by providing signif icant clues to the or iginal order ofmany of the fragmengs.


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Krause and Robinson) was charged wlth responslbll-lty for carrylng out the Physi-ca l reconstructlon of the papyrL and guLding further photography for the facsln-ile edition. In the course of flve brl-ef sessiona betleen 1970 and 1973 thetechnicaL sub-comittee, assisted by mernbersof the Coptic GnostLc Llbrary Pro-ject, tested an d lnproved various hypothetical reconstructions that had beenproposed, rearranged those fragnents accordingly, and contlnued to identify andplace further fragnents,The Nag Ilannadi Codlces Edltlng Project contlnued this work intensive-ly froo Jul-y 1974 through August 1975. Under the direction of Jarnes M. Roblnson,Ptlnclpal Aneri-can InvestLgator for the project, Charles 1'I. Iledrick and I de -

F ig . 3 (at le f t ) . Th is photograph, takenin th e mid-sixties, shows 22 papyrus frag-ments conserved with Nag Hammadi codexVIII. Ten of these f ragne.nts have beenplaced in that codex, one in codex IV, andon e in codex XI. Three of th e remainingf ragrnents, though as yet unplaeed, havebeen assigned to other codi .ces becauseth e handwrit ing on them is clearly no tth e same as that in codex VIII.

Fig. 4 (at r ight ) . Char les I^I . Hedr ickat r^rork on reconst^ructing the papyrusrolls from which Nag Hammadi codex IVr^/as manufactured. This procedure ca nsomet imes provide the decis ive cr i te-r ia fo r es tab l i sh ing the or ig ina l se-quence of pages in a papyrus codex.I t must be used in any case in orderto conf im a sequence establ ished byother ureans.


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Krauee and Robinson) was char:ged rdith reeponsibillty for carrylng out ttre physi-cal reconatructlon of the papyri and guiding further photography for the facsln-lle edltion. In the course of five brief sessions betreea 1970 and 1973 thetechnlcaL sub-comlttee, assLsted by xnenbers of the Coptic Gnostlc Llbrary Pro-jecr, tested and inproved varloua hypothetical teconstructlons that had beenproposed, rearranged those fragments accordingly, and contLnued to ldentlfy andpLace further fragments.The Nag Hamadi Codices Ed1.tlng Project continued thLs nork lotenslve-ly fron July 1974 through August 1975.. Under the dlrectlon of Jares M. Roblnson,Prlnclpal AnerLcan Investigalor for the project, Charles 11. Iledrlck and I de-

Fig. 3 (at le f t ) . This photograph, takenin the rnid-sixties, shows 22 papyrus frag-ment,s conserved with Nag }larnnadi codexVIII. Ten of these f ragre,nts have beenplaced in that codex, on e in codex IV ' andone in codex XI. Ttrree of the remainingfragments, though as ye t unplaced, havebeen assigned to other codices becausethe handwriting on them is clearly notthe same as that in codex VIII.

Fig. 4 (a t right) . Charles I'I. Iledrickat r,Iork on reconst ructing the papyrusrolls from which Nag ilammadi codex IVwas manufactured. This procedure eansometimes provide the decisive crite-r ia for establ ishing the or iginal se-quence of Pages in a Papyrus codex.It must be used in any case in orderto confirm a sequence established byother reans.


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voted xrost of our time to lhe ld o k of reconstructlon, while throughout the grantperiods loany other scholars came from both the Unlled States and EuroPe to workon the manuscripts accoraling to their interests an d as their schedul"es Pernitted.l8

By the end of L974 huldreds of fragrents, sone no larger than a fingetnail, hadbeen placed through the uae of advanced papyrological technlques that rely Prl-marlly on the unique pattelns of the papyrus flbers rather than on the nuch leescertain crlteria offered by the text. " A detailed invesEigatlon of how thecodices were ori-ginally nanufactured has provided crlteria fo r establishing thesequence of pages in a papyrus codex with a high degree of certainty and with-out heavy reliance on scribal paginatlon, which in flumy cases is not extant, ortextgal continuity, which can hardly be hoped for in the no re fragrentary codl-ces. 'u (See f ig . 4. ) A t present the page sequence and or ig inal lengEh of eachcodex i-s clear with bu t three exceptions:(1 ) The extremely fragrentary conditlon of codex X' further corryli-

cated by a lack of pagination after page 5, has nade it ltrpossible Lo dete rxoinethe orlginal length of the codex. Fragnents of 54 lnscrlbed pages survive, butthe codlcological relationship of these f ragr0ens indicates that origlnally therenust have been at least 68 inscribed pages and qulte probably there lt e re nore.The sequence of the fragrnents now identlfied as pages L3-22 arld 55-58 also re -rnalns somewhat hypothetical.2 I(2 ) Codex XII represenls the largest loss wirhin the collection.At present i t cons ls ts of only 8 leaves and severa l smal ler f ragDents. A1-though the leaves lack page nr:mbe s they can be put lnto relative sequencethrough conparison with other copies of the two knohrn texts ln the iodex and'to sone extent, also on the basis of papyrus fiber continulty, Ttlls reconslruc-tion Lndicates that the codex originally contained at least 7l inscrlbed pag"s.22

18 The visiting neuibers of the project rtere G.M. BrortDe, Anton Fackelu,ann,Bentley Layton, Dj,eter Muellert, Birger Pearson, I.Iillian C. Robinson Jr., JohnSj.eber, Frederik Wisse, and Jan Zandee. other scholars who visited the projectduring the grant periods were Sdren Glversen (Dennark), Rodolphe Kasser (Switzer-land), Klaus Koschorke (Federal Pepublic of Gerrnany), Martin Krause (Federal Re-public of Germany), Jean-Plerre llah6 (France), Manfredo Manfredl (Italy), Jacques-d.l,t6nard (France), Peter Nagel (Ge roan Denocratic Republic), Tito Orlandl (Italy)'Torgny Sve-Sderbergh (Sweden), and Hans-Martin Schenke (German Denocratic Re -p u b l i c ) .19 See i tedr lck (1976) and the l i terature c l ted there (p. 148 n. 4) .20 See WLsse (1975) and Janes M. Robinson (1975a), (1975b) and "Ihe Futureof Papyrus Codicology," forthconing ln the first volume, on ltre Future of Copto-1ogy, ed. R.McL. Wi lson, of a new ser ies of Copt lc Studies f ron 8r l l l (Le iden) .Turner (L977) has recently undert aken the inportant and demanding task of layingthe foundatLons for a codlcological typology.21 A detatled discuaslon of the consideratlons that led to the Presentreconstruction can be foturd in nhe Faesiftile Edition of the Nag Eonnadt Col:Lces:CodLces IX and X (Leiden: Brtll, 1977) xix-:o


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Since che few exlant leaves are thenselves relatively well-preserved, nltoesslngto a state of preservation that is inconsistent nith so great an overall loas,it i.s likely that this loss, wh l ch presumably includes a leather blndlag, tookplace only after the discovery in 1945. It is thus to be hoped that the btndingand the remainder of the leaves nay yet cone into scholarly hands, thouglr there isnow good re:uion to believe that at least some of this lost portlon of the codexwas burnt shortly af ter the di-scovery.2 3

(3 ) As has been noted, codex XIII did not survlve into mode n tlress a coqlete codex.2a It is virtually certain that the 8 extant leaves origl-nally lay at the ve ry center of a quire, thus clarifying thelr relaEive sequenceeven though page numbers can only be assLgned to theD hypothetically. Slnce thelast extant leaf ends h'ith the openlng lines of a text preserved conpletely incodex II, a nlnlnal length fo r the codex can be estiEated at 80 pages. Never-thelesa, the 16 survlving pages ar e presumably al l that were interred with codext rT a ^ - ! .1 - . . . r ! . ,v r r r t 4 r L ! 9 s r L J t

Appendix III gives the present inventory of pages and fragments ofthe Nag ltamadl codices. About 932 of the 1240 inseribed pages that originallynade up the collection are represented by at least a fragnent. (I f one dts-counts the najor loss in codex XII alone this figure rises to 972.) 0f the714 lnscribed fragrents that remain unpJ-aced less than a hrurdred preserve .mynore than a ferd letters of inscription. There is littIe doubt that o:my of therenalning fragmnts can still be placed, but no w the Line and effort requlredwould probably be dLsprop ortl.onately great compared to the amunt of lnfo rna-tion so galned.Co n s e " u a t i o n

ConcurrentJ.y with the reconstruction of the nanuscripts - the EditlngProject rmdeltook to conserve the collection fo r the Coptic Museun. Peggy S.Iledrick and Anita l{. Robinson, conservators for the project., faced a najorproblen from the outset. Ihe antiquitles dealers fron whom the papyrl were ob-tained had used transparent cellulose adhesive tape, generously and none Eo ojudiciously, to hold sone of the fragrents together, often lncorrect.ly. In the

sible to deterrnlne the center of the quire in i ts present state of preservat ion.It may even have consisted of more than one quire. In any case codex XII maywell have contained f ar more than 7L pages. See f urther lTte FaesiwLLe E&Ltionof the Nag Hunrn&L Co&Lees: CodLees XI, XII Ld XIII (Leiden: Brill, L973) xiii-X V .

23 TLre s tory repor ted by Doresse tha t a f te r the d iscovery of the cod ices" the peasants had burn t some o f them to brew the i r tea" (Doresse [ fg0O, f18 ] )ha s been conf irme d an d clarif ied by an eye-rrritness inte rviewed in th e Nag Hannadiregion by James I'1. Robinson.

24 See no te 13 above.25 For advice on the work of conservat ion \de are especial ly indebted to

Messrs . Ba ines-Cope (London) , Stan ley Baker (London) , John Barnst (0x fo rd) ,l , Ial ter Cockle (London), and Anton Fackelmann (Vienna), who also joined the Pro-j ec t i n Ca i ro b r i e f l y i n L974 .


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tFig. 5. Anita I{. Robinsoncarefully removing the ol dcel lulose adhesive tapeused by antiquit ies dealersto hold fragments of papy-rus together. Once thisde l i ca te and di f f i cu l t taskwa s accomplished th e frag-ments \dere rejoined witht, iny pieces of paper tape( c f . f i g . 8 ) .

\ I *. " . rni*-!-i"{*{,llti t:'fi $1.. i ii'!. '" ' i t'illil'*i- ir.{ }irii .j" I te ,;; l - I.. - ." , ).J_ ,r r T. O(, . f }. - i l. t .u rrx-. . fr. !i. i ' 'ltr: f "r"l {$:\e}:g q:x*g"" rJn'" ' -:; i3 1-r,.T;.; i; L . {3lra I--C.ii - : r r t r - l ^ - - . l { . r ; r , . *a .g , tY{ i: .: -- * cr : .- r . . ?. , { L f .q . : - i Fu ary , * t ; .tFf i**t}AY t rsA:-r**rx;Er i ,*;.i * --.\. ; *. ' j*3"$ tcil n + lt$r !-r$tnT?1.*.$l *'*sr5f.r:{' rr}a *s*s*.a(l-''Wiu$ :S*,*rpl.g; xrr-{ Wlit** q-;-_Tj? &*r- r{xt ,rirb.{ l;$i*r}

}1;Sc1er6:1rttp qu rrt; i. {tryfiFr. rs*g ry{H:;'ri.l:, ' - . . -* R..,,\$*.**rw'v_ri-ti. r , -r.-*t s, ,ltyl.}"

!q n rS$ftu q)\ r.rd r-{ff } ".; r .{l:ry"" t{ |sFS'{: " '-* ' ;" \ r r,. ' ' :-} i. , {! }j $ q"ti F-.': r r -.1J.!ts vr!.. , l6r.A*u ( ; ;i " rrrtf-r,}-1.\r,{r-? .,*-f t ' t f rr la *. . $'t ' iJ : , r.q!ry {}r\ ..-!Yw,&-ll{ e$-: **,nee i",.,,-+'"r1trE trtt) y*...", iiri,^. r, Ti,,_ - f*-,"*-i. :vtul , *rl'.,r1E:i *$$vr*$- a i a,r. ;i',;.;'_,.,t f , . : : t tO * ; 1 " , . t f f r .e r r r * r r_ . id $ r **{lYP c ., ;r l -e,lr:: ar; , .S\.:$.S,Si& q,r ,yF -, ";;",l l;'. ","Srr*iir' ." : . $ , ; 1 i , f i , ' * . , I l f ; ; . a , I i , .: , , ,* t { * * r . * ; ; ; , ' r ' i $ " t d< . \ " r ; ' ! r ' ' l i " l i i !*i..:.,."'i:,,1i'';:,il_.,,;11.j,,,';' r r r r . : r i - V ika . . i r * - ! . i . l " i : : ' n l . l - ! r ; ' z}f ': : r; "'''T:fi,;l;;;;;::'' , . \ L f , , i q . :1 l i l , f i y r ;1 , r , ,

Fig. 6- 7 . NH CNote that th ea fragment atI 8l before and after removalremoval of the uppermost strip8 1 , 5 - 7 .

old cel lulose adhesive tape.t ape permit ted the addit ion ofo fo f

t_1,,


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- 1 8 -

'' ' \ ' ? . * ' " *" t iq f , , tAV* { ' . : ' r " ' " :u{ ; ' " t 'lz't: '., | :' ltU.t;g';,{ {{ F}i t rg * r"t * .. . ^,t . ' i ' r . t ' - f ' L s l r v ) : ' a " e r r ' : ' { r }:*r ' i " i l ' u i" .\ l 4s {:.tt! ;i f \r F*{:

"' **\ : ' : f; ; i- g J\r,*a.-l-116' (: ; ' - ; " t . ' ( ' : . 'l r : - ! ; e s i ; ae ; f . L i J l ' j e i i ; . ' \ , ' r r - :'i v r* * rd?'{g-,...: 'I r- t3 fr Frrr *t r"o' i ; ",f *{3l3Y ?ft ty'an* -1 6ffi ,+iFi * -.. i.-i'* *flC te : \4;tr:'t:'a."f ;-a?:,..,,r "{:r{3qF'i|-n-4, c'.} tr "fyt.1- '4rb\]",#sl a*r4 t$ls|rc e'T-. r,* -c* *^ o-;,. Lt-t.j:)-: *i-\

Fig. 5. AniLa It . Robinsoncarefully removing the oldcellulose adhesive tapeused by antiquities dealersto hold fragnents of papy-rus together. Once thisdelicate and dif f icult taskr^/as accomplished the frag-ments r,ere rejoined witht iny pieces of paper tape( c f . f i g . 8 ) .

i , , i ,

tEef ?4,p''^'4,,c f *c*r*. F*F*f ,*-..-\.1-4}*FF&Gr*:*t*+ o:-rrc f4t?trl r? "'s:

{':l:96rt{Fld-: *:.ir*d*3Yrur "r6ffi. xe'e+"j ;*'}*srt {l .rii :^-gfrl*.J gs,,"-F,#Ti rult iar':Qggry"r $ftr.;"g,o, ifg#i *ir -:tifCT):,rr|ce"ffi.r"r-mqr< ..,,-i..rr s if#{rf:}h6f$ t-nJ Zsr:nrre.'.*roferon*r-iainqr6C .;3 r, :T$ry'r;vtr: tt;l:_, "&Fry.qag..i,*f:r;y", .": ;1'X16 6 rr ii r"t'r**,:u'ar"f, * , ' ' i * r r " rc ry t . . * " i " r :..*_,,. {6* yrrXeg'-*Fth"ll.:1 Y: ji: -_ur' *i*'rin?e_r1,+rx--Ci',"$i*"*.#svfrTl;' '; {; "Yry:&w*a.ryw;'5,1jio.l;,,Y:,WW*,,Y :'*,' .; t : ri} ?-lt{ rrfryrfiruyj . i :. r i ^ c 'Kr [J e {: fr*.Hf Ynt,trt

- i r i r i . !

Fig. 6-7. NHC I 8l before and after removalNote that the removal of th e uppermost stripa f ragment at 81,5-7 .of o1d cel lulose adhesive tape.o f t ape per"uitted th e addition of


13/28

- t - 9 -

course of mre than twenty years this tape discolored and began to stain thepapyrus, obscuring portions of the text, In a few cases lhe adhesive had alsobegun to ooze ou t fron beneath the cellulose backing, sticking the papyrus tothe insides of the plexlglass. ln order to open these the conservators hadto brush acetone on the outsides of the plexiglass, which is sughtly porous,so that the fules would penet.rate and dissolve the adhesive on lhe insides.

To rercve the adhesive tape itself tw o other chesricals were used,first tri chlore thylene as a solvent and then )


14/28

- 2 0 -

Fig. 8. l \ lo fraguents of inscribed pa-pyrus are joined at NIIC VI 10,3 by twominute pieces of paper tape, Ttre ac-tual size of th e area shown is only on ecm. square. Note the clear continuityof the papyrus f ibers across the break.Fig. 9 . MI C XI L2 has been re const ructed f rom three l arge , trro small , an d on euerA small f ragnents on the basis of vert ical (o. , the rector p. 11) and horLzon-tal papyrus f iber cont inuity as well as on the basis of the contours of deterio-rat ion of preceding and succeeding leaves. Ttre st i f f paper is lands serve tohold the fragments in their correct relat ive posit ions wi thout necessitat ingtheir attachment to any sort of backing.

dices sheet by sheet. Since al l of the Nag llaurnadi codices except codex I con-sist of a single qui re this method of conservat ion preserves the aspect of thecodex and is therefore of considerable advantage to further work on placingfragrnents and to codicological study.28Th e Egyptian Antiquities Orgatization approved our proposed con-

servat ion format but requested that plexiglass be used instead of glass. Ac -cordingly, \^te mported a suf f ic ient quant i ty of plexiglass panes (37x32 cm. and3 ff i . thick) f rom Switzerland, Great Bri tain and the United States and trans-ferred the reconstructed papyrus leaves to them,2e Each sheet is posit ioned28 Since codex I is more like three single-quire codices bor:nd into asingle cover than it is like the usual multi-quired codices, conserving it inthe sane format as the rest of the collection is no t overly disruptive of itsor iginal structure.29 Very special thanks must be given to Carol Crochet who volunteeredhe r careful and conscientious assistance in this work in January an d June-

" fit' , ' ' I - 'I t-ftTlefibEtefialfffi;Ir.i'rrrlfiFr,*i$'nrrt i o Y -xrqLfi.E}., f, 'tt 3 tirerr-ar.elr-joo-'r-fr>tl.t'zttoorTFs _ ^ + gN6 -f fg;lJ,tr|L? itzc,fr'tt**),5TffYv,ffitrx**lc p.b-tllafr4gTrez".tzaY.*.'6l.rd. -d|,,l-trftt't.qf :.tt*-f *.pl

Tre -nz\Zrzro*t1-ra1-H###**e4**wt FectrZ-iirrr.


15/28

-20 -

Fig. 8. f inro fragments of inscribed pa -pyrus are joined at NHC VI l0r3 by twominute pieces of paper tape. Tt re ac-tual size of the area shown is only onecm . square. Note the clear continuityof the papyrus f ibers across the break.Fig. 9. NHC XI LZ has been reconst ructed f rom three larger two smal l , and oneuerA small f ragments on the basis of vert ical (on the rector p. 11) and hor izon-ta l papyrus f iber cont inui ty as wel l as on the basis of the contours of deter io-rat ion of preceding and succeeding leaves. The st i f f paper is lands serve tohold the f ragments in thei r correct re lat ive posi t , ions wi thout necessi tat ingthei r at tachment to any sort of backing.

dices sheet by sheet. Since al l of the Nag llauunadi codices except codex I con-sist of a single quire this method of conservation preserves the aspect of thecodex and is therefore of eonsiderable advantage to further work on piacingfraginents and Lo codicological study.28TLreEgyptian Antiquit ies Organization approved our proposed con-servation fornaL but requested that plexiglass be used instead of glass. Ac-cordingly, we imported a suff ic ient quanti ty of plexiglass panes (37x32 cm. and3 nnr. thick) from Switzer land, Great Br itain and the United States and trans-ferred the reconstructed. papyrus leaves to them.2e Each sheet is posit ioned

28 Since codex I is more l ike three single-quire codices bor:nd into asingle cover than it is like the usual nulti-quired codices, conserving it inthe same format as the rest of the col lection is not over ly disruptive of i tsor ig ina l s tructure.29 Very special thanks must be given to Carol Crochet who volunteeredhe r careful and conscientious assistance in this work in January and June-

' -..;\ : . ' r rt t-.5lt*t1-Zr4;.-,paotil?rrLAa.^;e$i -?(r-r.\diTr,-?i J|'r'*d:-',}}*tf tu 3t"'11 LLtt:-tt

", t'2 ! r.r^;byo.c-77fi7i!.*.i!ra or..4-FIM 6 *i t$!Jaf{.?f,vwafiWe"t]t-6;F ^Yc\'rtelr-

rXJflc p.,,-tr.IafrfiirepTzfr-,C1lo:. f,r'-?TT Ft't .'rf:q a|ffal*Artoy7Er^trfi76g11-Ttc-gTS4Rrrp


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- l t -

such t.hat when the franes containing a codex are st.acked neat ly on top of each-other the relat ive al ignne,nt of the sheets recreates the qui re as if i t wereopened at the center .30 Since the brown t.ape used on the papyrus does not ad-here to plexiglass the sheets are attached to one pane of each f rarne wi th amininal number of smal1 pieces of f iLmoplcst P, a t ranslucent adhesive paper de-ve loped spec i f i ca l l y fo r repa i r ing o ld books, par t i cu la r l y o f paper and parch-ment .s t The edges o f the p lex ig lass f rames are a lso sea led w i th th is tape andeach f rame is label led with the re levant codexr page and Copt ic Museum inventorynumbers.

The leather bindings in which the codices were encased are simi-lar ly conserveci in shal low plexig lass boxes. The unplaced fragments are con-served with the codices to which they have been assigned. TLre scraps of Greekand Copt i c papyr i (car tonnage) removed f rom the lea ther b ind ings o f cod icesIV ' V, VI , VI I , V I I I , IX and XI are conserved and stored as a un i t , t oge therwith the miscel laneous f ragmen;s, rather than with the codices from which theyl tere removed. The binding of codex I, with i ts cartonnge, is kept at the In-s t i t u te fo r Ant iqu i t y and Chr is t ian i t y , wh ich purchased i t , w i th the approva lof the Egypt ian Ant iquit ies Organizat ion, f rom a European olrtner. The where-abouts of whatever cartonnage may have been removed from the bindings of co-d ices I I , I I I and X i s no t known.

At the end of L974 \^re designed two storage cabinets for the papyr i .The Cab j -ne ts l ^ re re const ruc ted by Des ign Center Ca i ro (14 Ad l i S t ree t , Ca i ro ) .Each cabinet contains two cupboards, each designed to hold three portable wooden

August 1975 and again in January 1976. We r,ree also asslsted briefly by Katri-nkaSieber, Juin Foresnan, Anne Jackson, Te d Worth, Connie Mallard, R. Scott Bird-sall, Michael Bryan Fiske, Janes coehring, an d Marvin W. Meyer. With regard to onof the najor objections to the use of plexiglass fo r the cooservation of papyrus 1should be noted that a static charge can be removed easily with readily availableanti-static fluids. the question of possible chemical interaction between plexi-glass and papyrus cannot be answered decisively; perhaps only titrE r,till tell.Suffice iE to report that the Nag Hannadi papyri have been in plexiglass franesfo r nearly thro decades now r{ithout noticeable alteration or t that account,30 Io the case of codex XIII, on which see oote 13 above, the le aves arealigned such that the contours of deterioration of leaf 49/50 natch those ofcodex VI Leaf LlZ.31 This naterLal, rnanufactured by Hans Neschen (D-4967 Bckeburg, PO B1340, Federal Republ ic of Germany) , is adver t ised as "absolute ly neut ra l : nonacldic, non conductive, no wood-alirent, free of plasticlzer, non yellorting,no d iscolor lng. " See Bur l -age (1966) and, for a sc ient i f ic test repor t onlongevity nade in the Danish Nuclear Center \^rith do cunents fron the CopenhagenState Archive, Skall (L974), who reports that the adhesive used fo r fiT,tnoplast Pls a polyacrylate (p . 38). EilnapLast P fared well in these tests. Ilowever,

filnoplat P is too thln to provide much structural support unless lt is usedln large pleces. Since it is most desireable not Eo cover inscriPtion ktlthany adheslve naterial, ne used fiLmopLast P to mend the papyrus only h'hen therewas no alternative to placlng lhe tape over a bit of ink. In these few casegwe stil l used the snallest pieces possible.


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boxes. Inside each box are two rov/s of seven shelves on which the plexiglassf rnmes are s to red , th ree per she l f . Each f rame is kept in a s t rong p las t i cbag for pro tec t ion aga ins t scra tch ing . T t re conten ts o f each box cor respond toone volume of th e ARE-I]NESCO acsiurile edit ion and the shelves are labelled indeta i l to fac i l i t a te access to any par t i cu la r page. Mounted on each scoragecab ine t i s a g lass- topped d isp lay area . AE present the cab ine ts are kept in Ehemanuscr ipt wing of the Copt ic Museum l ibrary in the care of Mrs. Sanl iha Abd El -Shaheed , Ehe Cu ra t o r o f Manusc r i p t s . (See f i g . 10 . )P u b L i e a t t o n . a n C b eu o n d

The main Jort of the Nag Hanmadi Codices Edit ing Project is beingpubl ished in two ser ies of volumes. The f i rst volume of lT te FaesimiLe E&Lt t -onof th e Na g Hanna&L CodLees3z appeared in L972. TLre twelf th and f inal vo lumewi l l be pr i -n ted in L979. Th is comple te photograph ic ed i t ion o f the co l lec t iondoer :ments the reconst ruc t ion of the manuscr ip ts as o f the beg inn ing of 1978.33Tlre rapidity \,riEh which these volumes have continued to appear sinee L974 is duein large part to the support of the Smithsonian Inst icut ion and the American Re-search Center in Egypt. TLre Edit ing Project has also provided members of theCopt i c Gnost i c L ib rary Pro jee t w i rh repeated oppor tun i t ies to check the i r ed i -t ions against the manuscr ipts themselves. The r:nchal lenged value of autopt icexaminat ion of ancient texEs has been enhanced in the case of the Nag Hamnnadicod ices by the d iscovery tha t de ter io ra ted passages of ten become qu i te leg ib lewhen viewed r :nder ul t ravio let l ight, TLre f i rst volume of the Copt ic Gnost icL i b ra ry Pro j ec t t s c r i t i ca l ed i t i ons and Eng l i sh t r ans l a t i ons appea red i n 1975 , 34a second vol .me is present ly in the press, and i t is expected that the rem: in ingvolumes wi l l appear soon now that the reconstruct ion of the manuscr ipts has beencomple ted .

The pro jec t has a lso g iven b i r th to two impor tan t o f f spr ing . F i rs t ,severa l fo rays by members o f the pro jec t to Ehe reputed s i te o f the d iscoveryof the manuscr ipts near Nag Harnmadi has led to three seasons of archeologicalsurvey and excavat ion in the area r:nder the auspices of the Inst i tute for An-t iqu i t y and Chr is t ian i t y .3s Second. , the cont inued presence in Egypt o f memberso f the Ed i t ing Pro jec t made poss ib le the h igh ty successfu l In te rna t iona l Con-gress of Copto logy, sponsored jo in t l y by the I INESCO nd the Egypt ian Ant iqu i t i esOrgar r i za t ion in Ca i ro , December 9-L7 , L976, wh ich led in tu rn to the founng

32 Publ ished under the auspices of the Depar tment of Ant iqu i t ies of theArab Republ ic of Egypt in conjunct ion with the Uni ted Nat ions Educacional ,Sc ient i f ic and Cul tura l Organizat ion (Leiden: Br i l l , L972 and fo l lowing) .

33 Users of lTte FaesinrLLe E&Lt ion should not overlook the addit ions andcorrect ions that wi l l appear in Ehe introductory volume in L979.34 Alexander Antig and Frederik t^Iisse, Nag HanrnadLCodLees flfr2 wt d IIrr2:T' l , teGospel of the EgyptLans (Nag llammadi Studies 4) (Leiden: Br i l l , 1975). Al lof these edit ions are scheduled to appear in Br i l l rs ser ies Nag I{ortrwdL Studi.es.An advance pubt icat ion of translations of al l of the texts is no\^Iavai lable inJa:nes M. Robinson, ed. , lTte Nag Humnail:L ibrary in EngLish (San Francisco: Har-per and Row; Le iden: Br i l l , 1977) .35 See note 2 above and Van Elderen-Rob inson (L977) .


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L -ildl* -: ?. ** -**b*os;"--%*.y:

F ig . 10 . Mrs . San iha Abd El -Shaheed,Museum, r,ith t.he Na g Harunadi codices

- 2 3 -

Curator of lulanuscriptsin th e manuscript wing

*kf o r the Copt i c

o f t he l i h r s r y .

o f an In te rna t iona l Assoc ia t ion fo r Copt i c Stud ies .36Of course none of i t would have been possib le without the generous

coopera t ion of our Egypt ian hosts . For the i r hosp i ta l i t y and ass is tance o fevery sort \^re are especial ly indebted to Dr. Gamal Mokhtar, President Emeri tuso f the Egypt ian Ant iqu i t i es Organ iza t ion , Dr . Pahor Lab ib , D i rec to r Emer i tuso f the Copt i c L1useum, Dr . V ic to r G i rg is , D i rec to r Genera l o f Egypt ian Museums,Dr. Mouni r Basta, Director of the Copt ie Museum, and Mrs. Sa.uiha Abd El-Shaheedand the other members of the staff at the Copt ic Museum,

36 See James M. Robinson, ttThe First Internat ional Congress ofscheduled to appear in Ehe BulLetin de 7n.SoeL7t dtAneh1oLogi.e CopteL977), and the Na'tslettev, of the Internat ional Associat ion for Copt icI (1977) . Inqu i r ies shou ld be addressed to Pro f . T i to 0r land i l v .F .24-00L97 Rome, Italy.

Cop t o l ogy , "23 (1976 -S udies

Civin in i ,


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Fig. 10. Mrs. Samiha Abd El-Shaheed,Museum, with the Nag Hammadi codices

- 2 3 -

Curator of l{anuscriptsin the manuscript wing fo r the Copt i co f Lh e lib;:ary.of Err l nternat ional Associat ion for Copt ic Studies.36

Of course none of it would have been possible without the generouscooperat ion of our Egypt ian hosts. For their hospital i ty and assist ,ance ofevery sort we are especial ly indebted to Dr. Gamal Mokhtar, President Emeritusof the Egypt ian Ant iquit ies Organizat ion, Dr. Pahor Labib, Director Emeritusof the Coptic Museum, Dr. Victor Girgis, Director General of Egypt ian Museums,Dr, Mounir Basta, Director of the Copt ic Museum, and Mrs. Sanj-ha Abd El-Shaheedand the other members of the staff at the Copt ic Museum.

36 See James l,I. Robinson, ttThe First International Congress o fscheduled to appear in tir.e BulLetin de 7n,SocLt dtAz,eh1oLogie CopteL977), and the Na'tsLettev, of the Internat ional Associat ion for Copt icI (1977) . Inquir ies should be addressed to Prof . T i to Or landi , v .F.24-A0L97 Rome, Italy.

Copto logy, "23 (1976 -S udies

Civin in i ,


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A P P E N D I ITab le of Texts in the Nag Hammadi Codices

codex , t ex t , pagean d line numbers t i t l e l o ther vers ions2

I 7 t A , 3 6 u p - 8 , 1 u p2 : 1 , - 1 6 , 3 03 : L 6 3 L - 43 , 2 44 : , 43 , 25 - 50 , 185 : 5 1 , 1 - l 3 8 , e x t a n t 2 6

Prayer of the ApostLe PauLThe Apocryphon of JamesThe Gospel of TruthTne Treatise orl the ResurrectionThe Tr ipar t i te Tractate

NHC XII 2

I Titles in ltalic type ar e preserved as such in the EanuscriPts, Titlesin regular type are oodern designations. lhese have been drawn either fron lhecontent of the text (NEC I 2, I 5 , I I 5 , qt 6, IX 2, lX 3, XI 2) or f rorn theopening words of the text (NI{c I 3) or from the title given to another versionof the texr (Nl{C -v, , V L, VI 5, VI 7, VI 8, XI I I , XI I 2, XlL l 2) .2 Abbreviacions:

Asc. = Asclepius; see A.D, Nock and A.-J. Festugire, Hembs T?isneg'i8te: CotpuHetmeticun 2t TrcLtOs YIILXWII, Asel?pita, 2nd ed . (Parls: soci6t6 c'tdi-t ion " I -es Bel les Let t res, " 1960) 257-40L, esp. pp, 32L-337 (= NHCvI E) ,353-355 (= NHc VI 7; c f . J . -P. Mah6, "La pr ire dract ions de grces Cu codexVI de Nag-Hanadi eE le discours parfalt" La kitschrt ft !t Pqyrolo 3ia nJ "Epigrcphik f3 [ f974] 40-60) ; Lat in , Greek. These, rogerher wirh rhe Cc'pr icvers ions, wi l l appear in convenlent synopsis in Douglas M. Parrot t , ed. , NagHqrna&L Codicee V,2-5 and VI i.th P@Arus Bez.olinensie 8502,1 and 1 (NagI lamadi Studies 11) (Lelden: Br i1 l , in press) .

BM = Br i t ish Museurn now the Br i t ish L ibrary) ; for 0r , 4926(L) see Chr is t ianoeyen, "Fragnente einer sub achrnimischen Version der gnostischen 'Schriftohne Ti te l " ' in Krause, ed. (1975, L25-L44) ; for Or, 6003 see Wolf -PeterFunk, "Ei .n doppel t ber l le fer tes Stck sptgypt ischer Weishei t " ln Zei t -sehrL ft ff)t ' dLe ggptdsche Spnache f03 (1976) 8-21; Coptlc and Arabic (anda la te LaEin verg ion of Ehe lat ter ) ,BP = Berlin Papyrus i fo r 8502 see l.lalter C. Till, DLe gnostischen Schrt iten des

koptischen Pqyz,us Bev,ollnensis 8502 (Texte und Untersuchungen 60), 2nd ed.rev ised by l lans-Mar t ln Schenke (Ber l in : Akademie Ver lag, 1972) ; copt ic .Chad. = Ilenry Chadwick, Th e Sentenees af Sertus: A Contributi,on tc the Histo?gof EarLy Christiot E hics (Texts and studies 5) (Canbridge, Englandl TheUnivers i ry Press, 1"959) , whlch prov ides informat ion on the other vers ionsof th is text i Greek, Lat in , Syr iac, Armenian.NHC = Nag Hanmadi codex.P.oxy. = Oxyrhynchus Papyrus i for 1,654 and 655 see Joseph A' F i - tzr ryer , "TheOxyrhynchus Logoi of Jesus and Ebe Coptic Gospel According to Thornas"in his Essays on the SemLtic Bockgnow.ci of the Neu festnent (Sources fo r


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I I 7 : 1 , 1 - 3 2 , 9

2 z 32 1 0 - 5L , 28

3 : 5 1 , 2 9 - 8 6 , 1 94 z 86 120 - 972 35 : 9 7 2 4 - L 2 7 L 76 : L 2 7 , 1 8 - 1 3 7 2 7

7 : 1 3 8 , 1 - 1 4 5 , 2 3I I I 7 z 1 , I . - 4 0 , 1 1

2 z 40 L2-69 20

7 0 1 - 9 0 1 39 0 1 4 - 1 1 9 ,1 8L 20 1 - 147 , 1 up

I , 1 - 4 9 , 2 8

2 : 5 0 r 1 - 8 1 , 2V 7 z l r l - l T r e x t a n t l - 8

2 : 17 ex tan t L9-24 93 2 4 L0 - 44 , ex t an t 74 ' . 44 ex tan t 8-63 ,325 : 6 4 L - 8 5 3 2

V I 7 : I , 1 - L 2 2 2

- 2 5 -

Th e Secz,et Book AccorCLnq to John

I'Lte GospeL Aeeording to TLtomas

T'LteGcspel AeeordLng to PltiLipThe Reality o ihe RuLersOn the Origin of the l,tlorldIhe Exposito rg Treafi,se Coneermingthe SouLIhe Book of I'l'nmas (the eontenderwrLting to the perfect onesI'he Secret Book o f Jottrt

T'l,teHoLy Book o the Gv,eat InuisibLeSpir"t t ( less proper ly cal led TLteGospei. of the EgAptians)Eugnostos the BlessedThe Wisd.onof JesusIhe DLaLogue of the Sauiot'The Seeret Book Aeeording to John

The Gospel of the Egypt iansEugnostos the BlessedIhe ReueLatLon of PauLTlte (f irst) ReueLat ion of JonesI'Lte (second) ReueLation of JonesThe Reuelation of AC"anthe Aets o Peten ura the llseLueApost les

< .a ) .

4 .

( .U aI V Lz

NHC II 1NHC IV 1BP 8502 2P . O x y 65 4P . O x y . 6 5 5P . O x y . 1

NHC XIII 2BM Or . 4926(L)

NHC I 1NHC V 1BP 8502 2NHC IV 2

N H C V lBP 8502 3P . O x y . I 0 8 1

NHC II 1.NHC II 1BP 8502 2NHC I I 2NHC I I 3

Bib l ica l Study 5) ( I ( issoula: Scholars ' Press , L974) 355-433, a rev ised ver-sion of his ar t ic le of the sarre t it le in ThzeoLogiealSatdies 20 (1959) 505-560, and LI. Marcovich, "Textual Cr it ic ism on the GospeL of Thomas" Ln Jour-naL of I 'heologieaL StudLes o.s . 20 ( f969) 53-74; for l08f see Harold l . l . A t-t r idge, "P. Oxy. l08I and the Sophia Jesu Chr ist i" Lr t Enchovia 5 (1975)l -8; Greek.


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A P P E N D I X I IThe Scribes lt lho Copied th e Nag Hammadi Codices

copyfa .xll" i :H ::.:ffilulni"3li::"::':ilr::.:"t;:l"J:::T:":"1:':compilat ion of later copies. As many as fourteen dif ferent scr ibes may havebeen employed in mak ing these cop ies . They are l i s ted here in the order o fthei r appearance with the Copt ic dia lect in which they worked given in paren-t h e s e s . '

l . I 1 -3 (Subachn i rn ic ) , 5 (c ryp to -Sat r id ic?)2. I 4, XI L-2 (Subachmimic)3 . I I 7 , 2 ( e x c e p t 4 7 , 1 - 8 ) , 3 - 7 ( S a h i d i c )4 . I I 2 , 4 7 , 1 - 8 ( S a h i d i c )5. I I I L- -5 (Sat r id ic) 26 . IV 1-2 (Sat r id ic )7. V L-5 (Sat r id ic)8. VI 1-8 (Sat r id ic)9 . VI I 1 -5 , X I 3 -4 (Sah id ic )

10 . VI I I 1 -2 (Sah id ic )11 . IX 1-3 (Sat r id ic )12 . X I (Subachurin'ic)13 . XI I 1 -2 (Sah id ic )L4. XI I I L-2 (Sat r id ic)

Note that severa l of the four teen scr ibes can be judged more or lesscertainly to have been closely related i-n time and space in that their work over-laps in severa l codices: scr ibes 1, 2 and 9; scr ibes 3 and 4. But four teenscr ibes may well be too conservative a f igurei there may have been as few aseight . Scr ibe 3 is probably to be ident i f ied wi th scr ibe L4. In codex XI I I heused a quicker, more cursj.ve hand. (Compare also the st i l l more cursive super-

I For a suumat:y statenent concerning our present knowledge of the (seven)n a j o r C o p t i c d i a l e c ts s e e L a y t o n ( 1 9 7 6 b , e s p . 5 Z . a . i . ) . B y a n d l a r g e t h e t ' S a -hidict ' texts f rom Nag Hanuradi appear to have been translated by nat i -ve speakerso f a d ia lec t o ther than Sah id ic . l l os t d isp lay fea tures o f " " tTp to-Subachmi rn ic"( the term has been in t roduced by Layton 1L977, 661 , wh i le a few d isp lay in -te res t ing isog losses w i th Boha i r i c and Fayyumic . (See fur ther Nage l [ f969b, sP.p p . ! 6 7 - 4 6 9 ) , l L 9 7 2 J , a n d L a y r o n 1 L 9 7 4 , 3 7 4 - 3 8 3 1 . )

2 Sc r i be 5 has le f t t wo f i nge rp r i n t s f o r pos t e r i t y ' one a t NHC I I I 68 ' 11 -12and the o ther a t L20123-24. Both are on ly c lear l y v is ib le under u l t rav io le tl i g h r .


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l i near inser t ion in codex I I a t 12118. )3 fhe hand of scr ibe 4 is remarkab lysin i lar to that of scr ibe 13, but the surviv ing work of the for:rrer is too l i t t le(on ly e igh t l i nes of tex t ) to per :n i t a cer ta in ident i f i ca t ion . Scr ibes 6 , 7 ,8, 10 and 11 al l have sin i lar hands and have of ten been ident i f ied as a singlescr ibe. q However, Ehe similari t ies may be due rather Eo the inf luence of as ing le scr iba l schoo l . Accord ing to the repor t o f Rob inson (1975b, 18) , Manf redoI ' l an f red i of the G. V i te l l i Papyro log ica l Ins t i t u te (F lo rence, I ta ly ) judged on lyscr ibes 8, 10 and to a lesser ex ten t 6 to be rea l l y s in i la r in th is group,sc r i bes 7 and 11 be ing c l ea r l y d , i s t i nc t . 5

For further considerat ions bear ing on the unity of the Nag Hammadicod j . ces i n an t i qu i t y see Rob inson (1975b , 16 -19 ) , (L977b , 14 -15 ) .

3 This idenclflcatlon nas first made by Krause-Labib (L962, 297 addition top. 13) . Al though Krause later ret racted the ldent l f icat ion (Krause [1963, 11] n.2 l ) , i t has recent ly won st rong eadorsenent f ron Layton ( I976a, 84) . I concurin this latter judgeneot and should add that a eomparison of the use and shapesof the ar t icu lat ion merk in codex II (on whteh see Layton [ f973, 190-199] , not lng,however, that his renarks refer only to the fourth tractate in codex II) and co-dex XIII further confirns the i dent.l fl cation. Aroong the Nag l{anrnadl codices, IIand XIII ar e unique in this respec!. (See further the brief corlpnts of FrederikWisse in The Jourmal of the Americot )rtentaL SoaLefu 92 tL9721 189, who basesthem on an examinatlon of all of codex II as well as the renainder of the codi-ces. ) Janssens (L974, 34L-342) uses th is ident l f icat lon as a basl .s for soreinterestlng speculation concerning the original contents of codex XIII. Itshould be pointed out, however, that her contentlon that codex II and codex XIIIare also siroilar in that they, in distinction to the rest of the codlces, do notcontain nurnbered pages ls unfounded. Whlle the pages of codex II were certainlyleft by the scribe without nunbers, the top arargins of the pages rernaining froncodex XIII are too deceriorated for us Eo determioe whether they ever held pagenumbers or not.

4 this ldentificatlon was first made by Doresse (f95f, 30 and 34-39) an dwas accepted by Krause (1963, l lo- l f l ) .5 Tt re fur ther ident i f icat ion of scr ibe l wl th scr tbe 12 (Doresse [1961,31 and 45-451, fo l lowed by Krause [1963, f11] ) is not general ly aecepted.


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A P P E I . I D I I I IInventory of Pages and Fragnents of the l . lag Hamrnadi Codices

codexCopt ic l luseuminventory number

or ig inal number ofinscr ibed p.g"" I extan t ident i f i edinscr ibed prg" " ' unp laced in -s cr ibed f ragre

I I I 4 8 5 1

I

I I

IVVVI

VI I IIXXXI

1 0 5 5 4 ,1 0 5 9 0 ,11 4010544

1055105 8105 9

1055010551055L0547

105891 l5g 7 1 4 0145r47

81847 E

L27t36

756 87 277r6

140L4513 5

8t8 47 8

L27L32

725 47220l6

6 8II

11080L 7

11 986

r0338.84

75

vrr 10546

xrr 10555XI I I T0545miscel laneous fragments 3Eo als 7L!'240 1156

l When these figures involve estimation they are rninimal an d conservaEive.Only that part of codex XII I bur ied with codex VI in ant iquity is counted.

2 Si -nce r:nplaced fraguents I and 2 of codex XII do not belong to any ofthe ident i f led pages of that codex they are counted here as ident i f ied, eventhough their exact posit ion in the codex cannot be detern' ined. In some casesa leaf j -s represented by a s ingle smal l f ragment . The anount of rdssing textis thus greater than the number of enc i re ly miss ing leaves can ind j -ca te .

3 TLrese are fragrnents that \^/ere not at f i rst conserved with a part icularcodex and which cannot readi ly be assigned to one on the basis of the scr ibalhands .


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REF ER E N ES

Al the im, F . and R. St ieh leds. 1969 Dte Az'aber in det aLten WeLt V. i i (D*s ehrLst l iehe Aksi ln) . Ber l in:de Gruyter .B a r n s , John W .B .L975 "Greek and Copt ic Papyri from che Covers of the Nag HauunadiCodices."I n K r a u s e , e d . ( 1 9 7 5 , 9 - 1 8 ) .Bur lage , Johann1966 " t f i lmoplast P heil t innere Buchkrankheiten. " Grqhisehe Woelte23, l .Dar t , JohnL976 lTte Laughing Sauiot', New York: Harper and Row.D o r e s s e , Jean1958-1959 Les Liurcs seerets des gnostLques Ct0gypte. Par is : Librar ie Plon.

1950 the Seez.et Books of the Eggptian Cmosties. Ne w York: Viking.196I t 'Les rel iures des manuscrits gnost iques coptes ddcouvertes tchdnobo-skion. " Reuue d'EgApfuLogie 13 , 27-49

Emme , StephenL977a "Announcement.r' lTte BuLLetin of the AmerLeaztSoeiety of PqaroLcgi.sts1 4 , 5 6 - 5 7 .L977b "Unique Photographic Evidence for Nag HammadiTexts: CG I I 2-7 , I I I 5arrd XIII 2*." ITte BuLLetLn of the AmerLeqt Soet)ety of PapyroLogists 14, r09-LzL.

Gui l laumont, Antoine1958 "S6ur-itisuns dans les logia de J6sus retrouv6s uag Handi. Jouz'rteLasiatLqtrc 246, 113-123.Hedr ick , C ha r l es W.L976 "SomeTechniques in the Placement of Papyrus Fragrents. " TLteBuLkttnof the AmerLean oeiety of PcpUrologists 13, 143-155.Janssens, YvonneL97 "Le codex XIII de Nag Haurradi " Le Muson87 341-413Jonas, Hans1963 The Gnost ie Rel igion, 2nd ed. Boston: Beacon.K raus e , Mar t inL962 "Der koptische Handschriftenfund bei Nag Hamndi:Unfang und InhalE."Iulitteilltngen des DeutsehenArefuioLogisehen Instituts, Abteilung Katrc 18,L2L-L32.

1963 "Zum koptischen Handschrif tenfund be i Nag Hanrrnadi. MitteiLtmgen desDeuts hen ArehoLogiseLtennstituts, Abtei,L,.mgKqiro 19, 106-1 3 .


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ed. 1975 EssaAs on the Nag Hawrn&t Tests i'n Hotour of Polor Labtb (NagItannadl Studies 6). Leiden: Brill.Krause, I {art in and Pahor Labib1962 DLe dret) Vevsl:onen des Apokryplton d.esJottonnes (ADAIK, Koptische Reihe1). Wiesbaden: larrassoni tz .Labib, Pahor1956 CoptLc GnoatLePqyrL l- . Cairo: Governnen. Press.Layton, Bent ley1973 "Ihe Text and orthography of the coptLc HVpostasi.sof the Archons."Zeitschr[ft fr Pqgz,ologie wtd Epig"aphik LL, 173-200.

1974 f'The Ilyposrasis of the Archons." Haruard TheoLogieaLRevieu 67, 35I-425.I976a " Ttre {ypostasis of the Archons (Conclusion)." Haruaz,dTheologLeaLRe-tLeu 69, 3r-r0l ,1976b "coptic Language. La The rnterpretev's Dieti.ornry o! the BibLe, Sup-plementarV Vol*ne, L75-L77. Nahville: Ablngdon.1977 "Edltorlal Notes on the rExposicory Treatise Concerning the Soul'(Tractate II 6 fron Nag Harunadi)." The BuLLetLn of th-eAnerieqt Society ofPqyrcLogists L4 65-73.

M6nard, Jacques-f .ed. 1975 I'es tectes dz Nag Hanrc&L (Nag lianmadi Studies 7) . Leiden: Brill.Nage1, Pe t e r

I969a "Ensgungenzun Thomas-Evangeium. " In Altheim-Stiehl, eds. (1969,368-392).I969b "Grarnrnatis he Untersuchungen zu Nag llanuradi Codex II." In Altheln-sr lehl , eds. (1969, 393-469).L972 "Dle Bedeutung der Nag Hannadl Texte f r die koptische Dialektges chichte . "In Peter Nagel, ed., Von Nog HanwdL bt)s Zypetn (Berliner Byzan inls tis che Ar -bei ten 43), L6-27. Ber l ln: AkadenleVerlag.

Rober ts , c .H .1954 " Ttre Codex." Procee&Lngsof the BrLti'sh Aeadenry 0, L69-204.Robinson, James M.L967/68 'rThe Coptlc Gnoet.lc Library Today." Neu Testanent Studtee 14, 356-401.

1972a "Inside lhe Front Cover of codex VI." In Martin Krause, ed'., Eeeays onthe Nag HonrndL Teete in Honow of Aleaandex Bhlig (Nae HaornadiStudies 3),74 -87 . Le iden : 81111 .1972b "Introductlon to the Facslmile Edltion of the Nag Ilamadl Codiceg."Included as a loose lnsert in The Facei.mLle Edi'ti,on of tlw Nag HannadtCodtces: Codec VI . Leiden: Brill.1975a "The construct lon of the Nag HanmadiCodlces." In Krause, ed. (1975'u0 -190 ) .


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1975b "on the Codicology of the Nag HammadiCod. ices. " rn M6nard, ed. (1975,15-31)L976 t'The First Season of the Nag HamrnadiExcavation. tt AmerLemr ResearehCentez. n Egypt, Newslet ter 96, L8-24 (= Gott ingen MiszeLlen ZZ, 7L-7g).I977a "The Jung Codex: The RLse and Fal1 of a Monopoly." Religious SadiesReuieu 3, f 7-30.L977b "IntroducLiont' in James 1"1.Robinson, ed . , lTte Nag Homwdi Library inEngl ish, r -25. san Francisco: Harper and Row; Leiden: Br i l l .

Sve-Sderbergh , TorgnyL967 t 'Gnost ic and Canonical Gospel Tradi t ions, " In Ugo Bianchi , d. , Le)rLgini delLo Cmostieismo (Supp enuents to Numen L2) , i5Z-562 . Leiden : B il l .L975 "Holy Scr iptures or Apologet ic Documentat ions? TLre Sj- tz im Leben' ofthe Nag HammadiL ibrary . " rn l {6nard, ed. (1975, 3-14) .

Sc ho le r , D av id]97f Nag Hortna&L ibLiographA 1g48-1969 (Nag Hamrnadi rudies f)B i l l . Le den :

S k a l l , n g i IL974 "A1terungstests. " Mi-tteiLtmgen d.er Intewtationale ArbeitsgemeinsehaftC'er Arehiu-, BibLLotheks- tmC Grqhikresteur.afuren 4, 37-46.S k e a t , T . C .1959 "Ear ly Chr is t ian Book-Product ion: Papyr i and,Manuscr ip ts . " In TheCunbrLdge Htstory oi the Bible 2 , 54-79. Cambridge England: The UniversityP ess .Tu r ne r , E . G .L977 The TApoLogA of the Early Cod.er. Pennsylvania: TLreUniversiry press.Van Elderen , Bas t iaan and James M. Rob inson1977 "The Second Season of the Nag Hammad.i xcavat ion. " AmerLeut ReseayehCenter in EgApt , Neuslet ter 99/LOO, 36-54 (= Ct t ingen MiszeLlen 24, 57-13) .l r l i sse , Freder ikL97L "T'he Nag Haurmadi ibrary and the Heresiologists.r? [,tgi l iae Christ ianae25, 205-223.

L975 "N"g HammadiCodex II I : Codicologica l In t roduct j -on. " In Krause, d.(1975, 225-232) .

P H O T O G R A P H I C C R E D I T SF ig . 1 : James M. Rob inson. F ig . 2z Jean Doresse. F ig . 3 : Center o f Documenta-t i on i n Ca i ro . F i g . 4z Peggy S, Hed r i ck . F i g . 5 : S t ephen Emme l . F i g , 6 :

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