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Nag Hammadi Codex II (designated by
siglum Scribal abbreviations or sigla ( singular: siglum) are abbreviations used by ancient and medieval scribes writing in various languages, including Latin, Greek, Old English and Old Norse. In modern manuscript editing (substantive and mechani ...
CG II) is a
papyrus Papyrus ( ) is a material similar to thick paper that was used in ancient times as a writing surface. It was made from the pith of the papyrus plant, '' Cyperus papyrus'', a wetland sedge. ''Papyrus'' (plural: ''papyri'') can also refer to a ...
codex with a collection of early Christian
Gnostic texts Gnosticism used a number of religious texts that are preserved, in part or whole, in ancient manuscripts, or lost but mentioned critically in Patristic writings. Gnostic texts Gnostic texts preserved before 1945 Prior to the discovery at Nag H ...
in
Coptic Coptic may refer to: Afro-Asia * Copts, an ethnoreligious group mainly in the area of modern Egypt but also in Sudan and Libya * Coptic language, a Northern Afro-Asiatic language spoken in Egypt until at least the 17th century * Coptic alphabet ...
(Sahidic dialect). The manuscript has survived in nearly perfect condition. The codex is dated to the 4th century. It is the only complete manuscript from antiquity with the text of the
Gospel of Thomas The Gospel of Thomas (also known as the Coptic Gospel of Thomas) is an extra-canonical Logia, sayings gospel. It was discovered near Nag Hammadi, Egypt, in December 1945 among a group of books known as the Nag Hammadi library. Scholars specu ...
.


Description

The manuscript was written on papyrus in the form of a codex. The measurements of the leaves are 254 mm by 158 mm. Originally the codex contained 76 unnumbered leaves, now 74 leaves. It is written in Sahidic dialect. Pages A–B are blank.Bentley Layton
''Nag Hammadi codex II, 2–7: together with XIII, 2*, Brit. Lib. Or.4926(1), and P.OXY. 1, 654, 655 : with contributions by many scholars''
BRILL, 1989, p. 2. The codex contains: * ''The
Apocryphon of John The ''Apocryphon of John'', also called the ''Secret Book of John'' or the ''Secret Revelation of John'', is a 2nd-century Sethian Gnostic Christian pseudographical text attributed to John the Apostle. It is one of the texts addressed b ...
'' * ''The
Gospel of Thomas The Gospel of Thomas (also known as the Coptic Gospel of Thomas) is an extra-canonical Logia, sayings gospel. It was discovered near Nag Hammadi, Egypt, in December 1945 among a group of books known as the Nag Hammadi library. Scholars specu ...
'', a sayings gospel, pages C–D blank * ''The
Gospel of Philip The Gospel of Philip is a non-canonical Gnostic Gospel dated to around the 3rd century but lost in medieval times until rediscovered by accident, buried with other texts near Nag Hammadi in Egypt, in 1945. The text is not closely related to the ...
'' * ''The
Hypostasis of the Archons The ''Hypostasis of the Archons'' or ''The Reality of the Rulers'' is an exegesis on the ''Book of Genesis'' 1–6 and expresses Gnostic mythology of the divine creators of the cosmos and humanity. Text's origin and content The text was found ...
'' * ''
On the Origin of the World ''On the Origin of the World'' is a Gnostic work dealing with creation and the end time. It was found among the texts in what is known as the Nag Hammadi library, in Codex II and Codex XIII, immediately following the '' Reality of the Rulers' ...
'' * ''The
Exegesis on the Soul The Exegesis on the Soul is one of the ancient texts found at Nag Hammadi, in Nag Hammadi Codex II, Codex II. The text emphasizes the importance of prayer and repentance. It states that prayer should be done not just with words but with the spirit, ...
'' * ''The
Book of Thomas the Contender The ''Book of Thomas the Contender'', also known more simply as the ''Book of Thomas'' (not to be confused with the Gospel of Thomas and the Infancy Gospel of Thomas), is one of the books of the New Testament apocrypha represented in the Nag Hamma ...
''.Bentley Layton
''Nag Hammadi codex II, 2–7: together with XIII, 2*, Brit. Lib. Or.4926(1), and P.OXY. 1, 654, 655 : with contributions by many scholars''
BRILL, 1989, p. 3. The text is written in
uncial Uncial is a majuscule Glaister, Geoffrey Ashall. (1996) ''Encyclopedia of the Book''. 2nd edn. New Castle, DE, and London: Oak Knoll Press & The British Library The British Library is the national library of the United Kingdom and is one ...
letters. It is well written in an informal book hand. There is no punctuation, no division between sayings. The
nomina sacra In Christian scribal practice, nomina sacra (singular: ''nomen sacrum'' from Latin ''sacred name'') is the abbreviation of several frequently occurring divine names or titles, especially in Greek manuscripts of the Bible. A nomen sacrum consists ...
are contracted in a usual way, the words at the end of each line are abbreviated and it uses ligatures, including staurograms.Bentley Layton
''Nag Hammadi codex II, 2–7: together with XIII, 2*, Brit. Lib. Or.4926(1), and P.OXY. 1, 654, 655 : with contributions by many scholars''
BRILL, 1989, p. 5. The manuscript was written by two scribes (A and B). Scribe B copied only the first 8 lines of page 47 and is not otherwise represented in the Nag Hammadi collection. Scribe A copied all leaves except the 8 lines on page 47, employed several styles, and left some blank pages because the text from which he copied was imperfect or illegible (probably). Scribe A is identical with the scribe of Codex XIII.Bentley Layton
''Nag Hammadi codex II, 2–7: together with XIII, 2*, Brit. Lib. Or.4926(1), and P.OXY. 1, 654, 655 : with contributions by many scholars''
BRILL, 1989, p. 4. It was discovered in 1945 at
Nag Hammadi Nag Hammadi ( ; ar, نجع حمادى ) is a city in Upper Egypt. It is located on the west bank of the Nile in the Qena Governorate, about north-west of Luxor. It had a population of close to 43,000 . History The town of Nag Hammadi is name ...
. It was first published in a photographic edition in 1956. The leaves of the codex were separated in 1957 and rejoined in 1974–1975. On June 8, 1952 the
Coptic Museum The Coptic Museum is a museum in Coptic Cairo, Egypt with the largest collection of Coptic Christian artifacts in the world. It was founded by Marcus Simaika in 1908 to house Coptic antiquities. The museum traces the history of Egypt from its b ...
received the codex.C2SRC Images of Facsimiles
/ref> Currently the manuscript is housed at the Department of manuscripts of the
Coptic Museum The Coptic Museum is a museum in Coptic Cairo, Egypt with the largest collection of Coptic Christian artifacts in the world. It was founded by Marcus Simaika in 1908 to house Coptic antiquities. The museum traces the history of Egypt from its b ...
(Inv. 10544) in
Cairo Cairo ( ; ar, القاهرة, al-Qāhirah, ) is the capital of Egypt and its largest city, home to 10 million people. It is also part of the largest urban agglomeration in Africa, the Arab world and the Middle East: The Greater Cairo metro ...
.


See also

; Coptic manuscripts *
British Library Or 4926 British Library Or 4926 (1), known also as P. Lond. Copt. 522 (Crum), is a papyrus codex with a collection of early Christian Gnostic texts in Coptic (sub-Akhmimic dialect). The manuscript has survived in a fragmentary condition. The codex is dated ...
*
Nag Hammadi Codex XIII Nag Hammadi Codex XIII (designated by siglum NHC XIII) is a papyrus codex with a collection of early Christian Gnostic texts in Coptic (Sahidic dialect). The manuscript is dated to the 4th century. Description The manuscript was written on pap ...
*
Nag Hammadi Library The Nag Hammadi library (also known as the " Chenoboskion Manuscripts" and the "Gnostic Gospels") is a collection of early Christian and Gnostic texts discovered near the Upper Egyptian town of Nag Hammadi in 1945. Thirteen leather-bound papyr ...
; Greek manuscripts *
Papyrus Oxyrhynchus 1 Papyrus Oxyrhynchus 1 (P. Oxy. 1) is a papyrus fragment of the logia of Jesus written in Greek (''Logia Iesou''). It was among the first of the Oxyrhynchus Papyri discovered by Grenfell and Hunt. It was discovered on the second day of excavation, ...
*
Papyrus Oxyrhynchus 654 Papyrus Oxyrhynchus 654 (P. Oxy. 654) is a papyrus fragment of the logia of Jesus written in Greek. It is one of the Oxyrhynchus Papyri discovered by Grenfell and Hunt between 1897 and 1904 in the Egyptian town of Oxyrhynchus. The fragment is dat ...
*
Papyrus Oxyrhynchus 655 Papyrus Oxyrhynchus 655 (P. Oxy. 655) is a papyrus fragment of the logia of Jesus written in Greek. It is one of the Oxyrhynchus Papyri discovered by Grenfell and Hunt between 1897 and 1904 in the Egyptian town of Oxyrhynchus. The fragment is dat ...


References


Further reading

*
Nicholas Perrin Nicholas Perrin is an American academic administrator and religious scholar, currently serving as the 16th president of Trinity International University, a Christian university located in Deerfield, Illinois. Early life and education Perrin ear ...
, HC II,2 and the Oxyrhynchus Fragments (P. Oxy 1, 654, 655): Overlooked Evidence for a Syriac "Gospel of Thomas", Vigiliae Christianae, Vol. 58, No. 2 (May, 2004), pp. 138–151 * Bentley Layton
''Nag Hammadi codex II, 2–7: together with XIII, 2*, Brit. Lib. Or.4926(1), and P.OXY. 1, 654, 655 : with contributions by many scholars''
BRILL, 1989.


External links


Nag Hammadi Archive
in the Claremont Colleges Library
Antiquities of the Institute for Antiquity and Christianity
in the Claremont Colleges Digital Library


Gospel of Thomas Bibliography, Coptic & Greek Texts
{{Authority control Gnostic Gospels 4th-century manuscripts Nag Hammadi library