The Apocalypse of Adam, discovered at Nag Hammadi in

Upper Egypt Upper Egypt ( ar, صعيد مصر ', shortened to , , locally: ; ) is the southern portion of Egypt and is composed of the lands on both sides of the Nile that extend upriver from Lower Egypt in the north to Nubia in the south. In ancient E ...

in 1945, is a Sethian work of

Apocalyptic literature Apocalyptic literature is a genre of prophetical writing that developed in post- Exilic Jewish culture and was popular among millennialist early Christians. ''Apocalypse'' ( grc, , }) is a Greek word meaning " revelation", "an unveiling or u ...

dating to the first-to-second centuries AD. This

tractate A tractate is a written work dealing formally and systematically with a subject; the word derives from the Latin ''tractatus'', meaning treatise. One example of its use is in citing a section of the Talmud, when the term ''masekhet'' () is used i ...

is one of five contained within Codex V of the Nag Hammadi library.

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Adam Adam; el, Ἀδάμ, Adám; la, Adam is the name given in Genesis 1-5 to the first human. Beyond its use as the name of the first man, ''adam'' is also used in the Bible as a pronoun, individually as "a human" and in a collective sense as " ...

in his 700th year tells his son

Seth Seth,; el, Σήθ ''Sḗth''; ; "placed", "appointed") in Judaism, Christianity, Islam, Mandaeism, and Sethianism, was the third son of Adam and Eve and brother of Cain and Abel, their only other child mentioned by name in the Hebrew Bible. ...

about how when he and Eve had first been created, they used to walk in the glory of the eternal God, and they were in fact more powerful than their creator ( Yaldabaoth, the ruler of the aeons). However, that glory and knowledge was lost to them when Yaldabaoth became angry with them and divided them into two aeons (i.e. male and female). They became slaves to the creator, and also to death. Adam then relates to Seth the hidden knowledge he received in a

revelation In religion and theology, revelation is the revealing or disclosing of some form of truth or knowledge through communication with a deity or other supernatural entity or entities. Background Inspiration – such as that bestowed by God on the ...

from three mysterious men. Adam then prophesies concerning attempts by the subcreator god to destroy mankind, including the prophecy of the great

global flood A flood myth or a deluge myth is a myth in which a great flood, usually sent by a deity or deities, destroys civilization, often in an act of divine retribution. Parallels are often drawn between the flood waters of these myths and the primae ...

and of attempted destruction by fire. Adam further prophesizes that after the floodwaters have receded, God will give the earth to

Noah Noah ''Nukh''; am, ኖህ, ''Noḥ''; ar, نُوح '; grc, Νῶε ''Nôe'' () is the tenth and last of the pre-Flood patriarchs in the traditions of Abrahamic religions. His story appears in the Hebrew Bible (Book of Genesis, chapters 5� ...

(who will be known to posterity as Deucalion, the hero of the flood caused by

Zeus Zeus or , , ; grc, Δῐός, ''Diós'', label= genitive Boeotian Aeolic and Laconian grc-dor, Δεύς, Deús ; grc, Δέος, ''Déos'', label= genitive el, Δίας, ''Días'' () is the sky and thunder god in ancient Greek relig ...

in Greek mythology). Noah will then divide the earth among his sons, Ham and

Japheth Japheth ( he, יֶפֶת ''Yép̄eṯ'', in pausa ''Yā́p̄eṯ''; el, Ἰάφεθ '; la, Iafeth, Iapheth, Iaphethus, Iapetus) is one of the three sons of Noah in the Book of Genesis, in which he plays a role in the story of Noah's drunken ...

and

Shem Shem (; he, שֵׁם ''Šēm''; ar, سَام, Sām) ''Sḗm''; Ge'ez: ሴም, ''Sēm'' was one of the sons of Noah in the book of Genesis and in the book of Chronicles, and the Quran. The children of Shem were Elam, Ashur, Arphaxad, Lu ...

, with the caveat that they must always serve God "in fear and slavery". Then the descendants of Ham and Japheth (no mention is made of Shem) will form twelve kingdoms, and also be part of a thirteenth kingdom. "The illuminator of knowledge" will then come to redeem the souls of Noah's descendants. Adam then foretells the coming of the Illuminator, who will perform miracles and pass knowledge onto Noah's descendants. The powers of God are jealous of the Illuminator, since he appears to be more powerful than they are, and they inquire about his origin. The thirteen different kingdoms each describe a different origin story for the Illuminator, each ending with the phrase "And thus he came to the water". Of these stories, only the "generation without a king," proclaims the truth.

References

External links

Gnostic Society: Nag Hammadi Library

{{Authority control Sethian texts Old Testament pseudepigrapha Coptic literature 1st-century books 2nd-century books Old Testament pseudepigrapha related with Adam and Eve Nag Hammadi library

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