Norea is a figure in

Gnostic Gnosticism (from grc, γνωστικός, gnōstikós, , 'having knowledge') is a collection of religious ideas and systems which coalesced in the late 1st century AD among Jewish and early Christian sects. These various groups emphasized p ...

cosmology. Sometimes she is said to be the syzygy of

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 " ...

, or wife of

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� ...

, and daughter of Eve. Norea is perceived within gnostic thought as Sophia after her fall from grace. For a long time, Norea was known from a summary of a book called ''Noria'' in the '' Panarion'' (''Against Heresies'') of

Epiphanius of Salamis Epiphanius of Salamis ( grc-gre, Ἐπιφάνιος; c. 310–320 – 403) was the bishop of Salamis, Cyprus, at the end of the 4th century. He is considered a saint and a Church Father by both the Eastern Orthodox and Catholic Churches. He ...

(26.1.3-9). According to Epiphanius, the Borborites identified Norea with Pyrrha, the wife of Deucalion (a Greek figure similar to Noah), because ''nura'' means "fire" in Syriac. She burned

Noah's Ark Noah's Ark ( he, תיבת נח; Biblical Hebrew: ''Tevat Noaḥ'')The word "ark" in modern English comes from Old English ''aerca'', meaning a chest or box. (See Cresswell 2010, p.22) The Hebrew word for the vessel, ''teva'', occurs twice in ...

three times, then revealed the means of recovering stolen sparks through sexual emissions. Elsewhere (39.5.2) Epiphanius says that the Sethians consider Horaia to be the wife of

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. ...

. More information has been available since the discovery of the

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 ...

in 1945. In ''

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 ...

'' (''The Reality of the Rulers''), Norea is the daughter of Eve and the younger sister of Seth; both are members of the pure race. The

archons ''Archon'' ( gr, ἄρχων, árchōn, plural: ἄρχοντες, ''árchontes'') is a Greek word that means "ruler", frequently used as the title of a specific public office. It is the masculine present participle of the verb stem αρχ-, mean ...

decide to destroy the world with a deluge, but their leader, the

Demiurge In the Platonic, Neopythagorean, Middle Platonic, and Neoplatonic schools of philosophy, the demiurge () is an artisan-like figure responsible for fashioning and maintaining the physical universe. The Gnostics adopted the term ''demiurge'' ...

, warns Noah to build an ark, which Norea tries to board. Noah stops her, so she blows upon the ark and sets it ablaze. The rulers try to rape her, but she cries to the God of the Entirety for help. The

angel In various theistic religious traditions an angel is a supernatural spiritual being who serves God. Abrahamic religions often depict angels as benevolent celestial intermediaries between God (or Heaven) and humanity. Other roles ...

Eleleth In Sethian Gnosticism, a luminary is an angel-like being (or heavenly dwelling place in the ''Apocryphon of John''). Four luminaries are typically listed in Sethian Gnostic texts, such as the ''Secret Book of John'', the ''Holy Book of the Great I ...

appears and frightens the rulers away before revealing her origins; she is a child of the spirit. Another Nag Hammadi text, the ''

Thought of Norea ''The Thought of Norea'' is a brief Sethian Gnostic text. The main surviving copies come from the Nag Hammadi library. The ''Thought of Norea'' is sometimes considered to belong to the New Testament apocrypha. It is one of the shorter texts of t ...

'' (or ''Ode on Norea'') is a first-person account of Norea's plea to God. '' On the Origin of the World'' refers to the reader an ''Account of Oraia'' and the ''First Book of Noraia'', one of which may be the same as the Book of Noria mentioned by Epiphanius. She has several similar names, including Orea and Horaia, meaning "beautiful". The name is thought to derive from a translation of Naamah, a Hebrew name that means "pleasant." The demon Naamah is called "the younger

Lilith Lilith ( ; he, לִילִית, Līlīṯ) is a female figure in Mesopotamian and Judaic mythology, alternatively the first wife of Adam and supposedly the primordial she-demon. Lilith is cited as having been "banished" from the Garden of Ed ...

." Both Norea and Lilith call upon God to avoid an unwanted sexual encounter.

References

*Robinson, James, ed. ''The Nag Hammadi Library in English''. 3rd edition. San Francisco: Harper and Row, 1988. (Introductions to the translations of some texts include information about Norea) *Stroumsa, Gedaliahu A. G. ''Another Seed: Studies in Gnostic Mythology''. Nag Hammadi Studies 24. Leiden: E. J. Brill, 1984. *Elaine Pagels & Karen King ''Reading Judas – The Gospel and the Shaping of Christianity''. Viking Penguin, 2007. – German edition: ''Das Evangelium des Verräters – Judas und der Kampf um das wahre Christentum''. – Verlag dtv, 2011. – loc. cit. p. 133. {{Authority control Gnosticism Gnostic deities Children of Adam and Eve