- Nag Hammadi is a city in Upper Egypt, 50 m (80 km) northwest of Luxor.
- It was known as ‘Chenoboskion’ in antiquity and is the location where the Nag Hammadi library was found.
The Nag Hammadi library
- The Nag Hammadi Library, also known as the Gnostic Gospels, are a collection of Codices which contain the only complete works of the Gospel of Thomas, amongst other writings.
- In December 1945 a farmer discovered a sealed earthenware jar containing 13 codices bound in leather. 12 Books survive today. They consist of 52 Gnostic tractates.
- The Codices are written in Coptic, but are thought to have been a translation from the Greek.
- Today, the Nag Hammadi Library is located in the Cairo Museum in Cairo, Egypt.
Athanasius, Bishop of Alexandria (328-373 CE)
- The Codices date from the second century CE, and are thought to have been hidden by monks from the nearby Monastery of Saint Pachomius, after such works were banned as Heretical and holding them considered an offence.
- They were possibly buried after 328 CE, when Athanasius was a forceful Bishop of Alexandria from 328-378 CE.
- Athanasius was a Trinitarian who opposed Arianism, and was exiled four times by different Emperors starting with Constantine I, for continually opposing Arianism.
Nag Hammadi, Egypt: