James M. Robinson, The Nag Hammadi Library in English (1988), His Findings

I read The Nag Hammadi Library in English for the claims a later writer can set beside the flood stories and the other books on this site. James M. Robinson is the general editor. The title page calls this the third, completely revised edition, translated and introduced by members of the Coptic Gnostic Library Project of the Institute for Antiquity and Christianity, Claremont, California, with an afterword by Richard Smith. The copyright page says revised edition, copyright 1978 and 1988 by E. J. Brill, Leiden, and a first HarperCollins paperback in 1990. The book is in copyright. The quotations below are short excerpts for review and study. Page numbers are the printed page numbers of this edition. The translations print the line numbers of the papyrus in the sentences. I leave those numbers out of the quotations.

The volume does not discuss Atlantis. A search of it does not find the name. What it does give is a place, a year, a count of the books, and two flood tellings, one in the Apocryphon of John and one in the Apocalypse of Adam.

The book at a glance

• Title: The Nag Hammadi Library in English.
• Editor: James M. Robinson, general editor. Richard Smith, managing editor of this revision.
• Edition I read: Third, completely revised edition. HarperSanFrancisco, a division of HarperCollins. Copyright 1978 and 1988, E. J. Brill, Leiden. First HarperCollins paperback 1990. ISBN 0-06-066934-9. Paperback ISBN 0-06-066935-7. The preface says the first edition was published in 1977, by E. J. Brill and Harper and Row.
• What it claims: The library is fourth-century papyrus. Twelve codices, plus eight leaves from a thirteenth, hold fifty-two tractates. Duplication brings the count of separate titles to forty-five. Most are Coptic translations of texts from the sects now called gnostic. The preface dates the discovery to 1945. Robinson’s introduction puts the jar under a shattered boulder on the Jabal al-Tarif, the cliff on the right bank of the Nile between Chenoboskia and Pabau, and he puts the digging in the month of December, by Muhammad and Khalifah Ali of the al-Samman clan, from the hamlet of al-Qasr. In the Apocryphon of John the chief archon plans a flood. Noah is warned, and the people of the immovable race hide in a luminous cloud, which the text sets against Moses’s ark. In the Apocalypse of Adam the same Noah is the man later generations call Deucalion. He divides the whole earth among Ham, Japheth, and Shem. A dwelling lasts six hundred years. Four hundred thousand men of the seed of Ham and Japheth enter another land, and that seed forms twelve kingdoms.

Findings worth setting beside other writers

• The books. Fourth-century papyrus. Twelve codices plus eight leaves from a thirteenth. Fifty-two tractates, forty-five titles once duplicates are counted. Coptic translations. The preface dates the find to 1945. In 1966 the Coptic Gnostic Library Project formed at Claremont. In 1970 the Ministry of Culture of Egypt and UNESCO named a committee, and Robinson was elected secretary. Brill published the facsimile edition from 1972 to 1977 (preface).
• The place. The Jabal al-Tarif, the cliff marking the edge of the Nile valley and the arable land between Chenoboskia and Pabau. The jar was under the northern flank of a barrel-shaped piece of a boulder that had fallen from the cliff. Sixth-dynasty tombs of Pepi I and Pepi II, which he dates 2350 to 2200 B.C.E., stand in the face of the cliff and had become caves. The finders’ home is al-Qasr, the ancient site of Chenoboskia, where Pachomius began his life as a Christian (pp. 22, 23).
• The month, and a date he does print. The digging was in December, by peasants of the Naj Hammadi region carrying nitrates from the talus. The two brothers are Muhammad and Khalifah Ali. Half a year before the discovery, on the night of 7 May 1945, their father Ali, a night watchman, killed a marauder and was himself murdered by mid-morning. Robinson does not print a single line that says “December 1945.” The year 1945 is the preface’s date for the discovery. The night of 7 May 1945 is the murder (pp. 22, 23, and the preface).
• A flood that is not Moses’s ark. In the Apocryphon of John the chief archon plans a flood upon the work of man. Foreknowledge informs Noah. Strangers do not listen. The text says it is not as Moses said, that they hid in an ark (Genesis 7:7). They hid in a place, Noah and many others of the immovable race, in a luminous cloud. The chief archon had brought darkness on the whole earth (p. 121).
• Noah, also called Deucalion. In the Apocalypse of Adam, Adam speaks to his son Seth. Rain will destroy flesh. The multitude of flesh will be left in the waters. God gives power to Noah’s sons and their wives by means of the ark, with animals and birds. The generations will call Noah Deucalion. Noah will divide the whole earth among Ham, Japheth, and Shem. A group dwells six hundred years in a knowledge of imperishability. Four hundred thousand men from the seed of Ham and Japheth enter another land. That seed forms twelve kingdoms. Their god in the passage is Sakla (pp. 280, 281).

What the preface counts (preface)

Richard Smith opens the revision. The first edition, 1977, ended the stage of making the texts available. This book belongs to the stage of discussion. He describes the manuscripts.

The library of fourth-century papyrus manuscripts consists of twelve codices plus eight leaves from a thirteenth and contains fifty-two separate tractates.

Richard Smith, preface to The Nag Hammadi Library in English (1988)

Duplication leaves forty-five separate titles. Most of the tractates come from the Hellenistic sects now called gnostic, and they survive in Coptic, so the collection is called the Coptic Gnostic Library. The discovery was in 1945. Twenty years later only a small percentage had been edited, mostly by European scholars, and less than ten percent was in English. In 1966 the team of this volume began to form as the Coptic Gnostic Library Project, at the Institute for Antiquity and Christianity in Claremont. In 1970 the Ministry of Culture of the Arab Republic of Egypt, with UNESCO, named an International Committee for the Nag Hammadi Codices. Robinson, the United States representative, was elected secretary. The committee’s first task was a photographic facsimile. Between 1972 and 1977 Brill of Leiden published the whole library as The Facsimile Edition of the Nag Hammadi Codices. A cartonnage volume followed in 1979, and an introduction volume in 1984. In 1977 Brill and Harper and Row published the first one-volume English translation. This book revises the translations to match the critical edition.

The cliff, the jar, and December (pp. 22 to 23)

Robinson has been arguing about whether the books were buried by monks. Two tractates in the library speak of being stored in a mountain until the end of time. He quotes the close of the Gospel of the Egyptians.

The Great Seth wrote this book with letters in one hundred and thirty years. He placed it in the mountain that is called Charaxio.

The Gospel of the Egyptians, in The Nag Hammadi Library in English (1988), p. 22

Near the end of Allogenes he finds a similar line: the writer is told to leave the book upon a mountain and to adjure the guardian with the words “Come Dreadful One.”

Then he describes the ground.

Under the northern flank of one of the huge barrel-shaped pieces of this shattered boulder the jar containing the Nag Hammadi library was secreted.

James M. Robinson, The Nag Hammadi Library in English (1988), p. 22

On each side of the Nile valley the cliffs rise to the desert. The section on the right bank, between Chenoboskia and Pabau, is the Jabal al-Tarif. A boulder shaped somewhat like a stalagmite had broken from the cliff in prehistoric times and fallen onto the talus. In the cliff face, at the top of the talus, sixth-dynasty tombs from the reigns of Pepi I and Pepi II, which he dates 2350 to 2200 B.C.E., had long since been robbed and had become caves. A monk might use such a cave. Greek prayers to Zeus Sarapis, opening lines of biblical Psalms in Coptic, and Christian crosses, painted in red, show that the caves were used. He thinks the people who valued the library may have used them, which would explain the choice of this place. The jar rested there a millennium and a half.

The discovery section begins with the work of December.

In the month of December peasants of the Naj Hammadi region of Upper Egypt fertilize their crops by carrying nitrates from the talus of the Jabal al-Tarif to their fields, using the saddlebags of their camels.

James M. Robinson, The Nag Hammadi Library in English (1988), p. 22

Two brothers, Muhammad and Khalifah Ali of the al-Samman clan, hobbled their camels on the south side of the fallen boulder and came upon the jar while digging around its base. On the next page Robinson gives Muhammad Ali’s report. He was afraid to break the jar, whose lid may have been sealed with bitumen, for fear a jinn was inside. Reflecting that it might hold gold, he smashed it with his mattock. Golden-like particles swirled into the sky. Robinson’s guess is papyrus fragments. Muhammad Ali wrapped the books in his tunic, slung it over his shoulder, unhobbled his camel, and carried them home.

a hovel in the hamlet of al-Qasr, which was the ancient site of Chenoboskia where Pachomius had begun his life as a Christian.

James M. Robinson, The Nag Hammadi Library in English (1988), p. 23

The family story he sets half a year earlier.

Half a year earlier, during the night of 7 May 1945, the father of the two brothers, whose name was Ali, while on his job as night watchman guarding irrigation equipment in the fields, had killed a marauder.

James M. Robinson, The Nag Hammadi Library in English (1988), p. 23

By mid-morning the father had been murdered in blood vengeance. About a month after the discovery of the books, a peasant named Ahmad fell asleep by the road near the house, with a jar of sugar-cane molasses. A neighbor identified him as the murderer. The family killed him. Ahmad was the son of the sheriff, Ismail Husayn, of the Hawara tribe, imposed on al-Qasr from outside. The Hawara village, Hamrah Dum, sits at the foot of the Jabal al-Tarif, which is why Muhammad Ali was afraid to go back to the site. He refused to identify the cliff until a camouflage costume, a governmental escort, and a payment persuaded him.

The flood in the Apocryphon of John (p. 121)

The tractate is given from Codex II,1, with the parallel copies III,1, IV,1, and the Berlin codex BG 8502,2. Frederik Wisse is the translator named in the contents. On this page the chief archon repents of what has come into being through him, and he makes a new plan.

This time he planned to bring a flood upon the work of man.

The Apocryphon of John, in The Nag Hammadi Library in English (1988), p. 121

The greatness of the light of the foreknowledge informed Noah, and Noah proclaimed it to all the offspring who are the sons of men. Those who were strangers to him did not listen. The text then corrects Genesis.

It is not as Moses said, "They hid themselves in an ark" (Gn 7:7), but they hid themselves in a place, not only Noah but also many other people from the immovable race.

The Apocryphon of John, in The Nag Hammadi Library in English (1988), p. 121

They went into a place and hid themselves in a luminous cloud.

The Apocryphon of John, in The Nag Hammadi Library in English (1988), p. 121

Noah recognized his authority. She who belongs to the light was with him, having shone on them, because the chief archon had brought darkness upon the whole earth. The chief archon then made a plan with his powers and sent his angels to the daughters of men, to take some of them and raise offspring. At first they did not succeed. They created a counterfeit spirit, resembling the Spirit who had descended, to pollute the souls. The angels changed into the likeness of the women’s mates, and filled them with the spirit of darkness and with evil. They brought gold and silver and a gift and copper and iron and metal and all kinds of things. The people who followed them were led into great troubles, and grew old without enjoyment. The page breaks off there.

Noah, Deucalion, and the sons (pp. 280 to 281)

The Apocalypse of Adam is Codex V,5, introduced and translated by George W. MacRae, edited by Douglas M. Parrott. Adam is speaking to Seth. The days of their life became few, because Adam had come under the authority of death. Rain-showers of God the almighty will be poured forth so that he might destroy all flesh from the earth, on account of what it seeks, along with those from the seed of the men to whom the life of the knowledge passed, the knowledge that came from Adam and from Eve. Those men were strangers to him. Great angels will come on high clouds and bring those men into the place where the spirit of life dwells. The whole multitude of flesh will be left behind in the waters.

God will rest from his wrath, cast his power upon the waters, and give power to his sons and their wives by means of the ark, along with the animals he pleased and the birds of heaven. Then he addresses Noah.

The sentence that names the Greek flood hero is set off with dashes in the print, so I give the name in his words and leave the dashes out of the quotation marks.

whom the generations will call Deucalion

The Apocalypse of Adam, in The Nag Hammadi Library in English (1988), p. 280

God says he has protected Noah in the ark along with his wife and his sons and their wives and their animals and the birds of heaven. He will give the earth to Noah and his sons. In kingly fashion they will rule over it. No seed will come from Noah of the men who will not stand in God’s presence in another glory. Those men, cast forth from the knowledge of the great aeons and the angels, will stand before Noah and the aeons. God asks Noah why he has departed from what he was told, and says Noah has created another generation so that he might scorn God’s power.

On the next page a group is brought into their proper land and built a holy dwelling-place.

And they will be called by that name and dwell there six hundred years in a knowledge of imperishability.

The Apocalypse of Adam, in The Nag Hammadi Library in English (1988), p. 281

Angels of the great light will dwell with them. No foul deed will dwell in their hearts, only the knowledge of God. Then the division of the earth.

Then Noah will divide the whole earth among his sons, Ham and Japheth and Shem.

The Apocalypse of Adam, in The Nag Hammadi Library in English (1988), p. 281

He tells the sons he has divided the earth among them. They are to serve God in fear and slavery all the days of their life, and their seed is not to depart from the face of God the almighty. Others then come from the seed of Ham and Japheth.

Then others from the seed of Ham and Japheth will come, four hundred thousand men, and enter into another land and sojourn with those men who came forth from the great eternal knowledge.

The Apocalypse of Adam, in The Nag Hammadi Library in English (1988), p. 281

The shadow of their power will protect the sojourners from every evil thing and every unclean desire. Then that seed forms kingdoms.

Then the seed of Ham and Japheth will form twelve kingdoms, and their seed will enter into the kingdom of another people.

The Apocalypse of Adam, in The Nag Hammadi Library in English (1988), p. 281

They go to Sakla, their god, and accuse the great men. Sakla is asked what the power of these men is, who were taken from the seed of Ham and Japheth and who will number four hundred thousand men. They have overturned the glory of Sakla’s power. The seed of Noah through his sons has done all Sakla’s will, and holds the powers in the aeons. The men and the sojourners in their glory have not done his will.

Where I leave the book

I used the preface for the counts and the year, Robinson’s introduction for the cliff and the family, the Apocryphon of John for the luminous cloud, and the Apocalypse of Adam for Deucalion and the sons. The volume holds many other tractates, from the Gospel of Thomas and the Gospel of Philip to the Gospel of the Egyptians and the writings about Seth. I am not going to summarize each one. The Gospel of the Egyptians does use a flood as an example of the end of an aeon, beside a conflagration and a judgment of the archons. I did not take a quotation from that page.

This edition does not discuss Atlantis. It does not give the flood a year. It gives Noah two pictures. In the Apocryphon of John he and many of the immovable race hide in a luminous cloud, and the ark of Genesis 7:7 is refused. In the Apocalypse of Adam he is protected in an ark, called Deucalion, and he divides the earth among Ham, Japheth, and Shem. The place of the books is the Jabal al-Tarif, between Chenoboskia and Pabau, and the hamlet they were carried to is al-Qasr.

A separate page on this site already works from the Nag Hammadi codices. The figures in this review are the ones printed in Robinson’s revised English volume.

Where to read it

The copy I used is the third, completely revised edition, James M. Robinson general editor, The Nag Hammadi Library in English, HarperSanFrancisco, copyright 1978 and 1988 by E. J. Brill, Leiden, first HarperCollins paperback 1990. ISBN 0-06-066934-9 and 0-06-066935-7.

FAQ

Where and when were the books found?

The preface says 1945. Robinson puts the jar under a fallen boulder on the Jabal al-Tarif, between Chenoboskia and Pabau, and the digging in December. Muhammad and Khalifah Ali of al-Qasr found it while digging nitrates. He dates a killing in that family to the night of 7 May 1945, half a year before the discovery (pp. 22, 23).

How many books?

Twelve codices plus eight leaves from a thirteenth. Fifty-two tractates. Forty-five titles after duplicates are removed. Fourth-century papyrus, mostly Coptic (preface).

What does the flood passage claim?

In the Apocryphon of John the chief archon brings a flood, Noah is warned, and the immovable race hides in a luminous cloud. The text refuses Moses’s ark at Genesis 7:7 (p. 121). In the Apocalypse of Adam the flesh is left in the waters, Noah is sheltered in an ark with his wife, sons, their wives, animals, and birds, and later generations call him Deucalion. He divides the earth among Ham, Japheth, and Shem (pp. 280, 281).

Does this volume discuss Atlantis?

It does not. The places it names for the find are the Jabal al-Tarif, Chenoboskia, Pabau, al-Qasr, and the Naj Hammadi region of Upper Egypt.

Related on this site

1. The third Adam is earthly: a page already on this site drawn from the Nag Hammadi codices. The flood lines in this review are the ones in the 1988 English volume, on pp. 121, 280, and 281.
2. Zénaïde A. Ragozin, The Story of Chaldea: a flood tablet with a ship and a mountain. The Apocryphon of John refuses the ark and uses a luminous cloud.
3. Noah’s family: Ham, Japheth, and Shem on this site. The Apocalypse of Adam gives those three the whole earth, on p. 281.

Sources

The book

• James M. Robinson, general editor, The Nag Hammadi Library in English. Third, completely revised edition. HarperSanFrancisco. Copyright 1978, 1988, E. J. Brill, Leiden. First HarperCollins paperback 1990. ISBN 0-06-066934-9. ISBN 0-06-066935-7. The quotations above are short excerpts from this edition.

Pages used

• Preface, by Richard Smith. Counts, 1945, Claremont in 1966, the committee in 1970, the facsimile of 1972 to 1977.
• Introduction, pp. 22 to 23, by James M. Robinson. The Jabal al-Tarif, the jar, December, and 7 May 1945.
• The Apocryphon of John, p. 121. The flood and the luminous cloud.
• The Apocalypse of Adam, pp. 280 to 281. Deucalion, the ark, Ham, Japheth, Shem, six hundred years, four hundred thousand men, twelve kingdoms.