What is inside the Nag Hammadi Codex II?

Nag Hammadi Codex II is a remarkably well-preserved 4th-century papyrus manuscript written in Coptic. It contains a collection of early Christian Gnostic texts, most notably holding the only complete copy of the Gospel of Thomas from antiquity. Today, this vital historical artifact is housed in the Coptic Museum in Cairo.

What we know

• Nag Hammadi Codex II is a papyrus codex featuring a collection of early Christian Gnostic texts written in the Sahidic dialect of Coptic. [2]
• The manuscript has survived in nearly perfect condition and is dated to the 4th century, part of a collection discovered in late 1945. [2, 3]
• Codex II contains the only complete manuscript from antiquity that preserves the full text of the Gospel of Thomas. [2]

Where to go next

• the bigger pictureWhat texts are in the full Nag Hammadi library?
• compared withHow does the Gospel of Thomas compare to canonical gospels?
• whereWhere is Nag Hammadi Codex II housed today?
• a case in pointWhat are the characteristics of Nag Hammadi Codex XIII?
• whoWho discovered the Nag Hammadi manuscripts?
• an unexpected connectionHow does Plato connect to early Christian Gnostic texts?The broader Nag Hammadi manuscript collection unexpectedly includes a partial translation and alteration of Plato's Republic alongside its Christian Gnostic treatises.

Sources

• [1]Nag Hammadi Codex II (Wikidata Q6958256) · CC0 1.0
• [2]Nag Hammadi Codex II · CC BY-SA 4.0
• [3]Nag Hammadi library · CC BY-SA 4.0
• [4]Nag Hammadi Codex XIII · CC BY-SA 4.0
• [5]Apocryphon of John · CC BY-SA 4.0